Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast · Joshua Weilerstein

Beethoven String Quartet, Op. 59, No.2

·57 min·4 clips

Beethoven opens Opus 59 No. 2 with two chords, then silence, then a theme that lasts only two bars.

1. Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast episode on Beethoven String Quartet, Op. 59, No. 2 centers on the darkest of the three Razumovsky quartets. 2. Joshua Weilerstein hosts the episode as conductor, music director of the Orchestre National de Lille, and chief conductor of the Aalborg Symphony. 3. The episode asks why Beethoven's Op. 59 quartets feel monumental, complex, and unlike his earlier string quartets. 4. Weilerstein says only one of Beethoven's 16 string quartets ends in a minor key, and that quartet is Op. 59 No. 2. 5. He links the quartet to Beethoven's middle period, when deafness worsened after the Op. 18 quartets and before works like the Fifth Symphony and Fidelio. 6. He says the Op. 59 quartets were the longest quartets written up to that point and remain among the longest regularly performed quartets. 7. He argues that the first movement uses half-steps as its core cellular material, from the opening chords through the theme and development. 8. He explains that the movement is in sonata form but repeatedly surprises the listener with pauses, sudden keys, and an unusually short development. 9. He notes that Beethoven places the second theme in G major after about 1 minute and 10 seconds, then returns to E minor by way of C major, A minor, and half-step motion. 10. He says the first movement includes a repeat of the development and recapitulation, which Beethoven uses to help audiences understand a difficult structure. 11. He describes the second movement as one of Beethoven's most consoling creations, marked "treat this piece with great feeling." 12. He mentions Karl Czerny's report that Beethoven connected the movement to "the starry skies" and the music of the spheres. 13. He notes that the second movement begins with a half-step in E major and then unfolds through a quasi-variation and a ticking clock-like rhythm. 14. He focuses on Beethoven's unusual marking "mancando," explaining it as fading out or disappearing rather than simply diminuendo. 15. He says the movement moves through a dark middle section in F-sharp minor before returning through B major to its opening material. 16. He identifies Count Razumovsky's Russian-folk-song condition for the commission and says Beethoven includes the song in the trio of the third movement. 17. He describes the third movement's outer sections as awkward and limping in E minor, with abrupt wall-like returns that mirror earlier movements. 18. He says the finale is a short rondo in C major on paper but keeps resisting E minor, producing repeated friction, page-turn stress, and an engine-like drive home. 19. Listeners hear a lecture-style solo format with detailed score reading, piano demonstrations, and frequent movement-by-movement signposts. 20. Anyone who likes Beethoven quartets, sonata form, and close musical analysis should listen; casual first-time classical listeners may find it dense.

As heard by us

A patient, close read of a dense Beethoven movement.

Weilerstein treats the movement like a piece of machinery he wants to understand from the inside out, lingering over the shifting meter, restless key changes, and the way the structure keeps slipping away from expectation.

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Why you'd press play

You want Beethoven's movement heard as a formal drama where each return raises the pressure.

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