1800-1826 Beethoven String Quartets

Question 1

Name each of the early-period string quartets by Beethoven and discuss the commission and premiere of these works.

Answer 1

• 6 String Quartets, Op.18 (1798-1800)
  
  • No.1 in F
  • No.2 in G
  • No.3 in D
  • No.4 in c
  • No.5 in A
  • No.6 in B-flat
• Commissioned by Prince Franz Joseph Lobkowitz
• Lobkowitz also commissioned Haydn to write six string quartets at the same time, though Haydn only finished two (Op.77, Nos.1-2, Hob.III:81-2, “Lobkowitz” quartets, 1799).
• Beethoven’s music would have been directly compared to that of Mozart and Haydn because it was performed in the same court.
• First performed at the Lobkowitz court by the Schuppanzigh quartet consisting of Ignaz Schuppanzigh (first violin), Louis Sina (second violin), Franz Weiss (viola), and Nikolaus Kraft (cello, son of Antonín Kraft who was Haydn’s principal cellist). The quartet was coached at a young age (all were 16) by Haydn.

Question 2

Name each of the middle-period string quartets by Beethoven.

Answer 2

• 3 String Quartets “Razumovsky”, Op.59 (1806)
  
  • No.1 in F
  • No.2 in e
  • No.3 in C
• String Quartet in E-flat “Harp”, Op.74 (1809)
• String Quartet in f “Serioso”, Op.95 (1810)

Question 3

Name each of the late-period string quartets by Beethoven.

Answer 3

• String Quartet in E-flat, Op.127 (1823/24)
• String Quartet in a, Op.132 (1825)
• String Quartet in B-flat, Op.130 (1825)
• Große Fuge for String Quartet in B-flat, Op.133 (1826)
• String Quartet in c-sharp, Op.131 (1826)
• String Quartet in F, Op.135 (1826)

Question 4

Piece: string quartet by Beethoven, 18/5.

Answer 4

String Quartet in A, Op.18, No.5 (1798-1800)

• Some parallels have been drawn between this quartet and Mozart’s String Quartet in A, K464, which Beethoven had recently studied, however the differences in character between them are far greater than their mostly structural similarities.
• A circle of fifths cantus firmus appears in the first movement and reappears in the fourth, switched from accompaniment to melody simultaneously with a similar pastoral counter-melody in a switched role.
• 1. Allegro (6/8, A major, sonata form): Pastoral carefree fresh character with fairy-like themes, mischievous like the fairy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The primary theme leaves its imprint in almost every corner of the movement. Second theme mysteriously appears in unison on minor dominant.
• 2. Menuetto & Trio (3/4, A major, ternary form): Seemingly conventional, but it is not long before ambiguities which match his individual brand of humor interrupt the even flow of the music - a 6-bar tantrum in C# minor, for example, brings the dance to a complete standstill. The Trio shifts form the elegance of a ballroom to the good cheer of a country inn, as the melody is pulled out of shape by sforzandi on the third beat of every bar.
• 3. Andante cantabile (2/4, D Major, variations): Few mention the simplicity of many of Beethoven’s melodic ideas, no doubt a direct result of his improvisatory skills. The first variation is a fugato, immediately leaving behind the traditional gradual introduction of contrapuntal variations. Each of the four instruments are introduced in turn, demonstrating gracefully Beethoven’s acknowledgement of the full involvement of each instrument. A full spectrum of colors is achieved; the fourth variation is exquisitely soft with chromatic harmonies and strange modulations while the fifth is ecstatic with a hearty, tub-thumping cello part.
• 4. Allegro (cut time, A major, rondo form): A similar mischievous character compared to the first movement. Measure 44 contains the cantus firmus previously discussed. It ends softly.

Question 5

Piece: string quartet by Beethoven, 59/1.

