{"id":51007,"date":"2025-01-05T17:05:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-05T16:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/71eede31-998d-48ed-a3c3-7f726e3d6c26"},"modified":"2025-01-05T18:09:20","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T17:09:20","slug":"beethoven-late-quartets-five-profound-valedictory-masterpieces","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/beethoven-late-quartets-five-profound-valedictory-masterpieces\/","title":{"rendered":"Beethoven late quartets: five profound, valedictory masterpieces"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Sunday, 05 January 2025 at 16:05 PM<\/p>

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On 7 May 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven<\/a><\/strong> directed the premiere of his monumental Ninth Symphony<\/a><\/strong>, with its famous Finale<\/em> setting Schiller\u2019s Ode to Joy<\/a><\/strong>,<\/em> in Vienna\u2019s K\u00e4rntnertor Theatre.<\/p>

Fortunately, a second conductor had been engaged, because the performance taking place in Beethoven\u2019s mind had only a tenuous connection with what was happening on the stage. As the symphony<\/a><\/strong> came to an end, the deaf composer still had his head buried in the score, and he had to be turned round by one of the solo singers so that he could see the wildly enthusiastic applause, even if he couldn\u2019t hear it.\u00a0<\/p>

Why did Beethoven go deaf? And how did he cope?<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul>

<\/div> <\/figure> <p>Just a month earlier, Beethoven\u2019s equally large-scale <em>Missa solemnis <\/em>received its first performance \u2013 not in Vienna, but in St Petersburg. The event was organised by Prince Nikolai Galitzin (or Golitsin), who had first approached Beethoven in November 1822, telling him:<\/p> <p>\u2018Being both a passionate musical amateur and a great admirer of your talent, I am taking the liberty of writing to you to ask if you would consent to compose one, two or three new quartets, for which I would be pleased to pay you the fee which you will judge appropriate for your trouble.\u2019 With the labours of the Mass and the symphony behind him, the idea of turning his attention to the more intimate sphere of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/chamber-music\">chamber music<\/a><\/strong> must have come as a welcome change to Beethoven.\u00a0<\/p> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Beethoven late quartets are a unique artistic testament<\/h2> <p>As things turned out, during the last years of his life Beethoven was to concentrate on composing <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/string-quartet\">string quartets<\/a><\/strong> to the virtual exclusion of all else. At no other stage in his career did he involve himself for such a long period with a single genre, and his five late quartets form an artistic testament of a unique kind \u2013 one in which each individual work has its own distinctive shape and character, while at the same time forming part of a single overarching project with common threads running through it.<\/p> <p>Beethoven completed the first of his three quartets for Prince Galitzin just in time for its premiere on 6 March 1825, and he had already begun sketching ideas for the next quartet. In the autumn of that year, the conductor Sir George Smart travelled to Vienna to meet Beethoven and discuss with him the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-tempo-in-music\">tempos<\/a><\/strong> for his symphonies, including the Ninth, of which he was due to conduct the English premiere.<\/p> <p>On 9 September, Smart witnessed the first, semi-private, performance of Beethoven\u2019s latest string quartet. The members of the quartet led by the renowned violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh had assembled at the Viennese tavern Zum wilden Mann, where the publisher Maurice Schlesinger, who had acquired the rights to the new work, had rented a room for the occasion. \u00a0<\/p> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A musical reference to Beethoven’s health<\/h2> <p>The meeting between Smart and Beethoven was engineered by the quartet\u2019s second violinist, Karl Holz. Smart noted in his journal: \u2018There was a numerous assembly of professors to hear Beethoven\u2019s second new manuscript quartette, bought by Mr. Schlesinger. This quartette is three-quarters of an hour long. They played it twice\u2026 It is most chromatic and there is a slow movement entitled \u201cPraise for the recovery of an invalid\u201d.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Beethoven String Quartet Op. 132 in A Minor - Ariel Quartet (full)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FUob2dcQTWA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>‘Beethoven intended to allude to himself I suppose, for he was very ill during the early part of this year. He directed the performers and took off his coat, the room being warm and crowded. A staccato passage not being expressed to the satisfaction of his eye, for alas, he could not hear, he seized Holz\u2019s <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/instruments\/violin-guide\">violin<\/a><\/strong> and played the passage a quarter of a tone too flat.\u2019<\/p> <p>Sir George Smart was right in thinking that the quartet\u2019s slow movement was autobiographical: Beethoven had been seriously ill with jaundice and abdominal disorders in April and May of 1825, and was forced to interrupt his work on the new quartet. His near-death experience led him to compose its slow movement as a ‘Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen\u00a0an der\u00a0Gottheit, in der Lydischen Tonart’.