What I've found with Beethoven's late quartets is that no matter how long you've listened and familiarised yourself with them (and I've listened to them for decades) you frequently hear something you haven't noticed before.

That second fugue is probably my favorite fragment of any composition. It's insane to think it was written almost 200 years ago.

Now we need the Hammerklaiver Fuge

I remember when a string orchestra arrangement of this quartet and Schoenberg's Notturno for Strings and Harp were programmed on the same evening at a concert in my college, and the sheer confusion in the audience when they realised this was beethoven, and not Schoenberg. Truly, one hell of a gorgeous piece.

Ironically, despite being deaf he must have had one of the best inner ears in musical history. The more i come back to this work the more I understand that I don't understand how he could imagine any of this.

I remember a discussion which happened a long time ago between Hans Keller and Deryck Cooke during an introduction to Schoenberg's Op.31 Variations. Cooke, who thought music stopped at Mahler, said something to the effect that if you can't sing it it isn't music. Keller promptly sang the theme from the Schoenberg and then said to Cooke, "Now sing the Grosse Fuge".

Although I have been listening to classical music for over 50 years, I first heard this composition only 10 years ago. I remember that I was literally paralysed for 20 minutes, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, this was Beethoven in 1825??? This was 100 years before it’s time! Many thanks for this fascinating video!

People cry out "this sounds bad", I don't think so. Not holistically, not if you immerse yourself in the structure of its story. It only "sounds bad" moment-to-moment, and if you go down this slippery slope, all music, if you zoom in enough, sounds ugly, just like you can't see a beautiful picture if you only think about each pixel individually. People often misunderstand my very favourite composer, as I'm sure they did back in the day as well; "Singability", "Catchyness", these are all traits that can be powerful tools in a composer's arsenal, but not universal, and if you're gonna ostracise Beethoven for not constantly relying on them, you should think equally of Bach, with his long-winded, asymmetric, "nonsensical" melody lines. I love his Bm Mass to bits, but it is has even less straight-forward motivic appeal than this. My apologies if I'm about to get a little maudlin, but due to some... impactful, let's say, personal experiences and circumstances surrounding Beethoven's music, I find myself resonant with his works beyond others, I "get" what they're saying so clearly and unambiguously, and it is in his late period, starting the all-important 9th (that many people have brought up in the comments, as it has many similarities with this) that in one of his pieces, no matter if it lasts 5 minutes, or 15, or 50, that from the start to the finish, I have seen my entire life spring into being, pass all its twists and turns, and come to its end. It's not something I can describe in words, much less so in a youtube text wall no-one will read, but the cerebral gist of all this is that Beethoven's music is uniquely dynamic, like a living person, it is not a still frame, but an animation (I mean, it's in the very word). And, well, life can get very ugly and nasty and bad and painful and cruel at times, but it is only to the extent of that uglyness and cruelty that it can also be beautiful, joyful, and exuberant; Because these properties are the two sides of the same coin, like Yin and Yang, one contains the other. And it's not like it's so much of an "acquired taste" or a "hard listen"; Bruckner's 8th is way more of that in my opinion (and so absolutely worth it); It's nowhere near as "catchy" as this. All there is to it, you can't listen to Beethoven and really get it if you're not ready and able to hear a whole story. And I don't judge there, not everyone has, or wants, the time and energy to sit down and listen in this way; Still, people shouldn't be coming to the Große Fuge looking for light entertainment and then blaming the author when they don't get what said author never purported to deliver. Finally however, I can get not liking this even if you do listen "proper". My heart cannot understand it, but cerebrally, it's true people have different tastes and so on. I'm just saying it's not qualitatively different from the Eroica or the Appassionata or the 9th, so if you resonate with one you most certainly can do the same with the other.

When I was in uni, a company was promoting a brain tonic called "essence of chicken". I asked a friend what is tasted like, and he said it tasted like "a hundred chickens squeezed into a bottle". The Grosse Fuge sounds like a hundred classical music pieces squeezed into a bottle.