Answer 5

String Quartet in F “Razumovsky”, Op.59, No.1 (1806)
- Commissioned by Count Andreas Razumovsky, the Russian ambassador in Vienna, around the time of the Battle of Austerlitz. Both Austrians and Russians suffered a catastrophic defeat against Napoleon; for this reason, the Count suggested that Beethoven include a Russian song in each quartet.
- Again, premiered by the Schuppanzigh quartet
Razumovsky would sometimes play second violin in the quartet.
- Beethoven called them his ‘new violin quartets.’
- Over forty minutes long in a typical performance, whereas most of Beethoven’s earlier quartets lasted twenty-five to thirty minutes.
- The works were received with amazement, even at times amusement, by those who first heard them, finding here a further example of Beethoven’s music-madness. The quartets are certainly unexpected, in contemporary terms, and certainly very much longer and more demanding than any audience at the time might have expected, however familiar the idiom may now sound.
- This quartet notoriously requires a greatly expanded technical repertoire. By 1806, while Beethoven was a known quantity in many elite circles, his universal popularity as a composer had not been established. Scholars posit that the greater demands on technical ability served not only to widen the ever-increasing gap, as it were, between amateurs and professionals but also to propel Beethoven into the public eye as a composer of “serious music.”
- 1. Allegro (common time, F major, sonata form): Famous cello opening of the first movement: The opening cello melody is tonally ambiguous, with the first cadence establishing the key of F major only occurring several bars into the movement. The opening bars seem simple enough, but prove to be highly complex as the movement unfolds. It is easy to admire such an appealing melody for the cello, and at the same time be surprised by the apparent naivety of the accompaniment of repeated eighth notes and very basic harmonies. The combination of slow harmonic motion and rhythmic energy is very characteristic of Beethoven. The movement is in broadly classical form, with exposition, development and recapitulation, and in the first section there is, once the opening subject and the material connected with it have been dealt with, a second theme, in C major, and a closing passage that makes further use of the principal theme. This last continues to hold importance in the complex development, which itself includes a fugal exposition, a passage in which, starting with the second violin, instrument after instrument enters in imitation Fragments of the first subject have long suggested its return and it does finally appear in full recapitulation, again introduced by the cello. The second subject is now entrusted to the viola, while it is again the opening figure of the principal theme that forms the substance of the coda.
- 2. Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando (3/8, B-flat major, sonata form): The second movement, a very individual scherzo, tested the credulity of its first audience with what seemed to be a first theme, played by the cello, all on one note. The key is now B flat and the second violin answers the cello, the first violin the viola, in music that continues with sudden shifts of key and interruptions, all in an innovative tripartite form, like the first movement. There is an extended first subject group, followed at length by an F minor second subject. The effect of the movement depends on the strange juxtapositions of remoter harmonies, something that even finds a place in the harmonic contradictions of the closing bars.
- 3. Adagio molto e mesto (2/4, F minor, sonata form): The F minor slow movement starts with the first violin’s theme of tender introspection, echoed by the cello. Again in the three sections of sonata form, the second theme is in C minor, so that the whole movement continues largely in a mood of meditative melancholy, occasionally lightened by a brief shaft of sunlight, before the first violin leads the way to a concluding trill that serves to introduce the finale.
- 4. Allegro (2/4, F major, sonata form): A place is at last found for the “Thème russe” in the last movement. This is first entrusted to the cello, approached attacca from the third movement, and in its initial suggestion of a modal D minor contradicts the F major key of the quartet. The theme is then played by each instrument in turn. Here again two subjects are introduced in an exposition, the second of some harmonic ambiguity. The exposition is repeated, as it had not been in the first movement, and the development follows, with its harmonic changes, over an opening first violin trill. The material of the exposition returns, now with a fugal section to introduce the final section, which leads the way to the Russian theme, now played perhaps slower than it would ever have been sung, much as earlier it been heard at a much faster speed. This brief Adagio ma non troppo is capped by a short final Presto for the nine bars that provide a clear F major ending to the work.

Question 6

Piece: string quartet by Beethoven, 127.