<\/p> <p>This translates as \u2018Holy Song of Thanksgiving from a Convalescent to the Deity\u2019, in the Lydian <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/music-modes\">mode<\/a><\/strong>‘. In it, two contrasted themes rub shoulders throughout: a smooth, slowly moving chorale melody, and a more energetic, widely spaced idea expressing the notion of gaining new strength.\u00a0<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Beethoven, String Quartet 15 In A Minor, Op. 132, "Heiliger Dankgesang" - 3. Molto Adagio\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0-jus6AGHzQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Nostalgia, wit, and deep emotion<\/h2> <p>The \u2018Holy Song of Thanksgiving\u2019 was inspired by the sacred music of the Renaissance, but it isn\u2019t the only part of the quartet that looks back to the past: the second movement is a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-minuet\">minuet<\/a><\/strong>, and it quotes an unpublished piano piece Beethoven had written more than 30 years earlier \u2013 as though in the twilight of his life he were nostalgically invoking the days of his youth, before his career was blighted by deafness.\u00a0<\/p> <p>The quartet was originally to have had six movements, but at a late stage Beethoven transferred one of them to the last of Prince Galitzin\u2019s three quartets, Op. 130, which does have six movements. This is alone among\u00a0 Beethoven\u2019s late string quartets in not including a slow movement in the form of a set of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/what-are-variations\">variations<\/a><\/strong>. Instead, there\u2019s a delicately witty piece, and the quartet\u2019s expressive heart is reserved for the relatively brief \u2018Cavatina\u2019 that comes immediately before the finale \u2013 a deeply felt piece that moved Beethoven to tears whenever he thought of it.\u00a0<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Beethoven: Cavatina from String Quartet No.13\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8VHldgzW60I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/greatest-musical-variations\">The 7 greatest sets of variations ever written<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/why-do-so-many-composers-write-variations\">Why do composers write variations?<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>The first performance of the quartet Op. 130, on 21 March 1826, was at best a qualified success. Two of its movements were encored on the spot. The huge and immensely difficult fugal finale, however, proved a real problem for players and listeners alike.<\/p> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘As incomprehensible as Chinese’<\/h2> <p>It was, as a contemporary review had it, \u2018as incomprehensible as Chinese\u2019, and eventually Beethoven was approached to see if he would consider composing a less demanding finale, and allowing the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/fugue\">fugue<\/a><\/strong> to be issued separately. Surprisingly, he readily agreed, and the quartet was duly issued with a new finale \u2013 the last piece of music he completed. The original last movement appeared on its own as a <em>Grande Fugue.<\/em><\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Juilliard String Quartet - Beethoven Grosse Fuge in B-flat Major, Opus 133\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/j5XAdttmOLo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>No sooner had Beethoven completed his three quartets for Prince Galitzin than he launched on two uncommissioned string quartets; and just as Galitzin\u2019s last quartet had ended with a fugue, so the next one began with a similar piece, as though one work had spilled over into the next \u2013 except that the opening movement of the new quartet was a much more intimate and orderly affair. And if Op. 130 had six movements, Op. 131 has seven, though two of them really function as short introductions to the one that follows.\u00a0<\/p> <p>When, at some time in August 1826, Beethoven finished proofreading the neatly written-out score of the new quartet which had been prepared by a copyist for the engravers, he returned it with a note he scribbled on the first page: \u2018Put together out of various bits stolen from here and there\u2019. This so alarmed the publishers that Beethoven had to reassure them it was a joke, prompted by their stipulation that the quartet had to be an original work.\u00a0<\/p> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Traumatic life events intrude<\/h2> <p>But there were more serious matters afoot. Just a fortnight before Beethoven dispatched his letter to the publishers, his <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/what-drove-beethovens-nephew-to-attempt-suicide\">19-year-old nephew Karl attempted suicide<\/a><\/strong>. One of the bullets he fired grazed his head, and he was hospitalised for six weeks.<\/p> <p>Beethoven, who regarded Karl as his adopted son \u2013 following the death of the boy\u2019s father in 1815, he had become his legal guardian \u2013 was distraught. He had already begun composing what was to be his last string quartet, and when Karl was discharged towards the end of September, he and Beethoven set off for the country estate of the composer\u2019s younger brother, Johann. There, work on the new quartet, which had been interrupted, continued. \u00a0<\/p> <p>Beethoven\u2019s last string quartet is a work of almost Classical elegance, though its finale seems to delve into deeper waters. Beethoven headed it, \u2018The decision taken with difficulty\u2019, and he prefaced it with two musical mottos: one, in the minor, setting the words \u2018Muss es sein?