Great Art, Novelty, And A Wealth Of Ideas
Elizabeth Meehan
The MHS Review 377 VOL. 10, NO. 17 • 1986
(This article refers to the release of volume I of Beethoven's symphonies featured on page 1)
When 17-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven from Bonn, Germany, visited Vienna in 1787, he had the opportunity-to perform for Mozart. After listening to him play, the older man said, ''This young man will leave his mark on the world." Two centuries have passed since their meeting, and as the continued appreciation and enjoyment of his music proves, Beethoven more than fulfilled Mozart's prophecy. Of all his works, Beethoven's symphonies have left perhaps the most profound impression on the musical world. Featured in this issue of the Review are Symphonies no. 1 in C major, op. 21; no. 3 in E-flat major, op. 55 ("Eroica"); no. 4 in B-flat major, op. 60; and no. 8 in F major, op. 93.
Life was not too shabby for Ludwig van Beethoven in the year 1800. He was living in Vienna and enjoying popularity as a piano virtuoso; he was giving private piano lessons steadily; and Prince Lichnowsky, an Austrian aristocrat, had become his patron, supporting him financially. In addition, he had written his first symphony. He conducted the debut performance of Symphony no. 1 in C major himself, at Vienna's Hofburg Theatre, on April 2 of that year. In a newspaper article about the concert, a critic wrote: "The concert ended with a symphony of his composition displaying great art, novelty and a wealth of ideas; there was, however, too much use of wind instruments so that it seemed more like a piece for wind-band than for full orchestra,"
It is generally agreed that Beethoven's First Symphony is derivative of Haydn, and this is not surprising in light of the fact that Beethoven had studied with him for a time. Beethoven, however, might not have been too pleased at this suggestion of Haydn's influence. Beethoven and Haydn became student and teacher in Vienna in 1792, after the younger man approached him for musical instruction, but their personalities did not mesh well. Beethoven was impatient and impulsive, and to him the lackadaisical, placid older man was an old "fogy:' One major area of conflict was Beethoven's conviction that Haydn could not appreciate his compositions, so Beethoven secretly took lessons from Johann Schenk and submitted his exercises to Haydn after Schenk had corrected them. There are no records to show whether or not Haydn caught on, but Haydn's departure for England in January 1794 marked the end of Beethoven's association with him.
Beethoven stated, "I never learned anything from Haydn," but some influence is evident. Musical critics see similarities between Beethoven's Symphony in C major, and Haydn's last symphonies, which he wrote for the London impresario Salomon. Beethoven does basically follow Haydn's sonata form, but he invests the work with his own power and elements of originality. For example, the symphony opens in F major, then moves through A minor and G major before arriving at its basic tonality, C major. This was highly unorthodox in 1800. Also, the third movement is marked "tempo di menuetto;' but it is not a dignified dance such as Haydn would write. It is faster, more spirited, and definitely whimsical. (In the Second Symphony, Beethoven was to abandon the minuet form for the third movement altogether, and replace it with the scherzo.)
By 1802, deafness had encroached on Beethoven to the point where he could no longer hide it from others. He left the city of Vienna and retreated to a house in one of its suburbs, Heilingenstadt. His hearing loss affected his personality negatively: he became absentminded, and grew suspicious of everyone with whom he dealt. His deafness was to be a gift for his music, however. Without outside distractions, he could focus his concentration intensely within himself, with breathtaking musical results.
Symphony no. 3 in E-flat major ("Eroica"), for example, is considered one of the greatest symphonies ever written. Behind the title is an interesting story, beginning with Beethoven's admiration for Napoleon Bonaparte. The composer originally dedicated the symphony to Bonaparte; as Beethoven's close friend Schindler explained, "He [Beethoven] was an upholder of unlimited liberty and of national independence .... He desired that everyone should take part in the government of the state .... For France he desired universal suffrage and hop d that Bonaparte would establish it, thus laying down the proper basis of human happiness:' When Beethoven learned that Napoleon declared himself emperor, though, anger seized him. He roughly scratched out the name "Bonaparte" from the over sheet, and renamed the work "heroic symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man ."
