I. Allegro
II. Andantino
III. Allegro scherzando
IV. Finale. Allegro assai con fuoco


Johan Severin Svendsen was born in 1840 in a a poor quarter of Piberviken, in Christiania (now Oslo). His parents were from the countryside and they divorced when Johan was young (around 11 years old) with his mother moving back to the country whilst Johan opted to stay with his father in Christiania (he stayed in contact throughout his life, though) . This early turmoil (both financially and emotionally) was to have an effect on Svendsen throughout his life as, arguably, finances and struggles with relationships disrupted his compositional creativity. Svendsen always struggled to handle any success and had a poor attitude to women (it was rumoured by close friends that he kept a 'conquest' list of women he'd slept with - the Norwegian Gene Simmons)!
His dad was a violinist, violist and cornetist in the military band at Akershus and he was constantly surrounded by music with his father teaching him violin and clarinet. Johan became a multi-instrumentalist, like his father, but his instrument of choice was always the violin and from 1856 to 1862 he also served in the Akershus military band, playing a number of instruments. Whilst in Christiania, he composed some waltzes, marches and polkas, most featureing quotations from Norwegian folk music. During this time Svendsen was influenced by continental art music and he made around 80 arrangements for string
quartet, in Christiania, and during a long trip to Leipzig. He had studied Beethoven's quartets extensively, with an early teacher, Carl Arnold, and identified Beethoven as a significant initial influence. We know little about Svendsen's other compositional training from the time.
Although fairly skint, in 1862 he left Christiania, without warning, abandoning a good position in the military band and set off abroad. He lived hand to mouth as he travelled through Sweden, Denmark and North Germany for ten months, playing music in bars, serving with a theatre company and even doing some teaching and private tuition as well. He continued to compose dance music, a handful of songs, some string quartet
arrangements and the Caprice JSV 29 for orchestra and violin obligato. After a while Svendsen gave up his travels and asked the Swedish-Norwegian counsellor in Lübeck, Carl Leche, to ask for financial help to return home. Leche immediately recognised Svendsen’s artistic skills and managed to get him a scholarship from the king. This allowed Svendsen to enlist at the Leipzig Conservatory in December 1863 (years later he dedicated his First Symphony to Leche).
Svendsen’s biggest ambition was to be a solo violinist but this was interrupted by a neural disease that affected his little finger of his left hand so he shifted his focus to composition, in Leipzig. Between 1863 and 1867, he composed the string quartet we will be looking at in this blog and two of
his most successful works, the String Octet in A major, op. 3 and his 1st Symphony in D major, op. 4. He studied composition under Reinecke and met his fellow countryman and lifelong friend, Edvard Grieg. He was also receiving considerable acclaim for his conducting in Leipzig.
He spent 1867 till 1872 working in both Paris and Leipzig where he composed
the Violin Concerto in A major, op. 6, the Cello Concerto, op. 7, the two
symphonic single-movement works Sigurd Slembe, op. 8 and Carnival in Paris, op.9 but his productivity was affected by his rough living conditions in Paris (in a letter to his friend, Grieg, he called his existence in Paris a ‘dog’s life’).
Although notoriously rather loose with his relationships, he surprisingly married the Jewish American singer Sarah Levett in New York, in 1871 and they spent the summer of 1872 in Bayreuth, where Svendsen played in Wagner’s orchestra and became a firm family friend of the Wagners.
His new wife came from a wealthier background and already had a son from a previous marriage. Wagner persuaded both to get baptised with Richard and Cosima Wagner acting as godparents. Svenden's wife Sarah took the Nordic name Bergljot and by later 1872, the new family settled in the Norwegian capital.
Together with Grieg, Svendsen ran Musikforeningen (The Music Society), which held and organised orchestral and chamber concerts. Svendsen continued to compose in Christiania and made arrangements for string orchestra based on Icelandic, Swedish and Norwegian folk melodies. In 1874, he and Grieg successfully applied to the Norwegian Parliament for an annual stipend, becoming the first Norwegian composers to receive such a distinction.
From the autumn of 1877 to the spring of 1880, the Svendsen family were mainly living in Paris, via London, Leipzig and Rome but in letters to Grieg, Johan complained about little compositional activity during this time.
From spring, 1880 to the summer, 1883, Svendsen was living in Christiania again and had got his compositional (and sexual) mojo back and it was at this time that he accepted the post of conductor at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, where he would remain for the rest of his life. This proved to be a very successful but turbulent time. He was repeatedly invited to conduct abroad and he became so popular that he is still regarded as a 'legend' in Danish music mainly due to his reputation as a conductor rather than as a composer. He claimed, again, that his job stilted his compositional prowess and he completed only eleven known works over the last decades of his life. However other friends opined that he had a creative ‘breakdown’ after taking the job in Copenhagen but this also coincided with a chaotic time in his marriage where his wife Sarah burned sketches for his 3rd symphony in a jealous rage (not the whole manuscript as has often been the story). The pair separated the following year after John's numerous infedilities were uncovered.
In 1901 he married Juliette Haase and fathered three children from this marriage.
Svendsen's later years were marred by illness, financial issues and alcoholism but he remained a hugely respected man right up to his death at age 70.
Svendsen was a keen advocate of Tchaikovsky's music and corresponded with the Russian composer during the 1890s. Although the two never met it seems the admiration was mutual and Svendsen's works were very popular in Russia during this period. His (almost state) funeral, on 1883, was a big event in Christiania.
Svendsen was never more than a moderately productive composer and all of Svendsen's chamber music was written while he was at the Leipzig Conservatory, The String Quartet in A Minor was composed in 1865 and premiered on May 21st, the same year, by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Quartet, at a graduation concert. It was published in 1868, in Leipzig, and dedicated to his father, Gulbrand Svendsen. It created quite a stir on its premiere and great critical acclaim. Svendsen simply called the new work "my debut as a composer" .
The first movement Allegro has a syncopated main theme that is unmistakably Scandinavian and Griegesque. As it continues the music becomes denser and quasi-orchestral until a loud crescendo. A period of counterpoint then ensues and the music takes on a darker tone before lightening and being interrupted by a jarring, stuttering phrase
You can certainly tell this is a work written by someone familiar with orchestral weight and colours.
The 2nd movement, Andantino, takes us into the key of E Major with 2 more Nordic themes of folk-like melodies. The mood is contemplative, relaxed and lyrical and there's not the melancholy expected (no bad thing). Again it's Svendsen's imaginative textures, rhythms and sudden off-tangent excursions that are appealing. This keeps the music fresh and stops it getting bogged down in repetition or sameness.
The 3rd movement scherzo is either based on yet another Nordic folk tune or a sailors hornpipe (the latter seems the most likely) . It's smiling, earworm melody is lovely and again there's some quasi-orchestral phrasing and unison writing. The trio offers contrast with a quite romantic playfulness to it before we return to the even happier earlier theme but this time with a nice wandering cello and contrasting viola. Eventually it ends with the melody restated in pizzicato.
The finale, Allegro assai con fuoco, immediately grabs you by the waist to take you for a giddy Hungarian dance. A slower more lyrical 2nd theme juxtaposes before we return to that whirling Nordic maelstrom and then back again into slower music. Svendsen's control of these 2 contrasting themes is very cleverly executed and to conclude the movement (and quartet) Svendson combines both in a zippy and high effective coda.
It's a nice work and pleasingly Svendsen has a solidly individual style that makes listening to this work more of a pleasure rather than an endurance.
There's only two recordings that I'm aware of and both of these are easily recommendable.
The Kontra Quartet's mid-90s effort, on BIS, is (as expected) quite reverberant (as are ALL the Kontra's recordings). This is both a positive and slight negative to this music as it fleshes out the textures and symphonic elements in the work but obscures a little of the quartet's inner detail. However the reverberance isn't bad and they have the edge over the competition in livewire accounts of the 1st and 3rd movements, especially, where their brisker pacing and more alive playing puts a smile on my face. At the moment this has a tiny edge for me.
The more idiosyncratic Oslo Quartet, on CPO, opt for greater transparency and this works very effectively in the 2nd and 4th movements (their finale is particularly impressive). CPO's recording is up to its usual high standard and regardless of which quartet you choose you will not be disappointed with either this or the Kontra. Why not get both? Seriously, it's a case of small margins so check both out on streaming and find the one that appeals the most.