| Most people know Beethoven's keyboard variations such as the Eroica Op 35 or the Diabelli Op 120 and others, but the two quartet movements from Quartet # 12 in E-flat Op 127 second movement ( Op 127 ii) and the Quartet # 14 in C # Minor Op 131 movement 4 ( Op 131 iv) bear special recognition for their great beauty and invention. I will not give a detailed analysis here, yet, but one must note that with both original themes such an astonishing variety of invention is accomplished both with different dance topics and key changes but also with rich complex counterpoint. One of the variations in Op 131 iv is a canon at the second, another stripps away all texture and just uses the barest harmony followed immediately by the most simple and yet touching statement of the theme in variation. The theme of this movement is a waltz in A Major. While these movements can be regarded in isolation their role within the structure of four movements in Op 127 and Seven Movements in Op 131 is crucial in terms of texture and tonality. The later quartet has a broad arch structure of keys as well. More later.
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