Answer 6

String Quartet in E-flat, Op.127 (1823/24)

• Prince Nikolay Borisovich Golitsin, a keen amateur cellist and composer, commissioned Beethoven to write up to three string quartets and to “name his price.” These three works are Op.127, Op.130, and Op.132.
• The first of Beethoven’s late-period quartets. At this point, the string quartet overtook the symphony as the “new ideal of absolute music.”
• Premiered by a reassembled Schuppanzigh quartet with a new second violinist, Karl Holz.
• Since this and other late chamber music works were so complex and challenging, scores began being published alongside individual parts so that works could be studied and understood more thoroughly. They were also presented in concert sometimes as double performances to give the audience a second opportunity to hear new works.
• An attractive feature of this work is that each movement has its own slow introduction and each is in a completely different character.
• Four movements in the traditional 4-movement form: sonata form w/slow intro (Eflat) - enormous slow variations (Aflat) - scherzo (Eflat) - sonata with extra ending section (Eflat)
• 1. Maestoso - Allegro (2/4 and 3/4, E-flat major, sonata form): The first movement is twice interrupted – just before the development of the sonata form begins, and when that section is almost but not quite over – by recurrences of the opening’s Maestoso music.
• 2. Adagio, ma non troppo e molto cantabile (12/8 and common time, A♭ major, variations): The immense second movement is in the subdominant key of A♭ major and features staggered entrances of the instruments; this is a common technique Beethoven also utilizes in other late quartet slow movements (e.g. 1st movement of Op.131, 1st and 3rd movements of Op.132, 3rd movement of Op.135). It consists of a set of six variations and a coda. The first variation is in 12/8 meter with darker harmonies and quick changes in dynamics. The second variation increases the tempo to andante con moto and adjusts the meter to 4/4. Here, the two violins engage in a dialogue over staccato accompaniment. The third variation shifts to E major, enharmonically the flat submediant, and the tempo shifts to a hymn-like adagio molto espressivo. The fourth variation returns to 12/8 and drops a half-step to the dominant key of E♭ major. This variation has a codetta which transitions the key to D♭ major in preparation for the next variation. The fifth variation is sotto voce and has been called a “mysterious episode” and begins in D♭ major and transitions to the parallel C♯ minor. The recapitulatory sixth variation returns to 12/8, presents only half of the theme and connects directly to the coda. The penultimate variation recapitulates the theme after a contrasting section in the submediant, while the final variation restores the tonic (Aflat) and basic thematic material after an episode in the subdominant. Beethoven based this tonal progression on the finale of the Ninth Symphony (Op. 125) where the orchestral double fugue episode in B♭ is followed by the “grand” variation for full orchestra and choir in D major, followed by the “Seid umschlungen” episode in G major, which moves into the choral double fugue in the tonic D major.
• 3. Scherzando vivace (3/4, E-flat major, ternary form): The shortest slow introduction of any of the movements (4 pizzicato chords). The scherzo (marked vivace) is in Eflat and is occasionally interrupted by mysterious slower Allegro sections. Beethoven indicates to often feel groups of 3 bars (‘Ritmo di tre battute’). The scherzo’s trio is a Presto of a kind Beethoven did not use very often, in an extremely very fast 3/4.
• 4. Finale. *No tempo indication (cut time, E-flat major, sonata form): No tempo indication, but the pastoral character likely suggests a moderate tempo. The Finale is split into two parts: the first is a complete sonata form movement and the second (Allegro con moto, 6/8, C major) is a shorter dance section which develops the primary theme of the movement. It ends in the tonic key of E-flat major.
• Beethoven initially planned two additional movements: one between the first and second, and another between the third and fourth.

Question 7

Piece: string quartet by Beethoven, 132.

