Ludwig van Beethoven on Music Theory Print

25 Irish Songs, WoO 152 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

Beethoven folksongs arrangements, sung texts
IMSLP description

25 Scottish Songs

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

Beethoven manuscript: draft for the disposition of the Scottish songs op. 108, Autograph. From the Digital Archives of Beethoven-Haus, Bonn. After the first edition, published in England in 1818, Beethoven prepared a German edition. On this manuscript we see Beethoven’s reordering and renumbering of the songs for the German edition, published by Schlesinger in Berlin in 1822.
- Program notes for a performance of a selection from the Twenty-Five Scottish Songs (Op. 108).

9 Beet Stretch

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The initial realization of 9 Beet Stretch was done in 2002 at NOTAM (Norwegian centre for technology, art and music) by Anders Vinjar, Kjetil Matheussen, Leif Inge, and Bjarne Kvinnesland. In preparation for concerts, and for legal purposes, it was redone at NOTAM in 2004 by Leif Inge and Anders Vinjar, and the concert premiere took place from April 16 to 17, 2004, at Kupfer Ironworks, Madison, Wisconsin, under the production of Jeff Hunt of Table of the Elements. 9 Beet Stretch have had about 40 full length 24-hours performances since then, at venues including 964 Natoma (San Francisco, 2004); Diapason Gallery (New York, 2004); Dubnium / South by Southwest (Austin, 2006); BizArt Art Center (Shanghai, 2006); Bohrium (Atlanta, 2006); Wien Modern (Vienna, 2006); Copernicum (New York, 2007); Bonner Kunstverein (Bonn, 2007); Orange County Museum of Art (Newport Beach, 2008); Impakt (Utrecht, 2009); AV Festival (Newcastle, 2012); Nuit Blanche (Toronto, 2012); MaerzMusik / Berliner Festspiele (Berlin, 2015); The Rubin Museum of Art (New York, 2018); Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf, 2019). Symposium of Spatial Sound Arts Seoul was dedicated to 9 Beet Stretch, at Platform-L Contemporary Art Center (Seoul, 2020). Bill Schottstaedt made the software used for the granulation for both Common Lisp Music (used for the 2004 execution) and Snd (used in 2002). An online stream is available at www.9beetstretch.com

A Fifth of Beethoven

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background and recording#

In college, Murphy’s interests included rock music, particularly that which was adapted from classical music, such as “Joy” (1971) by Apollo 100 and “A Lover’s Concerto” (1965) by The Toys. Later, in 1976, while writing a disco song for a commercial, a producer suggested the idea of “updating classical music”, which “nobody has done lately”. He then recorded a demo tape of five songs—three were ordinary pop songs, while the fourth was a disco rendition of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony titled “A Fifth of Beethoven” —mailing it to various record labels in New York City. The response was underwhelming, but “Fifth” caught the interest of Private Stock Records owner Larry Uttal. Murphy signed on to Private Stock and recorded the album A Fifth of Beethoven, containing the title track and first single of the same name. The single was credited to “Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band” upon encouragement from Private Stock, which believed it would be more successful if credited to a group rather than an individual. However, two days following the record’s release, Private Stock discovered the existence of another Big Apple Band (which promptly changed its name to Chic). The record was later re-released and credited to “The Walter Murphy Band”, then simply to “Walter Murphy”. The 1998 single “Enjoy Yourself” by A+ samples this song.

Abendlied unterm gestirnten Himmel

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition history#

In 1820, when Beethoven wrote “Abendlied”, he was 49 years old. 1820 was a year in which the sorrows of his life (deafness, illness, failure to find a marriage partner) were augmented by the climactic phase of his legal confrontation with his sister-in-law Johanna van Beethoven over custody of his nephew (Johanna’s son) Karl. The composition of “Abendlied” competed for Beethoven’s time with the preparation of a massive (48-page) legal document intended to win this case. Cooper is led to speculate whether the consolatory message of the “Abendlied” poem, and its mention of evil foes, may have inclined Beethoven to set this text in song. As was his practice, Beethoven made sketches for this work. A few of these survive, in a sketchbook that Beethoven employed from April 1819 to April 1820. The “Abendlied” sketches appear immediately after sketches for the Missa solemnis and precede sketches for what became the Op. 109 piano sonata. All of the surviving “Abendlied” sketch material consists of dead ends and none of it appears in the finished work. A version of the song in Beethoven’s own hand, now kept in the Austrian National Library, was dated by him 4 March 1820. According to Albrecht, this was not Beethoven’s final version but an “advanced draft”. Only the printed version reflects the composer’s final intentions, for no other drafts or copies survive. Beethoven dedicated the work to Dr. Anton Braunhofer (1780–1845), a physician and a professor at the University of Vienna. Braunhofer had treated both Beethoven and the composer’s nephew Karl.

