Short String Quartet Exercise (Based on Beethoven's String Quartet 15)

Hello everyone,

This is a short string quartet I just composed. However, I would not call it my own since it is strongly based on the introduction and first part of the exposition from Beethoven's string quartet No.15 Op 132.  After a long musical hiatus I found some time again for studying music. Sadly, I will be able to study only around an hour per day so, since It would take me ages to compose an original piece like that, I decided to focus for sometime on analyzing pieces and "copying them out" through exercises like this one.

As I said, the piece has been composed as a way of practicing and most ideas are based (strongly) on the original piece. Of course, it would not make sense to just copy things out so I recomposed them with my own melodies and motives (even though most motives are also similar). The exercise has been composed with no clear structure in mind. However, the structure could be understood as a "weird" exposition of the first theme of a sonata which ends up being played in the relative major instead of the original key.

m.1-10: Introduction. Really similar to the original quartet from Beethoven but I started with a different motive and developed the choral-like counterpoint accordingly. There are two interesting features: three uses of the augmented second interval in m.3, m.6 and m.7, and a Neapolitan chord (tritone substitution) in m7.

m11-15: Introduction of the first theme in original key (Am) but moving rapidly to Dm.

m.16-22: First theme again in original key of Am but stopping abruptly.

m.23-31: The same theme, this time stated more assertively but in Cmaj, the relative major (here, the viola and cello accompaniment are based on the accompaniment of the second theme from Beethoven's original quartet). 

Since improving without any feedback is not easy, I share this here in case anyone has anything to comment on. Any feedback is more than appreciated.

Thank you!

Wow - this is a good exercise and it's different enough from the original to not be trivial.  Even though you use similar themes you change the accompaniment.  I think what would also be beneficial for you is to try and compose simple binary or ternary forms with simple melodies that you come up with yourself and then you could expand into sonatina form and eventually sonata form as well (many on this website have taken this route such as @Papageno and @Yuchanbot).  By the way - a Neapolitan chord does not function as a tritone substitution in the classical era.  It usually appears in first inversion (in the key of C with an F in the bass) and functions as a predominant chord (so more as a more chromatic substitute for the subdominant).  Thanks for sharing!  The rendition sounds excellent although when I compare it to the Beethoven - the original seems to have more oomph to the dynamics and accents.

Yes, very Beethovenesque and a good exercise. Nice wide range of dynamics but I felt Violin 1 was a little weak in the rendering. Its entries could have been a little clearer. But that's just my opinion.

Agree with PeterthePaperComposer about the Neapolitan 6th, really a IIa but it can be used for some nice remote modulations. His advice is great. 

10 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Wow - this is a good exercise and it's different enough from the original to not be trivial.  Even though you use similar themes you change the accompaniment.  I think what would also be beneficial for you is to try and compose simple binary or ternary forms with simple melodies that you come up with yourself and then you could expand into sonatina form and eventually sonata form as well (many on this website have taken this route such as @Papageno and @Yuchanbot).  By the way - a Neapolitan chord does not function as a tritone substitution in the classical era.  It usually appears in first inversion (in the key of C with an F in the bass) and functions as a predominant chord (so more as a more chromatic substitute for the subdominant).  Thanks for sharing!  The rendition sounds excellent although when I compare it to the Beethoven - the original seems to have more oomph to the dynamics and accents.

 

I am glad you liked the exercise 🙂 I was a little bit afraid of hash reactions because of it being based on a Beethoven's string quartet, I am glad my intention was well understood. Yes, I agree with you, I also think that is the best way of going abut learning forms. I composed mostly minuets but only in one, two, and three voices. Now in four voices I feel I am somewhat competent with counterpoint and voice leading, but I am having a lot of troubles for coming up with different textures and types of accompaniment. That is why I decided to focus on that for some time. After that I will surely keep on composing on simple forms, particularly I want to give Scherzo and Rondo a chance. I have lots to learn, I am still not even sure about the difference between Scherzo and Minuet hahaha😅.

You are right about the Neapolitan chord. I tend to think about both the Neapolitan and the Titrone substitution chord as being similar for ease of though, but you are right the Neapolitan is more of a chromatic variation of the second degree. I guess the closest to the tritone substitution that can be found in classical music is the V7b5 (the chord in m.7 could be understood as a rootless V7b5, I guess).

I am still planning to use a DAW and mix the sounds myself to make realistic versions of what I compose, but for this rendering I did not go through any kind of pre or post production process. I used a program called Staffpad which is a tablet-based tactile music notation software. I used an in-app third party sound library and the rendered sound is the output of the software's playback function.

Thanks for commenting!

8 hours ago, Quinn said:

Yes, very Beethovenesque and a good exercise. Nice wide range of dynamics but I felt Violin 1 was a little weak in the rendering. Its entries could have been a little clearer. But that's just my opinion.

Agree with PeterthePaperComposer about the Neapolitan 6th, really a IIa but it can be used for some nice remote modulations. His advice is great.

Yes, I feel the same about Violin 1 and even about Violin 2. Also, the Cello is a little muddy at times. I used DAWs long ago to render some of my pieces but I lack the time for doing it now, so this rendering is actually coming out directly from a notation program called Staffpad. I compose on Sibelius, but I input it into that other program at the end because I love how its third-party libraries sound (specially the strings). As a result, I have very limited control over the rendered output. However, I guess the sound will improve as I get the hang of the notation software (been using it for only a few days now). 

Thanks for commenting Quinn!