Beethoven: String Quartet In C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131/Henle

Category: String Quartet, Two Violins, Viola and Cello ** Composer: Beethoven, Ludwig ** Title: String Quartet in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131 ** Edited by: Emil Platen ** Publisher: Henle Verlag URTEXT Edition ** Difficulty: A5/A6.

Some of Beethoven's letters indicate that the String Quartet in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131, was the composer's own favorite among his late string quartets. Typical of music from his late period, the quartet strives for expression, expanding themes and throwing off the restrictive rules of structure. It consists of seven movements, which is unusual in itself (even Beethoven would normally write only four); adding to this is the dark, reflective nature of the first movement, a slow fugue. Richard Wagner would later praise the quartet, and this movement in particular, saying that "it reveals the most melancholy sentiment ever expressed in music."