String Quartet No. 14 (Beethoven)

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The String Quartet No. 14 in C sharp minor, Opus 131, by Ludwig van Beethoven was completed in 1826. The number traditionally assigned to it is based on the order of its publication; it is actually the fifteenth quartet in order of composition. Atypically, the work is in seven movements totalling approximately 40 minutes; they are as follows:

Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo
Allegro molto vivace
Allegro moderato
Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile — Più mosso — Andante moderato e lusinghiero — Adagio — Allegretto — Adagio, ma non troppo e semplice — Allegretto
Presto
Adagio quasi un poco andante
Allegro

This quartet, which is dedicated to Baron Joseph von Stutterheim, was Beethoven's favourite from the late quartets. He is quoted as having told a friend his evaluation of the quartet: "thank God there is less lack of imagination than ever before." It goes beyond everything Beethoven had written up until that point, with the possible exception of the string quartets op. 130 and 132. It is said that upon listening to a performance of the String Quartet No. 14 op. 131, Schubert remarked, "After this, what is left for us to write?"

An excellent description of Wagner's reaction to this opus is to be found in Sullivan's 'Beethoven'.

The 6th movement of this piece was used in the ninth episode of the Band of Brothers miniseries, Why We Fight. A spooked-up rendition of the first movement's opening bars appears repeatedly in the soundtrack to the horror movie Scanners.

Book

Robert Winter, who has since co-edited the Beethoven Quartet Companion (ISBN 0520082117, 1994, University of California Press Berkeley), wrote in 1982 the Compositional origins of Beethoven’s opus 131 (ISBN 0835712893), published by UMI Research Press in Ann Arbor. The author is an authority on Beethoven's sketches, and the latter book specifically reprints the early version of the opening of the concluding Allegro movement, in its present version a pair of unison phrases. Either book – the more recent may also be more available – should contain interesting information on Beethoven's quartet‐writing.

External links

[PDF and Finale files of the score of the quartet can be downloaded here.]
[An account of the relation between Beethoven, his nephew Carl, and the dedicatee Joseph von Stutterheim] Further on the circumstances behind the dedication of this quartet.

String Quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartets Nos. 1 - 6, Opus 18 (Beethoven)>String quartets, Op. 18 \| Op. 18 No. 1 \| Op. 18 No. 2 \| Op. 18 No. 3 \| Op. 18 No. 4 \| Op. 18 No. 5 \| Op. 18 No. 6
String Quartets Nos. 7 - 9, Opus 59 - Rasumovsky (Beethoven)>String quartets, Op. 59 ("Rasumovsky") \| Op. 59 No. 1 \| Op. 59 No. 2 \| Op. 59 No. 3
String Quartets Nos. 10 - 11, Opus 74 "Harp" and 95 "Serioso" (Beethoven)>Middle period quartets \| Op. 74 ("Harp") \| Op. 95 ("Serioso")
String Quartets Nos. 12 - 16 and Grosse Fuge, Opus 127, 130 - 135 (Beethoven)>Late quartets \| Op. 127 \| Op. 130 \| Op. 131 \| Op. 132 \| Grosse Fuge, Op. 133 \| Op. 135
Arrangement by Beethoven of Op. 14 No. 1

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