appear and disappear, and the music seems to lose energy. A silence, and then a fragmentary burst of the opening of the first fugue. Another silence. A snippet of the meno mosso. Another silence. And then a fortissimo restatement of the very opening of the piece, leading to the coda. From here the music moves forward, at first haltingly, but then with more and more energy, to the final passage, where the first subject is played in triplets below the soaring violin line playing a variant of the second subject. Understanding the Grosse Fuge Analyses of the Grosse Fuge help to understand the structure and contrapuntal devices of this mammoth piece. But, writes musicologist David B. Levy, "Regardless of how one hears the piece structurally, the composition remains filled with paradoxes that leave the listener ultimately dissatisfied with an exegesis derived solely from a structural perspective." Since its composition, musicians, critics and listeners have tried to explain the tremendous impact this piece has. "[It] is one of the great artistic testaments to the human capacity for meaning in the face of the threat of chaos. Abiding faith in the relevance of visionary struggle in our lives powerfully informs the structure and character of the music," writes Mark Steinberg, violinist of the Brentano String Quartet. "More than anything else in music ... it justifies the ways of God to men," writes musicologist Leonard Ratner. But beyond a recognition of the hugeness and almost mystical impact of the music, critics fail to agree on its character. Robert S. Kahn says "it presents a titanic struggle overcome." Daniel Chua, on the contrary, writes, "The work speaks of failure, the very opposite of the triumphant synthesis associated with Beethovenian recapitulations." Stephen Husarik, in his essay "Musical direction and the wedge in Beethoven's high comedy, Grosse Fuge op. 133", contends that in the fugue, Beethoven is actually writing a parody of Baroque formalism. "The B Fuga of op.133 stumbles forward in what is probably the most relentless and humorous assertion of modal rhythms since 12th century Notre Dame organum." Kahn disagrees: "... the comparison to comic music is surprising. There is nothing comic about the Grosse Fuge ...." In many discussions of the piece, the issue of struggle is central. Sara Bitloch, violinist of the Elias String Quartet, says this sense of struggle informs her group's interpretation of the fugue. "Every part has to feel