Answer 7

String Quartet in a, Op.132 (1825)

• Prince Nikolay Borisovich Golitsin, a keen amateur cellist and composer, commissioned Beethoven to write up to three string quartets and to “name his price.” These three works are Op.127, Op.130, and Op.132.
• 5 movements: very modified sonata form w/slow intro (a) - minuet & trio (A) - very long, both slow (F lydian mode) and less slow (D) - short march (A) and recitative - sonata rondo (a to A)
• Premiered by Schuppanzigh quartet following a serious illness which Beethoven overcame.
• Thematic links between the opening bars and semitone motives in the Kreutzer Sonata, C Minor String Trio, or the Große Fuge.
• 1. Assai sostenuto (cut to common time, A minor, modified sonata form): The slow introduction to the first movement, like that of the thirteenth quartet, is based on a motif that recurs throughout the late quartets and in the Große Fuge as well, the half step. The movement’s unusual structure is more of a triple exposition than a normal sonata form. With three statements of exposition material (including recap), it mimics the repeat seen in classical sonata form expositions, but adds the extra interest of a presentation in a different key and different registral possibilities. This movement is in a very modified sonata form.
• 2. Allegro ma non tanto (3/4, A major, ternary form): A minuet with trio in A, rather than the scherzo with repeated trio. The opening features half step and leaping intervals which are similar to the opening of the 1st movement. The trio evokes a musette with its melodies over sustained tonic (here, A) tones.
• 3. Molto adagio - Andante (common time and 3/8, F lydian mode and D Major, un-defined structure which alternates between slow tempos) Beethoven wrote this piece after recovering from a serious illness which he had feared was fatal because he had been afflicted with intestinal disorder during the entire winter of 1824-5. He thus headed the movement with the words, “Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart” (Holy song of thanksgiving of a convalescent to the Deity, in the Lydian Mode). The longest in the quartet (15 to 20 minutes in duration). Formally described, it alternates slow sections in a modal F with faster sections, “Neue Kraft fühlend” (feeling new strength), in D. The slow sections each have two elements, (1) a passage reminiscent of the opening of the first movement in which the instruments overlap each other with a brief motive; (2) a chorale, the actual song. In the three instances of the slow section, the overlapping motives become increasingly complex rhythmically, while the chorale is pared down, and the two elements become increasingly integrated. There is a characteristic intensification of the head-motif toward the end of the movement.
• 4. Alla marcia, assai vivace (common time, A major, shot transition movement): A brief (2-minute) march in A major which leads directly into the rondo-finale through a recitative passage.
• 5. Allegro appassionato (3/4, A minor, sonata rondo form): It is in Sonata Rondo form (ABACABA). The cello writing in this movement is particularly difficult; it contains some of the few examples in the quartets of melodic material in the higher register. One finds in Beethoven’s sketches that the theme like that of the theme of this rondo was originally meant for an instrumental conclusion to his Ninth Symphony. This theme was abandoned, for the famous choral ending with which we are familiar. This A minor rondo ends in A major.

Question 8

Piece: string quartet by Beethoven, 130.

Answer 8

String Quartet in B-flat, Op.130 (1825)