Beethoven was a genius, but he was insane!!! He had to be crazy to leave his own time, his own world and jump more than 100 years and meet Bartok, Webern and the late Stravinsky. Thank you so much for create and share this video!!!

I think, my friend, this is the most anticipated video of the year, and not all the thanks in the world will extend and signs my gratitude to all the effort you put on every video you made. This is the best hommage to Beethoven on his 200 anniversary!

Beethoven is like history of music in a nutshell. Great video as always !

Glad you picked the Takács Quartet recording. Love their intensity!

Regarding the discussion about which piece should be the final movement of the b flat quartet; a similar thing happened with Beethoven's Waldstein sonata! He originally composed a different 2nd movement - Andante Favori (you can listen to it here on youtube). But when he played the sonata for some patrons and friends they suggested that it doesn't fit well with the rest of the work. Beethoven stormed off but then thought about it thoroughly, concluded they were right and composed the 2nd movement of the Waldstein sonata we all know and love today!

From a non-musician's perspective, I feel in this piece Beethoven "transforms" the somewhat abrasive original themes in such a way, so in the end they (as if naturally) shed their form and emerge in such blinding sparkle, it takes my breath away every time I hear it. Also, I can't understand, after years of listening to this piece, how on Earth a deaf man could create such a miracle.

I share your love for fugal music, but not your knowledge. Your hard work driven by incredible passion is truly impressive and I appreciate all of it. Thank you for breaking down a piece of music that has broken me down to tears of joy, sorrow, anguish, rage, elation, and more. To Beethoven and to you, good sir. Cheers!

The Große Fuge has been a huge inspiration for me. It's one of my favorites of Beethoven.

50 minutes of auditory gold. Worth the wait!!

BRAVO!!!!!! Best music analysis video I've seen / heard this year. I am really surprised that you didn't mention the great fuge at the end of the Hammerklavier. The G.Fuge has so many textures that remind me so much of the H. fuge. Andras Schiff, in his famous lecture on the great H piano sonata makes it clear that the work was not pretty music at all. The Grosse Fuge fits this description to a "t", as we say. As a matter of my own sense, it seems to me that philosophically speaking, Beethoven had in mind to change the manner in which his audience would think of musical lines. He embarked on completely shaking up sonata writing with the Hammerklavier in 1817. He seems to have pushed chamber musical lines as far as he could go with the G. Fuge in 1825. Chamber music writing was never the same, was it? I mean you would still get the delicious Romantic era musical compositions yet to come. But, the Hammer and the Grosse were unprecedented and totally transformative. I also heard rhythmic motifs that appear in earlier works in his sonatas and quartets. And, whoever said that Beethoven was not much of a fuge writer should eat their words after listening to this hyper complex monster. It is not pretty music, as Schiff said of the H. It sounded to me that each instrument was existing in its own dimension. Hence the aural impression is of a 4 dimensional storm, hurricanes and tornadoes that intermingled with each other in fragments, bumped into each and then spun off in different directions. It sounds to me that in Beethoven's imagination he tapped into the creative and destructive powers of nature. The G. Fuge allowed us, so to speak, to see how the universe assembles, disassembles and smashes creation into shape and then repeats the process of tearing apart and assembling. No wonder why Gould was so enamored of this piece. A monster of a piece but totally necessary in the spectrum of what music could be. Beethoven said that the Hammerklavier would give generations of performers trouble for a long time to come. The same could be said for this grenade that he lovingly tossed into the medium of string quartets. BOOM.

The orange theme is simply the best music ever written. It is the perfection of one of musical ideas he was obsessed with in his late years. Ode to Joy is the same idea, for example. The other is the blue theme, you can find its variants in many late quartets, in Kyrie of Missa Solemnis etc.

Well I'll be damned, here's the big one. Literally.

