Two Extraordinary String Quartets!

With only a few years left to live, Beethoven embarked upon an extraordinary journey in the string quartet form. These five quartets were like nothing anyone had written before and there was no lack of speculation that Ludwig van Beethoven had finally lost his mind. With only two lectures we will focus on String Quartets 13 and 14 opus 130 and 131. The former is a six- movement monster which originally ended with the enormous Grosse Fuge. The latter is a seven-movement creation that has no interruptions between any of the movements and begins with an epic fugue! While these two pieces are complex and somewhat arcane, they contain endless hours of possible enjoyment and enlightenment to music scholar and layman alike. As there are far more of the latter than the former we will focus on opening up these masterpieces to everyone! There could be no nicer way to spend a couple of Mid Atlantic Summer afternoons than the study of Beethoven's late works.