• 6 movements: opening (Bflat) - dance movement (bflat) - slow movement (Dflat) - dance movement (G) - slow movement (Eflat) - ‘little’ finale (Bflat).
• Prince Nikolay Borisovich Golitsin, a keen amateur cellist and composer, commissioned Beethoven to write up to three string quartets and to “name his price.” These three works are Op.127, Op.130, and Op.132.
• Mixed reactions and his publisher’s suggestion convinced Beethoven to substitute a different final movement to replace the original Große Fuge. This new finale was written between September and November 1826—and is thus the last substantial piece of composition Beethoven completed before his death.
• The colourful and varied nature of each movement of Op.130 form almost a suite-like or narrative-like overall composition. It is this element of surprise that gives this piece its unique character and its particular appeal.
• 1. Adagio ma non troppo - Allegro (3/4 and common time, B-flat major, sonata form mix of a slow and fast movement): Begins with a slow introduction which contains rich, deeply voiced chording, reminiscent of Russian Orthodox choirs, with frequent subito piano dynamics. After the exposition, the slow introduction and ensuing Allegro are repeated in full. Moreover, extracts from the Adagio, thirteen in all, return unexpectedly at various times, suggesting that Beethoven perhaps had two parallel though alternating movements in mind, one slow and the other fast. These frequent changes of tempo create uncertainty and tension in much of the movement.
• 2. Presto (cut time and 6/4, B-flat minor and B-flat major, ternary form with coda): The outer sections of the movement contain secretive dynamics with lightning tempo. The central section is uncompromisingly relentless and end with the most sinister inventive chromatic gestures preceding the recapitulation.
• 3. Poco scherzoso. Andante con moto ma non troppo (common time, D-flat major, quasi sonata rondo form): Unusually subtle and refined humor in this scherzo-like slow movement. The movement is broadly in Sonata-Rondo form with 3 themes (ABACABAC - coda), though with unusual proportions; one of the episodes is only one measure long.
• 4. Alla danza tedesca (a German dance). Allegro assai (3/8, G major, ternary form): Known for its openness, warmth, and symmetry, this scherzo movement, as in a traditional scherzo and trio, contains two separate dances, each in two sections, followed by a repeat of the first dance, extensively varied, and finally a coda. This is a movement that breathes, but never falters with an almost constant stream of either eighth notes or sixteenth notes throughout.
• 5. Cavatina. Adagio molto espressivo (3/4, E-flat major, ternary form): The Cavatina is among the most personal and revealing of Beethoven’s many sublime slow movements; he himself confessed that “nothing he had written had so moved him.” It contains three clues which help to explain the emotional and musical context. The first is its operatic title, a simple arioso or a short song which is perhaps unique to chamber music. The second is the inclusion at the heart of the movement an instrumental recitative. The third is the choice of the key, E-flat major. Given these clues, the movement was perhaps conceived as an operatic arioso in which the ‘singer,’ represented by the first violin and accompanied by an obbligato string trio, expresses human sorrow and divine consolation in equal measure. In the recitative, sorrow and consolation give way to terror in the remotest of keys, C-flat major, as the ‘singer’ - ‘beklemmt’ - breathlessly retraces some of the chromatic steps taken in the introduction to the first movement in halting, nightmarish asides.
• 6. ‘Little’ Finale. Allegro (2/4, starts in G major but ends in B-flat major, rondo form): Relief and reconciliation are reflected in the ‘Little’ Finale. Supposedly Beethoven wanted the viola to proceed to the Finale without break so that the players and audience alike might savour the sudden and extreme change of mood from darkness to light. Though often called the ‘Little’ Finale, it is long enough to include two independent expositions, three principal subjects and extensive, sometimes complex, development sections.

Question 9

Piece: string quartet by Beethoven, 133.

Answer 9

Große Fuge for String Quartet in B-flat, Op.133 (1826)