Beethoven suffused the work with the essential vitality, grandeur, and power of the heroic ideal, but it is wise to remember that this is not a programmatic symphony. As Sir George Grove commented, "the gigantic hero whom Beethoven believed himself to be portraying ... was certainly more himself than Bonaparte:' The opening movement establishes the heroic scale of the work, for it is the largest first movement in any classical symphony, and the structure is clearly delineated: exposition, development, recapitulation, and coda. Following this is a funeral march. The themes are military-sounding, showing the influence of French revolutionary music. Characteristic of this is the use of wind instruments, for the Parisian authoriti liked open-air concerts given by wind bands.
Beethoven created a challenge for himself in the transition between the second and third movements of the symphony. To move directly from the moving funeral march into the lively, boisterous scherzo would be jarring to Iisteners. He eliminated this jolting contrast by beginning the third movement with pp strings, and the theme moves through the dominant, B-flat, and then through the dominant of B-flat. When the theme finally appears, ff, in the main key of E-flat, the listener's awareness of the "marcia funebre" has faded completely. Capping the symphony is the finale, featuring the theme from Beethoven's Prometheus ballet. Writer Basil Lam believes that Beethoven's decision to use this was premeditated as he worked on the earlier movements, so as to have a "finale honoring the life-giving power of art. ...
Listeners have noticed that, generally, Beethoven's odd-numbered symphonies are weighty and epic, while the even-numbered ones are not. "Eroica" and Symphony no. 4 in B-flat major are cases in point. After composing such a dramatic, epic work as "Eroica;' it is logical to assume that Beethoven would choose to tackle a less demanding project. Beethoven's Fourth Symphony is cheerful and energetic, recalling the spirit of Haydn's 1ast of symphonies. The Salomon Symphonies, and Beethoven's Fourth, prove that art "robust high spirits undisguised by attempts at sophistication;' as Basil Lam phrases it, are not mutually exclusive.
The B-flat major Symphony was composed mostly during September and October, 1806, at the summer castle of Prince Lichnowsky, 111 Gratz, near Troppau, which is located in present-day Opava, just south of the Polish-Czechoslovak border. Beethoven began the sketches for the Fifth Symphony first, but he completed the B-flat Symphony before that one, so it was called the Fourth. The Fourth was commissioned by Count Franz von Oppersdorf, of Ober-Glogau, a friend of the prince's. He admired Beethoven's work and even had the Second Symphony performed when the prince and Beethoven visited. (In fact, the count was such a music lover that he would hire only domestic servants who would play an orchestral instrument, because he prided himself on having a private orchestra.)
An especially notable feature of the Fourth Symphony is the second movement. It is the only one in Beethoven's symphonies written entirely in a slow tempo, aside from the funeral march of "Eroica." Its beauty prompted Berlioz to write, "Such must be the song of the Archangel Michael as he contemplates the world's uprising to the threshold of the empyrean. The being who wrote such a marvel of inspiration ... was not a man."
Symphony no. 8 in F major is another of Beethoven's less weighty symphonies. The mood of this work is the playful "games and caprices of a child," in Wagner's words. This lighthearted intellectual comedy was completed in October of 1812, several months after the appearance of his Symphony no. 7 in A major. Most likely, the success of the Seventh enabled him to work creatively and productively.
The Eighth Symphony debuted at the Redoutensaal of Vienna on February 27, 1814, as the central performance of three of his works. (Symphony no. 7 and Wellington's Victory, or the Battle of Vittoria, flanked it.) The Symphony in F major received less applause than his other crowd-pleasing compositions, but Beethoven's response, when someone brought this to his attention, was, ''That's because it's so much better!"
The tempo of the opening movement is Allegro vivace e con brio, so for consistency of mood Beethoven replaced the customary slow movement with an Allegretto scherzando. The tick-tocking rhythm of the woodwind chords echoes a metronome, and some critics have suggested that Beethoven was making a joking reference to the musical chronometer-a forerunner of the metronome-which had just been invented by Maelzel. Beethoven then used minuet tempo for the third movement, although the style is not entirely Haydnesque. The high point of this symphony is the last movement. The work is, in fact, called a finale symphony, because all musical conflicts are resolved in a triumphant last movement in the major key.
Elizabeth Meehan is an alumna of Georgian Court College, Lakewood, N.J. She holds a B.A. in English and French, and enjoys singing and playing the piano, as well as writing about music.
