In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there was a much greater distinction between music for public and private entertainment than is generally the case nowadays. Symphonies, concertos, and operas were intended for the most part, to be public entertainment. Chamber music was intended as private entertainment for those who could afford it. It was meant to be played in the chamber room of an aristocrat, and an audience of less than twenty people was assumed by the composer.     

     There were many types of chamber music, some with piano, some without, some with wind instruments, and some without, but its distinguishing feature is that there is only one instrument to a part. There was even a market for chamber music arrangements of symphonies. Beethoven made a piano trio arrangement of his second symphony shortly after its premiere. This was the last symphony to be arranged for a chamber group.

     By the end of the eighteenth century, mostly due to Haydn, the string quartet had emerged as the leading form of chamber music. From Haydn to the death of Beethoven and Schubert, the string quartet was the most important form of chamber music. The string quartet came to embody the pure quintessence of the classical style. The music was composed in such a manner as to provide entertainment for the musicians as much as for the small audience that may be listening.

     Why should the string quartet have emerged as the leading form of chamber music, rather than something with a combination of piano and strings, like the so-called piano trios and piano quartets and quintets? And why should chamber music with winds not have assumed a greater importance, especially considering the exquisite beauty of Mozart’s clarinet quintet?

     With a string quartet as the medium of expression, a composer is freed from the problem of blending the various instruments. In other words, the composer is freed from the problem of orchestration. All of the bowed string instruments blend perfectly with each other in any combination or chord voicing. The stringed instruments allow the composer to stress the linear aspect of music more than he could with piano or winds. At the same time, the vertical, or chordal, aspect of music could be stressed when the composer wanted. The string quartet offers greater transparency than other combinations of instruments. Less than four instruments gives the composer less capabilities of harmony and counterpoint, while more than four, creates more of a problem of spacing and of doubling of notes of a chord on different instruments.

     The homogeneous blend of sound is a blessing and a curse at the same time. A blessing, because the problems of orchestration are avoided and the sound is very transparent. A curse, because the lack of variety of tone color can become monotonous. A certain amount of variety of tone color, is, of course obtainable on the stringed instruments. By using various methods of bowing, and techniques such as tremolo, vibrato, or even pizzicato, a certain variety of sound can be created, but it is not nearly the same degree of variety of tone color obtainable by using various combinations of winds and strings. By not having variations of tone color, or orchestration at his disposal, the composer is forced to concentrate more on pure musical substance.

     The question arises as to why composers did not include the bass violin in chamber music. It would seem to be a good idea to use the bass fiddle because of its deep and rich sonority. But the bass is rather ponderous, and more importantly, its opacity would compromise the transparency of the music. No composer of any importance used the bass violin in chamber music until Schubert’s “Trout Quintet.”     The string quartet began as a rather simple genre, being nothing more than a divertimento for four stringed instruments. Haydn always published his string quartets in sets, and it was the set of six string quartets listed as Haydn’s Opus 33 that marks the most significant turning point in the early history of string quartet. His Opus 20 set of quartets was a big step forward in the evolution of the string quartet, but it was his Opus 33 that changed the very nature of the medium. Published in 1781, Haydn proclaimed that they were composed in a “new and special manner.”

     Prior to Haydn’s Opus 33 quartets, they were always composed in a style of melody with accompaniment, with the first violin almost always having the melody. In his opus 33 set of quartets, Haydn created music that sounded more like a conversation between the instruments, rather than allowing one instrument to dominate. It is true that the first violin carries the melody more often than the other three instruments in this set of quartets, but for the first time in history, we have string quartets in which the other three instruments are not totally subordinate to the first violin. Haydn was to carry this idea further in later quartets, yet even so, in his late quartets, the first violin carries the melodic ideas a bit more than the other three instruments. His Opus 50 set of quartets have more solo passages for cello than any of his other quartets. This can be explained by the fact that they were written for Frederick William, the King of Prussia, who was a very talented amateur cellist.

     Haydn got more and more experimental and daring in his quartets as he got older. He was found of imbuing them with his sense of humor, though without a deep understanding of the classical style, much of the humor in his quartets will elude the listener.

