String Quartet No. 8 (Beethoven)
The String Quartet No. 8 in E minor op 59.2 is a string quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven. It originated in 1806 as the second of the three Razumovsky quartets that were grouped under the opus number 59; while the String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op 59.1 was completed in July 1806, Beethoven was working on in parallel op 59.2 and 59.3 op and completed this in November 1806.
The nickname of the quartets is due to the principal, the Russian diplomat and Beethoven conveyor Andrei Razumovsky Kirilovitch. Due to their Russian ductus the quartets are also called Russian Quartets.
- 4.1 documents
- 4.2 Further Reading
Set names
About the Music
The key of this Quartet in E minor, Beethoven's time was very seldom used. A correspondingly rare example of the use of this key was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Violin Sonata KV 304 in 1778, while Joseph Haydn, the popularity of this key with the use in his Symphony No. 44 in E minor ( " Trauersinfonie " ) increased. Beethoven himself used the key of E minor op.59 next to the quartet, 2 only in his Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor op 90 as well as in individual sets, namely the Allegretto of the Piano Sonata No. 9 in E major, Op 14, 1 and the Andante from Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op 58
The " Razumovsky " Quartets are designed so that the central quartet is in a minor key and is framed by two major quartets. This was to be repeated later in the three -composed for the Russian Prince Nikolai Borisovich Golitsyn quartets.
First Set
After the previous quartet had ended op 59.1 in F major, op starts 59.2 in the first sentence now lower half a tone.
The set is introduced by two chords, and a general pause, after which the main theme consisting of triad motif and crashing sixteenths, follows. In the course of the movement, the two chord strumming appear 26 times and the general pause clock 19 times. It is accompanied by a page consisting of trills topic in 6/8-measure. The secondary theme of the exposition plays practically no role.
The implementation also starts with chords, and the main theme of the movement varies beyond recognition.
In contrast with the view expressed in 59.1 op development, the first movement of Op 59.2 a constantly repeating aimlessness because, consequently, Beethoven wanted to know development and recapitulation repeated addition to exposure. However, this is nowadays hardly noticed - at the expense of symmetry, since the exposition and recapitulation are exactly the same length.
Second sentence
For the composition of the second movement of Beethoven was in his own words inspired by the sight of the starry sky. According to Beethoven's pupil Carl Czerny this happened, " as he once watched the starry sky and the harmony of the spheres thought ." The set is also available in a corresponding metronome tempo of 60 districts per minute. Particularly expressed these spheroidal rest comes in the coda of the exposure; Main feature of this coda are circling Trio Lenke tablets.
The main theme of this Molto Adagio is like a chant, the second subject is dotted march -like. The main theme consists of half notes and contains echoes of the BACH theme, with the last sound but no h, but a b. The flow of Adagio mood found in the adagio part its peak.
Third set
The dance theme of the third movement begins with syncope.
The trio Maggiore contains the playful handling of a subject that is also known from the coronation scene from Mussorgsky 's opera " Boris Godunov ". Beethoven used at this point the Russian folk song " Sláva Bogu na nebe " ( " Glory be to God in Heaven " ) from a 1790 published in Saint Petersburg folk song collection of Ivan Prach. In the coda, the cello is interrupted at the third entry of the subject of the viola. As the violins also do this from the lower instruments several times dominant and tonic are repeated.
The American musicologist Joseph Kerman suspected, Beethoven would have wanted to take revenge in this way to Razumovsky, a Russian-born, because this would have forced him to fall back in the composition of the Quartet on the Russian folk song. In contrast, he is now demonstrating how deeply you can edit the theme contrapuntally. In the opinion of Carl Czerny, however, are Beethoven's harmony violations »Children of a brilliant mischief and a bizarre humor that very often dominated him ."
Beethoven's approach to subordinate the expression of his feelings compositional rules that led to his contemporaries misunderstood the use of his stylistic devices as rule-breaking and composition errors. So it is, the Viennese music theorist Simon Sechter 've even re-composed the trio of the third movement. To this end, reports Karl Wood, cellist of the Beethoven Quartet related Schuppanzigh:
" As an attempt at improvement was brought to the trio of E minor quartet him because it's not true, he said: " Because they do not find in the basso continuo, as they say, it does not agree " - saw his manuscript after and said it is right and vote. To the objection that he had probably not heard, he said: "Oh, hear - I see it, yes," "
Fourth proposition
The final rondo of the fourth movement is characterized by a dance theme, which is unaffected by the sonata form almost completely. Through its beginning in C major and the delayed crossing into E minor the finale of Beethoven prepares next quartet.
About the "floating tonality " of this sentence - the final fluctuates between the opening C major chord and the E minor tonic and disappears after 50 cycles on the basic key E minor fixed - wrote Arnold Schoenberg with a hint of irony "So, since there are good classic pattern, I do not feel ashamed, also like to have ."
Effect
The quartet was shown, together with the other " Razumovsky " quartets of Ignaz Schuppanzigh and his string quartet Ensemble at the palace of Count Razumovsky. Beethoven was a friend of his move to Vienna until his death in 1827 Schuppanzigh and used the musician nicknamed " Milord Falstaff " to consider. Perhaps could Schuppanzigh and his musicians the Razumovsky Quartets already in the first months after their formation, in which the diplomat had as principal nor the sole exploitation rights to the works, publicly perform.
Because of their complexity, the quartets op 59 met with incomprehension and rejection. Over time, public opinion changed through the Quartet. So wrote the " General Musical Newspaper " still in 1821, 15 years after the creation of the work, after a ( successful ) performance: "He who knows this composition, has a good opinion of an audience get, and daring, something important, but unpopular carry forward. With strange silence all those listening, often somewhat bizarre sounds that could only cause such a successful execution. "
The Viennese publication of the Quartet op was 59.2 together with the other Razumovsky quartets in January 1808 " Schreyvogel 's Industrie Comptoir "; the publication order of the quartets corresponds most probably also the order of their creation. 1809 published a reprint Simrock in Bonn; the first edition of the score quartets took place only in 1830.
The musicologist Arnold Schering saw in op 59.2 parallels to the novel " awkward age " of Jean Paul. According to the written by him synopses thus characterized the first sentence the jealous and passionate Vult, the second sentence of the dreamy brother Walt, while the third set Wina and Walt described dance at the masquerade ball, and the fourth set Wina and Vults dance at the masquerade ball and its fiery love confession.