Late string quartets (Beethoven)

Extremely complex and largely misunderstood by musicians and audiences of Beethoven's day, the late quartets are now widely considered to be among the greatest musical compositions of all time,[1][2][3] and have inspired many later composers.

Prince Nikolai Galitzin commissioned the first three quartets (12, 13 and 15) and in a letter dated 9 November 1822, offered to pay Beethoven "what you think proper" for them.

His recovery from the illness inspired the modal slow movement of the Fifteenth Quartet, which Beethoven called "Holy song of thanks (Heiliger Dankgesang) to the divinity, from one made well".

The last work Beethoven completed was the substitute final movement of the thirteenth quartet, which replaced the extremely difficult Große Fuge.

Even if they were there would be other coincidences to explain – the ABC sequence of keys, for instance, and the fact that the quartets have successively five, six, and seven movements.)

131 is a six-movement work for the third "movement" is only 10 bars long and has the same A major key signature as its successor.

The keys of the remaining movements complete a cyclic progression back to C-sharp minor.Beethoven's "obsession at that time with the upper four notes of the harmonic minor scale" (Hogarth) predates these works.

[8] The Frankfurt School philosopher Theodor W. Adorno, in particular, thought highly of them,[9] and Igor Stravinsky called the Große Fuge "an absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever".

[14] Arturo Toscanini and Felix Weingartner, among others, transcribed some of the late quartets for string orchestra.

Ensembles that have recorded the complete late Beethoven quartets include: