Beethoven, the latest quartet. Concert, 4 July – Barthkapel, The Hague
Unsurpassed Pinnacle of Western Classical Chamber Music
Program:
- G.F.Handel -'Arrival of the Queen Sheba'
- W.A.Mozart - String Quartet No 22
- Allegretto, ma molto moderato (I)
- Andantino grazioso (II)
- L.v Beethoven - String Quartet No 15
- Assai sostenuto-Allegro
- Allegro ma non tanto
- Molto adagio-Andante
- A.Piazzolla - Tango from 'Scent of a woman'
Beethoven's 15th string quartet, opus 132
Russian, Beyond the traditions, Hymn of Thanksgiving to Divinity in the Lydian mode, Composed 2 year before death, The unsurpassed pinnacle of Western classical chamber music.
Beethoven was very much focused on having this composition finished by early February 1825. However the serious illness in the spring had interfered and only in May he was settled to write again and as a victory upon the sickness he celebrates it in his Heiliger Dankgesang, which became the third movement of this quartet.
A little more about music and style of this composition.
String quartet No15 (opus 132) was the second of the late quartets to be written. Sketches indicate that Beethoven planned a four-movement design, but his focus was interrupted by a severe illness. Upon recovering, he wrote a new movement of "thanksgiving" that became the centerpiece of a rearranged five-movement quartet.
The confrontation of calculated but spontaneous simplicity with ferocious complexity in the late quartets is one of their chief hallmarks and surely one source of bewilderment for Beethoven's contemporaries.
His earlier works for string quartet usually have a classic opening, where the first violin remains the melody supported by the other strings instruments.
Musicians:
COVID-19 information!!!
Reserving your seat is advised since only 50 seats are allowed.
Wearing a protecting mouth mask inside a building remains under obligation till the seat is taken.