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Ludwig van Beethoven

String Quartet B flat major op. 130 - Grand Fugue op. 133

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Ludwig van Beethoven

String Quartet B flat major op. 130 - Grand Fugue op. 133

Rainer Cadenbach (Editor)

Urtext Edition, paperbound

String Quartets

Pages 119 (IX+34+27+26+23), Size 23,5 x 31,0 cm

Weight 523 g

HN 741 · ISMN 979-0-2018-0741-6

Further editions of this title

Urtext Edition, paperbound $43.95

Study score (pocket score), Urtext Edition, paperbound $21.95

Digital (tablet)

We have now come full circle – this edition concludes our Urtext series of the complete Beethoven string quartets. The ending of this highly expressive work, at whose centre is the famous “Cavatina”, was originally the “Große Fuge”. Yet a contemporary critic felt that this was “unintelligible, like Chinese”. At the urging of the publisher Beethoven replaced it with a newly composed finale and published the “Große Fuge” with a new opus number. Ever since, it has often been performed separately. In order to respect the desire of modern ensembles to be able to perform the Quartet op. 130 in Beethoven’s original version, we have included the “Große Fuge” in this edition.

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String Quartet B flat major op. 130 - Grand Fugue op. 133

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About the Composer

Ludwig van Beethoven

No composer has had as profound and sustained an influence on immediately following generations to the present day as Beethoven. His instrumental music, especially his symphonies, served as touchstones for symphonic composition throughout the nineteenth century. The extraordinarily high standard of his music and his relative independence as a freelance composer have led to his being characterized as the greatest composer of all time.

1770	Baptized in Bonn on December 17, thus probably born on December 16, the son of Johann van Beethoven, a tenor in the court chapel of the prince-elector. First musical instruction from his father.
1778	First public performance.
around 1780	Musical training with the deputy court organist Christian Gottlob Neefe, who in 1783 presented him in Cramer’s “Magazin der Musik” as a second Mozart.
1782	Acquaintance with the Breuning family, where his literary interest is aroused. First publication: Piano Variations in C minor on a March by Dressler, WoO 63.
1783	Harpsichordist in the court chapel; 1784 assistant to the court organist.
1787	Journey to Vienna. Here he very likely meets Mozart, who probably gives him some lessons. After a short while he must return home to his mother, who is ill with tuberculosis.
1792	He travels a second time to Vienna, where he will remain until the end of his life. Count von Waldstein sends him on his way with the famous words: “With steady diligence you will receive Mozart’s spirit from Haydn's hands.” In Vienna he studies with Haydn, Albrechtsberger, Schuppanzigh, and Salieri. As a pupil of Joseph Haydn, he achieves extraordinary recognition among the Viennese nobility and receives financial support. Great demand for his compositions from publishing houses: chamber music and piano sonatas from the Bonn and early Viennese years are issued. His first works printed in Vienna (among them the piano sonatas, Op. 2) already bear the hallmark of his compositional style: a forward-advancing, spirited, process-related character.
1796	Concert tours to Prague, Berlin, Leipzig, and Dresden, which cement his fame.
1798	Piano Sonata in C Minor, “Pathétique,” Op. 13.
1798–1800	String quartets, Op. 18.
1799/1800	Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21
1795/1800	Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15
1800–01	Piano sonatas, Op. 27, “quasi una fantasia,” including the Moonlight Sonata, Op. 27 No. 2.
1801	Composition of the Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 (until 1802). Publication of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19.
1801/02	Crisis brought on by incipient hearing loss, documented in the “Heiligenstadt Testament.” Thereafter he begins, by his own admission, a “New Path” in his compositions, reflected particularly in the piano sonatas, Op. 31 (including the Tempest Sonata); the piano variations, Op. 34 and 35; and the Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, “Eroica,” Op. 55: they are characterized by enhanced structural development as well as by the use of Baroque techniques and models from other genres.
1803–10/12	Frenzy of creativity; these years are dubbed Beethoven’s “heroic period”. Written during this phase are Symphonies Nos. 3 through 8 (Opp. 55, 60, 67, 68, 92, 93); Piano Concerti Nos. 3 through 5 (Opp. 37, 58, 73); the Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61; the Triple Concerto, Op. 56; string quartets (the Razumovsky quartets, Op. 59; the Harp Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 74; the String Quartet in F minor, “serioso,” Op. 95); piano trios (among them the “Ghost” Trio, Op. 70); piano sonatas (including the Waldstein Sonata in C major, Op. 53; the Appassionata in F minor, Op. 57; and “Les Adieux” in E-flat major, Op. 81a); songs (including “An die Hoffnung,” Op. 32); the Mass in C major (Op. 86); and the opera “Fidelio” (Op. 72, first version 1804/5).
1808/09	Beethoven rejects an offer to become the First Kapellmeister at the court in Kassel because his patrons, Archduke Rudolph, Prince Kinsky, and Prince Lobkowitz, provide him with a comparable yearly salary.
1811/12	Travels to the spa at Teplitz, where he meets Goethe. In 1812, the letter to the “immortal beloved,” whose identity (Antonie Brentano or Josephine Deym) is still uncertain.
1814	Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 90; third version of the opera “Fidelio.” Extraordinarily successful concert with Symphonies Nos. 7 and 8. Still, financial crisis brought about by currency devaluation and the absence of yearly stipends from Kinsky and Lobkowitz.
1815	Death of his brother Caspar Carl and the beginning of the years-long battle for the guardianship of his nephew Karl.
1816	Song cycle “An die ferne Geliebte,” Op. 98; Piano Sonata in A major, Op. 101.
1817–18	Hammerklavier Sonata in B-flat major, Op. 106.
1818	Beethoven begins keeping conversation books due to increasing hearing loss.
1819–23	Missa solemnis, Op. 123.
1819/23	Diabelli Variations, Op. 120.
1820	Piano Sonata in E major, Op. 109, marks the beginning of his glorious late period, which is characterized by exceeding the boundaries of forms, by extreme pitch registers, advanced harmonies, and an increased penchant for contrapuntal forms such as fugue; standing in opposition to the propensity for esotericism in his chamber music is the monumentality of Symphony No. 9.
1821/22	Piano Sonatas in A-flat major, Op. 110 (with fugue in the final movement), and C minor, Op. 111 (reduction to two movements).
1822–26	String quartets, Opp. 127, 130, 131, 132, 135, as well as the Grosse Fuge, Op. 133, which originally formed the final movement of Op. 130.
1823/24	Completion of the Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, which for the first time in the history of the genre includes voice parts (Schiller’s “Ode to Joy”). It will become the most famous and most frequently played symphony of all time.
1827	Death in Vienna on March 26.

It is well known that the Grosse Fuge was the original last movement to the mighty Op. 130 quartet – how handy to have them both in the same volume! … As expected, Henle have published an excellent Urtext version with copious scholarly notes for those who are interested and with practical page turns and easy-to-read copy for the performer. An elegant edition for reference and use.

Stringendo, 2009