Adagio Hammerklavier

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Production#

Van Manen decided to choreograph a new ballet on six Dutch National Ballet dancers, Monique Sand, Sonja Marchiolli, Alexandra Radius, Henry Jurriëns, Francis Sinceretti, , when the company was rehearsing Swan Lake. Though the six were also set to dance in Swan Lake, the rehearsal schedule made them available at the same time while the rest of the company were working on the production. Van Manen set the ballet to the Adagio, the third movement from Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 29, Hammerklavier. He was inspired by Christoph Eschenbach’s recording of the music, which was played at an exceptionally slow tempo.

Adelaide (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition and publication#

During the period he created Adelaide, Beethoven was in his mid twenties; he had come to Vienna in 1792 to pursue a career and was in the early stages of making a name for himself as pianist and composer. He had only recently completed his studies with Joseph Haydn. A. Peter Brown suggests that in writing Adelaide, Beethoven was strongly influenced by Haydn’s song O Tuneful Voice (Hob. XXVIa:42, c. 1795), written by the elder composer shortly before. Like “Adelaide”, “O Tuneful Voice” sets a love poem, is in moderate tempo with a steady triplet accompaniment, and wanders from key to key in its middle section. In composing Adelaide Beethoven made many sketches. Barry Cooper assigns the work of composition to “an unusually long time during 1794, 1795, and perhaps 1796.” Beethoven dedicated the work to Matthisson. The German-language title page may be translated: :ADELAIDE by MATTHISSON. A cantata for voice with keyboard accompaniment. Set to music, and dedicated to the author, by LUDVIG van BEETHOVEN. Artaria and Co., Vienna.

Ah! perfido

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The work was first performed on 21 November 1796 in the theatre at the Ranstädter Tor in Leipzig, with soprano Josepha Duschek as the soloist. The singer, a friend of Mozart in Prague, advertised it as “an Italian scena written by Beethoven for Mad. Duschek”, possibly to raise interest rather than a statement about a dedication. The only extant manuscript by a copyist has a dedication to “Signora Comtessa di Clari”, Countess Josephine of Clary-Aldringen. Another notable performance occurred in 1808 as part of a benefit concert for the composer on 22 December which also featured the premieres of his fifth and sixth symphonies, an excerpt of his Mass in C major, among others. The singer was the 17-year old who stepped in on short notice after others cancelled. A sister-in-law of the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh, she possibly performed, to mixed reaction, from the manuscript which shows changes made by Beethoven. This version differs from the first edition, which causes a problem for editors as both versions are authorized by Beethoven. The work was first published in Leipzig in 1805 by the of Franz Anton Hoffmeister and Ambrosius Kühnel, without an Opus number, like many early works by Beethoven. In 1819, Hofmeister in Leipzig printed it and assigned number 46. The number 65, which Beethoven had for unknown reasons not used, was assigned to the piece in 1819 by Artaria in Vienna, when Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 106 was published with a works list. In chronological order, a number in the range 5 to 10 would be justified. Breitkopf & Härtel printed the work in 1862 as part of , a publication of his complete works.

Allegretto for Piano Trio, WoO 39 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Beethoven composed the piece while travelling to Teplitz, where he intended to spend the summer. At the time, the Brentanos were resident in Karlsbad. He presented the work to the family on the 26 June 1812, prior to travelling to Prague.

Structure#

This composition is a single movement written in sonata form. The tempo mark is Allegretto. Performance takes about 5 minutes.

