Contrapunctus

Maurice Ravel / V. The French Line

String Quartet

1902–⁠03 · Two violins, viola and cello

Themes from the opening return in all four movements. In the scherzo the quartet plays largely pizzicato, with groupings of two and three beats set against each other.

6 min

Recording

  1. II. Assez vif — Très rythméString players of the United States Army Band
    5:50

    The second movement of Ravel’s String Quartet in F major, Assez vif — Très rythmé, is a scherzo that opens with a dance in A minor played on plucked strings. Bowed melodies enter above the quick notes, and a muted cello leads into a slow middle section.

    Listening notes · joins
    1. Opening pizzicato, bars 1–⁠4

      The two violins and viola begin pizzicato. The first violin leaps from A to E, then moves through C and D, and the cello enters a bar later. Ravel marks the movement très rythmé, with sharp accents placed across the beat.

    2. First violin melody over pizzicato

      The first violin plays high above the pizzicato accompaniment, pianissimo and bien chanté. Its line falls from E through D♯ to C♯, then rises again. Four bars later the viola takes up the melody.

    3. Dedication to Fauré, 1903

      Ravel completed the quartet in April 1903 and dedicated it to Gabriel Fauré. He had lost his formal place at the Paris Conservatoire, but still attended Fauré’s composition class as an auditor.

    4. Lent, cello melody with mutes

      All four instruments are muted. At Lent (bar 89) the cello plays a high line marked p très expressif while the first violin rests. The viola takes over at bar 95, and the melody passes between the lower instruments before it returns to the violins.

    5. First performance, Paris, 1904

      The Heymann Quartet gave the première on 5 March 1904 at a Société nationale de musique concert in Paris. Ravel wrote no second quartet. Throughout the work the four players change between plucking, bowing and playing with mutes.

    6. First violin on the G string

      At bar 104 the first violin plays the figure again, low on its G string, mf expressive. It descends E♭–D♭–C, then rises through D♭ to E♭. The cello holds A♭ beneath it.

    7. Return of the pizzicato opening

      The opening dance returns fortissimo. The first violin leaps upwards through A and E while the cello moves between A, E and G. With the mutes off, all four players are plucking again.

    8. Fermata and final chord

      The tempo slows (retenu), and soft pizzicato notes stop at a fermata over rests. At a Tempo the players play the final chord of A minor, fortissimo, and cut it short.

    Joins

    1. The cello leads into the Lent

      In bars 84–⁠89 the upper strings leave an A minor chord and put on mutes while the cello alternates A and G♯ below them. After a bar of rest under a fermata in bar 88, the cello is muted too. Two flats enter the signature at Lent, and the cello begins a high melody while the first violin rests.

    2. Return of A minor at bar 150

      At Tempo 1 the original tempo returns and all four players remove their mutes. Pizzicato fragments lead to the return of the opening dance at bar 150. There, at fortissimo, the first violin leaps through A and E above the cello’s A–E–A figure, and the viola continues its quavers in groups of three.

    Open in the Concert Hall, with the score

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