The three Razumovsky (or Rasumovsky) string quartets, opus 59, are a set of

string quartets The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists, a ...

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

. He wrote them in 1806, as a result of a commission by the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count

Andreas Razumovsky Count (later Prince) Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky (2 November 1752 – 23 September 1836) was a Russian diplomat who spent many years of his life in Vienna. His name is transliterated differently in different English sources, including sp ...

: :* String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59, No. 1 :* String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 :* String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59, No. 3 They are the first three of what are usually known as the "Middle Period" string quartets, or simply the "Middle Quartets." The other two are opus 74 and opus 95. Many quartets record all five as a set. Beethoven uses a characteristically Russian theme in the first two quartets in honour of the prince who gave him the commission: * In Op. 59 No. 1, the "Thème russe" (as the score is marked) is the principal theme of the last movement. * In Op. 59 No. 2, the Thème russe is in the B section of the third movement. This theme is based on a Russian folk song which was also utilised by

Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (; ; ; – ) was a Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five (composers), The Five." He was an innovator of Music of Russia, Russian music in the Romantic music, Romantic period and strove to achieve a ...

in the coronation scene of his opera ''Boris Godunov'', by

Pyotr Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

in the introduction to act III of his opera Mazeppa, by

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and Conducting, conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a compos ...

in the sixth movement of his 6 Morceaux for Piano Duet, Op.11 "Glory" ("Slava"), and by

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

in his ballet ''

The Firebird ''The Firebird'' (; ) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who c ...

''. * In the quartet Op. 59 No. 3, there is no Thème russe explicitly named in the score, but a secondary theme in the second movement has a passing resemblance to a traditional Russian song, which may well account for the Russian flavour noted by a number of writers, including Lewis Lockwood.Lewis Lockwood ''Beethoven. The music and the life'', WW Norton, 2004, p 318 All three quartets were published as a set in 1808 in Vienna.

Reception

Although the quartets are now mainstream repertoire, they were generally received with uncertainty, as they deviated from the established genre of string quartets in their content and emotional range. However, one review published in 1807 stated that "Three new, very long and difficult Beethoven string quartets … are attracting the attention of all connoisseurs. The conception is profound and the construction excellent, but they are not easily comprehended."The Takács take on Beethoven's 'Razumovsky' string quartets
The ''Guardian'' (2009), citing a contemporary review in the ''

Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung The ''Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung'' (''General music newspaper'') was a German-language periodical published in the 19th century. Comini (2008) has called it "the foremost German-language musical periodical of its time". It reviewed musical e ...

''.

References

Sources and further reading

* Joseph Kerman, ''The Beethoven Quartets''. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1966. * David Vernon, ''Beethoven: The String Quartets'', Edinburgh, Candle Row Press, 2023 * Robert Winter and Robert Martin, ed., ''The Beethoven Quartet Companion''. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1994. {{DEFAULTSORT:String Quartets Nos. 7 - 9, Opus 59 - Rasumovsky (Beethoven) Opus 059

Reception

See also

References

Sources and further reading