String Quartet No. 14 (Beethoven)
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The String Quartet No. 14 in C sharp minor, opus 131, by Ludwig van Beethoven was completed in 1826. The number traditionally assigned to it is based on the order of its publication; it is actually the fifteenth quartet in order of composition. Atypically, the work is in seven movements totalling approximately 40 minutes; they are as follows:
- Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo
- Allegro molto vivace
- Allegro moderato
- Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile — Più mosso — Andante moderato e lusinghiero — Adagio — Allegretto — Adagio, ma non troppo e semplice — Allegretto
- Presto
- Adagio quasi un poco andante
- Allegro
This quartet, which is dedicated to Baron Joseph von Stutterheim, was Beethoven's favourite from the late quartets. He is quoted as having told a friend his evaluation of the quartet: "thank God there is less lack of imagination than ever before." It goes beyond everything Beethoven had written up until that point, with the possible exception of the string quartets op. 130 and 132. (Indeed, Op. 131 is the conclusion of that trio of great works, written in the order 132, 130, 131 with the Grosse fuge ending; and they may be profitably listened to and studied in that sequence.) It is said that upon listening to a performance of this quartet, Schubert remarked, "After this, what is left for us to write?"
Contents |
[edit] Book
Robert Winter, who has since co-edited the Beethoven Quartet Companion (ISBN 0-520-08211-7, 1994, University of California Press Berkeley), wrote in 1982 the Compositional origins of Beethoven’s opus 131 (ISBN 0-8357-1289-3), published by UMI Research Press in Ann Arbor. The author is an authority on Beethoven's sketches, and the latter book specifically reprints the early version of the opening of the concluding Allegro movement, in its present version a pair of unison phrases. Either book – the more recent may also be more available – should contain interesting information on Beethoven's quartet writing. The middle section of the Companion comprises extensive analyses of the quartets themselves by the musicologist / annotator Michael Steinberg.
[edit] TV and movie appearances
The 6th movement of this piece was used in the ninth episode of the Band of Brothers miniseries, Why We Fight. A spooked-up rendition of the first movement's opening bars appears repeatedly in the soundtrack to the horror movie Scanners.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- PDF and Finale files of the score of the quartet can be downloaded here.
- An account of the relation among Beethoven, his nephew Carl, and the dedicatee Joseph von Stutterheim Further on the circumstances behind the dedication of this quartet.
| String Quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven |
|---|
| String quartets, Op. 18 | Op. 18 No. 1 | Op. 18 No. 2 | Op. 18 No. 3 | Op. 18 No. 4 | Op. 18 No. 5 | Op. 18 No. 6 |
| String quartets, Op. 59 ("Rasumovsky") | Op. 59 No. 1 | Op. 59 No. 2 | Op. 59 No. 3 |
| Middle period quartets | Op. 74 ("Harp") | Op. 95 ("Serioso") |
| Late quartets | Op. 127 | Op. 130 | Op. 131 | Op. 132 | Grosse Fuge, Op. 133 | Op. 135 |
| Arrangement by Beethoven of Op. 14 No. 1 |
