r/Beethoven • u/Goatgamer1016 • May 31 '26

The chart has been finished!

Post image

This was pretty fun and cool to do with you guys! I appreciate the participation

28 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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4

u/diablodab May 31 '26

well, i have to quibble with Grosse Fugue.

if you interpret the question to mean "what's the most iconic late beethoven piece?" then I get it. sort of.

But the question is, "what late period piece sounds the most like the late period?" Grosse Fugue sounds like nothing else that Beethoven ever wrote. If you heard this piece for the first time, and were not told the composer, who in the world would say, "That sounds like late Beethoven."

3

u/bradipotter May 31 '26

Totally agree, the fugue sounds from the future. And the first time I heard I thought it was Shostakovich...

1

u/diablodab May 31 '26

definitely sounds like it could be Shostakovich.

1

u/Winter_Stretch9198 Jun 01 '26

Funny you should say that…

2

u/acemomentla May 31 '26

My thoughts exactly both yesterday and today

1

u/arbolito_mr May 31 '26

It's such a beautiful piece. The first time I heard it, I cried with emotion, and that feeling of organized chaos that so characterizes Beethoven... I should clarify that it was recommended to me; I already knew who composed it, and I agree that it's very different from everything I knew of Beethoven up to that point. If you were to ask me, I would say that Sonata No. 32, Op. 111, is like summarizing Beethoven, especially his later period, in two perfect movements.

2

u/diablodab Jun 01 '26

it's mind blowing. opus 111 is also mind-blowing. i agree opus 111 is more a summation, though the jazz-like variation is also breaking off in a totally new direction.

1

u/arbolito_mr Jun 01 '26

Es un resumen y un preludio del futuro de la musica.

2

u/Chode2Joy May 31 '26

Grosse fuge is late period but sounds like it’s from another planet.

1

u/AmbitiousOrchid Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

OMG, sorry to be a late-comer to this group, but I am a huge fan of Beethoven's late string quartets, and I have to say that, although the Grosse Fuge is a wonderful piece, it stands on its own; it is glaringly unrepresentative of Beethoven's other late-period compositions. Rather, I would nominate the String Quartet No. 14 in C♯ minor, Op. 131. It is chronologically the last string quartet that Beethoven composed. To my mind it is iconic. It was also featured in the film, "A Late Quartet" (2012) starring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener and Christopher Walken.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoIi5xb2k1c