• Took Beethoven 4 months to complete, and is 741 bars long (98 bars longer than the other movements of the Op.130 quartet combined).
• Dedicated to the Archduke Rudolf of Austria, a friend and patron.
• Premiered (as the finale of Op.130) by the Schuppanzigh quartet.
• A massive double fugue.
• His choice of a fugal form for the last movement was well grounded in tradition: Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven himself had used fugues as final movements of quartets. But in recent years, Beethoven had become increasingly concerned with the challenge of integrating this Baroque form, that was academic and highly formalized, with the expressive impulses of Romanticism.
• Beethoven drew on technical inspiration from composers of the past, especially Bach and Handel. The only precedent comparable in scale was Bach’s unfinished Art of the Fugue.
• A combination of contrapuntal devices (fugue, canon, etc.) together with variation and fantasy created one of the strangest, most emotionally extreme, grandest-scale, and most original pieces.
• The fugue is connected to the other movements of opus 130 by various hints of motifs, and by a tonal link to the preceding Cavatina movement (the Cavatina ends on a G, and the fugue begins with the same G).
• The work has been described as an expansion of the formal Baroque grand fugue, as a multi-movement work rolled into a single piece, as a symphonic poem in sonata form.
• The central motif of the fugue is an eight-note subject that climbs chromatically upward.
• In stark contrast to this simple chromatic motif is the second subject of the fugue, which leaps dramatically in huge intervals – tenths and twelfths.
• The third motif is a lilting melody that serves as the theme of the Andante section of the fugue.
• A fourth element – not so much a motif as an effect – is the trill.
• Structure (6 parts): Overtura - First fugue - Meno mosso e moderato - Interlude - Second fugue - Recapitulation (Meno mosso e moderato - Interlude) and coda
• 1. Overtura. Allegro - Meno mosso e moderato (6/8 then 2/4, G major): Beethoven opens the fugue with a 24-bar overture, which opens with a dramatic fortissimo unison G and statement of the main fugal motif in the key of G major followed by a short glimpse of the Meno mosso e moderato section that follows the first fugue.
• 2. First fugue. Allegro (common time, B-flat major): Following the overture is a strictly formal double fugue in the key of B♭ major, that follows all the rules of a Baroque fugue: An exposition and three variations, showcasing different contrapuntal devices. But this is anything but a tame Baroque fugue: it is violent and dissonant, pitting awkward leaps of the second subject in iambic rhythm against the main subject in syncopation, at a constant dynamic that never falls below Forte. The resulting angular rhythmic confusion and displaced dissonances last almost five minutes. Beethoven writes a curious notation for the main fugue subject: two eighth notes of the same pitch with a tie across both. This is a controversial marking because if the slur is a tie, why wouldn’t he have written just a single quarter note? The most common interpretations of this issue are the following two solutions: (1) slightly re-articulate the second eighth note (as if there were a tenuto over it), (2) play as if a quarter note but sustain through the second eighth note (as opposed to letting it decay after the start of the note). In the slow introduction to the last movement of Beethoven’s Sonata No.31 in A-flat major, Op.110, he writes a very similar tie marking over two 16th notes of the same pitch, however each note has a different fingering. This effect is commonly referred to as the ‘bebung’ effect; this technique is (something like) striking a key a second time before it has the chance to entirely rebound, somehow dampening the sound suddenly.
• 3. Meno mosso e moderato (2/4, G-flat major): This section is a complete change of character from the formal fugue that preceded it and the one that follows it. It is a fugato, a section that combines contrapuntal writing with homophony. “After the strenuousness of the B♭ Fugue [first section], the effect is of an almost blinding innocence,” writes Joseph Kerman. Analysts who see the fugue as a multi-movement work rolled into one view this as the traditional Andante movement.
• 4. Interlude. Allegro molto e con brio (6/8, B-flat major) - : This interlude is based on the main subject in diminution, meaning in double time. On top of this, Beethoven adds a lilting, slightly comic melody; analysts who see the fugue as a multi-movement work consider this section the equivalent of a scherzo. In this interlude, Beethoven introduces the use of trill (hinted at at the end of the Meno mosso section).
• 5. Second fugue. still Allegro molto e con brio (still 6/8, A-flat major - E-flat major - A-flat major): The music grows in intensity and shifts into A♭ major, for a new learned fugue. In this fugue, Beethoven puts together three versions of the main subject. There is the subject in its simple form, but in augmentation, there is the same subject abbreviated in retrograde, and there is a variation of the first half of the subject in diminution. Here Beethoven starts to use trills intensely. This adds to the extremely dense texture and rhythmic complexity. In the second episode of this fugue, Beethoven adds in the triplet figure from the first variation of the first fugue. The trills become more intense, and in the third episode, in the dominant key of E♭ major, Beethoven uses a leaping motif that recalls the second subject of the first fugue. The fourth episode returns to the key of A♭. The cello plays the main subject in a way that harks back to the Overtura. More elements of the first fugue return: the syncopation used for the main subject, the tenth leaps from the second subject, the diminuted main subject in the viola.
• 6. Recapitulation. Meno mosso e moderato (2/4, A-flat major) - Interlude. Allegro molto e con brio (6/8, B-flat major) - Coda: A short restatement of the Meno mosso e moderato section serves as a confusing recapitulation. This time, though, instead of a silky pianissimo, the fugato is played forte, heavily accented (Beethoven writes F on every sixteenth-note group), march-like. Analysts who see the fugue as a variation of sonata-allegro form consider this to be part of the recapitulation section. In this section, Beethoven uses another, complex contrapuntal device: the second violin plays the theme, the first violin plays the main subject in a high register, and the viola plays the main subject in inversion – that is, upside down. A series of trills leads back to the home key of B♭, and a restatement of the scherzo section. There follows a section that analysts have described as “uneasy hesitation” or “puzzling” and “diffused”. Fragments of the various subjects appear and disappear, and the music seems to lose energy. A silence, and then a fragmentary burst of the opening of the first fugue. Another silence. A snippet of the “Meno mosso”, another silence, and then a Fortissimo restatement of the very opening of the piece, leading to the coda. From here the music moves forward, at first haltingly, but then with more and more energy, to the final passage, where the first subject is played in triplets below the soaring violin line playing a variant of the second subject.