(This article refers to the release of volume I of Beethoven's symphonies featured on page 1)
When 17-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven from Bonn, Germany, visited Vienna in 1787, he had the opportunity-to perform for Mozart. After listening to him play, the older man said, ''This young man will leave his mark on the world." Two centuries have passed since their meeting, and as the continued appreciation and enjoyment of his music proves, Beethoven more than fulfilled Mozart's prophecy. Of all his works, Beethoven's symphonies have left perhaps the most profound impression on the musical world. Featured in this issue of the Review are Symphonies no. 1 in C major, op. 21; no. 3 in E-flat major, op. 55 ("Eroica"); no. 4 in B-flat major, op. 60; and no. 8 in F major, op. 93.
Life was not too shabby for Ludwig van Beethoven in the year 1800. He was living in Vienna and enjoying popularity as a piano virtuoso; he was giving private piano lessons steadily; and Prince Lichnowsky, an Austrian aristocrat, had become his patron, supporting him financially. In addition, he had written his first symphony. He conducted the debut performance of Symphony no. 1 in C major himself, at Vienna's Hofburg Theatre, on April 2 of that year. In a newspaper article about the concert, a critic wrote: "The concert ended with a symphony of his composition displaying great art, novelty and a wealth of ideas; there was, however, too much use of wind instruments so that it seemed more like a piece for wind-band than for full orchestra,"
It is generally agreed that Beethoven's First Symphony is derivative of Haydn, and this is not surprising in light of the fact that Beethoven had studied with him for a time. Beethoven, however, might not have been too pleased at this suggestion of Haydn's influence. Beethoven and Haydn became student and teacher in Vienna in 1792, after the younger man approached him for musical instruction, but their personalities did not mesh well. Beethoven was impatient and impulsive, and to him the lackadaisical, placid older man was an old "fogy:' One major area of conflict was Beethoven's conviction that Haydn could not appreciate his compositions, so Beethoven secretly took lessons from Johann Schenk and submitted his exercises to Haydn after Schenk had corrected them. There are no records to show whether or not Haydn caught on, but Haydn's departure for England in January 1794 marked the end of Beethoven's association with him.
Beethoven stated, "I never learned anything from Haydn," but some influence is evident. Musical critics see similarities between Beethoven's Symphony in C major, and Haydn's last symphonies, which he wrote for the London impresario Salomon. Beethoven does basically follow Haydn's sonata form, but he invests the work with his own power and elements of originality. For example, the symphony opens in F major, then moves through A minor and G major before arriving at its basic tonality, C major. This was highly unorthodox in 1800. Also, the third movement is marked "tempo di menuetto;' but it is not a dignified dance such as Haydn would write. It is faster, more spirited, and definitely whimsical. (In the Second Symphony, Beethoven was to abandon the minuet form for the third movement altogether, and replace it with the scherzo.)
By 1802, deafness had encroached on Beethoven to the point where he could no longer hide it from others. He left the city of Vienna and retreated to a house in one of its suburbs, Heilingenstadt. His hearing loss affected his personality negatively: he became absentminded, and grew suspicious of everyone with whom he dealt. His deafness was to be a gift for his music, however. Without outside distractions, he could focus his concentration intensely within himself, with breathtaking musical results.
Symphony no. 3 in E-flat major ("Eroica"), for example, is considered one of the greatest symphonies ever written. Behind the title is an interesting story, beginning with Beethoven's admiration for Napoleon Bonaparte. The composer originally dedicated the symphony to Bonaparte; as Beethoven's close friend Schindler explained, "He [Beethoven] was an upholder of unlimited liberty and of national independence .... He desired that everyone should take part in the government of the state .... For France he desired universal suffrage and hop d that Bonaparte would establish it, thus laying down the proper basis of human happiness:' When Beethoven learned that Napoleon declared himself emperor, though, anger seized him. He roughly scratched out the name "Bonaparte" from the over sheet, and renamed the work "heroic symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man ."
