This work is another
stunning example of a song's connection
to string quartet writing.
The quartet is openly programmatic,
meaning that there's extra musical meaning or association,
but the association remains somewhat abstract
as compared to Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" quartet.
The first movement begins
with a slow introduction and the song,
"Frage" (or Question) which Mendelssohn penned
earlier in 1827 is quoted. As Arnold mentioned,
he uses a three-note musical motive
that embodies the question in the song,
"Ist es wahr?" meaning "Is it true?" The complete poetry
for the song is as follows:
"Is it true that over there in the leafy walkway
you always wait for me by the vine-draped
wall? And that with the moonlight and the little stars
you consult about me also? Is it true?
Speak! What I feel
only she grasps--she who feels with me
and stays ever faithful to me, eternally
faithful." According to Mendelssohn,
the use of the "Is it true?"
motive in the quartet is simply a point of departure.
In other words, the music expresses the sentiment of the question,
but does not represent the images captured in the poem.
Beethoven's use of a similar question
may explain more. He employs
a similar one, "Muss es sein?"
or "Must it be?" in the final movement
of his late complete work, the string quartet,
Opus 135. Many have tried to explain Beethoven's use of this question
in the work, but without certainty. Perhaps,
Mendelssohn's own question, "Is es wahr?"
was simply meant to pay tribute to the quartet master
whose works Mendelssohn so greatly admired.
Beethoven died in March of the same year
that Mendelssohn composed his Opus 13 quartet.