From the premiere to going to press

The last few years have proven that it is always possible to be surprised by new, previously little-known or forgotten repertoire. A large number of string quartets have come to light that were unjustly kept in the dark for a long time, such as those by Franz Xaver Richter, Peter Hänsel, Adalbert Gyrowetz or Carl Czerny, to name but a few. However, it is extremely rare for a quartet - and indeed the only quartet - by a world-famous composer to suddenly become available in a version that differs considerably from the much-performed work.

Verdi is said to have been bored; a long break from rehearsals is said to have driven him away from singing and towards purely instrumental music, which he had not turned to until then and would not do so for the rest of his life. Verdi himself was surprised by the success of the "occasional work", which was premiered in a small circle in 1873. He located the string quartet as a genre in the German cultural sphere and considered it a foreign product to the Italian palate. Nevertheless, he studied its DNA secretly and very thoroughly, as the first published edition of 1876 impressively proves. The essence and character of the quartet are originally Mediterranean in coloration, while the underlying architecture is based on the products of the best masters of the guild, which the Italian considered a sanctuary.

Very few connoisseurs and interpreters are aware that the first-performed version was a completely different piece to the printed version. In their apology, it should be said that Verdi's manuscript drafts from the first period of composition - 41 pages of hard work - have only been accessible to researchers since 2019. The urge of the first listeners to make the famous opera composer public as a master of chamber music was initially met with brusque resistance from the composer, until he gradually warmed to the idea.

What followed was an effort that he would probably have preferred to avoid. After all, playing with the idea of being on a par with the best in creating a string quartet is one thing, putting it to the test internationally is quite another. It was clear to him that the feuilletons would be full of malice if he did not meet the demands from the north. The national concept of music at the time was also reflected in the exclusion and disparagement of other composers. As a Norwegian string quartet exotic in 1878, Edvard Grieg could sing a sad song about how he was reviled in "professional circles" for his gross incompetence. So Verdi, who had an impeccable reputation to lose, had to be careful. His composition, which he coquettishly called "senza importanza", kept him busy for a total of seven years.

However, it would be unfair to accuse the first draft of lacking quality. Verdi's approach there is less sophisticated and methodical, relying above all on his brilliant inventiveness to produce a fresh and very appealing work of alert genius. One might miss something of this irreverence in the published quartet, which is almost a third longer, if one had the opportunity to hear the two pieces side by side.

For me, who know the work from my earliest ensemble days, it is almost amusing to see how two of the most feared passages for the second violin in the entire string quartet literature vanish into thin air in the first movement: The theme in the first movement, somewhat awkward to play on the G string, intoned by the first violin, and the tricky scherzo fugue beginning in the finale, pianissimo leggerissimo articulate, there is none at all. Incidentally, there is no fugue at all. The whole thing is highly exciting ... The study score contains the first performance version as well as the printed version.

A big compliment to the G. Henle publishing house for working out the development of Verdi's masterpiece in such a comprehensible way!

Giuseppe Verdi: String Quartet in E minor, edited by Anselm Gerhard; Parts: HN 1588, € 25.00; study score: HN 7588, € 14.00; G. Henle, Munich