Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part One Context
- Part Two 1793–9
- Part Three 1800–1803
- Part Four 1804–9
- Part Five 1810–15
- Part Six 1816–27
- chapter 24 1815–24 The Late String Quartets – Context and Background
- chapter 25 1824–5 String Quartet in E flat major, op. 127
- chapter 26 1825 String Quartet in A minor, op. 132
- chapter 27 1825 String Quartet in B flat major, op. 130
- chapter 28 1825–6 Grosse Fuge, op. 133
- chapter 29 1825–6 String Quartet in C sharp minor, op. 131
- chapter 30 1826 String Quartet in F major, op. 135
- Appendix 1 Early Chamber Music for Strings and Piano
- Appendix 2 Variations
- Appendix 3 Chamber Music for Wind
- Appendix 4 Arrangements
- Bibliography
- Index of Beethoven's Music by Opus Number
- Beethoven Index
- General Index
chapter 30 - 1826 String Quartet in F major, op. 135
from Part Six - 1816–27
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 April 2017
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part One Context
- Part Two 1793–9
- Part Three 1800–1803
- Part Four 1804–9
- Part Five 1810–15
- Part Six 1816–27
- chapter 24 1815–24 The Late String Quartets – Context and Background
- chapter 25 1824–5 String Quartet in E flat major, op. 127
- chapter 26 1825 String Quartet in A minor, op. 132
- chapter 27 1825 String Quartet in B flat major, op. 130
- chapter 28 1825–6 Grosse Fuge, op. 133
- chapter 29 1825–6 String Quartet in C sharp minor, op. 131
- chapter 30 1826 String Quartet in F major, op. 135
- Appendix 1 Early Chamber Music for Strings and Piano
- Appendix 2 Variations
- Appendix 3 Chamber Music for Wind
- Appendix 4 Arrangements
- Bibliography
- Index of Beethoven's Music by Opus Number
- Beethoven Index
- General Index
Summary
‘Here, my dear friend, is my last quartet’, Beethoven told the Paris publisher Moritz Schlesinger in a letter written in October 1826, during his twomonth visit to his brother Johann in Gneixendorf.
It will be the last; and indeed it has given me much trouble, because I could not bring myself to compose the last movement. But as your letters were reminding me of it, in the end I decided to compose it. And that is the reason why I have written the motto: ‘Der schwer gefasste Entschluss – Muß es sein? – Es muß sein!’ (The decision taken with difficulty – Must it be? – It must be!) I am an unfortunate fellow, for I have failed to find a copyist who could write out the parts from the score … so I had to write it out myself … in the hope that the engraver will be able to read my scrawl.
As it happens, op. 135 would not be Beethoven's last contribution to string quartet literature; that honour belongs to the beautiful new finale for op. 130 – the so-called ‘little finale’, discussed in Chapter 27 – which Beethoven completed a month later as an alternative to the Grosse Fuge. Ideas for several orchestral projects had appeared in Beethoven's sketchbooks during the previous two or three years, suggesting that he wanted to return to large-scale compositions as soon as possible. But after completing op. 135 and the ‘little finale’, his attention was further diverted to include an entirely new project, a String Quintet in C major, WoO 62, commissioned by Anton Diabelli. Before much progress could be made with the quintet, however, Beethoven became seriously ill again and, after undergoing a number of painful operations, died on 26 March 1827.
‘A year of awful happenings and most grievous blows’
In spite of the help and support of his friends, particularly Karl Holz and the von Breuning family, 1826 was, in Alexander Thayer's moving words, ‘a year of awful happenings’ and ‘most grievous blows’, countered in the last two quartets and in the ‘little finale’, ‘by a display of creative energy which was amazing not only in its puissance but also in its exposition of transfigured emotion and imagination’.
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- Information
- Beethoven's Chamber Music in Context , pp. 274 - 284Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2010