| String Quartet No. 8 (beethoven) |
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It is in four movements: # Allegro # Molto Adagio (Si tratta questo pezzo con molto di sentimento) # Allegretto (second section "Maggiore — Theme russe") # Finale, Presto According to Carl Czerny , the second movement of the quartet occurred to Beethoven as he contemplated the starry sky and thought of the music of the spheres (Thayer, ''Life of Beethoven''); it has a hymnlike quality reminiscent of a much later devotion, the "Heiliger Dankgesang" hymn to the Divine in the Quartet Op. 132 . The scherzo movement of the quartet, the third movement (Allegretto), uses a Russian theme also used by Modest Mussorgsky in '' Boris Godunov ''; however, the way he uses it is ungentle indeed. According to Kerman , "It sounds as though Count Razumovsky had been tactless enough to hand Beethoven the tune, and Beethoven is pile-driving it into the ground by way of revenge." In an extremely unusual example of melodic setting prior to the 20th century, portions of the tune with strong tonic harmonic leanings are harmonized with the dominant, and vice versa; the harmonic clash is harsh, and many listeners have found this portion of the quartet to be quite amusing, especially as contrasted with the prosaic, almost "exercise-book" counterpoint which precedes it (another example of Beethoven parodying a student counterpoint exercise can be found in the scherzo of the Quartet No. 10 , Opus 74). REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
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