The String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135, by Ludwig van Beethoven was written in October 1826 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 work was premiered by the Schuppanzigh Quartet in March 1828, one year after Beethoven's death. The Op. 135 quartet is the shortest of Beethoven's late quartets. Under the introductory slow chords in the last movement, which is headed "Der schwer gefaßte Entschluß" (The Difficult Decision), 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!). It is in four movements: # Allegretto (F major) # Vivace (F major) # Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo (D major) # "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

External links

Project Gutenberg E-Book of the Quartet
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Performance
by the Borromeo String Quartet from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format String quartet 16 1826 compositions Compositions in F major {{chamber-composition-stub