String Quartet No. 2 (Beethoven)

The String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 18, No. 2 (actually his third), was written by Ludwig van Beethoven between 1798 and 1800 and published in 1801, dedicated to Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz.

String Quartet
No. 2
Early string quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven, c. 1796
Key	G major
Opus	18, No. 2
Composed	1798–1800
Dedication	Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz
Published	1801
Movements	Four

It consists of four movements:

1. Allegro (G major)
2. Adagio cantabile – Allegro – Tempo I (C major)
3. Scherzo: Allegro (G major)
4. Allegro molto, quasi presto (G major)

Of the Op. 18 string quartets, this one is the most grounded in 18th-century musical tradition.[1] According to Steinberg, "In German-speaking countries, the graceful curve of the first violin's opening phrase has earned the work the nickname of Komplimentier-Quartett, which might be translated as 'quartet of bows and curtseys'."[2]

The nickname may have originated from one of Haydn's last string quartets written about the same time (Op. 77, No. 1; 1799[3]), which was also known as the Komplimentier-Quartett. Haydn was Beethoven's teacher at the time, and there are similarities in style between the two quartets. They are also both in the key of G major.[4]

After he finished the quartet, Beethoven was not satisfied with the second movement and wrote a replacement. Sketches of the original slow movement survive and a complete version has been reconstructed by musicologist Barry Cooper.[5] It was performed publicly, possibly for the first time, by the Danel Quartet in the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall at the Martin Harris Centre, University of Manchester, on 30 September 2011.