Karl Holz (violinist)

Karl Holz (1798 – 9 Nov 1858) was an Austrian violinist. He played in Ignaz Schuppanzigh's string quartet and was a friend of Ludwig van Beethoven at the time when the composer was writing his late string quartets.

In Vienna in 1819 the violinist Joseph Böhm assembled a string quartet, and Holz - a civil servant in the Austrian government by profession - joined as second violin. In 1823 the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh returned to the city after several years away. He had formed a string quartet in Vienna in the 1790s; he was a friend of Beethoven and had given the first performance of the composer's first set of string quartets Op. 18. Böhm's quartet disbanded, and Holz joined Schuppanzigh's reformed quartet.

In 1824 Beethoven, who had not written a string quartet since his Op. 95 in 1810, began work on a commission from Prince Nicholas Galitzin to write three string quartets. The first of these, the String Quartet Op. 127, was given its first performance by Schuppanzigh's quartet the following year. The quartet later performed the other two works commissioned, the String Quartet Op. 130 and String Quartet Op. 132.

While Holz was working as one of Beethoven's copyists, the composer's relations with his secretary Anton Schindler deteriorated and Holz became Beethoven's secretary in 1825. Letters to Holz and entries in Beethoven's conversation books (used by people when conversing with the composer in his later years) show that Holz was a devoted admirer, and of great help to the composer.

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