Beethoven: String Quartet No. 8

This work (Op. 59, No. 2) is one of the Razumovsky Quartets originally published in 1806. The second movement of the quartet gives us a hint of what is to come in the Op. 132 quartet with its hymn-like quality, while the third movement includes a "Theme Russe" also used by Mussorgsky in Boris Gudunov. This theme is thought to have been given to Beethoven by Razumovsky to use in the quartet. Beethoven did so with humorous results.