References#

Notes Sources * * * *

An die ferne Geliebte

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Beethoven’s#

Beethoven’s only song cycle was the precursor of a series of followers, including those of Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann and Carl Loewe. The setting is for a man’s voice (usually tenor) with piano. The title page of the original edition (S. A. Steiner, Vienna) bore a dedication with permission to Fürst Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz, Duke of Raudnitz, a leading Austrian musical patron, in whose palace the Eroica Symphony was first performed in 1804; Beethoven also dedicated the six string quartets, Op. 18, the Eroica Symphony, Op. 55, the Triple Concerto, Op. 56, the C minor Symphony, Op. 67, the Pastoral Symphony, Op. 68, and the String Quartet, Op. 74 to him. The text was written by a physician named Alois Isidor Jeitteles, probably at Beethoven’s request. Jeitteles had published several short verses, economic in style, in Viennese magazines or almanacks, particularly Selam and Aglaja, and was making his name as a poet. He was an active, selfless young man who later distinguished himself by working tirelessly for his patients during a dreadful cholera epidemic and mortality in Brno. Jeitteles’s poetic sequence An die ferne Geliebte was written in 1815 when he was 21. Beethoven was acquainted with both Alois and his cousin ; the composer’s early biographer Anton Schindler recorded that Beethoven thanked Jeitteles for the inspiration he provided, but it is not clear whether Jeitteles wrote the poems specifically for Beethoven or whether Beethoven first saw them on publication. Beethoven had already explored inward feelings of longing in his setting of Matthisson’s poem “”, but in these poems the distance from the beloved is greater, the longing is more intense and stormier, and is no longer satisfied with merely the sound of her name, but is preoccupied with the clawing pain of separation which colours the whole surrounding landscape. Max Friedlaender regarded the entire composition as autobiographical in meaning, and the subject of the composer’s longing to be none other than the , the Immortal Beloved of his letters of July 1812. More recently Birgit Lodes has argued that both text and the title page of the first edition refer to a lover far away in “heaven”. The whole sequence is through-composed, so that none of the songs stands alone. The different moods of the six episodes are expressed in different key and time signatures, working from E-flat major in the first song through G major (and briefly C major) in the second to A-flat major and minor in the third and fourth, and thence back through C to E-flat. With their underlying thematic linkage, each of the songs is carried without break into the next: a short bridge passage connects 2 and 3, and the last note of 3 is held through the first three bars of the accompaniment to 4 and proceeds into almost without a breath. The final strophe of 4 has an accelerando leading directly into the vivace of 5.

Andante favori

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition and reception#

The Andante favori was written between 1803 and 1804, and published in 1805. It was originally intended to be the second of the three movements of Beethoven’s Waldstein Piano Sonata, Op. 53. The following extract from Thayer’s Beethoven biography explains the change: :Ries reports (Notizen, p. 101) that a friend of Beethoven’s said to him that the sonata was too long, for which he was terribly taken to task by the composer. But after quiet reflection Beethoven was convinced of the correctness of the criticism. The andante… was therefore excluded and in its place supplied the interesting Introduction to the rondo which it now has. A year after the publication of the sonata, the andante also appeared separately. It was composed as a musical declaration of love for Countess Josephine Brunsvik, but the Brunsvik family increased the pressure to terminate the relationship. She could not contemplate marrying Beethoven, a commoner. The reason for the title was given by Beethoven’s pupil Czerny, quoted in Thayer: “Because of its popularity (for Beethoven played it frequently in society) he gave it the title Andante favori (“favored Andante”).

