One of the nation's most renowned young string ensembles played a Beethoven string quartet yesterday for three Harvard music professors who discussed the masterpiece before a capacity crowd of more than 400 in Paine Hall.

The New World String Quartet began the symposium, "Approaches to a Musical Masterwork," with a performance of the German composer's String Quarter in F Major, Opus 59, No. 1.

After repeated exclamations of "Bravo" had subsided, Peabody Professor of Music Lewis H. Lockwood began the discussion of the work by saying, "Anyone who knows Beethoven, knows this work represents part of a collective landmark in the history of string quartets."

Whereupon Lockwood began a lecture on what he termed "the ABCs of music appreciation."

Reinhold Brinkmann, director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Musicology, followed with an examination of the historical context within which the piece was composed. "When the work was first performed, the English critics declared the beginning of Opus 59 as 'crazy' while others called it 'a simple waste of money.'"

The symposium ended with a more technical analysis of the work by Rosen Professor of Music Leon Kirchner.