     Haydn’s Opus 33 Quartets had a profound effect on Mozart. In 1782 he began working on a set of six string quartets which he dedicated to Joseph Haydn. Mozart worked very hard on these quartets. He could dash off a symphony in a couple of days, but he labored over these six quartets for many months. He took from Haydn, the idea of creating a more democratic type of quartet, with each instrument participating equally in the musical discourse, or nearly equally. But otherwise, they bare little stylistic resemblance to the quartets of Haydn. All six of these quartets are beautiful and masterly composed works. The one that perhaps is the most perfectly crafted is the one in A Major, K 464. This is the one Beethoven admired the most of all of Mozart’s quartets. The one in C major, K465, has been nicknamed “The Dissonance Quartet” because the introduction to the first movement is full of dissonance. This is an unfortunate name for this quartet, because the work as a whole does not contain an unusual amount of dissonance.

     In 1790 Mozart composed a set of three string quartets for the King of Prussia. This King, as noted above, was a cellist, so Mozart made sure that these quartets had some fun things for the cello. Basically Mozart shifts the melodic interest from one instrument to another throughout these works, but there is a bit more melodic material for the cello than in Mozart’s other quartets. These so-called “Prussian Quartets” were the last string quartets Mozart was to compose.

     It must be admitted, that while the string quartet became the most important form of chamber music from the 1770s until the death of Schubert in 1828, with the composers Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert creating their most profound instrumental music in that medium, Mozart is somewhat of an anomaly because he poured his most profound feelings in instrumental music into the string quintet. Despite having composed several masterpiece string quartets, it is in his string quintets that his greatest genius in string ensemble composition is to be found. It seems that every time he finished composing a set of string quartets, Mozart would immediately begin working on a string quintet.

     There were two types of string quintets that composers used. One was using the standard string quartet with the addition of one cello, such as the string quintets of Boccerini, and later, the one by Schubert. The other method was to add a viola. The second method was the one Mozart preferred. Having two violas allowed Mozart to indulge in the rich inner part writing that he was so great at. Mozart composed six string quintets. The first one, K 174, in B-flat major, was composed when he was only seventeen. It is a beautiful work, though not as masterful as his later quintets. The one in C minor, K 406, is his own arrangement of his Serenade in C minor for Wind Octet, K 388. The String Quintet in C major, K 515, has the longest opening movement that Mozart ever composed. The quintet in G minor, K516, is perhaps Mozart’s greatest masterpiece in this genre. It is a deeply emotional, even tragic, work. The last two string quintets of Mozart, K593 in D major, and K614 in E-flat major, are beautiful works, but do not surpass the one in G minor.

     Mozart also composed a string trio that is exceptionally good. He could create more complex textures, and more interesting music with three voices than most composers could with six or eight. In his string trio there is much linear delineation of chords. In other words, the chords are sort of spelled out in the melody, rather than in the harmony. Mozart was very adept at this sort of thing, and working with only three stringed instruments was the perfect medium for it. As he did so often, he made a virtue out of a restriction.

     In 1798 Beethoven began working on a set of string quartets which he completed in 1800 and published in 1801. He was primarily known a performer and composer of piano music at that time. He had composed piano sonatas, piano trios, and a few other works with piano plus other instruments. He was eager to break into other genres and to add to the legacy of Mozart and Haydn. His set of six string quartets, Opus 18, does not diverge greatly from the styles of Mozart and Haydn, yet his individuality does come through.

     Beethoven did not order these quartets in the same order that they were composed. The one that he put first, String quartet in F Major, Opus 18, No. 1, was not the first one he had composed. He put it first in the set because it is the most impressive of the set. These six quartets are fine pieces of craftsmanship and expressiveness. The can unabashedly take their place right beside the great string quartets of Mozart and Haydn.

     In the year 1806, the Russian ambassador to the court of Vienna, Ruzumovsky, commissioned Beethoven to compose a set of string quartets. These became known as Beethoven’s Ruzumovsky Quartets, and are listed as Opus 59 in Beethoven’s repertoire. Just as Beethoven’s Walstein Sonata and his Eroica Symphony signaled a revolution in the concept of those genres, this set of three quartets marks a revolution in the conception of the string quartet. It is not just the technical difficulties, and the expansion of sonata form that sets these quartets apart from their antecedents. They represent a whole new style of music and are stamped throughout with Beethoven’s idiosyncratic quirks. These quartets caused quite a controversy in their day. Musicians and listeners were bemused and a bit upset by them. They called them a waste of money. The said they were not music. One critic called them “the patchwork of a lunatic.” When the most renown chamber ensemble of the time, the Schuppanzigh Quartet, looked at the parts they each had been given, they were sure that Beethoven was playing a practical joke on them, withholding the real quartet from them, and giving them insane nonsense as a weird joke. When they found out that the music they had been given was the real thing, the cello player took his music, threw it on the floor and stomped on it.

