Opus 131 string quartet in C-sharp minor
I) Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo – II) Allegro molto vivace – III) Allegro moderato – IV) Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile – V) Presto – VI) Adagio quasi un poco andante – VII) Allegro.
Opus 131, String Quartet in C-sharp minor, op. 131, dedicated to Baron von Stutterheim, December 1825–first half of August 1826, published in Mainz by Schott, full score and parts, June 1827. GA no. 50 (series 6/14) – B. 131 – KH. 131 – L. IV, p. 302 – N. 131 – T. 260.
The original manuscript is preserved in the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. The quartet was originally intended for Beethoven’s friend Wolfmayer, but at the last moment Beethoven changed his mind. In a letter to the publisher dated 10 March 1827, sixteen days before his death, he asked that the work be printed with a dedication to Field Marshal Baron Joseph von Stutterheim, who had accepted Beethoven’s nephew Karl into his regiment, the “Archduke Ludwig” regiment in Iglau. Wolfmayer was later honoured with the dedication of the String Quartet op. 135.
The sketches, reported by Nottebohm, are found intermingled in the same notebooks as those for the String Quartets opp. 127, 130 and 132. From this it may be inferred that other musical ideas were taking shape in the composer’s imagination at the same time, ideas that he initially noted in a rough form, intending to develop them in future compositions. On a copy of the quartet that he himself revised, Beethoven added the remark: “Zusammengestohlen aus Verschiedenen diesem u. jenem”.
Nevertheless, the seven movements of which the work consists, to be performed without interruption according to another note by the composer, appear ideologically connected through the coordination of the musical expressive elements that sustain them.
The ascetic melancholy of the first movement is answered by the fervent impetus of the last, passing through the warm melodiousness of the Andante; the somewhat nebulous romantic fantasy of the second is countered by the brighter, more vivid and colourful imagination of the fifth (Presto). In a well-known essay, Richard Wagner offered a particular interpretation of the Quartet, which was opposed, among others, by Rolland, who observed that Wagner «attributed to the most vivid and immediate of musicians, to this Rhinelander brimming with sap like his vineyards, a son of Flemings with torrential blood, the Schopenhauerian speculations with which his own life was imbued, those ideologies that he himself had softened into a sentimental mysticism».
In the Adagio ma non troppo, passionate expressions alternate and intertwine with voices of yearning and resignation, in a kind of prayer that at times rises to mystical heights, before concluding with a series of dark chords that resolve into the long unison C-sharp from which the Allegro molto vivace finally sets off. The theme returns, in a fairly recognisable form, in the Finale, and shows affinities with elements from the preceding quartet, from the Fugue op. 133, and from the Quartet op. 132.
The character of the Allegro molto vivace lies between melancholy and fantasy; it forms an episode of lightness that suitably separates the movements of greater weight: the opening Adagio and the following Andante with variations. The Andante, which is the most extended of the seven movements, is preceded by a brief introduction (Allegro moderato), interrogative in character and concise like an operatic recitative, yet entirely instrumental in profile and structure, with its phrasing passed from one instrument to another and left suspended in a brief cadence of the first violin. Then the theme, marked by a grace full of surrender and ardour—like the second theme of the Adagio of the Ninth Symphony—is stated by the upper instruments. Its profile and suppleness may be described as distinctly Italian; one might think, for a moment, of the “Quae moerebat” from Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile.
The series of variations follows, and may be compared to a sequence of frescoes, each different from the others in character and in the very attitudes of the figures that compose them, yet all referring to the same subject through a single underlying tone of warm light and through a shared preference for clearly defined, sharply contoured images. These are modes of expression imposed by an abundantia cordis in full vitality, rather than derived from the artistic elaboration of representations already transformed into objects of reflection. At the end of the Coda, after a brief pause, the chord of E major is forcefully announced in forte, unfolded in a concise four-note arpeggio in the cello. To this abrupt call, momentarily suspended as if in a void—and already fixing the thematic impulse—the Presto immediately attaches itself, a movement of extreme vivacity that at once asserts its character as half delicate and half rough, in a manner that is typically Beethovenian.
