Louis Spohr’s second double string quartet is a more lyrical work than his dramatic first double quartet. Like all the double quartets, it has two distinct groups of four players, each playing as a unit. The terminology is tricky. When I say “quartet 1” or “quartet 2” here, I’m referring to a subgroup of four players. The work is the “nth double quartet.” For individual violin players I’ll use colon-based notation (group:part). For example, the first violin of the second quartet is “violin 2:1.”
As in the first double quartet, quartet 1 gets the most interesting parts, but the imbalance isn’t as great this time. Violin 1:1 still has the most exciting part; Spohr played this part himself in most of the early performances. He may simply have been a better player than the others he could recruit. George Jellinek’s notes to the Heifetz recording of the first double quartet notes that “wealthy amateurs” often participated in the performances.
Sometimes Spohr is accused of being a Mozart knock-off, but this piece immediately shows he has his own voice. Quartet 1 plays a theme in unison in E-flat, but in the second measure we hear an F-sharp instead of an F. As the theme gets transformed through the movement, this raised second step consistently remains there. It shows up in the second theme, which is closely derived from the first. The development is short but has a lot of counterpoint around the main theme. Emphasizing the movement’s relaxed nature, the development’s close lingers on a B-flat dominant seventh chord for nine measures, so the return of the main theme is no surprise at all. Similarly, the last five measures stay solidly on the E-flat chord, without the chromaticism that Spohr often puts in the final measures of his movements.
The minuet reminds me not of Mozart but Haydn. It’s in a stern C minor, with lots of antiphonal effects between the two quartets. In some spots they hand the tune back and forth on every note, as if arguing with each other. In the trio they suspend the argument to let violin 1:1 and viola 1 play a graceful, highly decorated melody before plunging back into the debate. The dispute is unresolved, and in the coda both sides collapse from exhaustion.
As in the first double quartet, the third movement is the slow one. This one is much better than its predecessor, with a hesitant but charming melody. The theme shifts from A-flat to its dominant, E-flat — another Haydn-like touch. The middle section has viola 2 and cello 2 playing pizzicato sixteenth notes while violins 2:1 and 2:2 fill in thirty-second notes off the beat. That’s murderously difficult. I can imagine Spohr telling them, “You second-quartet players want something challenging? Here you go!”
The rondo finale provides a light conclusion to a light-hearted work. There’s a fugue in the middle to keep the listener’s attention, and at one point the music somehow wanders off from E-flat to B major, but all ends well in the home key.
This recording on YouTube lacks something in sound quality, which is important when hearing eight distinct voices, but it has a score to read along with.
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