# Beethoven - String Quintet in C major ("Storm"), Op. 29



## HansZimmer (11 mo ago)

How do you rate this piece?


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## Philidor (11 mo ago)

I voted "very good".

The question is: What is the measure for "quite bad", "very good" and all others?

I would reserve "excellent" to the very best works, keeping the class rather narrow, less than 50 pieces for 19th century's chamber music for strings between duos and octets. Beethoven op. 59, op. 74, op. 95, the late quartets, Schubert 12 to 15 plus string quintet, Brahms op. 67 plus op. 111, Schönberg's "Verklärte Nacht", some Dvorak, maybe Mendelssohn's op. 80 and 2nd string quintet, ... I didn't think too long over it, 50 is maybe way too far. Maybe 25.

From my perspective, Beethoven's op. 29 is the missing link between op. 18 and op. 59.

In op. 18, Beethoven seized the genre of string quartets in the manner of the 18th century - he is offering a bunch of six individual quartets. If Beethoven had died after op. 18, these six quartets would be the 18th century's climax and final point for the string quartet (together with Haydn's op. 76/77). As Beethoven wrote further quartets, they are regarded as the beginning of his oeuvre.

Op. 59 is the opener for 19th century string quartet writing. It comes as a group a three, but not like op. 18 as a bunch of individuals, but it comes as a sequence with a inner logic: op. 59 No. 1 carries the weight in the first movement with an extremly complex development section (up to a double fugato), op. 59 No. 2 shows more or less an equilibrum between the movements, op. 59 No. 3 carries the weight in the final fugue.

So op. 18 and op. 59 are two completely different manners of string quartet production, and the more you are looking into the details, the more obvious it is.

Op. 29 is in between. It takes clearly longer than the quartets in op. 18, but this is not the main aspect to show the way from op. 18 (Mozart's KV 464 and KV 465 also take more than 30 minutes with all repititions). Beethoven was striving for the "big sound", easier to achieve with the 2nd viola. But in addition, the builded structure not only with themes and development, but also with different kinds of sounds (fully modern). It is not about writing some nice tune, it is working with the sound itself. To be found again in the string quartet op. 74. However, the lack of characteristic themes and memorable tunes is no advantage in terms of popularity.

So I regard op. 29 as a very important sound experiment in writing for strings as well as the link between op. 18 and op. 59. These qualities cannot be described adequately on a one-dimensional scale between "horrible" and "excellent".

In terms of valuable lifetime when listening, I would put the quartet somewhere between 7 and 8 on a scale from 0 to 10.

In terms of musical evolution I would give 10 out of 10; in this discipline it clearly outshines op. 18.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

What he said ^ (excellent post btw, Philidor). Its a fine Quintet that's rarely heard performed today. I've always wanted to see & hear a live performance of it.


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

It might seem strange but the Beethoven String Quintet Op. 29 along with the first Brahms String Quintet Op. 88 in F are my two favourite chamber music works.

Neither is trying to show grandeur or great scale — but manage to show textural, polyphonic and expressive capabilities in an effortless and most pleasant, meaningful way.

I absolutely adore both pieces!


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I voted very good, it's amongst Beethoven greatest works. 
( Except for those who voted horrible and quite bad)


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I don't really think the quintet is a "link". The "sound effects" are mostly restricted to the last movement and furthermore, Beethoven rarely does such things in later works. The exception mentioned is not op.59 but op.74 (although the "symphonic breadth" could be taken as a commonality between op.29 and op.59). 

So to me it seems more like an exploration into a road that was eventually not taken (or only rarely, i.e. in some passages of one or two later works). That's why it sticks a bit out and maybe also why it's comparably unpopular (compared to e.g. quintets by Mozart, Brahms etc.).

Beethoven did take such "side roads" frequently, although usually in piano music, e.g. following the almost rigidly "classicist" sonata op.22 with 3 sonatas with uncommon movement sequences and then giving up the "sonata quasi una fantasia" again (until maybe op.101).


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Kreisler jr said:


> I don't really think the quintet is a "link". The "sound effects" are mostly restricted to the last movement and furthermore, Beethoven rarely does such things in later works. The exception mentioned is not op.59 but op.74 (although the "symphonic breadth" could be taken as a commonality between op.29 and op.59).
> 
> So to me it seems more like an exploration into a road that was eventually not taken (or only rarely, i.e. in some passages of one or two later works).
> 
> Beethoven did take such "side roads" frequently, although usually in piano music, e.g. following the almost rigidly "classicist" sonata op.22 with 3 sonatas with uncommon movement sequences and then giving up the "sonata quasi una fantasia" again (until maybe op.101).


I totally agree with this analysis! The string quintet is unlike anything in Beethoven’s output. It is a wonderful side road.


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