Question 10

Piece: string quartet by Beethoven, 131.

Answer 10

String Quartet in c-sharp, Op.131 (1826)

• 7 movements, each of unequal length, each movement flows into the next (each were carefully numbered so that the order of movements was clear); 3 before and 3 after the heart of the piece, the central variations movement.
• Premiered by the Schuppanzigh quartet after Beethoven’s death. Schubert was in attendance at the premiere rehearsal which was only for a small circle of connoisseurs.
• While Beethoven composed the quartet in six distinct key areas, the work begins in C♯ minor and ends in C♯ major. The Finale directly quotes the opening fugue theme in the first movement in its second thematic area. This type of cyclical composition was avant-garde for a work of that period. Joseph Kerman wrote: “blatant functional reference to the theme of another movement: this never happens”.
• Op. 131 is often grouped with Opp. 132 and 130. There is motivic sharing between all three works. In particular, the “motto” fugue of the leading tone rising to tonic, before leaping up a minor sixth and then dropping down to the dominant, is an important figure shared between all these works.
• 1. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo (cut time, C-sharp minor, fugue): A fugue with few appearances of the complete fugue subject: four in the exposition and three in the final stretto. Richard Wagner said this movement: “reveals the most melancholy sentiment expressed in music”.
• 2. Allegro molto vivace (6/8, D major, compact sonata form): A delicate dance in compound duple meter in the key of D major, in compact sonata form based on a folk-like theme.
• 3. Allegro moderato – Adagio (common time, B minor, transition movement): A very short linking movement in the spirit of recitativo obbligato. Ends on an E major chord to set up the following variations movement in A major.
• 4. Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile (2/4, A major, variations): This, the central movement of the quartet, is a set of 7 variations (6 complete and 1 incomplete, with coda) on a simple theme in A major which is shared between the first and second violins. Beethoven called it a ‘sweet song of rest’ in one of his sketchbooks. This movement is the apotheosis of the ‘Grand Variation’ form from Beethoven’s late period. Many variations change character for the second half of the theme (almost as if a different variation). Some variations include tempo indications they are as follows: Piu mosso (common time) - Andante moderato e lusinghiero - Adagio (6/8) - Allegretto (2/4) - Adagio ma non troppo e semplice (9/4) - Allegretto (2/4, C major - A Major - F major - A major).
• 5. Presto (cut time, E major, scherzo): There is little time to reflect on the beauty of the fourth movement coda before the cello’s hearty wake-up call heralds a complete change of mood to a brilliant Scherzo in duple rather than triple time. The scherzo is in E major, and contains few pauses for breath, like children in a playground. It also contains Beethoven’s use of sul ponticello, played softly high on all four instruments, sounding like a nest of field mice. It ends strongly in E major, but is followed by three incisive unison G sharps which serve to set up the key of the sixth movement.
• 6. Adagio quasi un poco andante (3/4, G-sharp minor, bar form AAB): A short movement, in bar form with a coda, which serves as a slow elegiac introduction to the final movement. The key of G sharp minor serves as the minor dominant of C sharp minor, the home key and key of the last movement.
• 7. Allegro (cut time, C-sharp minor): The finale is in sonata form and returns to the home key of C♯ minor. Gloves are off and fists are clenched for the last movement, with relentless rhythms and angry dynamics in the primary theme. The second theme appears only twice with open and generous flowing scales and slow aspiring arpeggios. Slowly fists are unclenched as C# minor merges unobtrusively into C# major (the key in which the piece ends).

