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Must it be? Life in a Quartet – the meaning of this title may not be self-evident at first glance, but it contains the essence of this slender volume by Sonia Simmenauer. ‘Must it be?’ is a quotation from Ludwig van Beethoven who wrote these words beneath a motif in the score of his String Quartet No. 16. Sonia Simmenauer, a writer and agent specializing in string quartets has asked herself the same question, which she then goes on to answer in 140 pages. But why does she choose to ask this particular question? The decision to play in a string quartet has many consequences. For one thing chamber music is not the gateway to great wealth, while it does call for complete concentration and dedication. The readiness to share one’s professional life with three other musicians means exposing oneself to their influence – both as professional musicians and as human beings. In a string quartet there is in fact no clear dividing line between professional and private life. ‘Life in a quartet’ is very demanding. And in Must it be? Life in a Quartet, the writer, who is both an enthusiast and an expert, is able to give us fascinating insights into this way of life.
Sonia Simmenauer has run a concert agency since 1989. The ensembles she has looked after include such famous names as the Guarneri Quartet, the Alban Berg Quartet and the Tokyo String Quartet. As an agent, she occupies the middle ground between the concert organizers and the musicians. This means that she is well versed in the rules of everyday business, while remaining alert to the artists’ needs. In practical terms, this means she has to reconcile conflicting demands. How to plan a concert tour so that it will be a financial success, but without committing the musicians to too many engagements and exposing them to too many stresses and strains. Simmenauer regards herself as a mediator in her work and she adopts this stance in her book as well. Reading her account makes movingly clear that she has devoted her life to this form of music-making. But equally she has succeeded brilliantly in the task of taking a step back and exploring her theme analytically so that even the outsider, the ‘non-initiated’ reader will be able to grasp the internal mechanics of a string quartet.
It quickly becomes clear that the world of the string quartet functions according to laws of its own. For example, the average age of the audience is normally upwards of sixty. As a rule, it consists of musicians who are themselves highly knowledgeable about the repertoire. They not infrequently sit listening to the performance with the score and a pencil to hand in order to make a note of idiosyncratic interpretations on the spot. Few laymen stray into such concerts since works for string quartet are reputed to be difficult, if not altogether inaccessible. Recitals are frequently organized by private societies and friends of chamber music who provide their services on a voluntary basis.
The musicians, in contrast, are professionals. For the rigorous form of the string quartet has always acted as a challenge to composers. Because the instruments are fixed in advance, the emphasis has always been on the precise coordination of the individual voices. This gives the composer the opportunity to develop his own musical idiom. It follows that the core of the string quartet consists of ‘the subtle musical dialogue between the instruments’. This makes huge demands on the performers’ expertise. It is incumbent on them to put the stamp of their own individual personality on their interpretation.
But how do four musicians with three different instruments go about acquiring a common style? This question goes to the heart of Simmenauer’s discussion of the ‘essence’ of the string quartet. The tension between individualism and the group has to find its resolution. The quartet must succeed in harmonizing four individual voices and welding them into a single unity. The problem is to discover how ‘music can lead four fundamentally dissimilar people to create a unity that does justice to all the shades of differences between them, both human and musical… The task is to merge the musical palettes of four different individuals in such a way as to highlight the colours that will work most effectively and to define the tone that will characterize them best as a quartet.’
The musicians must also share the responsibility for their colleagues’ professional status and financial situation. The author refers to this as the ‘harmonization of their destinies’ as human beings. For this mutual dependency seeps into their private lives. What happens when a member of the quartet falls in love? What are the implications when one player starts a family and wants to give up touring? All these eventualities have to be catered for while enabling the quartet to maintain its equilibrium.
The author repeatedly points out that developments in the nature of the quartet have a wider significance. One example is the change in the function of the first violin. Up to the middle of the twentieth century the first violin played a dominant role. As a result of more general social change, the first violin now continues to play the top line in the score but this is not held to imply any position of power. Simmenauer concludes from this that the string quartet ‘is an ideal instance of democracy in practice’, since the four players now regard one another as equal partners. A violinist such as Gidon Kremer goes even further: ‘The complexity of musical expression in a quartet fulfils my idea of a life model which sets the scene for an encounter between a number of individual voices and balance or harmony. I see this as not only reflecting realities in the present but as a pinnacle in our efforts to achieve something better and more inclusive….’
Sonia Simmenauer succeeds in shedding light on the phenomenon of the string quartet from many angles. In preparing the book, she interviewed a number of musicians and composers whose opinions she quotes liberally. This results in a vivid picture that allows us to experience the passion and zeal with which she has followed her profession and gives a very personal feel to Must it be? Life in a Quartet. After a highly illuminating and entertaining read there can be only one answer: Yes, it must be.
Eva Kaufmann
November 2008
[Translated by Rodney Livingstone]
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