The Opus 130 string quartet is a magnificent work of six movements, more like scenes and acts of a play, the last of which was originally the Grosse Fuge (Great Fugue). After the quartet premiered, Beethoven was persuaded to replace the fugue with a shorter and more genial finale and publish the fugue separately (Opus 133).

The new finale, the Cavatina (which starts at 18:50), was the last piece of music Beethoven was to compose before his death. It is justly adored and revered as one of the greatest of Beethoven’s string quartet movements, and is literally “out of this world”, having been included on the “Golden Record” which accompanied the Voyager spacecraft beyond our solar system.

The quartet (with the second finale) is played here by the Busch Quartet. https://youtu.be/ppjXCXpcXs8

Beethoven - String quartet n°13 op.130 - Busch SQ