In 1825, the 16 year old Felix Mendelssohn wrote a piece for two string quartets – a String Octet. Louis Spohr had composed a Double Quartet in 1823 for two opposing quartets (we aren’t told who won), but Mendelssohn is clear that the piece should ‘be played by all the instruments in the style of a symphony’.
A few months later in 1826, the 55 year old Ludwig van Beethoven is writing one of his last quartets – a 40 minute String Quartet in one unbroken stretch of seven connected movements, moving through the keys of C# minor, D major, B minor, A major, E major, G# minor, and C# minor.