Anthem of Europe

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Friedrich Schiller wrote the poem “An die Freude” () in 1785 as a “celebration of the brotherhood of man.” In later life, the poet was contemptuous of this popularity and dismissed the poem as typical of “the bad taste of the age” in which it had been written. After Schiller’s death, the poem provided the words for the choral movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. In 1971 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe decided to propose adopting the prelude to the “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony as the anthem, taking up a suggestion made by Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi in 1955. Beethoven was generally seen as the natural choice for a European anthem. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe officially announced the European Anthem on 19 January 1972 at Strasbourg: the prelude to “Ode to Joy”, 4th movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9th symphony. Conductor Herbert von Karajan was asked to write three instrumental arrangementsfor solo piano, for wind instruments and for symphony orchestra and he conducted the performance used to make the official recording. Karajan decided on a decidedly slower tempo, using crotchet (quarter note) = 120 whereas Beethoven had written minim (half note) = 80. The anthem was launched via a major information campaign on Europe Day in 1972 without a public holiday, since it is close to May Day. In 1985, it was adopted by EU heads of state and government as the official anthem of the then European Community (since 1993 the European Union). It is not intended to replace the national anthems of the member states but rather to celebrate the values they all share and their unity in diversity. It expresses the ideals of a united Europe: freedom, peace, and solidarity. It was to have been included in the European Constitution along with the other European symbols; however, the treaty failed ratification and was replaced by the Treaty of Lisbon, which does not include any symbols. A declaration was attached to the treaty, in which sixteen member states formally recognised the proposed symbols. In response, the European Parliament decided that it would make greater use of the anthem, for example at official occasions.

Artur Schnabel's recordings of Beethoven's piano sonatas

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Austrian pianist and composer Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) is considered one of the 20th century’s most important musicians, and continues to be celebrated particularly for his performances of Beethoven and Schubert. Proclaimed by American music critic, journalist, and music writer Harold C. Schonberg as “the man who invented Beethoven”, Schnabel’s pedagogical lineage included Beethoven himself. When he was around ten years old, he began studying with Theodor Leschetizky, who was a student of Carl Czerny, who was in turn Beethoven’s student, close friend and assistant. In 1927, on the centenary of Beethoven’s death, Schnabel performed all 32 Beethoven sonatas for the first time in a series of seven recitals at the theatre of the Volksbühne in Berlin. and at the Berliner Philharmonie from 1932 to 1933. During his life, Schnabel witnessed the development of sound-reproduction technology, with the inventions of the player piano, radio, and phonograph record. They were his first known recordings. A few weeks later, he wrote in the Welte Autograph Book: “With the artistic excellence of the Welte-Mignon, the extreme limits of possibility in the mechanical reproduction of music appear to have been reached. … Instead of all traces of his art disappearing with the last note played, the Pianist has now the consoling certainty that his performances will survive him.” In 1922, as part of a contractual obligation, he made rolls for the American Piano Company’s Ampico reproducing piano during his first American tour. In addition to works of Bach, Brahms, Schubert, and Weber, he recorded two pieces of Beethoven’s. who proposed Schnabel record Beethoven’s complete piano works. Before the proposal, Schnabel had refused to make recordings for years, claiming they went “against the very nature of performance, for the nature of performance is to happen but once, to be absolutely ephemeral and unrepeatable.” Schnabel tested the gramophone for the first time. He reported that the tests produced records that were “ugly in sound” but “musically satisfactory”, which Cesar Saerchinger noted was “a seemingly curious distinction for a man who was praised throughout his career for his beautiful tone.” In early February, Schnabel signed his contract.

