Andrey Razumovsky

In Beethoven's day, Vienna was swarming with Russian, Polish, and Hungarian aristocrats with a taste for music.

Among them was Count Andreas Kirillovich Razumovsky, the Russian ambassador to Vienna.

The Count was an amateur violinist who occasionally played in a string quartet that he maintained at his own expense.

The Count commissioned Beethoven to write three string quartets, stipulating that they should incorporate Russian melodies, either real or imitated.