The themes flow through echoes, reprises, sudden pauses, games of rhythm and timbre, abandonments of pleasant phrases or of artlessly joyful, pastoral character, finally fading away like the flight of impalpable, fantastical creatures. The Finale (Allegro) is introduced by an Adagio, almost an Andante, in G-sharp minor, of a penetrating, painful expression made even more intense by the timbre of the viola, which states the theme; the Allegro is the formidable crowning of the entire Quartet. The fervent aspiration of the first movement is transformed here, not without analogies of thematic nuclei, into an impetus that rightly deserves the designation heroic. The soul, «no longer dispersed in the sinuosity of a restless polyphony» (Chantavoine), finds its compact, close-knit and unified expression in the ardour of melody and rhythm.
Schering related certain scenes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet to the Quartet. First movement (Act III, Scene I): Hamlet’s monologue, To be or not to be. Second movement: continuation of the previous scene, the entrance of Ophelia and her dialogue with Hamlet. Third movement (Act III, Scene II): preparation of the pantomime. Fourth movement: continuation of the previous scene, the pantomime up to the poisoning of the king. Fifth movement: continuation of the pantomime, the poisoner woos the queen. Sixth movement (Act IV, Scene V): Ophelia’s song. Seventh movement (Act V, Scene II): the duel between Hamlet and Laertes before the king and queen. The queen’s collapse and death. The death of Hamlet.
[By Biamonti Giovanni – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati, Torino, ILTE 1968]
Official title: Opus 131 Quartett (cis-moll) für zwei Violinen, Viola und Violoncello Widmung: Joseph Freiherr von Stutterheim NGA VI/5 AGA 50 = Serie 6/14
Creation and publication: The work was sketched in Vienna from December 1825 until approximately July 1826. In mid-August 1826 Beethoven presented a model for engraving to the original publisher, Schott of Mainz. The first edition in parts was published by Schott in May/June 1827, first in Paris and then in Mainz; the full score followed in February 1828, also published by Schott in Mainz.
While Beethoven was still working on the autograph score of op. 130 in its original version with fugue, he noted the first sketches for another quartet. Joseph Kerman already refers to a sketch in C-sharp minor and D-flat major from July 1825 that relates to op. 131. One of the earliest clearly identifiable sketches is a draft of the fugue subject for the first movement (the individual sections are designated as „Stücke” by Beethoven himself), which was written in a conversation notebook around 11 December 1825. As early as January 1826 Karl Holz asked: „Vielleicht können wir dann zugleich [während der Proben zu Op. 130] etwas vom Cis mol Quartett probiren. – Das erste [Stück] ist schon fertig?“ (BKh 8, p. 273). It cannot be ruled out that an initial version of the first movement, available in copy from the copyist Wenzel Rampl, had already been completed.
At the end of March 1826 Beethoven mentioned to Schott for the first time that he would soon have a new quartet ready for publication: „für Paris würde ich vieleicht ein neues quartett geben können“ (BGA 2136). Schott promptly replied, requesting the rights. In the following weeks Maurice Schlesinger in Paris (publisher of op. 132) and Heinrich Albert Probst in Leipzig also offered Beethoven the possibility of publishing the work with their firms (BGA 2148, 2159). As the conversation books show, from May onwards Beethoven negotiated, with the support of Karl Holz, with Mathias Artaria, who had already published opp. 130 and 133 (BKh 9, pp. 227, 232, 245, 262f). On 20 May 1826, as was often the case prematurely, Beethoven announced the completion of op. 131 to Schott in Mainz: „Auch war damahls [im April 1826] das Quartett noch nicht vollendet, welches jezt beendiget ist“ (BGA 2154).
On 29 July, when the engraver’s draft was probably already available, Beethoven wrote: „Zugleich melde ich Ihnen, daß ich in einigen Tagen das Quartett, wie auch Ihr Schreiben an Herrn Frank abliefern werde; dieß würde schon geschehen seyn, wenn nicht mein Bestreben, Ihnen das Werk ganz correkt zum Stiche zu übersenden, mich bestimmte, es noch ein Mahl auf das Genaueste durchzusehen“ (BGA 2173). In return for payment of half the fee, Beethoven therefore submitted the engraver’s draft in August to the wholesale firm Franck & Comp. in Vienna, for dispatch to Paris and Mainz.