Question 11

Piece: string quartet by Beethoven, 135.

Answer 11

String Quartet in F, Op.135 (1826)

• At the time of writing Op.135, Beethoven thought it would be his final work for string quartet, though that would end up being the replacement ending to Op.130, the Little Finale.
• Premiered after Beethoven’s death by the Schuppanzigh Quartet in 1828.
• The work is on a smaller scale than his other late quartets, containing only four movements.
• 1. Allegretto (2/4, F major, sonata form): The relatively short first movement seems to return to an earlier and happier world, its first subject relying on motifs that return throughout the movement. It is an exquisitely scripted conversation, opening with a short introduction which contains the first of many variants of the “Must it be?” and “It must be!” motive (a descending fourth); each asks a question and promptly receives a reply. This motive threads its way in various guises through the first and third movements and dominates much of the finale. A triplet passage leads soon to the central development, introduced by the slower notes of the cello, using an earlier motif. There is a varied recapitulation in a movement over which the spirit of Haydn seems to preside.
• 2. Vivace (3/4, F major, ternary form): The scherzo, with its curious rhythmical asymmetry and sudden interrupting E-flats, brings no relaxation of pace in the modulating trio. It is unlike other scherzos in its momentum and energy. Broadly in F Major, though it is challenged by the off-beat E-flats. The trio contains a boisterous fiddle tune, authentically rustic with its grace notes and high tessitura, accompanied by a wasp-like drone - the same phrase played by the rest of the quartet three octaves apart and repeated unchanged some fifty times regardless of the inevitable harmonic clashes.
• 3. Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo (6/8, D-flat major, variations): The sustained beauty and serenity of the D flat major slow movement offers an immediate contrast, its prevailing mood darkened by the second of the four variations in C sharp minor, followed by a third in the original major key in which the theme appears in canon between the first violin and cello, and a fourth of rhythmic transformation. It is in D-flat major (flattened submediant), and Beethoven used variation techniques; he also did this in the second movement of his Quartet op. 127. Wistful and introspective theme, played sotto voce.
• 4. Grave, ma non troppo tratto (3/2, unstable key introductory material) - Allegro (common time, F major - A Major - F Major, sonata form): Beethoven seems to have experienced some difficulty with the last movement, above which he wrote the words Der schwer gefasste Entschluss (The difficult resolution) and the notated question Muss es sein? (Must it be?), and the reply Es muss sein! (It must be!), derived from a jocular exchange over money owed to him, on which he had composed a canon. In the slow opening bars cello and viola ask the solemn question, the mood dispelled at once by the cheerful F major Allegro that follows, with its motivic and thematic references to what has gone before. The ominous question is posed once more, to be dismissed again. A pizzicato passage leads to a final happy ending.

Question 12

Which of Beethoven’s opuses in the 130s is not a late string quartet and what is it?

Answer 12

It is Op.134, the four-hands transcription of the Große Fuge.

Question 13

How many total string quartets did Beethoven write?

Answer 13

16 complete string quartets, the Große Fuge, and two early works for string quartet titled Prelude and Fugue (both in 1795).

Question 14

What is the nickname for the 3rd movement of Beethoven’s Op.132 string quartet?

Answer 14

“Heiliger Dankgesang”

full title: “Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart” (Holy song of thanksgiving of a convalescent to the Deity, in the Lydian Mode)