String Quartet No. 16 (Beethoven)

The String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135, by Ludwig van Beethoven was written in October 1826[1] and was the last major work he completed. Only the final movement of the Quartet Op. 130, written as a replacement for the Große Fuge, was composed later. The op. 135 quartet was premiered by the Schuppanzigh Quartet in March 1828, one year after Beethoven's death.

String Quartet
No. 16
Late string quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven
Caricature of Beethoven by J. P. Lyser (1825)
Key	F major
Opus	Op. 135
Composed	October 1826
Dedication	Johann Wolfmayer
Duration	c. 22 min
Movements	Four
Premiere
Date	March 1828
Performers	Schuppanzigh Quartet

The work is on a smaller scale than the other late quartets. Under the introductory slow chords in the last movement Beethoven wrote in the manuscript "Muß es sein?" (Must it be?) to which he responds, with the faster main theme of the movement, "Es muß sein!" (It must be!). The whole movement is headed "Der schwer gefaßte Entschluß" (The Difficult Decision).

It is in four movements:

1. Allegretto (F major)
2. Vivace (F major)
3. Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo (D♭ major)
4. "Der schwer gefaßte Entschluß". Grave, ma non troppo tratto ("Muss es sein?") – Allegro ("Es muss sein!") – Grave, ma non troppo tratto – Allegro (F minor – F major)

The performance of the work takes around 22–25 minutes.

Notes

1. Steinberg, Michael (1994). Robert Winter, Robert Martin (ed.). The Beethoven Quartet Companion. University of California Press. p. 274. ISBN 0-520-08211-7.

External links

• Project Gutenberg E-Book of the Quartet
• String Quartet No. 16: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• Performance by the Borromeo String Quartet from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format