String Quartet in G minor CG 565

The shaky writing of the manuscript for this quartet (which resurfaced in 1993) dates it to 1891/1892; the existence of parts suggests the work received a premiere. There is a sense in this quartet that Gounod wanted the writing to be more radical, so much so that it occasionally verges on dry abstraction, as if Gounod was keen to eradicate the melodic bent of the opera composer which was still apparent in the earlier quartets. This work is completely dominated by the Beethovenian model. The first subject driving the Allegro forward seems to seethe with an anger that prevents it from arriving at the tonic. A fugato with shifting chromaticisms then struggles to reach the relative major. The development is the scene of a struggle between openness and closure. The initial chromaticism of the Adagio paves the way for the emergence of an intensely restrained consolatory theme. It provides the refrain and response of this movement, whose restless, distorted and increasingly lyrical questions form the three couplets. The Scherzo is simple in the extreme. A two-bar diatonic motif, in crotchets, alternating dotted and tied notes, on the fifth and first degrees, is subjected to gradual or sudden changes and passed tirelessly from one instrument to another. The Finale immediately introduces the main motif, which has all the energy of a cadential formula and prevails over the second motif, which is more richly chromatic and calmer in nature. The work finishes in the major with a bang, as if it had just managed to escape the attacks mounted by the minor in the nick of time.