I just about to sleep. Thank you for keeping me up an extra 40 minutes. I'm sure this will be worth it Edit: It was 50 minutes and definitely worth it. Best video on the channel so far!

Classical music has always been a huge part of my life (I'm currently 22 and a full time concert pianist), so naturally I've listened to quite the amount of repertoire throughout my experience... I've always been kind of afraid to listen to this mysterious and (literally) bloody piece though. This video gave me the courage to listen to it for the first time in years and appreciate Beethoven's immense genius once again. Thank you for dedication and your will to shed light on classical music's most interesting and beautiful pearls! P.S. Glenn Gould has always been my biggest idol!

In a way, I met my wife thanks to this incredible piece. We met at a chamber house concert organized by the startup Groupmuse, whose founder decided to start the organization after being immeasurably moved by a recording of the Große Fuge. Thank you, dear Beethoven, as well as Groupmuse, for helping me find the love my life. And thank you, Richard, for creating this brilliant video.

From 32:30, I do this too when wandering around london and it reminded me of this quote: ''"I can do things in the performance of music, and so can any conductor or performer, that if I did on an ordinary street would land me in jail. In other words, I can fume and rage and storm at a hundred men in an orchestra and make them play this or that chord, and get rid of all kinds of tensions and hostilities. By the time I come to the end of Beethoven's Fifth, I'm a new man. Whereas if I did that down on Seventh Avenue, I'd be picked up. This is a very lucky kind of profession." -Leonard Bernstein, 1963

As a non-musician growing up with a mom (dad was into early 20th c. popular) who loved the classics, I can tell you, "If you put it that way, now it makes some sense." Thank you for explaining some stuff I never knew, please keep explaining. I like it.

This kind of content is what we need more to appear on KZfaq

Thank you, Richard. I fell in love with the Große Fuge over 40 years ago (and consider it along with Bach's Chaconne, the greatest pieces by mankind.) The one place where I would like to detract from your excellent and to most people, mind-boggling analysis is the CODA. Upon first hearing this almost a half-century ago, I whimsically perhaps, but realistically considered quite a unique and perfect culmination of what had gone before. If we can consider the last gathering of motifs as a respite from the monumental searching Beethoven had wrought during the piece. Beethoven brings in the most lyric and unexpected conclusion imaginable to his great fugue. In essence for me, here I am whimsical again, I can feel the oncoming entire romantic period of music emerging from the "red" subject. Certainly, you might be charitable to agree that the chordal/harmonic progression of the last few measures is tantamount to Beethoven heralding the coming romantic era of music - not as a let-down to the entire piece but as a clarion call. Well, there you have it. My entire impression of the coda as a most perfect culmination of one of the two greatest pieces composed. Thank you, again.

WOW! 50 mins of explaining hardcore Beethoven could never be done better than you sir. You really do the musical gods work. Thank you.

Contemplating the beauty of music is (for me at least) the strongest source of joy and an important drive in my life. The only thing that could beat it is discovering a new sense of beauty in music I already know. Your videos always do the trick and for that I thank you very much.

On the subject of the double octaves, I think I know why the piano arrangement does not include it, but the string quartet version does. If a pianist were to do the double octaves, it would be difficult *and* not as intense. Tremolos keep the intensity. In the string quartet, that isn’t a problem, so writing an octave passage with an octave of grace notes is more economic than the tremolos in the piano arrangement.

The more you listen to the Grossa Fuga the more it grows into you. Thanks for the amazing analysis!

When I first listen to this fugue as a Highschool kid, I already knew about the name it bears but was still blown away by it. The tonal ambiguity at the beginning shocks me well. I thought,“ how is this even within the boundary of tonal music.“ After watching the video, I was shocked by the rhythmic dissonances. Nonetheless, the thing I marveled the most must be the craftsmanship of Beethoven, which I failed to truly appreciate myself. Having written a fugue myself, a crappy three-voice fugue with cheat (computer playback), I cannot imagine how amazing is it for this masterpiece to be composed by a man who cannot hear.

