Vienna was under attack in in 1809 when Beethoven composed this in 1809, but you won't hear it in the music. It was a publisher who gave it the nickname, "Harp" because of the effect of pizzicatto strings in the first movement.
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Beethoven: String Quartet No.10 in E flat, Op.74 "Harp"
Borromeo String Quartet.
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Nicholas Kitchen, violin; William Fedkenheuer, violin; Mai Motobuchi, viola; Yeesun Kim, cello
More information at http://www.borromeoquartet.org/
Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Studio One on September 29, 2000.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org