The Große Fuge (or Grosse Fuge, a.k.a. Great/Grand Fugue), Op. 133, is a single-movement composition for string quartet by Beethoven. A massive double fugue, it originally served as the final movement of his Quartet no. 13, Op. 130, it was replaced with a new finale and published separately in 1827 as Op. 133. Composed in 1825, when Beethoven was completely deaf, it is considered to be part of his set of late quartets. It was first performed in 1826, as the finale of the B♭ quartet. It is famous for its extreme technical demands and its unrelentingly introspective nature, even by the standards of his late period. It is the largest and most difficult of all of Beethoven's string quartet movements. Though most 19th-century critics dismissed the work, even calling it 'repelling', it is now considered amongst Beethoven's greatest achivements.
