Mendelssohn was ecstatic when he married Cécile Jeanrenaud in March 1837, and thrilled to become a father when his first son was born in February 1838. His letters from this time are touching in their description of his domestic bliss. Professionally he stood at the forefront of German music—he directed the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, arranged numerous festivals, and conducted and played throughout the country. He was also in great demand in England as conductor, composer, and pianist.

The three String Quartets, op. 44, are products of this happy but hectic time. He composed the E minor first (no. 2 in the published opus) while on his honeymoon, completing it on June 18, 1837. The E-flat major (no. 3) followed in February 1838, and the D major (no. 1) in July 1838. During the same period Mendelssohn refers to other works completed and works in progress—two rondos for piano (one with orchestra and one without), a violin sonata, a cello sonata, a psalm, an opera, and a symphony in B-flat. His extraordinary productivity speaks volumes about the facility of his composing, which he had to fit in among all his domestic and professional activities.

Mendelssohn’s exceptionally talented Gewandhaus concertmaster, Ferdinand David, also led a string quartet, which premiered the E minor Quartet on November 19, 1837. David was to premiere Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in 1845, a work in the same key as the Quartet, about which Mendelssohn had already written to him on the heels of the Quartet in 1838. Many commentators have noted that elements of the E minor Quartet’s first movement act as a precursor to the Concerto, particularly the rising main theme with its syncopated accompaniment.

The E minor Quartet, like the others in Opus 44, takes Haydn’s and Mozart’s quartets as a point of departure rather than the middle and late quartets of Beethoven. The first movement’s rising theme receives a variety of different accompaniments that show Mendelssohn’s ingenuity within a Classical framework. The second theme offers lyrical respite before the first theme returns with accompaniment in a new guise.

As in all three Opus 44 Quartets, Mendelssohn places the “fast” movement second and the slow movement third. Here Mendelssohn shows himself as the king of the effervescent, elfin scherzo. His textures enchant and his rhythmic groupings—3 + 3 + 2, rather than the four-square 4 + 4—are genius.

A “song without words”—Mendelssohn’s preferred slow-movement type at this time—presents a lyrical melody over undulating accompaniment, a more turbulent idea, and a return to the opening. The central section is particularly notable for the cello singing in its upper register.

The finale takes off at breakneck speed, its agitated trajectory halted only for occasional broader expanses, as in the second theme. The buildup to the end makes for a splendidly breathless finish.

—©Jane Vial Jaffe