Op 131 And Quartet In F Major example essay topic

Ludwig Van Beethoven has been an artist who has always been studied by many people throughout time. Not only have his works been analyzed, but his life has as well. Generally, his lifetime is divided into three style periods in which he composed music. I will be concentrating on the third style period (a complete listing of the works he composed during this time is attached), which is generally thought of as lasting from 1815 until his death in 1827 (Grout 536, Cooper 447). Before one looks at the works he composed during this time, it is important to give a brief overview of what was happening in his life at this time. One of the largest issues plaguing Beethoven during this time was his health.

During the third style period, he was continuously ill (which was not too uncommon throughout his life). A brief over view of his health during this time is as follows: chronic lung and bowel inflammation, Colic and inflammation of the lungs in 1815, diagnosis of a "lung disease" in 1817, bedridden for six weeks with Rheumatic fever in 1820, prolonged Jaundice in 1821, bedridden again for six weeks for Thoracic Gout in 1822, and a severe eye condition which came about in 1823 and required him to stay in a darkened room and sleep with bandages over his eyes (Cooper 443). This is just a listing of some of the main problems which he had during this time. Beethoven was never in good health, especially during this time period (Cooper 442).

Being bedridden for so many lengths of time and being in so much pain most likely had an affect on his work. Another issue that affected his life during this time was the death of Beethoven's brother and the consequent joint custody of his nephew (Cooper 13). In 1815, Carl died and left Beethoven with joint custody of his son, Karl (Cooper 13). Beethoven fought for full custody of Karl for over four years and in 1816 suffered from what would be thought of today as a mental breakdown (Cooper 13-14).

This not only seemingly affected the way he wrote but also affected how much he composed during this time. During the third style period, the characteristics of his music changed slightly. Beethoven's music became more meditative, abstract, passionate and seemed to convey deep, inner feelings (Grout 536). This could also be in large part to the fact that by 1816 his hearing was completely gone (Grout 554-55). Some have said that one can find what seems to be mistakes and miscalculations in his music such as apparent clumsy harmonic progressions which could be due to his deafness (Cooper 426).

This can be seen in the D major Cello Sonata, Op. 102 and Piano Sonata's, Op. 109 and Op. 110 (Cooper 426). An emergence of a new style could be seen and he was becoming more of a risk taker, using melodic variations to express deep meditations (Solomon 296 & 397). One could see a highly concentrated exploration of contrapuntal and polyphonic texture in his music (Solomon 386). Extremes of pitches, large leaps and long sections of tension can also be heard in his music written during this time period (Cooper 425). A good example of this would be his String Quartet, Op. 135. In this piece the first violin plays large leaps and has a part that sounds tense, wild and almost demonic at times (Cooper 425).

In 1815 Beethoven wrote 2 sonatas (No. 4 and 5, Op. 102) which began to show the changes he had in his mind (Scott 245). At the same time, Sonata No. 4 in C major still conveys Beethoven's old unwillingness to write a slow movement for the cello (Scott 245-46). From about 1816 to about 1818 or 1819 Beethoven was fairly unproductive in writing music (Cooper 13-14). It seems probable that this is due to the custody battle he was going through to win custody of his nephew from his sister in law. Of course, this was also right after the time of his apparent mental breakdown in 1816, which may have also been a factor in his un productivity. The main works that he wrote in this time were two cello sonatas and a piano sonata and a string quintet arrangement of his C minor Piano Trio Op. 1, No. 3 (Matthews 56).

The works during this time were also very intimate, possibly not meant for a large audience to hear (Matthews 56). Beethoven began working on the first two movements of his Hammerklavier Sonata in 1817 after he had one his initial custody battle for his nephew (Cooper 28). The second half of this piece was completed during the time when his sister in law was filing an appeal of the decision (Cooper 28). After 1820, Beethoven began to write more music and in 1824 he began to write more quartets. He wrote 5 quartets during this time: Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 127, Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130, Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131, and Quartet in F major, Op. 135 (which was written the year before his death) (Kerman 223-350). He began his first quartet of this period in 1824: Quartet in E-flat major, op.

127 (Kerman 224). His thirteenth quartet (Quartet in B-flat Major, op. 130) he composed in 1825 (D'Indy 107). The first movement of this quartet seemed to convey a conflict of two instincts: gentleness and violence (D'Indy 107).

The two instincts conveyed in that first movement seem to be no surprise as during this time Beethoven's health was becoming progressively worse, and he had been living with his eye problem for almost two years now. The other quartet he composed at this time was his Quartet in A minor, Op. 132 (D'Indy 109). He began writing this quartet in 1825, but did not finish until 1826 due to yet another sickness wherein he had to be bedridden for a month (D'Indy 109). It is no surprise that this quartet contained a musical representation of a crisis and also contained some religious undertones (D'Indy 109). Maybe these religious undertones were there because he had an idea that his life was coming to an end shortly. Shortly before his death in 1826, Beethoven's nephew attempted suicide.

Those who witnessed the man coming to visit his nephew mistook him for a beggar (Cooper 445-46). It is said that he did not have a decent coat or even a decent shirt and appeared to be extremely ill (Cooper 446). It seems that his life came to a somewhat dismal ending. There is an account of Beethoven's death which has, for the most part, been deemed true due to eye witness accounts.

The following quote about Beethoven's death is taken from page 308 of The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven by Alexander Wheelock Thayer: .".. After Beethoven had laid unconscious... there came a flash of lightning accompanied by a violent clap of thunder, which garishly illuminated the death chamber. (Snow lay before Beethoven's dwelling.) After this unexpected phenomenon of nature, which startled me greatly, Beethoven opened his eyes, lifted his right hand and looked up for several seconds with his fist clenched and a very serious, threatening expression... he let the raised hand sink to the bed, his eyes closed half-way... not another breath, not a heartbeat more... ".

(308). Chronology of Major Works (excluding vocal selections and symphonic pieces) for Third Style Period (Scott 308-13) 1815 2 Sonatas for piano and cello (C major and D major) 1816 Sonata in A major for piano, March in D major for military band, 1817 Quintet fugue in D major, Op. 137; Quintet in C minor, Op. 104 1818 Sonata in B-flat major, Op. 106; 6 Themes varied for piano and flute or violin, Op. 105; 10 National Themes with variations for piano and flute or violin, Op. 107 1821 Sonata in A-flat major, Op. 110 1822 Sonata in C minor, Op. 111 1823 33 Variations on a Waltz by Dia belli for Piano; Op. 120, Adagio, Variations and Rondo in G major for piano, violin and cello, Op. 121 A; Missa Solemn is, D major, Op. 123 (completion date) 1824 Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 127; Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130; Quartet in A minor, Op. 132 1825 Great Fugue, B-flat major, Op. 133; Great Fugue Op. 133 arr. for piano duet, Op. 134 1826 Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131; Quartet in F major, Op. 135

Bibliography

Cooper, Martin. Beethoven, The Last Decade, 1817-1827.
London. Oxford University Press. 1970.
D'Indy, Vincent. Beethoven, A Critical Biography. New York. The Boston Music Company. 1912.
Grout, Donald J. and Claude V. Pali sca. A History of Western Music. Fifth Ed. New York. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1996.
Kerman, Joseph. The Beethoven Quartets. Joseph Kerman. 1966.
Matthews, Dennis. Beethoven. New York. Vintage Books. 1985.
Scott, Marion M. Beethoven. London. J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. 1960.
Solomon, Maynard. Beethoven. Second, Revised Ed. New York. Schirmer. 1988.
Thayer, Alexander Wheelock. The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven. Volume Three. London. Centaur Press. 1962.