Beethoven: String Quartet No. 11

The last of Beethoven's middle period string quartets, the String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Opus 95, represents a departure for Beethoven. The work, which became known as the "Serioso" quartet after Beethoven's initial tempo marking of "Quartetto Serioso", was marked on the autograph as being completed in October 1810, but did not receive a first performance until 1814. Beethoven was quoted as saying the work was never intended for public performance. Throughout the quartet, Beethoven experiments with new techniques that he had not used in previous quartets, with silences and unusual tonality for a sonata form work.