Opus 127 is the first of the late string quartets with which Beethoven pushed the genre to new heights after composing the Ninth Symphony and the "Missa solemnis". His work is largely lyrical in character. Musical thoughts are spun out, a maestoso introduction serves as a recurring motto. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy responded creatively to the late Beethoven as early as 1827 with his A minor quartet. His passionate piece alludes specifically to the classic, features fugal sections and creates links between the individual movements through thematic relationships. Béla Bartók then created the classical quartet cycle of modernism. His highly concentrated third string quartet, written exactly 100 years after Mendelssohn's work, is characterized by uncompromising harshness in harmony and voice leading for the time.