At 35:59 that dominant pedal point. I can’t think of a more intense or “dissonant” section in all of Beethoven’s music. I love it. I can’t imagine what the premier audience’s reaction was to hearing it.

I disagree with your conclusion that the replacement is more suitable. I'm going to focus on the two main points that brought you to that conclusion: "Its character and proportions complement the rest of the quartet much better" and "The Grosse Fuge is its own beast that is almost trivialized when played as the finale of the opus 130 quartet." The "proportions" claim in your first point is objectively correct; I'm not going to try to sit here and say that, duration-wise and form-wise, the Grosse Fuge as the finale makes the overall work more uniform. It doesn't. But I do think its character complements the rest of the quartet better. The first movement is so strange and alien. If you play the repeat on the exposition, it manifests a gargantuan, strange sonata movement with a creepy development section, incredible contrasts in the exposition... I'm not you, so I'm not going to make an extremely well thought-out video about it, but I think the first movement is beautifully strange and magical. The second movement is weirdly frantic and disjointed, moreso than many other Beethoven "scherzo" movements. The third movement is oddly rhythmic and perhaps even funky, and I think this particular vibe is unprecedented in Beethoven. Moreover, I think that this quartet builds up a "hmm, this is unsettling" feeling over its first three movements and then subverts that in the next two, to let your guard down. But then the Grosse Fuge comes in and makes you run for cover. Dramatically, I think it's perfect. Proportion-wise, I concede that the Grosse Fuge makes the quartet a bit lopsided, especially considering its multi-sub-movement form. But is this unlike the 9th symphony? I think the lopsidedness is part of the ugly, nasty beauty that Beethoven is a master at. As for the second point, I'm going to bring up the 9th symphony again. In both cases, I don't think the grand movements are trivialized. I think they're underscored by the preceding dramatic build-up. Sure, the 9th symphony has a few motivic glimpses at the joy theme sprinkled into the first three movements, and op. 130 doesn't have any such for the Grosse Fuge, but still. I think, in both cases, there is a wonderful pomp-and-circumstance surrounding each finale due to the preceding movements. I don't think I'm going to change your mind with any of this, and that's not even the point since varying takes on Beethoven's work is part of the puzzle. I just wanted to be on the record with this opinion that I am militant over! Would it surprise you that I have the unpopular opinion of being on the fence about B. cutting Andante Favori from the Waldstein sonata?

I've never clicked on any video so fast, I've waited for this specific video, from you especially, thank you!!!

So many thanks Richard! I'm reminded that I saw the Arditti Quartet play this as the OPENING WORK in a recital that went on to include Dutilleux's Ainsi la nuit and Xenakis' insanely difficult Tetras. It was just as modern, blistering and overwhelming as the rest of the program.

I see 48:07 less as "cutting room floor" material, than as a "retrospective montage" used by B. in other compositions, most famously at the end of the 9th symphony. In this case it also "bookends" the presentation of the germinal material at the very beginning.

The Great Fugue’s palindrome-like structure is remarkable. It’s as if Beethoven is looking at himself in the mirror, grappling with the duality of life and death, on the verge of madness. One of the most satisfying endings in all of music! The technique of the “interruption” in m. 26, inspired by Albrechtsberger’s fugal treatise, is very intriguing, and for me, explains the organic transition from cavatina to the Great Fugue in a shocking, interruptive manner. I have always tended to favor the interpretation of Brentano, for they pulsate these repeated eighth notes with a sense of urgency, but Takács’ rendition is very emotionally satisfying. Thank you for your analysis. Wonderful. Just discovered your channel.

46:06 the blue theme is distributed between the viola and cello and then between the 1st and 2nd violins

Große fuge is one of my most favourite pieces. Thank you for explaining it. I love it more now.

Yes, he uploaded! My favorite composer too, and one of the greatest pieces ever!

