German quartet looks at death from two different angles<\/p>\n
By Gus Kairupan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Death ... submit to it gracefully and eternal
\nrest will be yours. Resist it and you will kick the bucket in a
\nmost horrible manner. That, in a way, was the message conveyed by
\nthe Pedersen String Quartet from Germany at its performance on
\nlast Friday at Erasmus Huis. The program featured just two works:
\nSchubert's oeuvre for string quartet, subtitled Death and the
\nMaiden, and the composition by 20th century German composer,
\nSiegfried Matthus (b. 1934), for a similar setting, called The
\nMaiden and Death. The concert was the third of the festival of
\nmusic from member countries of the European Union.<\/p>\n
Both are obviously programmatic works, i.e. works with other
\nmessages than the purely musical; in this case it was Schubert's
\nsong, Death and the Maiden (composed in 1817, published 1821).
\n(Death's words of consolation) in the quartet to be exact, the
\nsecond movement, Andante con moto, where it is treated like a
\ntheme and variations. Hence, the quartet, too, though composed in
\n1824 and published in 1831, three years after his death, became
\nknown as the Death and the Maiden quartet. It is not known
\nwhether the nickname came from Schubert himself.<\/p>\n
Anyhow, it is the last half of the song that is Matthus'
\ninspiration for his quartet, in which death implores the maiden
\nnot to be afraid and that "you shall sleep peacefully in my
\narms". Obviously this is the angel of death. Terrifying, of
\ncourse, but still an angel, and the implication is that the
\nmaiden might well have found rest in death, even though she did
\nresist in the first half of the song: "Go! Go Away, you, Man of
\nBones!" Schubert's girl is worthy of a measure of sympathy.<\/p>\n
But maidens in Schubert's time were a far cry from their
\ndescendants today. These days the word implies a girl of
\nunsullied virtue, pure as the driven snow, chaste, whatever.
\nWell, in another nine months we will be entering the 21st
\ncentury, and if you are searching for what may be described as
\n"maiden", you would probably be far more successful in finding a
\nneedle in a barn chock-full of haystacks. Any barn anywhere --
\neast, west, north, south and every point in between on the globe.
\nToday's maidens (and lads, too, of course) are strictly of the
\n"seen that, been there, done that" variety. "O death, where is
\nthy sting?" -- yeah, yeah, ultimate groove, man! That's where
\nMatthus comes in.<\/p>\n
His quartet is written for these times, and in his version
\nDeath is Mephistopheles himself, poor devil! What with mores
\nhaving changed so much that today he is regarded as no more than
\nan inconvenience and, scientists looking for ways and means to
\nmake a person live practically forever, his moments of leisure
\nare getting longer and longer. He must have his quota, though, so
\nhe reverts to all sorts of blandishments, flattery, cajolery,
\nanything to get the girl. Let us not call her maiden, and never
\nmind the heavily implied sexism (why do poets consider a woman's
\ndeath so much more tragic than a man's?).<\/p>\n
But to get back to the devil: "Hey, girl! Try this!" and out
\ncomes smack, dope, coke, hash, etc., and she discovers too late
\nthat there is a price involved. But she does not give up that
\neasily, and the Devil has a devil of a time dragging her down to
\nHades where she will probably make life hell for him. The
\ntriumphant end of the second movement (Senza tempo soave con
\ntenerezza) heralds his victory, of course, and the final
\nmovement, Alla marcia funebre -- funeral march to you -- depicts
\nher entombment.<\/p>\n
The juxtaposition of the two works, Schubert's and Matthus' is
\na clear indication that Claudius' poem set to music by Schubert
\nis a major -- maybe even the most important -- element of the
\nentire recital. Time will tell whether this pairing will hold.
\nThe Maiden and Death was written in 1996, so, presumably, both
\nworks will already have been performed as a pair several times
\nbefore coming to Jakarta. It may well be that in time classical
\nmusic aficionados will one day refer to the two quartets in the
\nsame breath, but I cannot see this happening very soon.<\/p>\n
But this is not a case of one being better than the other.
\nMatthus' quartet certainly has its merits as a contribution to
\nmusic of these times -- which might as well be described as the
\n21st century -- as Schubert's was during his days. I found myself
\nimpressed with his Maiden and Death rather than Schubert's Death
\nand the Maiden. I am also inclined to ascribe this to the
\ninterpretation of the Pedersen quartet. Theirs was a virtuoso
\nperformance in every sense of the word, but I found it difficult
\nto associate Schubert's quartet (like most of his works) with
\nsuch extremities of dynamics and outbursts of violent emotions.<\/p>\n
Could Schubert have meant the quartet to sound like that -- it
\nwould, after all, be in tune with the zeitgeist of his times,
\nstorm and stress and all that, and Goethe was still around. I was
\ngasping with admiration at the Pedersen Quartet's virtuosity, and
\nfeeling totally drained afterwards. The intermission that
\nfollowed it was an absolute necessity, for it provided time to
\nlet it all sink in. Some things fell in place when the quartet
\npresented Matthus' work after the intermission, such as
\nsimilarities in dynamic range and tone.<\/p>\n
As I said, virtuosity in every sense of the word, but the
\nquestion regarding the interpretation of Schubert's quartet is
\nstill nagging me.<\/p>",
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