Bagatelles, Op. 126 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Form#

This set comprises six short works. The odd-numbered pieces are slower, the even-numbered pieces are faster. A performance of the collection takes approximately 18 to 19 minutes. 1. Andante con moto, Cantabile e compiacevole, G major, \relative c \new PianoStaff 8) 4( ) \new Dynamics \override TextScript #‘whiteout = ##t s4-\markup \dynamic p \italic dolce s2. s s s4 s\cresc s s2. s s4 s4.> s8! s\p \new Staff \key g \major \time 3/4 \clef bass 4 g8( fis e d 2 4 2 4 8. 16 4) > » 2. Allegro, G minor, \relative c’ \new PianoStaff > 3. Andante, Cantabile e grazioso, E major, \relative c’ \new PianoStaff ( ) ( ) ( ) bes bes^\ d! ) \clef treble c^\ aes! ) aes4( g16 aes) \ s4 g,16( aes) bes4( aes16 bes) c4( d16 es) es8( f bes,16 c) » 8( 16 ) \new Staff \key es \major \time 3/8 \clef bass 4.~ q~ q4 q8 q es,16( f) g4( f16 g) aes4( bes16 c) c8( d es16 aes,) > » 4. Presto, B minor, (cut time) \relative c \new PianoStaff > \clef treble fis4 g b d b e cis d g b d g \bar “: .” \new Dynamics s8 s4\f s1 s s s s2 s\sf s\sf s\sf s\sf s4\sf s\p \new Staff \key b \minor \time 2/2 \clef bass s8 fis,,,4 fis b, d b ais( b8 cis b4) fis’ fis b, d b ais( b8 cis b4) b d b e cis d g b d g q q » \relative c \new PianoStaff 4*1/2^( ^( \hideNotes 8) ) \ s4 b,1 b b b b b b b » » 5. Quasi allegretto, G major, \relative c \new PianoStaff 4.( ~ q8 ) 4.( ~ q8 ) 4.( ~ q8 ) 4.( ~ q8 ) 4._( 4 8) > » 6. Presto, E major, , then Andante amabile e con moto, \relative c \new PianoStaff -. -. -. -. r r2\fermata \new Staff \key es \major \time 2/2 \clef bass es,,,,8 es, es, es, es, es, es, es, es, es, es, es, es, es, es, es, es,4-. -. -. -. -. r r2\fermata \bar " " » \relative c \new PianoStaff ^\markup ten. r r ^\markup ten. 16.( 32 ) 8( ) r r ^\markup ten. r r ^\markup ten. 16.( 32 ) 8( ) \new Staff \key es \major \time 3/8 \clef bass \mergeDifferentlyDottedOn > »

Beethoven and C minor

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

During the Classical era, C minor was used infrequently and often for works of a particularly turbulent cast. Mozart, for instance, wrote only very few works in this key, but they are among his most dramatic ones (the twenty-fourth piano concerto, the fourteenth piano sonata, the Masonic Funeral Music, the Adagio and Fugue in C minor and the Great Mass in C minor, for instance). Beethoven chose to write a much larger proportion of his works in this key, especially traditionally “salon” (i.e. light and diverting) genres such as sonatas and trios, as a sort of conscious rejection of older aesthetics, valuing the “sublime” and “difficult” above music that is “merely” pleasing to the ear. Paul Schiavo wrote that C minor is a key “that Beethoven associated with pathos, struggle, and expressive urgency.” The key is said to represent for Beethoven a “stormy, heroic tonality”; he uses it for “works of unusual intensity”; and it is “reserved for his most dramatic music”. Pianist and scholar Charles Rosen writes: A characteristic 19th-century view is that of the musicologist George Grove, writing in 1898: Grove’s view could be said to reflect the view of many participants in the Romantic age of music, who valued Beethoven’s music above all for its emotional force. Not all critics have taken a positive view of Beethoven’s habitual return to the tonality of C minor. Musicologist Joseph Kerman faults Beethoven’s reliance upon the key, particularly in his early works, as a hollow mannerism: Of the works said to embody the Beethovenian “C minor mood”, probably the canonical example is the Fifth Symphony. Beethoven’s multi-movement works in C minor tended to have a slow movement in a contrasting major key, nearly always the subdominant of C minor’s relative key (E major): A major, providing “a comfortingly cool shadow or short-lived respite”, but also the relative key (E major, Op. 1/3), the tonic major (C major, Opp. 9/3, 18/4, 111) and the sharpened mediant major (E major, Op. 37), the last setting a precedent for Brahms’ third Piano Quartet, Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Rachmaninoff’s second Piano Concerto. In his essay “Beethoven’s Minority”, Kerman observes that Beethoven associated C minor with both its relative (E) and parallel (C) majors, and was continually haunted by a vision of C minor moving to C major. While many of Beethoven’s sonata-form movements in other minor keys, particularly finales, used the minor dominant (v) as the second key area – predicting a recapitulation of this material in the minor mode – his use of the relative major, E (III) as the second key area for all but two of his C minor sonata-form movements, in many cases, facilitated a restatement of part or all of the second theme in C major in the recapitulation. One exception, the first movement of the Piano Sonata No. 32, uses A major (VI) as its second key area, also allowing a major-mode restatement in the recapitulation – and the other exception, the Coriolan Overture, is only loosely in sonata form and still passes through III in the exposition and major-mode I in the recapitulation. Furthermore, of the final movements of Beethoven’s multi-movement works in C minor, three are in C major throughout (Opp. 67, 80, 111), one finishes in C major (Op. 37), and a further four (along with one first movement) end with a Picardy third (Opp. 1/3, 9/3, 10/1, 18/4, 111 i).

