ABSTRACT
Concerning the date of the composition of the first six quartets nothing certain is known. Ludwig van Beethoven worked on them till 1800-1, and they were published in the latter year. They probably owed their inception to the influence of Emanuel Aloys Forster, an excellent writer of chamber music from whom Beethoven learned so much in an informal way that he afterwards spoke of him as his "old master". Some of the letters written in 1801 show that Beethoven's deafness was steadily increasing. Sebastian Bach played a small part in the musical life of Beethoven's day; save for the "Forty-eight" few of the clavier works were known, and the choral masterpieces had yet to be discovered. In 1801 the ballet "Prometheus" was produced, with such success that sixteen performances were given in this year, and thirteen in the following. The chief interest of "Prometheus" lies in its connection with the "Eroica".
