The String Quintet in C major, Op. 29, written by

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

, was composed in 1801. This work is scored for string quartet and an extra

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

(two

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

s, two violas, and

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

). The Op. 29 is Beethoven's only full-scale, original composition in the

string quintet A string quintet is a musical composition for five string players. As an extension to the string quartet (two violins, a viola, and a cello), a string quintet includes a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola (a so-called "viola quintet" ...

genre; of his other quintet works, the Op. 4 is an extensively reworked arrangement of the earlier Octet for Winds, Op. 103, the String Quintet Op. 104 is an arrangement of an earlier

piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of m ...

, and the later fugue is a short work. The composer dedicated this work to

Count Moritz von Fries Moritz Christian Johann Reichsgraf von Fries (6 May 1777 – 26 December 1826) was an Austrian nobleman, banker and patron of the arts. Early life He was born in Vienna as the youngest son of Count Johann von Fries (1719-1785), one of the ri ...

, a patron to whom Beethoven also dedicated two other works of the same year—the

Violin Sonata A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, often accompanied by a keyboard instrument and in earlier periods with a bass instrument doubling the keyboard bass line. The violin sonata developed from a simple baroque form with no fixed fo ...

s No. 4 and No. 5—as well as his later Seventh Symphony.

Movements

#''Allegro moderato'' #''Adagio molto espressivo'' #''Scherzo''. ''Allegro'' #''Presto''

Influence

This quintet allegedly inspired

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

to write his own string quintet in the same key (his scoring involves two cellos rather than two violas as in Beethoven's quintet).

References

String Quintet No. 3 (Mozart) The String Quintet No. 3 in C major, K. 515 was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Like all of Mozart's string quintets, it is a "viola quintet" in that it is scored for string quartet and an extra viola (two violins, two violas and cello). Th ...

External links

*
Performance by the Musicians from Marlboro
from the

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was found ...

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format 029 1801 compositions Compositions in C major Music dedicated to nobility or royalty {{chamber-composition-stub