String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80

The quartet opens with tremolo, a rapid quivering of the bow, under an anguished melody in F minor, setting a tone of agitation rare in Mendelssohn's chamber music.

I. Allegro vivace assai drives forward with restless energy and sudden sharp accents, never settling into calm.

II. Allegro assai, taking the place of a scherzo, is tense and clipped rather than playful, its rhythms biting and unsettled.

III. Adagio brings the only real respite, a slow, searching movement where the four instruments seem to console one another, though even here the mood stays somber.

IV. Finale, Allegro molto returns to the storm of the opening, with driving rhythms and tremolo passages that push the music toward a hard-edged, unresolved close. Listen for how little the music smiles throughout, and for the way short, urgent phrases replace the lyrical, songful lines typical of Mendelssohn's earlier quartets. The overall arc moves from turbulence, through a brief interior stillness, back to turbulence, ending with conviction rather than comfort.

Mendelssohn composed this quartet in the summer of 1847, in the weeks after the sudden death of his beloved sister, Fanny Hensel, herself a composer. He was reportedly overwhelmed by grief, and the music that resulted is far more turbulent and dark than his earlier, more polished chamber works. It would prove to be the last major piece he completed. Mendelssohn died just months later, in November 1847, and the quartet was published posthumously. Since then it has stood apart in his output for its rawness, and performers and listeners alike have long heard it as a direct musical response to personal loss.