     They were particularly bewildered by the second movement of the first quartet in the set. It starts off with the cello thumping away on a rhythmic figure on a single note, answered by a short phrase by the first violin, then the rhythmic figure is repeated by the viola and answered by the second violin. This rhythmic figure on a repeated note plays an important part in this witty, humorous allegretto. But the musicians of the time just didn’t get it.

     With time those three quartets were not only accepted, but came to be regarded as great masterpieces. Beethoven had created a new kind of music, which required a new way of listening. Much more than Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven composed music in which themes are developed, and ideas which are latent in a particular theme only gradually reveal themselves. He invented the idea of music which gradually unfolds itself, slowly progressing from a simple idea into something complex, by building a large structure with the repeated use almost entirely of a single motif. This is music which takes the listener on a journey of discovery. Maybe it is an exaggeration to say that he invented that kind of music. He sort of got the idea from Haydn, to let the music unfold itself from a basic germ, or motif, but he took it to such a greater degree than Haydn ever did.

     These three quartets possess much beauty and greatness, but their beauty is not readily apparent, even to a trained ear. One must listen to each movement several times over to begin to glean the expressive language that Beethoven had created.

     There is at least one feature that brings the Ruzumovsky Quartets down to Earth. They are imbued with Russian folk melodies. Beethoven owned a copy of a collection of Russian folk melodies and some of these melodies assume great importance in these quartets. Like all of the great composers, Beethoven had an interest in the folk music of various nationalities, but here he was particularly concerned with Russian folk melodies so as to please his Russian patron. He had promised his Russian patron that he would include a Russian folksong melody in each quartet.

     The third quartet, in C major is the easiest one to appreciate, while the second one, in E minor, is the most difficult. The third one has a finale that cannot fail to please. I have always loved this perpetual mobile movement that Beethoven used as a finale for Opus 59, no. 3 in C major. It is in a loosely structured sonata form with fugal texture throughout and has the energy of a speeding train from the beginning until the last chord.

     The first one, in F major, is the longest. Beethoven put the slow movement between the witty, humorous allegretto and the finale of the first quartet. It is a very melancholy, deeply profound and beautiful slow movement. The finale of the first quartet opens with a Russian folk melody on the cello, the other instruments accompanying. Each instrument gets its chance to play that melody, while the others take turns accompanying, and offering different “comments” on the melody. It is a lively and happy finale. These quartets require intense listening to appreciate. If you put them on as background music while you read a book or do housework then you are wasting your time. They demand your attention. They are difficult to appreciate, but with repeated listenings they will yield great treasures. Listening to these wonderful quartets, it is hard to imagine the consternation and bewilderment they caused when Beethoven had first composed them.

     Beethoven’s usual pattern when he was striking out on a new path, was to embody his most radical new thoughts first in a piano sonata, then in a symphony. Only after he had created at least one piano sonata and a symphony with his new style of composing, did he turn to the string quartet, distilling the pure essence of his style into the string quartet. His first set of quartets was composed before his first symphony, but he followed this pattern when composing the Ruzumovsky quartets and from then on until his last quartets.

     It was not until the summer of 1809, the year of Haydn’s death, that Beethoven composed another string quartet. The quartet he composed that year is listed as Opus 74 in Beethoven’s repertoire, and is in the key of E-flat. It earned the nickname “Harp Quartet” because the extended pizzicato passages, with lots of arpeggios cannot help but make one think of a harp. The first movement of this quartet is rather serene and calm, but certainly not without Beethoven’s idiosyncrasies. The slow movement is a very beautiful adagio in A-flat major. The third movement is unusual in that Beethoven chose the key of C minor for it, instead of using the key of the first movement, as was the norm.