Rocking a baby to sleep in my arms in the early morning light here in Berlin, and watching/listening to Richard‘s witty, self-deprecating, deeply-thought, vibrant analysis… takes me back to the source of why music is the richest stuff in this life. An absolute gift. I used to put Klemperer‘s recording of the GFuge on the turntable in the LP room at school (there was such a room! with sound-proofed walls and a musty old carpet!) and listen over and over.

Finally! The video I have been waiting for. I've tried analyzing this fugue and after the third entry of the fugue exposition, it becomes a confusing sea of counterpoint for me.

Elemental and timeless, crucial, relentless, horrifying, heavenly, metaphysical, cosmic, more real than reality, shredding the veil, the blast of totality, the pulsation of all that has existed and will ever exist, every nightmare and every glory pressed into the service of the INFINITE...it really affects me! If I ever get another tattoo it will say: Opus 133. I don't fully understand it, but IT understands ME.

I completely agree about the "Intense Fuge #2" as you call it. I was of course completely baffled (in a good way) the first time I heard the Grosse Fuge but when I heard this section especially 31:25 - 31:45 it completely won me over. String Quartet No. 14 is my favorite work of Beethoven's but that moment in the Grosse Fuge is my favorite moment of his.

This is great, you should do Metamorphosen by Strauss next.

Brilliant analysis of a magnum opus like the Grosse Fugue. Congratulations on the work and I hope it continues.

Like perhaps a few other commenters, I performed the Große Fuge on piano for four hands with a friend. Such a great piece! I've only heard the string quartet performed live once, but the entire quartet was perhaps the most musical performance I have ever heard. Such a great quartet! I've been working on the Goldberg variations for a while now and posted my first public performance of some of the variations today. Maybe that's why your video showed up for me. You've inspired me to make a video or two about the Goldbergs. Thanks for the video and inspiration! :)

This is why I clicked the bell THIS IS WHY

So worth the wait on your videos!!!

Aw yeah! Waited for this for a long long time. Good job Rick!

These videos never fail to inspire me :') ty Mr. Atkinson!

Yet another fantastic video! Missed you atkin.

Thank you so much for posting this. It is absolutely wonderful.

This just might be my new favorite video! I've been waiting for it for over a year, expected a lot, yet was still staring at the screen like a child at a new toy the whole time. I love your work!

I first listened to this piece last year. At first, I did not understand it. I also thought it wasn’t that good. Then I started listening to it more and I don’t regret it. It’s one of the best fugues ever written if not the best.

Thank you, Richard! I really am filled with joy! Love your videos

This is just great, it is impossible to thank you enough for the amount of work put into these amazing videos.

Excellent video and excellent channel. Our deep respect for your commitment to music and analysis.

Brilliant analysis and video. Thank you for all the effort you put into it, and thanks for sharing!

Absolutely brilliant video - easily one of the best I've seen on YT. *Plenty* of information, emotion (passion!), entertainment. Wow!

Well that was worth the wait, great work as always Richard

My favourite fugue - by far. Love it to bits. Thank-you Richard.

So every single one of your videos has about 30 odd down votes. Did you assign a bunch of students these videos to watch or is someone trolling you because these videos are great.

I got goosebumps when I saw this video uploaded. That's how much I love the Große Fuge.

Thanks for the great video, Richard.

He is back and ready to deliver. What a masterful analysis!

I was so excited when I got the notification. The Takacs Quartet recording is my favorite, probably because I read their book...! :) Can't wait to watch!!!!

Great video! I ordered the sheets to this fuge 2 weeks ago to analyse it during these times. You were just one step ahead and I do thank you for that :D

Absolutely wonderful content. Thank you so much for sharing

Oh man, this is so complicated, I may need to watch this video many times. It's absolutely great, thank you so much for it.

Probably my favorite video on KZfaq right now. Can’t stop rewatching.

This channel is sublime. Thank you, Richard.

