String Quartet No. 2 (Mendelssohn)

One of Mendelssohn's most passionate works, the A minor Quartet is one of the earliest and most significant examples of cyclic form in music.

Beethoven's late works received a lukewarm reception at best, and many – including Mendelssohn's own father – agreed with composer Louis Spohr that they were an "indecipherable, uncorrected horror".

[citation needed] Mendelssohn, however, was fascinated by them: he studied all the scores he could obtain and included several allusions to Beethoven's quartets in Opus 13.

As Benedict Taylor writes in a very detailed analysis, this quartet "is the most thorough-going essay in cyclic form, both by Mendelssohn and by any composer to that time, until the late works of Franck at the very least".

But, unlike the introspective, existential quality of Beethoven's quartet, Mendelssohn's work is passionate and richly romantic.

"...This quartet, relying heavily on compositional techniques of late Beethoven, links Classical form to Romantic expression," writes Lucy Miller.

[7] After the Adagio introduction, the quartet breaks into a tumultuous Allegro Vivace in Sonata form in A minor.

The lilting theme in the first violin, with pizzicato accompaniment in the other instruments, recalls the A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture and scherzo movements from many of Mendelssohn's chamber works.

The motif of Mendelssohn's song "Ist es wahr?", and the motif as it appears in the opening Adagio of the quartet.
The fugal motifs from the slow movements of Mendelssohn's Opus 13 (top) and Beethoven's Opus 95 (bottom). Second violin and viola parts are shown.
The theme of the Intermezzo movement, with lyrical violin theme and pizzicato accompaniment
The violin cadenzas, with tremolo accompaniment, that introduce the final movements of the Mendelssohn quartet (top) and the Beethoven Opus 132 (bottom). First and second violin parts shown.
The themes of the finales of the Mendelssohn quartet and Beethoven Opus 132. Note the cello parts and the interlocking inner voices (viola part in the Mendelssohn, second violin in the Beethoven. Fourth part not shown).