| String Quartet | |
|---|---|
| No. 7 | |
| Rasumovsky quartet byLudwig van Beethoven | |
 Ludwig van Beethoven, 1803 portrait | |
| Key | F major |
| Opus | 59, No. 1 |
| Published | 1808 |
| Duration | c. 40 minutes |
| Movements | Four |
TheString Quartet No. 7 inF major,Op. 59, No. 1, was written byLudwig van Beethoven and published in 1808. This work is the first of three of his "Rasumovsky" cycle of string quartets.[1]
This work is the first of three quartets commissioned by princeAndrey Razumovsky, then theRussian ambassador to Vienna. This quartet is the first of Beethoven's middle period quartets and departs in style from his earlierOp. 18 quartets. The most apparent difference is that this quartet is over forty minutes long in a typical performance, whereas most of Beethoven's earlier quartets lasted twenty-five to thirty minutes. Furthermore, this quartet notoriously requires a greatly expanded technical repertoire.
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It consists of fourmovements:
The first movement is in an expansivesonata form, including afugato in thedevelopment and lasting nearly twelve minutes even though it forgoes the then-customary repeat of theexposition. The opening cello melody has itstonality only weakly defined, with the firstcadence establishing the key of F major only occurring several bars into the movement.
Another feature of the first movement is the delayed emotionalrecapitulation. As became one of Beethoven's many tools for emotional manipulation, delaying the grandiosity of the recapitulation for several bars after the establishment of the tonic key allowed Beethoven to heighten expectation of a definitive statement.
While both the majestic, slow third movement and the fourth (between which there is no break) are also in sonata form, the second movementscherzo is formally one of the most unusual movements of Beethoven's middle period, easily classifiable as being also in sonata form.[2]
The final movement is built around a popular Russian theme, likely an attempt to ingratiate the work to its Russian commissioner.[3]
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