Calidore String Quartet

Ludwig van Beethoven (born Bonn, December 16, 1770; died Vienna, March 26, 1827) Quartet in F major, op. 135 (composed 1826)

After completing his Symphony no. 9, op. 125 in 1824, Beethoven devoted almost the entire remainder of his compositional life to the medium of the string quartet. Written in half the time it usually took him to write a quartet (from July to October of 1826), Opus 135 would be Beethoven’s last complete work, conceived in the aftermath of his nephew Karl’s suicide attempt and in the foreshadow of his own impending death. Only the new finale to the String Quartet, op. 130, replacing the original last movement, the Grosse Fuge, was finished later, in November.

The darkness of the viola’s opening phrase is scoffed at by the jocular little twitch in the first violin. These two fragments and the fluid second theme dominate this meditative Allegretto, recalling the humor of Haydn and the symmetry of Mozart. The syncopated Vivace has been described by the critic Basil Lam as “perhaps the most disquieting movement in the [Beethoven] quartets” for its impulsive mockery, its long unison passages, and its startling shifts in harmony. An insistent ostinato beneath the wild jig in the first violin marks the trio of this scherzo. It is interesting to note that the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, never a particular admirer of Beethoven, appropriated two prominent features of this scherzo as Satan’s victory dance in his 1930 “masque for dancing,” Job.

Beethoven called the expansive theme and variations of the third movement “Sweet song of repose or peace.” The poignant theme is followed by a lighter and ornamented first variation. The second is freer but hesitant; the third, lighter still and notable for its canonic features. The fourth flows gently with only the barest outline of the theme remaining; the coda sighs to a conclusion.

Translated roughly as “The difficult decision,” the finale has prompted countless explanations for the little epigraph Beethoven wrote in his sketchbooks: “Muss es sein? Es muss sein!” (“Must it be? It must be!”) Some theorize an exchange where the composer tried to avoid paying his rent, a performer trying to purchase the rights to one of his quartets, or even his annoyance at having to write a finale at all. The Grave section poses the musical question, the Allegro both answers it and puts it into comic perspective. The spirit of this answer has suggested to some that the solution to the riddle of the title is simply Beethoven’s resignation to his fate.

ProgramnotesbyJayWeitz,SeniorConsultingDatabaseSpecialistformusic,OCLCOnline ComputerLibraryCenter,Dublin,Ohio. Foroverthreedecades,hehaswrittenaboutthearts inCentralOhioforthedailypapersColumbusCitizen-JournalandColumbusDispatch,the alternativeweeklypapersColumbusGuardianandColumbusAlive,theColumbusJewish News,andColumbuspublicradiostationWCBE-FM. In2019,theMusicLibraryAssociation awardedhimitslifetimeachievementawardandhighesthonor,theMLACitation.

Jennifer Hambrick, our poet laureate for our 75th season

A poet hailed for her “brilliant” imagery, “masterful” craftsmanship, and “uniquely” musical voice has been engaged to serve as poet laureate for the 75th anniversary season (2022-23) of the world-class Chamber Music Columbus concert series.

“It is an enormous honor to have been invited to write and present a series of poems as poet laureate of the 75th anniversary season of Chamber Music Columbus. I am hugely grateful to Katherine Borst Jones, board president of Chamber Music Columbus, for extending this special commission to me on behalf of Chamber Music Columbus, and for giving me free rein to unleash my musical and poetic gifts in celebration of this milestone in the history of this special organization.” said Hambrick.

As poet laureate of Chamber Music Columbus’ 75th anniversary season, she has written a series of seven poems, one for each of the 2022-23 season’s seven concerts. The poems unite conceptually around the idea of the elements, or raw materials, of chamber music – wood, metal, air, hands, beginnings and endings, time, and space: the wood and metal of musical instruments, the air essential to singing and playing wind instruments (and to life itself), the hands that draw bows across strings or press keys and valves, how music emerges from and returns to untold depths within us, the time in which music and our experiences of it unfold, and the physical space in which every note played or sung finds an acoustical home that enables this special type of music to resonate (literally and figuratively) among us.

These musical elements serve as guiding metaphors in her poems. As such, each element acts as a bridge connecting our experiences with music to our experiences in other aspects of the world around us. Hambrick is a four-time Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. Jennifer Hambrick is the author of the poetry collections In the High Weeds, winner of the Stevens Manuscript Award of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies; Joyride (Red Moon Press), currently shortlisted for The Touchstone Distinguished Books Award from The Haiku Foundation; and Unscathed (Night Ballet Press).

She was featured by former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser in American Life in Poetry; was appointed the inaugural Artist-in-Residence at historic Bryn Du Mansion, Granville; and has received numerous awards and prizes, including the Sheila-Na-Gig Press Poetry Prize (2020), First Prize in the Haiku Society of America’s Haibun Award Competition (2018), First Prize in the 2021 Martin Lucas Haiku Award Competition (U.K.), and many others.

Hambrick is a frequent recipient of poetry commissions, and hundreds of her poems appear in literary journals and invited anthologies around the world. A classical musician, public radio broadcaster, and web producer, she lives in Columbus. Visit JenniferHambrick.com.

MERZ TRIO - Saturday, May 6, 2023, 7:00 p.m. - Southern Theatre

Jennifer Hambrick, Poet Laureate

Ching-chu Hu (born 1969)

An Eternal Hope: a fanfare to celebrate the 75th season of Chamber Music Columbus (composed 2022) World Premiere

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

Trio Élégiaque in G minor (composed 1892)

Lento lugubre

Karim Al-Zand (born 1970)

Lines in Motion (composed 2022) Co-World Premiere, Co-commissioned by Chamber Music Columbus and Chamber Music Houston for the Merz Trio

On the Open Sea

In the Big City

At the Spirit Dance

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

Trio no.1 in C minor, op. 8 (composed 1923)

Intermission

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

Trio no. 2 in F major, op. 80 (composed 1847)

Sehr lebhaft (Quickly moving)

Mit innigem Audsruck -- Lebhaft (With innermost expression -- Faster)

In mässiger Bewegung (Moderately moving)

Nicht zu rasch (Not too fast)