Beethoven raged and picked a legal fight with the Viennese publisher Artaria after they issued a 'legitimised pirate edition' of his Quintet Op. 29.
Composition History
Beethoven's String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, was a commission from Count Nicolai Galitzin and was initially conceived in six movements.
Compositional Technique
The Quintet Op. 29 represents a transition from Beethoven's earlier Op. 18 Quartets, modeled on Haydn and Mozart, to his independent 'Razumovsky' Quartets, Op. 59.
Composition History
The Quintet Op. 29 was likely commissioned by Count Moritz von Fries, a Viennese banker and music lover, to whom Beethoven also dedicated several violin sonatas and his Seventh Symphony.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Beethoven inserted a 'joke' into the finale of the Quintet Op. 29 by unexpectedly breaking off the music and introducing a minuet at an Andante pace, foreshadowing his late oeuvre's 'music on music' concept.
Performer Biography
The Quartetto di Cremona, the performers on this album, trained with Piero Farulli of the Quartetto Italiano and Hatto Beyerle of the Alban Berg Quartet, blending Italian and German-Austrian influences.
Composition History
Beethoven's String Quintet in C major, Op. 29, is his only original, multi-movement work in the quintet genre.
