Beethoven worked on his Quartet Op. 130 intensively in the months from May to September 1825. It originates from a time that saw Beethoven dangerously ill, as he was suffering from an intestinal inflammatory disease.
Adding to his medical condition, he was also involved in a stressful family situation involving his nephew Karl. A biographer writes, these months were full of personal confrontations, recriminations, mutual personal threats, and outright rebellions by both uncle and nephew.
It has been suggested that the high pitch of Beethoven’s personal emotions, and his morbid premonitions of death “were strangely balanced by the sheer positive success the composer was receiving after the premiere of the Ninth Symphony the previous year.”
It is hardly surprising that this quartet covers the tremendous emotional ground that it does.
Here are the sounds of this amazing quartet:
