View source for String Quartet No. 7 (Beethoven)

{{Short description|1808 string quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven}}
{{Infobox musical composition
| name = String Quartet
| subtitle = No. 7
| type = [[String Quartets, Op. 59 (Beethoven)|Rasumovsky quartet]]
| composer = {{nowrap|[[Ludwig van Beethoven]]}}
| image = Beethoven Hornemann.jpg
| image_upright = 
| caption = Ludwig van Beethoven, 1803 portrait
| key = [[F major]]
| opus = 59, No. 1
| dedication = 
| published = 1808
| duration = {{c.|40}} minutes
| movements = Four
}}
The '''String Quartet No. 7''' in [[F major]], [[Opus number|Op.]] 59, No. 1, was written by [[Ludwig van Beethoven]] and published in 1808. This work is the first of three of his "[[String Quartets, Op. 59 (Beethoven)|Rasumovsky]]" cycle of string quartets.<ref name="Grove">Grove, G., p. 244, and p. 270 under the heading "Original Publisher": "Bureau des Arts et d'Industrie of Schreyvogel & Co., Pesth, 1808."{{full citation needed|date=August 2024|reason=Which book? By [[George Grove]] in 1808?}}</ref>

==Overview==
This work is the first of three quartets commissioned by prince [[Andrey Razumovsky]], then the [[Ambassador of Russia to Austria|Russian ambassador to Vienna]]. This quartet is the first of Beethoven's middle period quartets and departs in style from his earlier [[String Quartets, Op. 18 (Beethoven)|Op. 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.

==Form==
{{Or-section|date=November 2014}}

It consists of four [[movement (music)|movement]]s:

# Allegro (F major)
# Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando ([[B-flat major]])
# Adagio molto e mesto - attacca ([[F minor]])
# "Thème Russe": Allegro (F major)

The first movement is in an expansive [[sonata form]], including a [[fugue|''fugato'']] in the [[Development (music)|development]] and lasting nearly twelve minutes even though it forgoes the then-customary repeat of the [[Exposition (music)|exposition]]. The opening cello melody has its [[tonality]] only weakly defined, with the first [[cadence]] establishing the key of F major only occurring several bars into the movement.

Another feature of the first movement is the delayed emotional [[Recapitulation (music)|recapitulation]]. 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 movement [[scherzo]] is formally one of the most unusual movements of Beethoven's middle period, easily classifiable as being also in sonata form.<ref>Mauricio Hewitt is quite positive about this in his foreword to the score published by [[Heugel (music publisher)|Heugel]] (1951){{full citation needed|date=August 2024}}</ref>

The final movement is built around a popular Russian theme, likely an attempt to ingratiate the work to its Russian commissioner.<ref>This theme also appears, with a difference in accent and emphasis, as a main theme in the finale of [[Anton Arensky]]'s {{ill|Symphony No. 1 (Arensky)|ru|Симфония № 1 (Аренский)|lt=Symphony No. 1 in B minor}}.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />

== Further reading ==
* [[Joseph Kerman]]. ''The Beethoven Quartets''. New York, W. W. Norton & Co., 1966. {{ISBN|0-393-00909-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Vernon|first=David|title=Beethoven: The String Quartets|date=5 September 2023 |location=Edinburgh|publisher=Candle Row Press, 2023|isbn=978-1739659929|ref=none}}

== External links ==
* {{IMSLP|work=String Quartet No.7, Op.59 No.1 (Beethoven, Ludwig van)|cname=String Quartet No. 7 (Beethoven)}}
* [http://traffic.libsyn.com/gardnermuseum/Beethoven_StringQuartetNo7_Borromeo.mp3 Performance of String Quartet No. 7] by the [[Borromeo String Quartet]] from the [[Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum]] in [[MP3]] format

{{Beethoven string quartets|state=expanded}}
{{Portal bar|Classical music}}
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[[Category:String quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven|String quartet 07]]
[[Category:1806 compositions]]
[[Category:Compositions in F major]]
[[Category:Commissioned music]]