HDM in Concert: Mendelssohn – String Quartets II

The String Quartet, Op. 12, was composed in 1829 as the third of seven works in this genre (in addition to several individual movements). The music of this twenty-year-old, successful young man is self-assured, full of joie de vivre, and enchantingly fresh. Mendelssohn’s intense engagement with Bach and Beethoven is clearly evident in this masterfully constructed piece. Mendelssohn’s Op. 80, by contrast, is a heart-wrenching Requiem for the composer’s highly gifted sister, Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn (b. 1805), who died suddenly in Berlin on May 14, 1847, and with whom he had shared a deep, intimate bond. Contrary to its later opus number, the String Quartet Op. 13 was composed between July and October 1827, preceding Op. 12, under the influence of Beethoven’s death. At the time, Mendelssohn engaged intensively with Beethoven’s late quartets, yet he carried forward the innovations of the highly revered “Titan” in a highly independent and innovative manner.