Beethoven's Op. 127

Synopsis

Today in 1825, one of Beethoven's late chamber works, his String Quartet No. 12, received its premiere in Vienna by the Schuppanzigh Quartet. The Quartet had only received the music two weeks earlier, which, in those days, would be plenty of time for experienced musicians to work up a normal string quartet of that day. But Beethoven’s new quartet was harmonically and structurally far from the norm for 1825.

Even Beethoven knew as much, and drafted a humorous “contract” for himself and the four musicians to sign. It read: “Each one is herewith given his part and is bound by oath and pledged on his honor to do his best, to distinguish himself and to vie with the other in excellence. Signed: Schuppanzigh, Weiss, Linke, the grand master’s accursed cellist Holtz and the last, but only in signing, Beethoven.”

Even so, the premiere was under-rehearsed, and the players seemed visibly unhappy with their difficult assignment. Fortunately, Beethoven was not present, but when he learned of the poor performance, he was furious. He immediately contacted another violinist, Joseph Böhm, whose quartet meticulously rehearsed the new piece under the composer’s watchful eye.

Their performance was better received, and in April of 1825, Böhm took the unusual step of programming the difficult new work twice on the same program. As a contemporary review put it, this time, “the misty veil disappeared and Beethoven’s splendid work of art radiated its dazzling glory.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): String Quartet No. 12; LaSalle Quartet; DG 453 768

On This Day

Births

• 1844 - Russian composer Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Gregorian date: Mar. 18)

• 1870 - Austrian operetta composer Oscar Straus, in Vienna

Deaths

• 1932 - American composer and bandleader John Philip Sousa, 77, in Reading, Pennsylvania

• 1967 - Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály, 84, in Budapest

Premieres

• 1791 - Beethoven: Ritterballett (Knightly Ballet), in Bonn

• 1825 - Beethoven: String Quartet No. 12, in Vienna, the Schuppanzigh Quartet. This premiere was under-rehearsed and poorly performed (the Quartet had only received the music two weeks earlier), and Beethoven arranged for a second performance by a quartet led by violinist Joseph Boehm on March 26, which was better rehearsed and better received.

• 1831 - Bellini: opera La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker), in Milan at the Teatro Carcano

• 1853 - Verdi: opera La Traviata (The Lost One), in Venice at the Teatro La Fenice

• 1896 - Arthur Foote: Suite in d, by the Boston Symphony, Emil Paur conducting

• 1917 - Rachmaninoff: Etudes-tableaux, (first complete performance of the set of nine), in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), by the composer (Julian date: Feb. 21)

• 1926 - Hindemith: Concerto for Orchestra, by the Boston Symphony with Serge Koussevitzky conducting

• 1927 - Prokofiev: Quintet for winds and strings, in Moscow

• 1933 - Varèse: Ionisation, in New York City, with Nicholas Slonimsky conducting

• 1934 - Piston: Concerto for Orchestra, in Cambridge, Massachusetts

• 1947 - Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 25, at the Moscow Conservatory by the USSR State Symphony, Alexander Gauk conducting

• 1984 - John Harbison: Ulysses’ Raft, by the New Haven Symphony, Murray Sidlin conducting

• 2000 - Poul Ruders: opera The Handmaid’s Tale, in Copenhagen, by the Royal Danish Theater, Mark Schönwandt conducting

• 2003 - John Harbison: Requiem, by vocal soloists Christine Brewer, Margaret Lattimore, Paul Groves, and Jonathan Lemalu, with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Boston Symphony conducted by Bernard Haitink.