Amazing Beethoven

Beethoven masterwork

My intent today is to share with you, my readers, the music that Ludwig van Beethoven composed late in his life after he recovered from a serious illness.

As part of his string quartet #15, Beethoven devoted the third movement of this string quartet to a “Holy song of gratitude, offered to the Devine, in the Lydian mode”. I found this to be, as expected, very profound music…

There are no very recent recordings of Beethoven’s Quartet #15 that I could find. (Feel free to point me to some, via the Comments area below). I did locate, however, an interesting recording by the Emerson Quartet, with individual movements from many of Beethoven’s quartets. These span the “Early period”, and from the “middle period”, as well as from the very end of Beethoven’s life.

These compositions might be of interest to you if you wish to study the differences of sound content, emotional message and other aspects of Beethoven’s music as time moved forward from his young years in the early 1800’s, to his death in 1827. The Song of Gratitude is on track 7.

The CD tracks are as follows:

1. String Quartet No.4 in C minor, Op.18 No.4 – 1. Allegro ma non tanto

2. String Quartet No.1 in F, Op.18 No.1 – 2. Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato

3. String Quartet No.5 in A, Op.18 No.5 – 2. Menuetto

4. String Quartet No.9 in C, Op.59 No.3 – “Rasumovsky No. 3” – 4. Allegro molto

5. String Quartet No.10 in E flat, Op.74 – “Harp” – 1. Poco adagio – Allegro

6. String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op.95 – “Serioso” – 1. Allegro con brio

7. String Quartet No.15 in A minor, Op.132 – 3. Canzona di ringraziamento offerta alla divinità da un guarito, in modo lidico (Molto adagio) – Sentendo nuova forza (Andante)

8. String Quartet No.13 in B flat, Op.130 – 2. Presto

9. String Quartet No.13 in B flat, Op.130 – 4. Alla danza tedesca (Allegro assai)

10. String Quartet No.13 in B flat, Op.130 – 5. Cavatina ( Adagio molto espressivo)

11. String Quartet No.16 in F, Op.135 – 4. Der schwer gefaßte Entschluß (Grave – Allegro – Grave ma non troppo tratto – Allegro)

Here is the music from the third movement of the Ludwig van Beethoven’s fifteenth string quartet in A minor. The title is:

“Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart.” (“Holy song of gratitude, offered to the Devine, in the Lydian mode”)
The performance is by the Yale String quartet

After this song of thanksgiving, the following two movements are very happy, as Beethoven expresses his good feeling upon recovery:
First there is “Alla marcia, assai vivace.”. Then the last movement is titled “Allegro appassionato, Presto.”

Tags: Beethoven, Quartet #15, Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart