Beethoven's new quartets

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1806, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote to his publishers Breitkopf and Härtel, “you may have at once three new string quartets.” These were three new works Beethoven had written on commission from the wealthy Russian ambassador to Vienna, Count Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky.

Beethoven was stretching the truth a bit when he told his publisher they could have the quartets “at once,” since as per the Count’s commission, Razumovsky had exclusive rights to the music for a full year. But then, Beethoven had also promised the Count that he’d weave authentic Russian melodies in all three quartets but ended up doing so in just two of them. 

Today, these Razumovsky Quartets rank among Beethoven’s most popular chamber works, but initially they were not well received. When shown the music prior to publication, a professional Viennese quartet assumed Beethoven was playing a practical joke on them. 

The second movement of the first quartet, with its cello solo on just one note, provoked particular disdain. Muzio Clementi, who had seen these quartets in manuscript, remarked to Beethoven, “Surely you don’t consider these works to be music!”

To which Beethoven replied, “Oh, they are not for you, but for a later age.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): String Quartet No. 1; Orford Quartet; CBC 2020

On This Day

Births

• 1568 - Italian organist and composer Adriano Banchieri, in Bologna

• 1695 - Italian violinist and composer Pietro Locatelli, in Bergamo

• 1891 - French composer and harpist Marcel Grandjany, in Paris

• 1897 - Brazilian composer Francesco Mignone, in São Paolo

Deaths

• 1914 - French composer Alberic Magnard, 49, killed by German soldiers while defending his house in Baron, Oise

• 1974 - American composer, performer and instrument inventor Harry Partch, 73, in San Diego, California

• 1987 - American composer Morton Feldman, 61, in Buffalo, New York

Premieres

• 1906 - Victor Herbert: operetta, The Red Mill, during trial run in Buffalo, New York

• 1912 - Schoenberg: Five Orchestral Pieces, at a Proms concert in London, conducted by Sir Henry Wood;

• 1931 - Ives: Washington's Birthday, at the Community Playhouse in San Francisco, presented by composer Henry Cowell's New Music Society; with a chamber ensemble conducted by Nicolas Slonimsky;

• 1938 - Jon Leifs: Loftr Suite, at a Nordic Music Festival concert in Copenhagen conducted by the composer;

• 1944 - Hindemith: Theme and Variations (The Four Temperaments), in Boston, conducted by Richard Burgin;

• 1949 - Bloch: Concerto Symphonique at the Edinburgh Music Festival, with the BBC Scottish Symphony conducted by the composer.

Others

• 1806 - Beethoven writes to his publisher that he has completed his three Rasoumovsky String Quartets. The premiere performances were given in February the following year, probably by Ignaz Schuppazigh’s quartet, at an unknown site in Vienna, since Rasoumovsky’s palace was not yet ready.