December 6, 2025 3PM
Robert Schumann Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 47
I. Sostenuto assai—Allegro ma non troppo
II. Scherzo: Molto vivace
III. Andante cantabile
IV. Vivace
- INTERMISSION -
Gabriel Fauré Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15
I. Allegro molto moderato
II. Scherzo: Allegro
III. Adagio
IV. Allegro molto
Sean Claire, violin
Joshua Ulrich, viola
Adam Ayers, cello
Ryan Fogg, piano
PROGRAM NOTES
[The following program notes are attributed to Melvin Berger.]
Robert Schumann wrote his Piano Quartet in E-flat major in 1842 for Count Matvei Wielhorsky, an amateur but very accomplished cellist, judging from the difficulty of the cello part and its prominence throughout. In this way, then, the quartet may be said to look back to the eighteenth century, to the practice of dedicating music to aristocrats for their use and in the hope of receiving money or a gift in appreciation. But in most other ways, this piano quartet is a product of the nineteenth century; it is a lush, Romantic, impassioned work, fully committed to the expression of the composer’s most intimate thoughts and feelings.
The principal theme of the first movement appears in three guises: soulful and melancholy when heard initially in the slow introduction; rhythmically incisive as played by the piano in the faster Allegro ma non troppo; and finally bright and songful as spun out by the cello. The more forceful subsidiary theme—an accented syncopated note and a rapid rising scale—is introduced as a canon between piano and strings. A repeat of the opening Sostenuto acts as a link to the development section, which is involved exclusively with working out the first theme. The music grows louder and more frenzied, leading to the climactic return of the themes (minus the introduction) for the recapitulation. Schumann, though, has a surprise in the coda. He increases the tempo and gives the cello a completely new theme, before capping the movement off with a quick recollection of the initial tune.
Despite the Scherzo’s apparent happy and high spirits, it seems slightly reticent to give in to untrammeled joy. The effect is perhaps due to the opening, which is played in the cello and piano’s lowest range, where it is especially hard to sparkle or scintillate, and then to some overall thickness in the subsequent writing. The first trio, a sweet ingenuous legato melody, is treated in imitation, with each appearance set off by quick staccato flashes from the Scherzo. The Scherzo returns after the first trio, followed by a second trio, a sequence of piano and tutti chords with little wisps of the Scherzo peaking through. The Scherzo’s last peroration brings the movement to a close.
The Andante cantabile is the emotional high point of the quartet. After two measures of introduction, the cello sings the impassioned, highly Romantic principal melody, which is imitated by the violin. The piano, with some help from the viola, concludes this section and leads to the middle part, a somber interlude, after which the viola and then the cello present the original melody. While the viola plays its part, the cellist is encouraged to lower his C string one step to B-flat, which is then sustained as a low pedal tone during the coda as the others play distant whispered anticipations of the Finale.
The exuberant joie de vivre of the Finale quickly dispels the fervid, ardent mood of the Andante cantabile; it is the reappearance of Florestan after Eusebius, so to speak. Theme after theme pours forth in wonderful abundance. The first, hinted at in the previous movement, becomes the subject of a strong, willful fugal section. The cello responds with a soaring cantabile melody. A flowing lyrical theme follows, passed gently back and forth between piano and viola. The opening fugal melody returns, this time, though, more legato. And finally a sprightly, staccato line appears, introduced by the cello and piano left hand. This plentitude of material, moving with great energy and èlan, is interspersed with sections of contrapuntal intricacy that fit in perfectly, never impeding the ongoing musical flow.
With the piano quartet, begun at the end of October 1842 and finished a couple of weeks later, Schumann brought to a close his amazing burst of chamber music activity that started in June with the three quartets of Op. 41 and included the piano quintet. The work’s well-received premiere was given in Leipzig on December 8, 1844 by Ferdinand David (violin), Niels W. Gade (viola), Count Wielhorsky (cello), and Clara Schumann (piano).
Gabriel Fauré’s lifetime spanned a period of remarkable and revolutionary advances in musical style: Berlioz, Chopin, and Schumann were forging new approaches to composition during his youth; Liszt, Wagner, and Debussy were making their contributions during his mature years; and Schoenberg, Bartók, and Stravinsky were establishing twentieth-century modes during his last decades. Through these many changes, Fauré maintained an essentially conservative and traditional course. Mostly confining himself to the smaller forms—chamber music, songs, piano pieces—which he fashioned with broad singing melodies and exquisite harmonic designs, Fauré achieved an intimacy, elegance, and sophistication that is, nevertheless, richly expressive and communicative.
Fauré’s six major chamber compositions—the piano quartets Op. 15 and Op. 45; the piano quintets, Op. 89 and Op. 115; Piano Trio, Op. 120; and his final composition, the String Quartet, Op. 121—extended over most of his creative life. Of them all, the first piano quartet probably holds the most secure place in the current repertoire. Completed in 1879 and dedicated to Belgian violinist H. Leonard, the Piano Quartet in C minor was introduced in Paris that year at a concert by the Société nationale de Musique Français. Although it has become Fauré’s most popular chamber work, he received no payment at all from the publisher.
The quartet opens with a unison string statement of the virile, vigorous principal theme, which Fauré quickly transforms into a lovely, tender melody. The undulating subsidiary theme, introduced by the viola, is promptly imitated by the other instruments. With many changes of mood and temperament, but maintaining a fluid, flowing piano part throughout, Fauré discourses on the two themes and brings them back for a comparatively conventional recapitulation and coda.
The graceful Scherzo emerges with gossamer delicacy; the piano plays the wispy melody over light pizzicato chords in the strings. For the string statement of the tune, the meter changes from 6/8 to 2/4. The shift of meters and the occasional superimposition of one on the other add a sparkling piquancy to the rhythm. The smooth, suave trio gives most of the melodic burden to the strings, which are directed to play with mutes, lending them a particularly attractive tonal quality. A review of the opening Scherzo ends the movement.
Organized in ternary (ABA) form, the deeply emotional Adagio portrays great yearning and melancholy. Both themes are structured around different treatments of rising scale fragments; the first, weighty and burdened, struggles to reach upward, even as it falls back in failure; the second, more songful, is slightly more optimistic. The piano part is much elaborated for the return of the opening section.
The principal theme of the finale has the same rhythmic pattern as the first movement, and the same rising-scale melodic contour as the Adagio, an attempt, perhaps, to unify the separate movements. After the energetic opening subject, the contrasting cantabile, but agitated, second theme is heard in the viola before being taken up by the others. After building to an impassioned climax in the development section, the recapitulation starts quietly, leading to the brilliant conclusion.