Beethoven suffused the work with the essential vitality, grandeur, and power of the heroic ideal, but it is wise to remember that this is not a programmatic symphony. As Sir George Grove commented, "the gigantic hero whom Beethoven believed himself to be portraying ... was certainly more himself than Bonaparte:' The opening movement establishes the heroic scale of the work, for it is the largest first movement in any classical symphony, and the structure is clearly delineated: exposition, development, recapitulation, and coda. Following this is a funeral march. The themes are military-sounding, showing the influence of French revolutionary music. Characteristic of this is the use of wind instruments, for the Parisian authoriti liked open-air concerts given by wind bands.
Beethoven created a challenge for himself in the transition between the second and third movements of the symphony. To move directly from the moving funeral march into the lively, boisterous scherzo would be jarring to Iisteners. He eliminated this jolting contrast by beginning the third movement with pp strings, and the theme moves through the dominant, B-flat, and then through the dominant of B-flat. When the theme finally appears, ff, in the main key of E-flat, the listener's awareness of the "marcia funebre" has faded completely. Capping the symphony is the finale, featuring the theme from Beethoven's Prometheus ballet. Writer Basil Lam believes that Beethoven's decision to use this was premeditated as he worked on the earlier movements, so as to have a "finale honoring the life-giving power of art. ...
Listeners have noticed that, generally, Beethoven's odd-numbered symphonies are weighty and epic, while the even-numbered ones are not. "Eroica" and Symphony no. 4 in B-flat major are cases in point. After composing such a dramatic, epic work as "Eroica;' it is logical to assume that Beethoven would choose to tackle a less demanding project. Beethoven's Fourth Symphony is cheerful and energetic, recalling the spirit of Haydn's 1ast of symphonies. The Salomon Symphonies, and Beethoven's Fourth, prove that art "robust high spirits undisguised by attempts at sophistication;' as Basil Lam phrases it, are not mutually exclusive.
The B-flat major Symphony was composed mostly during September and October, 1806, at the summer castle of Prince Lichnowsky, 111 Gratz, near Troppau, which is located in present-day Opava, just south of the Polish-Czechoslovak border. Beethoven began the sketches for the Fifth Symphony first, but he completed the B-flat Symphony before that one, so it was called the Fourth. The Fourth was commissioned by Count Franz von Oppersdorf, of Ober-Glogau, a friend of the prince's. He admired Beethoven's work and even had the Second Symphony performed when the prince and Beethoven visited. (In fact, the count was such a music lover that he would hire only domestic servants who would play an orchestral instrument, because he prided himself on having a private orchestra.)
An especially notable feature of the Fourth Symphony is the second movement. It is the only one in Beethoven's symphonies written entirely in a slow tempo, aside from the funeral march of "Eroica." Its beauty prompted Berlioz to write, "Such must be the song of the Archangel Michael as he contemplates the world's uprising to the threshold of the empyrean. The being who wrote such a marvel of inspiration ... was not a man."
Symphony no. 8 in F major is another of Beethoven's less weighty symphonies. The mood of this work is the playful "games and caprices of a child," in Wagner's words. This lighthearted intellectual comedy was completed in October of 1812, several months after the appearance of his Symphony no. 7 in A major. Most likely, the success of the Seventh enabled him to work creatively and productively.
The Eighth Symphony debuted at the Redoutensaal of Vienna on February 27, 1814, as the central performance of three of his works. (Symphony no. 7 and Wellington's Victory, or the Battle of Vittoria, flanked it.) The Symphony in F major received less applause than his other crowd-pleasing compositions, but Beethoven's response, when someone brought this to his attention, was, ''That's because it's so much better!"
The tempo of the opening movement is Allegro vivace e con brio, so for consistency of mood Beethoven replaced the customary slow movement with an Allegretto scherzando. The tick-tocking rhythm of the woodwind chords echoes a metronome, and some critics have suggested that Beethoven was making a joking reference to the musical chronometer-a forerunner of the metronome-which had just been invented by Maelzel. Beethoven then used minuet tempo for the third movement, although the style is not entirely Haydnesque. The high point of this symphony is the last movement. The work is, in fact, called a finale symphony, because all musical conflicts are resolved in a triumphant last movement in the major key.
Elizabeth Meehan is an alumna of Georgian Court College, Lakewood, N.J. She holds a B.A. in English and French, and enjoys singing and playing the piano, as well as writing about music.