There’s so much to talk about when dealing with Beethoven, it’s often hard to pick a place to start. So, I think I’m just going to jump into a topic that is particularly one of my favorites when dealing with Beethoven—the late string quartets. If you’re not familiar with them, there are five in all plus the Great Fugue, and to put it modestly, these pieces are some of the greatest treasures of classical music. Sadly, you would have to write a book for each one of these pieces to do them justice.
These pieces are, by far, Beethoven’s most introspective music and reach, not only into the great soul and mind of that man, but, as all great art should do, they reach deep into the minds and souls of its audience. These pieces are an evocation to the noble virtues that far too often lie dormant within us; they are an artistic epistle from one mind to another and a reminder of the great things man is capable of. This, no doubt, was the intention of their creator. Every time I listen to these pieces, I see the world not as it is, but as it should be—a rational, virtuous world. This is the goal of all true Romantic art—the portrayal of what should be in the world and the motivation to aspire to that, not the over-abundance of emotion, and even less, chromaticism, as the term “Romanticism” has come to represent. These works stand among the greatest examples of Romantic art in classical music—the Bach Mass, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Ninth, to name a few.
From a compositional viewpoint, the pieces are a spectacular lesson in form, as well as counterpoint. Of the six quartets, only two, op. 127 and op. 135, are in the standard four movement form, and of those two, the latter is the most regular in form. Each quartet, though, has at least one peculiar aspect that stands out. In the op. 127 quartet, it’s the recurrent Maestoso introduction during the first movement, harkening back to the much earlier Pathetique Piano Sonata. In the op. 130, it’s the further exploration of themes with different tempi and time signatures in a sonata form movement. Op. 131, besides being in seven movements, all played continuously without break, begins with a plaintive, sombre fugue instead of the usual sonata form. Op. 132, is mostly regular in form but it contains the magnificent “Heiliger Dankegesang.” This movement is a wonderful example of the ancient technique of variations on a cantus firmus, but in a Romantic setting. The op. 135 quartet, is unique in its nearly theme-less first movement. Beethoven here relies more on short motives rather than longer melodies for the material of the first movement of this quartet. The piece concludes with “Der Schwer Gefasste Entshluss” or “The Difficult Decision” and it was this movement that Schindler wondered if it was Beethoven’s “serious joke” or “joking seriousness.” Finally, the Grosse Fuge, op. 133, is a beast of a piece and its complexity and technical aspects are the reason why I say Beethoven was as supreme a contrapuntal genius as Bach.
As I said earlier, it’s hard to do these pieces justice in such a short space. However, Beethoven’s Quartets by Joseph de Marliave is an excellent book on all of Beethoven’s quartet if you desire further reading. Also, the CD set by the Emerson Quartet is one of the best recordings of these works.