6th Quartet, Opus 18, No. 6, in B flat.
Allegro con brio—Adagio ma non troppo—Scherzo—La Malinconia—Allegretto quasi Allegro
This favourite quartet, composed in 1800, has five movements; whereas the fourth quartet has no slow movement.
The arrangement of the five movements seems to suggest some sort of carefully-arranged 'programme;" but woe always overtook the man who dared to attach a definite story to any of the music in these pieces in Beethoven's lifetime. The opening movement, full of vitality, and asks for spiccato bowing. It is very light in texture. The first Adagio is full of graceful tunefulness, somewhat elaborate in texture, and containing many characteristic touches of expression; so too, does the Scherzo. The second slow movement Adagio, entitled by Beethoven La Malinconia (grief), is one of Beethoven's most moving pieces of music. Knowing here that he was entering into new territory, he especially marks such movements to be played with the greatest feeling piu gran delicatezza. This movement runs directly into the final Allegretto, which indeed returns to it twice, as though unable to throw off completely the bitter taste of those sad moments.
