Beethoven's C sharp minor quartet?

[Enrique]

I am quite sure I have listened to a C sharp minor quartet by Beethoven. I went to youtube and was listening to it (op.131) but could not recognize it. So I looked in Google and all that was listed is the op.131. And in wikipedia they are all listed but there are sixteen quartets... Could somebody tell me if there is another C sharp minor quartet by Beethoven and what it's opus number is?

[Michael]

Could somebody tell me if there is another C sharp minor quartet by Beethoven and what it's opus number is?

Beethoven wrote only two works in the key of C sharp minor. One is the string quartet you mentioned and the other is his piano sonata, Opus 27 No. 2 - the famous "Moonlight".

These two works have some unusual traits in common: both open with an adagio and both reserve a full sonata-form movement until the very end. Both works are atypical of their genre.

The opening movement of the Moonlight sonata, however, does have a vague sonata-form shape. It has been described as "the ghost of a sonata-form movement." But the last movement leaves no doubts about its structure and it's relentless - just like it's counterpart in Opus 131.

[Enrique]

I was looking at my control panel when I found this your post. I remember I did read it, but I must have postponed a reply for a time with more leisure and then forgot about it. My apologies. What you say here is highly instructive, Michael. Thanks a lot.

By the way I have now an example of a work where the sonata form movement, generally the first one, is not that which I like most among the rest of the movements. The Moonlight. I find the way in which contemporaries of the Master praised this sonata was not exaggerated at all in spite of his famous remark "I've written better things".

If I may ask: how can you possibly know there are exactly two works written in C sharp minor within the huge catalog of Beethoven's works?

[Michael]

If I may ask: how can you possibly know there are exactly two works written in C sharp minor within the huge catalog of Beethoven's works?

Hi, Enrique. Lists of Beethoven's works can easily be accessed. Here is one example:

http://goodwinshighend.com/music/cla.../beethoven.htm

Compared to Bach, Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven's output is not that large and would fit comfortably on about a hundred CDs.

(I have about 700 discs which is far too many for one composer but then I'm slightly bonkers when it comes to Beethoven. )





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[Sorrano]

You can't have too much Beethoven, regardless of the key!

[Enrique]

Michael: You mean you just read the list line by line while counting the instances of C#-minor, in this way getting the total number of works written in that key?

[Enrique]

You can't have too much Beethoven, regardless of the key!

However I once proposed here to dispense with the repetitions in some works by Beethoven, for instance the 7th symphony.

[Michael]

Michael: You mean you just read the list line by line while counting the instances of C#-minor, in this way getting the total number of works written in that key?

Well, yes - you can do it that way. But quite a few books on Beethoven have referred to the fact that he wrote just two works in that key.

[Enrique]

Ahhh... Well, another way would be to let an application to do the job for you, that is, to count the instances of the key you are interested in. The app would have the list as input. But where do you get such application?

[Chris]

If you are on a page that lists all the works and their keys, you can just use the search feature in your browser to get an immediate count.

[Michael]

However I once proposed here to dispense with the repetitions in some works by Beethoven, for instance the 7th symphony.

I'm inclined to agree with you there, Enrique. I could do without the exposition repeat in the final movement of the 7th, especially as the development section is mostly like a repeat of the exposition -except for the change of key.

Then again, the scherzo of the 5th symphony could do with a repeat as the movement is too short compared to the finale. Beethoven dithered over this for some time.

Some of Beethoven's early work, like the first two trios of Opus One also could do without exposition repeats.

We're hard to please.

[Enrique]

I would go farther. I would cut the repeats in the 2nd movement (7th symphony). I was once listening to this movement and found myself tired by the repeats. Of course this could make somebody to call me blasphemous. We are speaking here about one of the jewels of world music literature. But we have already listened to this movement hundreds of times. It's not the same as when the symphony was premiered. By the way, what form does it have, Michael? I mean as when we say an aria da capo is ABA.

[Michael]

Even though the second movement starts off like a set of variations, it's basically a rondo - similar to the funeral march in the Eroica. But, in mature Beethoven, it's never just a simple rondo. Both movements make use of variation, development and even fugal episodes.