Beethoven: String Quartet No. 8 in E Minor, Op. 59, No. 2

Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 was published in 1808 and the second of three commissions from Count Andreas Razumovsky.

The scherzo movement of the quartet uses a Russian theme also used by Modest Mussorgsky in Boris Godunov, by Anton Arensky in his String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, and by Sergei Rachmaninoff in his 6 Morceaux for Piano Duet, Op. 11. Though a popular tune, not everyone agrees with how Beethoven applied it: "It sounds as though Count Razumovsky had been tactless enough to hand Beethoven the tune, and Beethoven is pile-driving it into the ground by way of revenge."