What a great present, 50 minutes of brilliant analysis from one of my favorite musical youtubers

I think the first time I heard Grosse Fugue, in my teens, and already familiar with Bach's unfinished Contrapuntis # 14, I was struck by both the similarity of the Bb A , C B (nat), & C# D series of "coupled" "ambiguously" chromatic 1/2 steps, of its theme, (Beeth different 1/2 step couplings but similar possibilities) and the complex development of so many possibilities contained in such a choice of theme. i also felt at that time that Beethoven's efforts were somewhat of a trainwreck. i commented to a friend, 'Well it IS Grosse". All these many years later, like say 50, I have been increasingly impressed with it's apparently increasing intelligence and profundity with each passing year. Now I tremble in its presence, in a GOD this is GOOD way! Thanks so much Richard for shining a beam from heaven on this difficult masterpiece. Great to hear those comments from other great Composers too.

Thanks for helping us to understand this masterpiece. Thanks to you, now I'm totally overwhelmed by the final of the Intense Fugue #2, what a beautiful moment.

Thank you! Much to digest, even after this thorough analysis. I liked this more personal narration as well. Very fun.

This is my comfort KZfaq Video

Oh finally. The anticipation is over!

I was so excited to have this video pop up in my notifications. Just finished watching it and I already recommended it to a composer friend of mine, I feel like a child on christmas showing off their new toy!

Oh my gosh!!!!! What an astounding masterpiece. I'm talking about this video of course, the fugue goes without saying ;D I can't believe I've never found your channel before - I just binged your Mozart 41 and Eroica videos and then this popped up and - well, I am so grateful for what you are doing. You're not afraid to go into the nitty gritty details, and you communicate your passion for music so well...and like - I had hoped to go this in depth in upper level theory in undergrad, but alas. I am isolated among my friends for being a music theory nerd haha, so - thank you so much for this!!

Absolute Genius! I asked you to do the Great Fugue a while ago, and did not know so many others asked for the same thing!

One more issue I'd have liked to see addressed is the question of the meaning of the tied eighth notes written instead quarters starting at the first allegro. I have read that they are intended to indicate some kind of bebung or voice cracking or warbling, but would like to see this discussed more in depth sometime.

Remarkably cogent and persuasive analysis. Kudos!

BEST VIDEO I HAVE EVER SEEN. REMARKABLE. YOU SIMPLIFIED A VERY COMPLICATED SUBJECT. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

I happen to notice a Weibo account post your videos, this one and the one about most beautiful passages of Beethoven symphonies (they added Chinese subtitles) but they didn’t credit them to you. I’m glad they made quality contents on KZfaq like this available to classical music lovers in Mainland China, but I really hope they did ask for your permission or at least mentioned you in the description.

I love that you have a favorite note in the meno mosso section

Looking forward to this Richard. Would love to view your analysis of the fugues from Bach's B minor mass & Beethoven's Missa Solemnis next!

This is phenomenal. I thank the author of the video for this tremendous gift.

Oh, I Have waited a long time for this.

I'm so excited to watch this! (I've obsessed with it for years!)

It's great to have you back after a long absence! ...and with my favourite piece of all the classical repertoire! (Bach is my favourite composer, but Beethoven's Große Fuge is the single work by that amazes me most).

A Triumph and a Masterpiece, my dear friend. Congratulations and Mazel Tov!!!! Loved every second of it!

You are amazing for doing this. The first time I heard this fugue I hated it, but when I listened to it again I liked it more, and now it may be my favorite piece. Thank you!

Thank you so much for this amazing video!

whenever there's chaotic situation happening in the debut you know the piece is a masterpiece

Not only my favourite composer, favourite analyser but also my favourite performance of this fugue.

Hey Richard, thanks for the awesome video. This piece kind of overwhelmed me before and now it's just more Beethoven being a genius and magician (and wonderfully strange at times). And btw your monotone voice is very relaxing and has a nice timbre.

Thank you for giving us the keys to open such a treasure coffer.