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158 LATE BEETHOVEN
IN CONTEXT
FOCUS
Proto-Romanticism
BEFORE
1781 Haydn, the inventor of
the string quartet, publishes
his Op. 33 quartets.
1782–1785 Mozart writes six
quartets, which he dedicates eethoven’s music divides Increasing deafness from the age
to composer Joseph Haydn. into three stylistic periods: of 30 led Beethoven to commission
B the early (up to 1802), the hearing devices from Johann Nepomuk
1824 Franz Schubert writes middle (1803–1813), and the late Maelzel, inventor of the metronome,
String Quartet No. 14, known (1817–1827). He was born in 1770, including this “ear trumpet.”
as “Death and the Maiden.” and by the age of 27, he had written
AFTER a variety of works. However, for Beethoven’s middle period included
1827–1829 Felix Mendelssohn much of this period, he avoided the his “Heroic Phase” of 1803–1808,
composes his string quartets territory dominated by Haydn and during which he wrote the “Eroica”
Op. 12 and Op. 13. The Op. 13 Mozart—the string quartet. It was Symphony for and about Napoleon
quartet in particular has not until the end of the 1790s, by Bonaparte. The middle period was
a time of energy and positive
which time he was no longer being
echoes of Beethoven’s Op. 95 compared to Mozart, that Beethoven commitment to Beethoven’s
and Op. 132.
wrote his first quartets, the Op. 18. humanistic and political beliefs.
1828 Schubert’s last wish These six works show such energy The period is often considered to
on his deathbed is to hear and technical mastery that had have begun in the wake of his
Beethoven’s Op. 131 quartet. his life been cut short at this point, “Heiligenstadt Testament” of 1802—
he would still be placed among a letter he had written to his two
1873 Johannes Brahms the world’s great composers. The brothers describing his despair
publishes String Quartet shadow of Mozart mixes with the at his profound loss of hearing.
No. 1 in C minor and String spirit of Haydn through his first five Only his music, Beethoven wrote,
Quartet No. 2 in A minor, quartets, but in the sixth Beethoven held him back from suicide.
comprising his Op. 51. These sowed the seeds of his later work. Beethoven’s violin concerto
are Brahms’s 20th attempt at (Op. 61) is an outstanding example
writing quartets. of the productive middle period, in
which he began to turn away from
1934 Michael Tippett classical conventions—developing
composes the first of his five a bolder individual style and
quartets, all inspired by producing many of his most famous
specific Beethoven works. No composer before compositions. The beginnings of
Beethoven ever disregarded Romantic music can be found in
the capacities of both his the slow movements of Beethoven’s
performers and his audience middle quartets. These five quartets
with such ruthlessness. stretched the boundaries of the
Charles Rosen form, first by extending the length,
in his Op. 59 and Op. 74, and then
by compressing it in the concise
Quartetto Serioso, Op. 95. In all five,
four players evolve into soloists,
each with virtuoso passages
US_156-161_Beethoven_Op_131.indd 158 26/03/18 1:00 PM
