Three Quartets for 2 violins, viola and violoncello (F major, E minor, C major) op. 59
Listening samples
Dedication
Composition
Ca. April-May to November 1806
In the winter season of 1804-05 the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh presented a series of public chamber music recitals for the first time in music history, probably at the Lobkowitz palace. Beethoven's op. 18 was part of that series. The composer certainly knew of this project well in advance. In October 1804 he enquired of Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig about sales opportunities for a new set of quartets, although at that time he was still busy completing and reviewing his opera Leonore (Fidelio). He only started composing the op. 59 string quartets in spring 1806. Whether his main reason for writing them was his contact with Schuppanzigh concerning his concert series or an explicit commission from Andreas Kyrillovich Count Razumovsky, to whom he finally dedicated the quartets, or whether Beethoven himself freely chose to write them will never be known for sure. The dedicatee must have been decided upon early on because the first two quartets include Russian melodies from Ivan Pratsch’s collection of Russian folk songs (1790). Later Beethoven used Pratsh's collection as a model for some of his musical versions in WoO 158.
The op. 59 quartets were probably first performed in late January or early February 1807 under the same conditions as op. 18. Again the musicians belonged to the Schuppanzigh quartet and the performance was held in private, probably at the Lobkowitz palace (Razumovsky's Vienna palace was only completed in 1808, at which time he made the Schuppanzigh quartet his personal quartet until 1816). In early March the Leipziger Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung could already report of three very long and demanding string quartets by Beethoven that were of great interest to connoisseurs. The quartets must have been presented in public a short while later as another brief article appeared in early May, saying that Beethoven's latest demanding but dignified quartets were increasingly well-liked and that music lovers hoped they would soon be engraved and published. (J.R.)
The op. 59 quartets were probably first performed in late January or early February 1807 under the same conditions as op. 18. Again the musicians belonged to the Schuppanzigh quartet and the performance was held in private, probably at the Lobkowitz palace (Razumovsky's Vienna palace was only completed in 1808, at which time he made the Schuppanzigh quartet his personal quartet until 1816). In early March the Leipziger Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung could already report of three very long and demanding string quartets by Beethoven that were of great interest to connoisseurs. The quartets must have been presented in public a short while later as another brief article appeared in early May, saying that Beethoven's latest demanding but dignified quartets were increasingly well-liked and that music lovers hoped they would soon be engraved and published. (J.R.)