\u2019 (\u2018Must it be?\u2019); the other a more carefree upside-down version of the same motif in the major, accompanying the \u2018It must be!\u2019 answer. In order to illustrate the difficulty with which this seemingly metaphysical dilemma is finally resolved, the two motifs interact throughout, until, towards the end, they exchange roles.\u00a0<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Beethoven String Quartet No 16 Op 135 in F major.! Alban Berg Quartett\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dst6wltVbr8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘Yes, yes! Out with your purse’<\/h2> <p>But the mottos had a surprisingly mundane origin. A wealthy music-lover named Ignaz Dembscher had wanted to hear the Quartet Op. 130, but had been equally anxious to avoid having to pay for the privilege. Instead, he decided to have the piece played at one of the regular quartet parties he held in his own home.<\/p> <p>Beethoven, however, refused to let Dembscher have the music, and so he asked Karl Holz how this obstacle could be overcome. Holz told him to stump up the ticket-price of the original concert, and when Beethoven heard that Dembscher had complained \u2018Must it be?\u2019, he was so amused by the man\u2019s stinginess that he dashed off a canon on the words, \u2018It must be! Yes, yes, yes. Out with your purse.\u2019\u00a0<\/p> <p>The music of the canon found its way into the quartet\u2019s last movement. No one listening to such profound music would suspect that it was based on so down to earth a matter as money, but as an example of Beethoven\u2019s sense of humour it\u2019s certainly typical.\u00a0<\/p> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Beethoven late quartets: a style guide<\/h2> <p>Here are four key features of Beethoven’s five final, profound masterpieces in the string quartet form.<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Slow introductions<\/h3> <p>Each of the first three late quartets begins with a slow introduction, which returns at crucial points during the main body of the first movement like punctuation marks, giving the piece greater weight and seriousness and underlining its unity.\u00a0<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Multi-movement forms<\/h3> <p>Among the late quartets, only the first and last are cast in a traditional four-movement form. The others have between five and seven movements, providing Beethoven with a larger canvas to work on, and lending the music an almost modular aspect. \u00a0<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Variations<\/h3> <p>During the last dozen years or so of his life, Beethoven became increasingly attracted to variation form. In all but one of his five late string quartets the centrepiece is a set of variations \u2013 not a display piece, but a serene interlude that forms the work\u2019s expressive heart.\u00a0Here perhaps the finest of all, from Number 12: a theme, six variations and a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-coda\">coda<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Beethoven Quartet No. 12 in E-flat, Op. 127, Mvt. 2: Emerson String Quartet\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cfkVuiHgjrU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fugues<\/h3> <p>Another preoccupation in Beethoven\u2019s late period was the fugue. Like the \u2018<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/best-recordings-beethovens-hammerklavier-sonata\">Hammerklavier<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 Piano Sonata, the String Quartet Op.\u00a0130 was designed to culminate in an enormous fugal finale which made unprecedented demands of both performers and listeners. Beethoven\u2019s next quartet, Op. 131, begins with a much smaller and more intimate fugue, this time based on a subject that could have stepped straight out of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/johann-sebastian-bach\">Bach<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s <em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/best-recordings-js-bachs-well-tempered-clavier\">Well-Tempered Clavier<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Beethoven: his life and times<\/h2> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1770<\/h3> <p><strong>Life:<\/strong> Ludwig van Beethoven is born into a family of musicians on c.16 December in Bonn, Germany. With his musical ability apparent at a young age, he is touted earnestly as a prodigy by his father, Johann.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/10-beethovens-family-members\">Ten of Beethoven’s family members<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p><strong>Times:<\/strong> More than 100 people are killed in a stampede at the celebration of the wedding of Louis-Auguste (future Louis XVI) and 14-year-old Marie Antoinette in Paris.<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1792<\/h3> <p><strong>Life:<\/strong> Beethoven is taken on as a student by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/joseph-haydn\">Joseph Haydn<\/a><\/strong>. Though their relationship is not hugely harmonious, Beethoven later dedicates his Op. 2 Piano Trios to his teacher.