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. Atypically, there are seven movements totalling approximately 38 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 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. It is said that upon listening to a performance of the String Quartet No. 14 op. 131, Schubert remarked, "After this, what is left for us to write?"
An excellent description of Wagner's reaction to this opus is to be found in Sullivan's 'Beethoven'.
Book
Robert Winter, who has since co‐edited the Beethoven Quartet Companion (ISBN 0520082117, 1994, University of California Press Berkeley), wrote in 1982 the Compositional origins of Beethoven’s opus 131 (ISBN 0835712893), 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.
External link
PDF and Finale files of the score of the quartet can be downloaded here. (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13079)