Beethoven's Complete String Quartets

By the time Beethoven came to writing quartets this musical form had become fully established by Haydn and Mozart. Beethoven had plenty of excellent models of this "conversation among four equals." We should not expect any basic changes of musical texture in Beethoven's treatment of the quartet the way we do his handling of the piano in the sonata form. During the course of his career Beethoven made contributions to the quartet's evolution primarily in regard to treatment of musical form, harmony and, probably most important, its musical­ & emotional content.

Only one group of six works makes up his early effort in the quartet medium. The Op. 18 set puts Beethoven in the company of Haydn and Mozart. The musical language here is that of the Viennese masters, with Beethoven's own finger prints throughout. These are works still in the 18th-century tradition of "entertainment" music. Even the one work in minor key (Op. 18, No. 4) is not all that serious. And Beethoven's title, La Malinconia, at the start of Op. 18, No. 6's finale must be taken very much tongue-in-cheek.

The Middle Quartets include the three "Rasumovsky" works, dedicated to a Russian Count of that name, and two with their own nicknames, the "Harp" and "Serioso." These are more elaborate than the early quartets. The Rasumovskys are expansive, architecturally complex and imposing works, two of which contain actual Russian themes, as a gesture to their dedicatee. On the other hand, the last quartet in this period, Op. 95 (Serioso), is very concise and powerful in its dramatic effect, much like the Fifth Symphony. This tendency toward expansion on the one side, and compression on the other is typical for Beethoven during this time, as witness the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, written at about the same time.

The Late Quartets, five in number, are among the master's most difficult works. They are very demanding technically, and make even greater demands on listeners. In these works Beethoven goes far beyond his immediate future and reveals to us a tonal world of such abstract beauty that we cannot grasp his entire message at once. Only long familiarity brings awareness of the music's full meaning. No wonder that his contemporaries thought him strange, not to say mad. Not easy pieces, but whoever makes the effort will be rewarded with the purest sense of tonal beauty imaginable.