Beethoven concert of 22 December 1808

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Conditions for the performance of symphonic music in the Vienna of 1808 were hardly optimal, as Robert Kahn explains: In Vienna, the theaters were either under government sponsorship (the Burgtheater and the Kärntnertortheater, both in central Vienna) or were private enterprises located in the outer districts of the city. Beethoven’s chosen venue, the Theater an der Wien, was in the latter category. It was a very substantial building, described as “the most lavishly equipped and one of the largest theatres of its age.” It had opened to rave reviews in 1801; for instance, the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung called it the “most comfortable and satisfactory in the whole of Germany” (which meant at the time, “all German-speaking lands”). Beethoven had already premiered several of his most important works to date in this theater; for a listing see Theater an der Wien; and he had even lived in the theater building (which included some apartments) while working on his never-finished opera (1803) Vestas Feuer. During 1807 and 1808, Beethoven had provided his works and services to a series of charity concerts at the Theater an der Wien. The Theater’s director, Joseph Hartl, ultimately permitted Beethoven to use the venue for the 22 December 1808 concert, which was for Beethoven’s private benefit. Beethoven had lobbied for a private benefit concert for many months—in return for his participation in the charity concerts—and expressed frustration at what he perceived to be Hartl’s procrastination on the matter. The Wiener Zeitung carried an advertisement for the concert on 17 December 1808, labelling it a “musical Akademie”; this was the common German term for a concert in Beethoven’s time.

Beethoven Symphonies (Liszt)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

By 1837, Liszt appears to have completed the transcriptions of the fifth, sixth and seventh symphonies, of which the fifth and sixth were published by Breitkopf & Härtel and the seventh by Tobias Haslinger. In 1843, he arranged the third movement of the Third Symphony, which was later published by in 1850. Liszt was paid 8 francs per page by Breitkopf & Härtel, who first requested two symphonies to be transcribed. During his 1840 travels in Europe he might have given the transcribed symphonies some publicity by playing them at his concerts. With three symphonies transcribed, Liszt set aside the work for another 23 years. It was not until 1863 that Breitkopf & Härtel suggested to Liszt that he transcribe the complete set for a future publication. For this work, Liszt recycled his previous transcriptions by simplifying passages, stating that “the more intimately acquainted one becomes with Beethoven, the more one clings to certain singularities and finds that even insignificant details are not without their value”. He would note down the names of the orchestral instruments for the pianist to imitate, and also add pedal marks and fingerings for amateurs and sight readers. When Liszt began work transcribing the ninth symphony, he expressed that “after a great deal of experimentation in various directions, I was unable to deny the utter impossibility of even a partially satisfactory and effective arrangement of the 4th movement. I hope you will not take it amiss if I dispense with this and regard my arrangements of the Beethoven symphonies as complete at the end of the 3rd movement of the Ninth.” (He had in fact completed a transcription of the Ninth Symphony for two pianos in 1850.) Nevertheless, he made another attempt after an expressive letter from Breitkopf & Härtel, and expressed “the range achieved by the pianoforte in recent years as a result of progress both in playing technique and in terms of mechanical improvements enables more and better things to be achieved than was previously possible. Through the immense development of its harmonic power the piano is trying increasingly to adopt all orchestral compositions. In the compass of its seven octaves it is able, with only a few exceptions, to reproduce all the characteristics, all the combination, all the forms of the deepest and most profound works of music. It was with this intention that I embark on the work which I now present to the world.” The full set of transcriptions was finally published in 1865 and dedicated to Hans von Bülow. The original publication of the fifth and sixth symphonies had been dedicated to the painter and amateur violinist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.

