By maintaining the tempo, the musicians place Beethoven exactly where he is – in a timeless sphere. This approach ensures the coherence of the whole and permits a panoramic view of Beethoven’s three great creative periods in the field of the string quartet. The first six quartets (op.18) were composed between 1798 and 1800, when Beethoven was living in the house of one of his patrons, Prince Lichnowsky. Their chronological sequence, different from the published order, is as follows: 3, 1, 2, 5, 6, 4. Six years later, between 1806 and 1810, Beethoven composed the five quartets of his middle period: the three Quartets op.59 dedicated to Prince Razumovsky (nos. 7, 8 and 9), op.74 (no.10) and op.95 (no.11). This ‘Classical’ phase is characterised by a ‘heroic’ tone and a display of strength, in a climate redolent of a certain pride. 36 BEETHOVEN • THE COMPLETE STRING QUARTETS
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