The String Quartet no. 14 in C♯ minor, Op. 131, by Ludwig van Beethoven was completed in 1826. (it is actually his fifteenth quartet by order of composition.) About 40 minutes in length, it consists of seven movements to be played without a break, as follows. This work, which is dedicated to Baron Joseph von Stutterheim, was Beethoven's favourite from the late quartets. He is quoted as remarking to a friend that he would find "a new manner of part-writing and, thank God, less lack of imagination than before". It is the last-composed of a trio of great works, written in the order 132, 130 with the Große Fuge ending, 131. The work was dedicated to von Stutterheim as a gesture of gratitude for taking his nephew, Karl, into the army after a failed suicide attempt in 1826. It is said that upon listening to a performance of this quartet, Schubert remarked, "After this, what is left for us to write?". Along with Op. 127, Robert Schumann called these quartets "..the grandeur of which no words can express''. The Op. 131 quartet has been described as a monumental feat of integration, and as one of Beethoven's most elusive works. It has been written about extensively from very early after its creation, from Karl Holz, the second violinist of the Schuppanzigh quartet, to Richard Wagner, to contemporary musicologists today. The piece was featured in the plot of the 2012 film A Late Quartet.
