Harfenquartett

[Pastorale]

Dear people,
I was listening to "Harp" quartet by our Beethoven and I got little interested in how did it get its name. I mean, to me it sounds like everything BUT the harp. Does anybody know how was it named? It would be interesting to find out

[Peter]

It's because of the pizzicato passages in the first movement - I agree it doesn't sound much like a harp!

[hal9000]

It is weird. The "Harp" quartet is just a more sellable name, I guess. The pizzicato sections account for very little of the overall quartet, that you may as well call the C-sharp minor quartet with it's pizzicato in the 5th movement the "Harp quartet no.2".

[PaulD]

It seems that an opus with a nickname (either from the composer or the publisher) always attracts more interest (deserved or not) because it gives the impression of inherent quality. So wrong!

[Michael]

It is weird. The "Harp" quartet is just a more sellable name, I guess. The pizzicato sections account for very little of the overall quartet, that you may as well call the C-sharp minor quartet with it's pizzicato in the 5th movement the "Harp quartet no.2".

Yes - it always struck me as a pointless nickname and it could be confusing to somebody who went to a recital expecting something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRpPESh7Rf0