# Late quartets #3: Op. 130



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Midway, almost. A lot to talk about here! Let's save detailed comments on the Grosse Fuge for later, when it will come up separately. But the question of which is the "best" as a finale is pretty relevant.

And what about all those other movements?


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Very much according to plan - with the original finale of course.

And the same to you, woodchuck.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

There seems little interest in the Op. 130...? Here's a factoid I find interesting. The replacement finale, which seems so "small" compared with the Grosse Fuge, is actually the longest finale in the late quartets. And it's pretty darned good, too!

To add to that, the 3rd movement, the Andante, is surely unique in Beethoven. I can't help but think about riding around Vienna in a horse-drawn cart, just seeing the scenery...


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

Little interest? Hardly... It took me awhile to get around to it. The Adagio ma non troppo - Allegro is (1st Mov) is one of my personal favorite movements in all Beethoven. From it's weary and mysterious stirrings in the beginning to the whirlwind takes off... I swear every time I hear this movement I say out loud "God I love Beethoven"

The presto with its busy opening that that bursts into a joyful dance and then back to the rushed business again, so sublimely contained. 

Andante con moto, ma non troppo. Poco scherzoso- Then were having a leisurely lyrical experience with this movement with some interesting dynamics and a waltz-like feel.

Alla danza tedesca. Allegro assai- A sweet and more tender dance to sandwich the Andante, and to prepare you for the real tears to come with the ..

Cavatina. Adagio molt espressivo- Perhaps the most beautiful movement he ever wrote, is highly charged with intense emotion, so much so that Beethoven himself was moved to tears by it's loveliness. Be carefully Its very sad IMO. You may find yourself crying all over yourself. 

And the Interchangeable movement which for me is alway the Grosse Fuge - The way the work was intended to be and Beethoven's final answer to the problem of the fugue. It rivals Bach's Art of the Fugue as one of the greatest studies of what can be done with counterpoint and uses all the techniques of that complex form. Highly modern as if Beethoven looked 100 years into the future (Most of the late quartets do this in a way). 

Op. 130 & 131 along with op. 106, 111, & 123 will stand as the jewels in the crown of Beethoven's artistic output. It's a glorious work 

The other movement 6 is something I do listen to but more like a separate movement (Ironically how the grosse fuge was isolated by the public for more than a 100 years). To me this movement marked Finale: Allegro (the very last thing Beethoven composed to replace the grosse fuge) represents a man at peace with himself and his art, at the threshold of death Beethoven, no longer defiant to life, a man whose ready to die with quiet dignity and grace.


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

Fugue Meister said:


> Cavatina. Adagio molt espressivo- Perhaps the most beautiful movement he ever wrote, is highly charged with intense emotion, so much so that Beethoven himself was moved to tears by it's loveliness. Be carefully Its very sad IMO. You may find yourself crying all over yourself.


I've always said this as well. But I also have to consider the slow movement of his 5th piano concerto in the running for "most beautiful movement". Overall, I would say this quartet is probably either my favorite or second favorite behind Op 131. The first movement is a particular favorite of mine. The Grosse Fuge disgusted me at first but after giving it a few thousand listens, I've really come to love it almost like nothing else. It sounds like the music that would be found in the head of a genius yet immensely insane psychopath. And I say that as a big compliment since music is supposed to take you to exotic places.


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

Dustin said:


> I've always said this as well. But I also have to consider the slow movement of his 5th piano concerto in the running for "most beautiful movement". Overall, I would say this quartet is probably either my favorite or second favorite behind Op 131. The first movement is a particular favorite of mine. The Grosse Fuge disgusted me at first but after giving it a few thousand listens, I've really come to love it almost like nothing else. It sounds like the music that would be found in the head of a genius yet immensely insane psychopath. And I say that as a big compliment since music is supposed to take you to exotic places.


I agree entirely with everything you say here, especially about the adagio from Op. 73. One of the loveliest sounds this world has ever known.


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## SeptimalTritone (Jul 7, 2014)

In my opinion, you guys are heavily underrating the 3rd movement. To me, the 3rd movement is what defines the piece, or, at least, it defines the piece's universal struggle of a lost human soul. It feels like an old man floating through deep space with infinite experience and maturity, and yet... something is missing. Is this 'misssing' feeling the longing to reunite with God? I don't know, but I do know that the floating, longing feeling is captured somehow with Beethoven's really unique string quartet orchestration with complex rhythms and accompaniment that somehow sounds so crystal clear and spacious.

This longing is later expressed in the Cavatina and then afterwords, Beethoven violently rejects this terrible, meaningless, insane world of ours with the greatest statement of all time of the most profound suffering!


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

KenOC said:


> There seems little interest in the Op. 130...? Here's a factoid I find interesting. The replacement finale, which seems so "small" compared with the Grosse Fuge, is actually the longest finale in the late quartets. And it's pretty darned good, too!
> 
> To add to that, the 3rd movement, the Andante, is surely unique in Beethoven. I can't help but think about riding around Vienna in a horse-drawn cart, just seeing the scenery...


The rondo finale is like Luddy van B saying kiss my *** to all those ************* who dissed the big bad fugue.


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