Beethoven composed his Op. 18 is a set of six string quartets over the course of 1798-1800.
Beethoven dedicated Op. 18 to his aristocratic patron Prince Lobkowitz (whose palace would host the private premiere of the “Eroica” Symphony in 1805).
On June 25, 1799, Beethoven gave an early version of this string quartet as a parting gift to his friend Karl Amenda, a Latvian theology student and violinist who was leaving Vienna after spending a year tutoring Prince Lobkowitz’s children.1
