When It Began to Get 'Late'

On this date in 1825, Beethoven's groundbreaking opus 127, the first of his so-called "late" quartets, received its public unveiling in Vienna by the Schuppanzigh Quartet. As the story goes, it was something of a disaster. In the inimitable Beethoven manner, he had only given them a couple of days to rehearse--and handed them a score like no other before. Furious when told how badly it went (of course, by that time, he could not hear it himself), LvB then lined up another quartet to play it the following month, to much acclaim.