String Quartet in d

Biographical parallels between Mozart and Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga are intriguing. Arriaga was born exactly fifty years after Mozart (January 27, 1806) and, perhaps in homage to the Salzburg master, was given the same first two names at his baptism (recall Mozart’s given names, Johann Chrysostom). Studying first with his father, Arriaga completed and staged his first full opera at age 13 to immediate success. The talented young man was then sent on scholarship to the famed Paris conservatory. A few years later, not quite 17, Arriaga published his first set of string quartets, of which we will hear the opening work in D minor. The young Spaniard has clearly grasped Mozart’s dramatic gestures, as in the striking leaps between high and low register. Still, Arriaga’s pacing and melodic sense are amazingly assured for such a young man, and the string writing is by turns graceful and bold. The slow movement grows via increasingly florid ornamentation in the first violin over a repeated lyrical theme. The third movement clearly echoes Beethoven, especially the cello’s prominent role in helping propel across punctuated violin gestures. However, the movement’s trio section actually pays homage to the composer’s own Spanish origins with strummed guitar-like accompaniment. In the finale, Haydn’s influence comes through in the contrasts between full and reduced texture. Minor mode and 6/8 meter combine to suggest a siciliano, but much to his credit Arriaga broadens the topical allusions with a recurring slow progression and an understated, soft conclusion. History lost a profound talent when Arriaga died from tuberculosis just days shy of his 20th birthday.

(c) Jason Stell