The String Quartet in D minor, Voces intimae (literal English translation: "Intimate voices" or "Inner voices"), Op. 56, is a five-movementchamber piece for two violins, viola, and cello written in 1909 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It is the only major work for string quartet of his mature period.[3]
History
As a student, Sibelius composed several works for string quartet. In 1885 he finished the String Quartet in E-flat major, followed in 1889, after quite a few individual movements for this combination, by the String Quartet in A minor. The first string quartet to receive an opus number was in 1890: the String Quartet in B-flat major (Op. 4).[3] Afterwards he wrote no string quartets until Voces intimae in 1909. Composed between his Third and Fourth Symphony,[4] it remained "the only major work for string quartet of Sibelius's mature period".[3]
Sibelius composed the quartet from December 1908, working on it in London in early 1909. The Latin title, translating to "Intimate Voices" or "Inner voices", marks a "conversational quality"[4] and "inwardness" of the music. The composer wrote about his work in a letter to his wife: "It turned out as something wonderful. The kind of thing that brings a smile to your lips at the hour of death. I will say no more."[3] Sibelius showed it to his publisher Robert Lienau on 15 April 1909.[3]
The first performance was on 25 April 1910 at the Helsinki Music Institute. A review in the Helsingin Sanomat noted: "The composition attracted a great deal of attention, and it is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant products in its field. It is not a composition for the public at large, it is so eccentric and out of the ordinary."[3] Sibelius later wrote about the composition: "The melodic material is good but the harmonic material could be 'lighter', and even 'more like a quartet.'"[3]
Structure and music
Sibelius structured the quartet in five movements:[3]
Andante – Allegro molto moderato
Vivace
Adagio di molto
Allegretto (ma pesante)
Allegro
The work opens with a dialogue of violin and cello.[4] The first movement contrasts "murmurous figuration with firm chords".[4] The second movement is a scherzo in A major, connected to the first by musical motifs.[4] The central slow movement has been described as a "soulful quest for serenity in F major". It contains "three detached, soft chords in E minor, remote from any of the previous harmonic implications",[4] to which Sibelius added the "voces intimae" in a friend's score.[4] A second scherzo is also connected by motivic similarity to the first movement. The finale, "with more than a hint of folk fiddling",[4] grows in intensity by markings from Allegro to "sempre più energico" (always more energetic), described as "fiercely accented music of forceful contrasts but irresistible momentum".[4]
Arrangements
The Finnish violinist and composer Pekka Kuusisto has arranged the work for chamber orchestra, which was included in Kuusisto's 2009 Australian tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.[5]
Literature
Beat Föllmi (ed.): Das Streichquartett in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts (German), Verlag Hans Schneider, Tutzing 2004
Tomi Mäkelä: Jean Sibelius und seine Zeit (German), Laaber-Verlag, Regensburg 2013
Ulrich Wilker: "Ein fernes Murmeln aus einer fernen Welt". Zu Jean Sibelius’ Streichquartett "Voces intimae" d-Moll op. 56 (German), in: Stefan Börnchen/Claudia Liebrand (eds.): Lauschen und Überhören. Literarische und mediale Aspekte auditiver Offenheit, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Paderborn 2020, p .193–211
Dahlström, Fabian[in Swedish] (2003). Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke [Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works] (in German). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN3-7651-0333-0.
