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The ''ドイツ語:Große Fuge'' (or ''ドイツ語:Grosse Fuge'', also known in English as ''Great Fugue'' or ''Grand Fugue''), Op. 133, is a single-movement composition for string quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven. A massive double fugue, it was universally condemned by contemporary critics. A reviewer writing for ''Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung'' in 1826 described the fugue as "incomprehensible, like Chinese" and "a confusion of Babel".〔Solomon (2003), p. page=35〕 However critical opinion of the work has risen steadily since the beginning of the 20th century. The work is now considered among Beethoven's greatest achievements. Igor Stravinsky said of it, "(is ) an absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever."〔Stravinsky and Craft (1963), p. 24.〕 The ''ドイツ語:Große Fuge'' originally served as the final movement of his (Op. 130), written in 1825. But Beethoven's publisher, who was concerned about the dismal commercial prospects of the piece, urged Beethoven to replace the fugue with a new finale. Beethoven complied, and the ''Grosse Fuge'' was published separately in 1827 as Op. 133. It was composed when Beethoven was almost completely deaf, and is considered to be part of his set of late quartets. It was first performed in 1826, as the finale of the B quartet, by the Schuppanzigh Quartet. Analysts describe the ''ドイツ語:Große Fuge'' as "inaccessible",〔B.H. Haggin, quoted in (Chamber Music Northwest )〕 "eccentric",〔Kinderman (1997), p. 306〕 "filled with paradoxes",〔Levy (2007), p. 130〕 and "Armaggedon".〔Steinhardt, in Miller (2006), p. 40〕 "() stands out as the most problematic single work in Beethoven's output and … doubtless in the entire literature of music," writes Joseph Kerman of the fugue.〔Kerman (1979), p. 279〕 It is also notoriously difficult to play. ==History of composition== Beethoven originally composed the ''Große Fuge'' as the final movement of his String Quartet No. 13 (Op. 130). His choice of a fugal form for the last movement was well grounded in tradition: Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven himself had used fugues as final movements of quartets. But in recent years, Beethoven had become increasingly concerned with the challenge of integrating this Baroque form, that was academic and highly formalized, with the expressive impulses of Romanticism. "In my student days I made dozens of ()... but () also wishes to exert its privileges... and a new and really poetic element must be introduced into the traditional form," Beethoven wrote.〔Alexander Wheelock Thayer: ''Ludwig van Beethovens Leben''. quoted in Husarik (2012), p. 54.〕 The resulting movement was a mammoth work, longer than all the other movements of the quartet together.〔The fugue is 741 measures long; the total number of measures in the other movements is 643.〕 Beethoven wrote at the top of the score, "Grande fugue tantôt libre, tantôt recherchée" (a grand fugue, sometimes free, sometimes learned), an indication of his ambition to reconcile the academic and the romantic. The fugue is dedicated to the Archduke Rudolf of Austria, a friend and patron. At the first performance of the quartet, other movements were received enthusiastically, but the fugue was not a success. A review of the performance in the ''Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung'', one of Vienna's leading music periodicals, called the fugue "incomprehensible, like Chinese" and "a confusion of Babel".〔Solomon (2003), p. 35〕 Composer and violinist Louis Spohr called the fugue, and the other late quartets, "an indecipherable, uncorrected horror."〔Service (2008)〕 Despite the contemporary criticism, Beethoven himself never doubted the value of the fugue. Karl Holz, confidante of Beethoven's, and second violinist of the Schuppanzigh quartet that performed the work, brought Beethoven the news that the audience demanded encores of two middle movements. Beethoven, enraged, was reported to have growled, "And why didn't they encore the Fugue? That alone should have been repeated! Cattle! Asses!"〔Solomon (1977) p. 447〕 However, the fugue was so roundly condemned by critics and audience alike that Beethoven's publisher, Matthias Artaria (1793–1835), decided to try to convince Beethoven to publish it separately. Holz was given the task of convincing Beethoven to separate the fugue from the rest of the quartet. Holz wrote:
Why the notoriously stubborn Beethoven agreed so readily to replace the fugue is an enigma in the history of this quintessentially enigmatic piece. Historians have speculated that he did it for the money (he was notoriously bad at managing money), or to satisfy his critics, or because he simply believed the fugue stood best on its own.〔For the differing opinions on this, see Solomon (1977), p. 449, Marliave (1928), p. 257, Winter and Martin (1994), p. 239.〕 The fugue is connected to the other movements of opus 130 by various hints of motifs, and by a tonal link to the preceding ''Cavatina'' movement (the Cavatina ends on a G, and the fugue begins with the same G〔Bitloch (2012)〕). The replacement last movement, on the other hand, despite also beginning on a G, is light in character and completely inoffensive. Beethoven composed the replacement finale in late 1826. In May 1827, about two months after Beethoven's death, Matthias Artaria published the first edition of Op. 130 with the new finale, and the ''Große Fuge'' as Op. 133, as well as a four-hand piano arrangement, Op. 134.〔Lockwood (2006), pp. 459–461〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Große Fuge」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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