     In 1810 Beethoven completed another string quartet, which for some reason was not published until 1816. This was his String Quartet in F minor, Opus 95. The first movement of this quartet is compact and tightly argued. By tightly argued, I mean that there is little connecting material between the themes, and a persistent concentration on small motifs. This movement is compact; its development section takes up a smaller proportion of the whole than is the norm for Beethoven. Beethoven did not put a repeat sign at the end of the exposition of this movement, as was the custom. The beautiful slow movement is in the key of D major, and is the longest of the four. It does not come to any definite end, the last chord being a diminished seventh chord. The scherzo begins with the same chord that the slow movement ended on, giving the impression of the slow movement segueing directly into the scherzo. This scherzo is dark and stormy like the first movement. It has an eerie sounding trio that explores the keys of G-flat major and D major before returning to F minor with the opening page of the scherzo not being repeated verbatim as is the norm, but slightly varied, and a bit faster. The finale has a short, but expressive introduction. This exciting finale turns from F minor to F major near the end, coming to rest on an F major chord before being capped off with an exuberant coda.

     After his Opus 95 Quartet, a lot of time passed before Beethoven took up string quartet writing again. During the last few years of his life, that Beethoven composed what are now known as his late quartets. He worked almost exclusively on these quartets, concentrating all of his energy on them. He composed nothing else during this time but a few trifles, wanting nothing to distract him from the composition of these masterpieces.

     Biographers and music critics usually divide Beethoven’s music into three periods, the early period being what he composed in his youth and being heavily influenced by Mozart and Haydn. The second period is heralded by such works as the Third Symphony, Emperor Concerto, the Waldstein Sonata, and the Ruzumovsky Quartets. The Harp Quartet and the Opus 95 Quartet also fall squarely into his second period. His Late Quartets, being the last works he composed, fall at the end of his later period, and some writers have suggested that they are so radically different, that they herald the beginning of a new period of music for Beethoven, which was cut short by his death.

     This was music in which Beethoven expressed his deepest emotions in the most sophisticated way, with little or no regard as to whether or not most people would like it. There are a few somewhat conventional movements in the late quartets, but for the most part, the late quartets are by far Beethoven’s most idiosyncratic and original music. It has been said that these quartets represent a summary of all of Beethoven’s abilities as a composer.

     Beethoven began work on the first of these quartets after he received a letter in November 1822, from Prince Galitsin in St Petersburg, asking him to compose one, two, or three string quartets for him and telling him that he will pay him whatever he thinks is proper. I will discuss these quartets in the order that Beethoven composed them rather than the order in which he published them, which is slightly different.

     The first of these Late Quartets that Beethoven composed is the one in E-flat, known as his Opus 127. The first movement of this quartet breaks the “rules” of sonata form by bringing back the introduction at the end of the exposition, though this time, in a different key (G major) and in the middle of the development section, and in another key (C major). Beethoven had done that sort of thing before, bringing back the introduction into the actual movement. In fact he used this procedure as early as 1797 in his Pathetique Sonata. But here he brings it back twice. Another thing about this movement is that development of its themes, primarily the lyrical first theme takes place almost continuously throughout the entire movement, rather than only in the development section. Another feature of this movement is that Beethoven, rather than contrasting the tonic key with the dominant, uses the mediant as the main key in opposition to the tonic. The mediant is the key based on the third degree of the scale. The term can also be used for the third note itself or the chord based on that note. But anyway, the tonic being E-flat, the norm would have been to use B-flat (dominant of E-flat) as the primary key of tonal contrast, but here Beethoven uses G, mostly G major, but there is a touch of G minor.

     The second movement is a set of variations on a rather sinuous, yet lyrical theme. One feature of this set of variations is that it doesn’t really sound like a set of variations. Beethoven disguises the fact that it is a theme and variations movement by having some of the variations flow directly into the next one with no pause., and also some of the variations are rather far fetched and have little resemblance to the theme. Also it doesn’t follow the usual pattern of each variation becoming more complex than the preceding ones. There is a short interlude between the fourth and the final variation. This lovely movement is capped off with a coda.

     The scherzo is lively and full of wild accents. It has an interesting section in E-flat minor. The finale is lively and playful. This finale has a false recapitulation in the subdominant key, which is immediately followed by the actual recapitulation.

     The next string quartet, Opus 132, is unusual in its choice of tonic. A minor, for some reason was rarely used in the classical period, as the primary key for a work. A couple of notable exceptions are Mozart’s Piano Sonata, K311, and his Rondo for piano in A minor, K511. Beethoven used A minor for slow movements sometimes, but chose A minor as the primary key in only two works before Opus 132, the Sonata for Piano and Violin, Opus 23 and the Sonata for Piano and Violin Opus, which is known as the Kreuzter Sonata.     This quartet is also unusual for its five movement plan. The first movement has a layout that defies the conventions of sonata form. . The second movement is a scherzo with a trio that sounds like a musette and has a drone on the note A that is held at length, first in the first violin, then joined by the viola and cello, holding on to this note in three octaves at once. Its pastoral evocation is pure delight. The third movement is unusual for being in the Lydian mode. The Lydian mode is like the major mode, but with a raised fourth scale degree. It is brighter sounding than the major mode.