At the beginning of August 1826 the publisher asked the composer whether the work was in fact an original composition (BGA 2180). Beethoven reacted with a humorous remark written on the engraver’s copy: „Nb: zusammengestohlen aus verschiedenem diesem u. jenem“. A few days later, after delivering the engraving model, he wrote to the publisher: „sie schrieben, daß es ja ein original quartett seyn sollte, es war mir empfindlich, aus Scherz schrieb ich daher bey der Aufschrift, daß es zusammen getragen, Es ist Unterdeßen Funkei nagelneu“ (BGA 2187). Schott confirmed receipt on 28 November 1826.
On 8 March 1827 the publisher announced: „Auch das Quartet in Cis— ist hier bereits fertig und wird es nun auch bald in paris seyn“ (BGA 2276). This referred to the edition of the parts; the full score was not issued until February 1828. Initially there was some confusion regarding the opus number. On 22 February 1827 Beethoven informed Schott: „Zwischen dem Opus (Quart, in Cis moll) was Sie haben, geht das vorher, was Math. Artaria hat [Op. 130]. Hiernach können Sie leicht das Nummer bestimmen“ (BGA 2262). Since Artaria’s edition of op. 130 had not yet been published, the numbering in Mainz was based on the most recently issued works, opp. 127 and 128, and the quartet was initially announced as op. 129 in April.
Subsequently there was lively correspondence between Anton Schindler and the publishers of the late quartets, Schlesinger, Artaria and Schott, in order to establish the correct opus number, which was not clearly indicated even in Beethoven’s declaration of ownership submitted to Schott. On 27 April 1827 Artaria was able to clarify the exact sequence of opus numbers to Schott, so that the quartet in C-sharp minor was correctly registered as op. 131.
Dedication: Josef Freiherr von Stutterheim, born on 18 June 1764 in Moravian-Neustadt (Uničov, Czech Republic) and deceased on 21 July 1831 in Lemberg (Lviv, Ukraine), served in the 8th Infantry Regiment „Erzherzog Rudolph“ in Iglau. He began his military career in 1783 and rose to the highest ranks. In 1819 Stutterheim was elevated to the rank of baron, and in 1824 he was appointed a member of the Court War Council; he later became commander general of Galicia.
On 22 February 1827 Beethoven informed the publishing house Schott that op. 131 was to be dedicated to „meinem Freunde Johann Nepomuck Wolfmayer“ (BGA 2262), to whom he later dedicated op. 135. This dedication was withdrawn on 10 March: „Nach meinem Briefe sollte das Quartett jemanden dedicirt werden, dessen Nahmen ich Ihnen schon überschickte. Ein Ereigniß findet statt, welches mich hat bestimmen müßen, hierin eine Änderung treffen zu mü-ßen. Es muß dem hiesigen Feldmarschal – Lieutenant Baron v. Stutterheim, dem ich große Verbindlichkeiten schuldig bin, gewidmet werden. Sollten Sie vielleicht die erste Dedication schon gestochen haben, so bitte ich Sie um alles in der Welt, dieß abzuändern, und will Ihnen gerne die Kosten dafür ersetzen. Nehmen Sie dieß nicht als leere Versprechungen, allein es liegt mir so viel daran, daß ich gerne jede Vergütung zu leisten bereitet bin. Der Titel liegt hier bey“ (BGA 2278).
From 1815 Stutterheim was second commander of the „Erzherzog Rudolph“ regiment, which Beethoven’s nephew Karl joined at the beginning of January 1827 through the mediation of Stephan von Breuning after his suicide attempt. In February/March 1827 Stutterheim attempted to have Karl van Beethoven appointed cadet in the regiment.
The first public performance took place posthumously on 5 June 1828, organised by Müller in Halberstadt.
The sketches will be featured in an article specially created for the Beethoven Music Research Center, www.lvbeethoven.org
