String Quartet No. 3 in A Major

Schumann’s three string quartets were the first fruits of his concentrated study of the quartets of Haydn and Mozart in spring 1842. These quartets were composed in a state of white heat during June and July and dedicated to Felix Mendelssohn upon their first performance at the Leipzig Gewandhaus the following January; they launched a remarkable period of chamber-music composition—the Piano Quintet, the Piano Quartet and a set of four Phantasiestücke for piano trio were all finished before the end of the year. A brief slow introduction opens the String Quartet No. 3 with a droopy falling motif that will permeate the opening movement. The traditional scherzo is replaced by a set of four variations on an oblique, agitated theme and is followed by a slow movement of agonised intensity. The obsessive dotted rhythm that provides a heartbeat to much of this “Adagio” is carried over into the altogether more outdoorsy rondo “Finale”, which whirls the work—and Schumann’s entire output for string quartet—to an exuberant close.