CCXI. BEETHOVEN, Ludwig van (1770-1827)
1803
In 1792, Count Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky was appointed as the Tsar's ambassodor to Vienna. An accomplished amateur violinist, he established a house string quartet and in 1806 commissioned Beethoven for a set of three quartets -- insisting that each contained a Russian theme.
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By looking at the opus numbers after the great success of the Eroica (see Post XXIX), we find masterpieces, one after another:
- Op. 56: The Triple Concerto
- Op. 57: The 23rd piano sonata: "Appassionata"
- Op. 58: The Fourth Piano Concerto
- Op. 60: The Fourth Symphony (see Post CLXXXIV)
- Op. 61: The Violin Concerto
These three quartets are no exceptions; towering works of importance in the quartet literature.
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First Movement
The first thing one notices is the stopping and starting again:
again the opening of the development section -- this time piano, and in remote keys:
and again the recap, ff and p, ending on an inverted diminished chord:
Two other interesting features of this movement are the two bars of heavy sforzandi chord followed by two bars of dolce piano:
and the lovely section of anticipatory syncopation:
Anticipating the Heiliger Dankgesang of Op. 132, Beethoven writes one of his most tender, beautiful slow movements in his oeuvre:
A dancer with one foot longer than the other!
and here's our Russian theme in the Trio; the original song "Glory to the Sun," was used most famously by Mussorgsky in the coronation scene of his opera, Boris Godunov [see Post CLXXIX].
Beethoven never enjoyed taking orders from the nobility. Joseph Kerman:
"It sounds as though Count Razumovsky has been tactless enough to hand Beethoven the tune, and Beethoven is pile-driving it into the ground by way of revenge."
Fourth Movement
In the unrelated key of C Major, Beethoven finally releases the joy:
and ends the with a torrential rush of notes, firmly cadencing in E Minor:
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