String Quartet No. 7 (Beethoven)
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Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 7 in F Major was published in 1806 as Opus 59, No. 1. It consists of four movements:
- Allegro
- Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando
- Adagio molto e mesto - attaca
- Theme Russe: Allegro
This work is the first of three quartets commissioned by prince Andreas Razumovsky, then the Russian ambassador to Vienna. This quartet is the first of Beethoven's middle period quartets and exhibits a marked departure in style from his earlier Opus 18 quartets. The most apparent difference is that this quartet is over forty minutes long in a typical performance, whereas most of Beethoven's earlier quartets typically lasted only twenty-five to thirty minutes.
The first movement is an expansive episode in sonata form, lasting nearly twelve minutes even though it foregoes the customary double exposition. The second movement is the scherzo movement, and is formally one of the most unusual movements of Beethoven's middle period, not easily classifiable either as a sonata form or as any common variation of scherzo and trio form. The third movement is the slow movement. The final movement is built around a popular Russian theme, likely an attempt to ingratiate the work to its Russian commissioner.
References and further reading
- Joseph Kerman, The Beethoven Quartets. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1966. ISBN 0393009092