     Beethoven title the third movement, “Prayer of Gratitude to God from a Man Healed of Illness.” Beethoven composed it right after recovering from a serious illness. It is based on a chorale melody that Beethoven composed. Beethoven arranged this solemn and rather archaic chorale melody in alternating passages of polyphony and block chordal style. It is serenely beautiful. Beethoven treats this as sort of a theme and variations movement with contrasting sections between the variations, using this lovely hymn-like melody as the theme.

     After the chorale is played through once, the key changes to D major and Beethoven wrote “feeling new strength” at this point in the score. After a while we find ourselves back in F Lydian and a variation of the chorale melody is heard. Then we find ourselves back in the key of D major again for a while, then back in F Lydian. The chorale sections of this movement have a very relaxed, contemplative feel. By using the Lydian mode, Beethoven was able to create a movement in which the dominant (in this case C) does not sound so much like a contrasting key, but sounds more like an alternate tonic. By creating two tonal areas and making them both seem as if they could be the tonic key, Beethoven anticipates the harmonic innovations of later composers. This movement is very unique in Beethoven’s output. It is also serenely beautiful.

     The beautiful slow movement is followed by a short march in A major. As the march comes to an end, Beethoven creates another innovation. He uses the first violin to imitate an operatic recitative. Just as a recitative in opera introduces an aria, this recitative introduces the finale.

     For this rondo finale we return to the key of A minor. The theme for this finale is one that Beethoven had considered using for the finale of the ninth symphony before changing his mind and using his famous Ode to Joy theme. This passionate finale is capped off by a rather long coda in the key of A major.

     Now we come to the late quartet that happens to be my personal favorite. The Quartet in B-flat, Opus 103 is unusual in many ways. For one thing, it has six movements. The first movement has a serious and solemn introduction, and is a nice happy allegro.

   The second movement is Beethoven’s shortest scherzo. It is rather humorous and quite eccentric. I once asked a friend to listen to this brief scherzo on the headphones so I could see his reaction. When he took off the headphones he looked at me and said in a most emphatic tone of voice, “That is the weirdest piece of music I’ve ever heard!”

     The third movement is an eloquent and beautiful andante. It is one of the happiest sounding pieces Beethoven ever composed. It is full of subtle effects, most of which will not be apparent on a first hearing.

     The fourth movement is a dance movement that Beethoven titled, “Alla Danza Tedesca.” It is very elegant and pretty. The fifth movement is titled, “Cavatina,” and is one of the most deeply expressive pieces of music ever composed by anyone. It is probably the saddest sounding piece Beethoven ever composed. For me, this movement has always seemed to depict the abject sorrow and loneliness that Beethoven must have felt in his own life, with his deafness more or less isolating him. In the middle section of this extraordinarily beautiful movement, Beethoven wrote the word Bleklemmt (choked) over the first violin part, as if the violin is choking back tears. It is deeply expressive.

     Beethoven originally composed a huge fugue for the finale of this quartet. The fugue is so long, so harsh and dissonant, that his friends begged him to compose another finale. Beethoven always scoffed at any suggestion that he change anything, no matter who asked him to, no matter how much they begged him. But this time he seemed to have acquiesced quite quickly and easily. It is as if he knew that he had erred in the decision to use this highly eccentric fugue as the finale. He quickly composed a nice little rondo/sonata form finale. It is happy. It is fairly simple and rounds off the quartet nicely.

     Beethoven published the original finale separately as Grosse Fuge in B-flat. Which finale to use for this quartet has remained controversial ever since. Many people say that Beethoven’s original intentions were the most aesthetically correct and that he was forced to write a new finale, therefore the Grand Fugue should be used as the finale. Others say that the Grand Fugue is too long, too harsh, and complex to be a satisfying finale for this great quartet. Personally, I fall into the second camp. I prefer to hear this quartet with the second finale. I would rather hear the Grand Fugue as a totally separate work, divorced from the quartet that it was originally intended as the finale for.

