Beethoven’s inability to compose during much of the summer of 1809 is apparently borne out by his sketchbooks during this period. Gustav Nottebohm (a 19th century scholar of Beethoven’s compositional sketches) wrote:
The appearance of the following pages bears witness to the fact that Beethoven lacked the composure and inner peace for the continuation of his usual activity and the execution of larger compositions. Except for work on a sonata movement … these pages reveal no continuous larger sketches. Rather they are filled in part with drafts left undeveloped, in part with theoretical examples and exercises, and in part with notations of various kinds. The period in which this blocking of compositional activity can be remarked may be ascribed to the middle two or three months of the year. (quoted by Joseph Kerman in The Beethoven Quartets, p. 158)
By August 1809, Beethoven was composing again, and during the remainder of the year he would finish several piano works and a dozen songs, as well as his Tenth String Quartet, a mix of inventiveness and tradition.
Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 10 begins with an Adagio introduction and an Allegro first movement that features unprecedentedly prominent pizzicato used thematically rather than just for accompaniment — so unusual for the time that the composition became known as the “Harp.”
#Beethoven250 Day 218
String Quartet No. 10 “Harp” in E♭ Major (Opus 74), 1809
A stunningly intense performance by the Danish String Quartet (@DanishQuartet) in Wissembourg, France.
The “Harp” Quartet’s first movement ends with a surprising extended coda: 25 measures of a sixteenth-note cadenza by the first violin to an accompaniment of pizzicato and arco.
The second movement of the “Harp” Quartet is a lovely contemplative Adagio suffused with melancholy and characterized by its first reviewer as a “dark nocturne,” but with glimpses of sunshine as well.
Labeled Presto, the third movement of the String Quartet No. 10 is a frenetic five-part scherzo that is more rambunctious and boisterous than playful. The Trio section is one of Beethoven’s fugal exercises. The movement ends quietly, although still in a state of agitation.
The final movement of the “Harp” Quartet is surprisingly light: a theme and six variations, all in binary form. Variations 2 and 4 are marked “dolce” (sweet) and the final variation is quiet, but a fast louder coda brings the quartet to a striking conclusion.
#Beethoven250 Day 218
String Quartet No. 10 “Harp” in E♭ Major (Opus 74, excerpt), 1809
Anne-Sophie Mutter and friends play the first half of the Adagio in isolation. Anne-Sophie has since recovered from COVID-19.