Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131

Tickets: $20 suggested donation for seats; $5 for standing room - all available at the door

About the Music (notes by David Brickman)

    Though Beethoven's String Quartet Opus 131 was never performed in concert during his lifetime, there were several private performances, including one expressly for Schubert in November 1828, five days before his death. A witness to the event, Karl Holz, reported, "He fell into such a state of excitement and enthusiasm that we were all frightened for him." Robert Schumann said that this quartet and Opus 127 had a "...grandeur [...] which no words can express. They seem to me to stand...on the extreme boundary of all that has hitherto been attained by human art and imagination." Beethoven once chose Opus 131 as his favorite among his quartets, yet many listeners over the centuries have found it to be elusive.

    Opus 131 is comprised of seven movements, played without interruption. In our performance at RoCo, we will illuminate this 40-minute masterpiece through demonstration and discussion. We will address Beethoven's feat of achieving unity through the then-revolutionary tactic of recycling of thematic material from previous movements. We will walk you through the themes of the piece, show how the piece is constructed and then, following a short break, perform the quartet in its entirety. So, if the cell phone age has not completely shattered your attention span, join us for an evening to remember!