     The Grand Fugue is somewhat controversial even today. Its technical difficulty, harsh dissonances, and quirky, eccentric, sudden changes, make it difficult to play or listen to. The lovely section in the middle is the only part that most people like. The rest seems so unfathomable to most. Many people have called it nonsense or incomprehensible noise. Some have loved it. Stravinsky loved it and said that it is contemporary music that will always be contemporary. In order to make this fugue more accessible to the public, Beethoven made an arrangement of it for piano-four-hands. This was published as his Opus 134.     Immediately after composing the B-flat Quartet, Beethoven set to work on a new project, a string quartet in C-sharp minor. The key of C-sharp minor is a key that has rarely been used by anyone at any time in history. Outside of two of the preludes and fugues of Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier, you would be hard pressed to find anything in that key. Haydn had used that key once as the home key of one of his piano sonatas and Beethoven used it for his famous Moonlight Sonata. But that’s it. I don’t think there are any other pieces of classical music (or baroque or Romantic) in the key of C-sharp minor. Please correct me if I am wrong about that.

     Beethoven opens his String Quartet Opus 131 in C-Sharp Minor with a fugue. But this fugue is from a totally different world than the Grand Fugue that was the original finale to Opus 130. It is slow and smooth, with none of the jagged, disjunct wildness of the Grand fugue. This one sounds rather eerie and mystical. Wagner called it the greatest expression of melancholy I music. But it is so much more than mere sadness or gloominess. This fugue is the musical equivalent of a mystical insight. This fugue is based on a simple four note figure that can be found, if you listen carefully, in the quartets Opus 130 and Opus 132. It is subtle, and it is sublime.     This quartet is in seven movements, but the third movement is really nothing more than a transition between the second and third movements, and is not a complete movement in itself. And the sixth movement is really a slow introduction to the finale. When this is taken into account, the C-Sharp Minor Quartet is really a five movement quartet.

     The second movement is a happy allegro in the key of D major. It is in an abbreviated sonata form. There is not development section. The third movement, as noted above, serves as a transition, and takes us straight into the A major andante which is the fourth movement. This movement is in the form of a theme with six variations and is by far the longest movement in this quartet. The fifth movement is a scherzo in E major. The sixth movement functions as a slow and solemn introduction to the finale. The finale is the only complete sonata form movement in this quartet. Its first theme is rather choppy sounding, but has a relentless, driving energy. The second theme is a lyrical sounding theme in the key of E major. Some thirty-eight measures before the end of this finale, Beethoven turns from C-sharp minor to C-sharp major and remains in the major mode until the end.

     The last quartet Beethoven composed is his Opus 135. He returns to the traditional four movement plan for this one. It uses the key of F major as its home key. This one is the shortest of the Late Quartets. The first movement is a nice little allegro. The second movement is an energetic scherzo with a strong rhythmic energy and a bit of humor. The third movement is the longest of the four. And it is one of the most beautiful slow movements in all of Beethoven. It is very slow and tranquil, and it flows like thick syrup. Over the finale of this quartet, Beethoven wrote the words, “Der Schwer Gefasste Entschluss” which means, the hard won resolution, or the difficult decision. Over the first three notes of the slow introduction, Beethoven wrote, “Muss Es Sein,?” which means, ” Must it be?” Then at the opening of the allegro he wrote “Es Muss Sein” which means, “It must be. This happy finale ends the last quartet Beethoven ever composed.

     With the late quartets, Beethoven had raised the bar so high that composers after him were afraid to compose string quartets. Mendelssohn composed seven string quartets, the first one, when he was only 14. His mature quartets are very good, but nothing like the sublime beauty and power of the Beethoven late quartets. I think he was trying to emulate Mozart rather than Beethoven. Most composers who came after Beethoven did not dare to try to emulate him.

     Schubert composed a beautiful string quintet with two cellos and a couple of fine string quartets. He must have heard, or at least seen the scores to the Beethoven quartets before he died. His last quartet is very nice and came from the last year of his short life. He died at the age of 31, the year after Beethoven’s death. Brahms only published two string quartets, but he said that he could have wallpapered his entire apartment with the string quartets that he had composed and threw in the fireplace. The two string quartets that Brahms published are probably his least popular works. They are skillfully composed, but they lack passion and inspiration.

     After the death of Beethoven, the string quartet did not have nearly as much importance as it had ever since Haydn and Mozart had elevated that medium to its place as the quintessential classical genre. The Beethoven Late Quartets definitely represent the high water mark of chamber music.