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/haydn-marriage\">Why Haydn’s marriage was doomed from the start<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p><strong>Times:<\/strong> Sir Joshua Reynolds, revered portrait painter of the British nobility and the co-founder and first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, dies in London, aged 68.<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1802<\/h3> <p><strong>Life:<\/strong> On a restorative break, Beethoven writes but doesn\u2019t send a letter to his brothers outlining his angst at growing deaf. In fact, the so-called \u2018<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/heiligenstadt-testament\">Heiligenstadt Testament<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 goes unread until after his death.<\/p> <p><strong>Times:<\/strong> On the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte, recently confirmed by a plebiscite as first consul of France, General Ney enters Switzerland with a force of 40,000 troops.<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1808<\/h3> <p><strong>Life:<\/strong> At the bitterly cold Theater an der Wien, Beethoven conducts or plays in the premieres of his <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/beethoven-fifth-symphony\">Fifth<\/a><\/strong> and Sixth (or ‘<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/guide-beethovens-symphony-no-6-pastoral\">Pastoral<\/a><\/strong>‘) Symphonies, Fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy in a single concert.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/greatest-piano-concertos-all-time\">The greatest piano concertos of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zimerman Plays Beethoven Piano Concerto No 4 in G major, Op.58 (Cond. Bernstein)\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CTPhTQVzp9I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p><strong>Times:<\/strong> Prussian philosopher <em>Johann Gottlieb Fichte<\/em> publishes his<em> Addresses to the German Nation<\/em>, a work later credited with laying the foundations of German nationalism.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/best-german-composers\">The best German composers<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/german-national-anthem-lyrics\">German national anthem: lyrics and history<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1815<\/h3> <p><strong>Life:<\/strong> Following the death of his brother Kaspar Karl, Beethoven becomes embroiled in a protracted battle with Kaspar Karl\u2019s wife Johanna for custody of his nephew\/her son, Karl.<\/p> <p><strong>Times:<\/strong> The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/handel-and-haydn-society-announces-new-artistic-director\">Handel and Haydn Society<\/a><\/strong> is founded in Boston, US, by a group of musicians and merchants \u2018to promote the love of good music and a better performance of it\u2019.<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1827<\/h3> <p><strong>Life:<\/strong> After a long period of declining health, Ludwig van Beethoven dies on 26 March, aged 56. An estimated 10,000 people line his <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/beethoven-funeral\">funeral procession<\/a><\/strong> as it makes its way through the streets of Vienna three days later. Attendees include the composers <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/franz-schubert\">Schubert<\/a><\/strong>, Hummel and Moscheles, and Beethoven’s pupil <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/czerny-carl\">Carl Czerny<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p> <p><strong>Times:<\/strong> In his <em>The Galvanic Circuit Investigated Mathematically,<\/em> German physicist<br\/> Georg Ohm sets out what will be known as Ohm\u2019s Law, relating to electrical resistance.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Sunday, 05 January 2025 at 16:05 PM On 7 May 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven directed the premiere of his monumental Ninth Symphony, with its famous Finale setting Schiller\u2019s Ode to Joy, in Vienna\u2019s K\u00e4rntnertor Theatre. Fortunately, a second conductor had been engaged, because the performance taking place in Beethoven\u2019s mind had only a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":51008,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"11"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/beethoven-late-quartets-five-profound-valedictory-masterpieces.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/beethoven-late-quartets-five-profound-valedictory-masterpieces-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/beethoven-late-quartets-five-profound-valedictory-masterpieces-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/beethoven-late-quartets-five-profound-valedictory-masterpieces-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/beethoven-late-quartets-five-profound-valedictory-masterpieces-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/beethoven-late-quartets-five-profound-valedictory-masterpieces.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/beethoven-late-quartets-five-profound-valedictory-masterpieces.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Sunday, 05 January 2025 at 16:05 PM On 7 May 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven directed the premiere of his monumental Ninth Symphony, with its famous Finale setting Schiller\u2019s Ode to Joy, in Vienna\u2019s K\u00e4rntnertor Theatre. Fortunately, a second conductor had been engaged, because the performance taking place in Beethoven\u2019s mind had only a…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/51007"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}