British première of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Sir George Smart, Charles Neate and Ferdinand Ries were important in making Ludwig van Beethoven’s music known at the Philharmonic Society. George Smart and Charles Neate were original members of the Philharmonic. Smart in 1814 gave the first performance in Britain of Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives. Neate lived in Vienna from 1815 to 1816 and met Beethoven, who supervised his musical studies there. In subsequent years Neate corresponded with Beethoven, and publicized the composer’s works at the Philharmonic. Ries, a pupil of Beethoven, lived in London from 1813 to 1824. He was introduced to the Philharmonic, and many of his compositions were performed at their concerts. Ries wrote to Beethoven on behalf of the Philharmonic in 1817, inviting him to London; the Society would pay him 300 guineas to stay for the season, and he would compose two symphonies for the Society. However, the visit did not take place. In 1822 Beethoven, considering a visit to London, wrote to Ries inquiring what remuneration the Society would give for a symphony; Ries forwarded the inquiry to the Society. Later that year the Society decided to offer £50 for a new symphony. The minutes stated: “10. November 1822. Resolved that an offer of £50 be made to Beethoven for a M anu .S cript . Sym phony . He having permission to dispose of it at the expiration of Eighteen Months after the receipt of it. It being a proviso that it shall arrive during the Month of March next.”

Catalogues of Beethoven compositions

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The problem#

Most of Beethoven’s best known works were published with opus numbers, with which they may be reliably identified. Another 228 works are designated WoO ( – literally, “works without an opus number”), among them unpublished early and occasional works (Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II, WoO 87), published variations and folksong arrangements (25 Irish Songs, WoO 152), posthumous publications ("", WoO 59), and a number of unfinished works. The WoO list was extended but still left unaccounted for many fragments and sketches as well as numerous cases of uncertain attribution. The catalogues described here are attempts to organize and identify with precision all of these works in ways that are useful to musicologists, musicians, and the listening public.

Cello Sonata No. 3 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Over the course of his life, Beethoven composed five cello sonatas, two of them early as his Op. 5. These two sonatas, composed when Beethoven was age 25, were highly virtuoso concert pieces showing off the pianist, with a cello part of less weight. Beethoven performed them with cellist Jean-Pierre Duport in Berlin in 1796, and dedicated them to Frederick William II of Prussia who was an amateur cellist himself. his friend and an amateur cellist, who also assisted the composer in financial matters. The previous year he had arranged an annuity for Beethoven from a group of sponsors which included Archduke Rudolf of Austria, a pupil of Beethoven. The composer had planned to dedicate his Fourth Piano Concerto to Gleichenstein, but felt that he had to honour the Archduke with the dedication instead, because he had shown particular interest in the Concerto. Beethoven explained to Gleichenstein his regret but announced: “… another work is appearing in which you will be given what is due to your – and our friendship”. The sonata was first performed on 5 March 1809 as part of a benefit concert for the cellist Nikolaus Kraft, who performed it with pianist Dorothea von Ertmann, a student of Beethoven. Kraft, known for “technical mastery” and a “clear, rich tone”, was the cellist for whom Beethoven had written his Triple Concerto, published in 1804, and Beethoven’s first work to use advanced cello techniques. A performance of the cello sonata in 1816 was played by Joseph Linke, the cellist in the Razumovsky Quartet, and Carl Czerny. The pianist wrote in metronome markings, regarded as approved by the composer, and noted that a slight rubato playing would increase interest and expressiveness. Breitkopf & Härtel published the cello sonata first in Leipzig. The first edition had many mistakes, including the opus number misprinted as 59. Beethoven was annoyed, but the mistakes could be corrected only in a later edition. The work appeared the same year also printed by Artaria, entitled “Sonata / per il / Clavicembalo con Violoncello / composta / dal Sig=r / Luigi van Beethoven”. A critical edition was published in 1971 by Henle Verlag, edited by Bernard van der Linde, based on the edition of Beethoven’s complete works by the Beethoven Archive the same year. These editions relied on the earlier prints, the autograph manuscript even if regarded as still a work in progress, as well as the correspondence of Beethoven and his first publisher regarding errors. The sonata is formally the most expansive of Beethoven’s cello sonatas, but also the most melodic one, and was successful with audiences from the beginning. A performance takes about 25 minutes. Violinist Mark Kaplan noted: “In general, the writing in op. 69 is thinner than in the early cello sonatas … greater compositional technique allowed Beethoven the possibility of using fewer notes with confidence.” Cellist Steven Isserlis described the work as the first cello sonata in history to give the two instruments equal importance. It has remained a model in the genre, for works by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Debussy and Shostakovich.

Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sonata No. 1 in F major, Op. 5, No. 1#

The sonata has two movements: A typical performance of this piece takes approximately 25 minutes.

Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 5, No. 2#

The sonata has two movements: A typical performance of this piece takes approximately 25 minutes.

I. Adagio sostenuto ed espressivo – Allegro molto più tosto presto#

The first movement, marked Adagio sostenuto ed espressivo, begins with a G minor chord and the piano descending in a dotted scalar pattern. The cello starts a melodic theme in measure five, and the piano modulates to E♭ major in measure seven. The two instruments are in canon in measure 10. The long periods of silence that end the movement resemble the silences present in Beethoven’s third symphony (Eroica). Flowing triplets in the piano push much of the movement forwards. The two instruments imitate each other going into a transitional theme in B♭ major at measure 70, The coda begins in measure 436. The material comes from the opening theme of the movement, and it is first in C minor and A♭ major before returning to G minor. The cello sustains a G with low triplets in the piano interrupting. The movement ends definitively in G major.

Cello Sonatas Nos. 4 and 5 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The two sonatas were composed between May and December 1815. The first copy by Beethoven’s copyist Wenzel Rampl was made in late 1815 but was then subject to further alterations by Beethoven. A subsequent ‘good’ copy was supplied in February 1816 to Charles Neate for proposed, though unrealized, publication in London. Beethoven then made further small alterations prior to their eventual publication by Simrock in Bonn. During the period 1812 to 1817, Beethoven, ailing and overcome by all sorts of difficulties, experienced a period of literal and figurative silence as his deafness became overwhelmingly profound and his productivity diminished. Following seven years after the A major Sonata No. 3, the complexity of their composition and their visionary character marks (which they share with the subsequently completed piano sonata Op. 101) the start of Beethoven’s “third period”. The critics of the time, often perplexed by Beethoven’s last compositions, described the sonatas in terms such as the following from the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung: They elicit the most unexpected and unusual reactions, not only by their form but by the use of the piano as well…We have never been able to warm up to the two sonatas; but these compositions are perhaps a necessary link in the chain of Beethoven’s works in order to lead us there where the steady hand of the maestro wanted to lead us. Although played less often than Sonata No. 3, Sonatas Nos. 4 and 5 are now essential elements in the basic repertory of works for cello and piano.

Choral Fantasy (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background, composition, and premiere#

The Fantasia was first performed at the Akademie of 22 December 1808, a benefit concert which also saw the premieres of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and the Fourth Piano Concerto as well as a performance of excerpts of the Mass in C major. To conclude this memorable concert program, Beethoven wanted a “brilliant finale” that would unite in a single piece the different musical elements highlighted in the concert night: piano solo, mixed chorus and orchestra. The Fantasia, Op. 80, written shortly before, was thus composed expressly to fulfil this role. Beethoven himself played the piano part and the opening solo offers an example of his improvisational style (at the premiere he did, in fact, improvise this section). Beethoven wrote the piece during the second half of December 1808 in an unusually short time by his standards. He commissioned a poet—whose identity is disputed—to write the words shortly before the performance to fit the already written parts. According to Beethoven’s pupil Carl Czerny, the poet was , but the later Beethoven scholar Gustav Nottebohm doubted this attribution and suggested it may have been Georg Friedrich Treitschke, who in 1814 prepared the final text of Beethoven’s opera Fidelio. The premiere performance seems to have been a rather troubled one; according to the composer’s secretary, Anton Schindler, it “simply fell apart”, a result most likely attributable to insufficient rehearsal time. Because of a mistake in the execution of the piece, it was stopped halfway through and restarted. In Ignaz von Seyfried’s words:

Christ on the Mount of Olives (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition#

The work is a dramatic oratorio and is considered a much more humanistic portrayal of the Christ passion than other settings, such as those by Bach. It concludes at the point of Jesus personally accepting his fate, placing the emphasis on his own decision rather than the later Crucifixion or Resurrection. The oratorio is scored for soprano, tenor, and bass soloists, with standard SATB chorus and symphony orchestra. The tenor sings as Jesus, with the soprano as a seraph (angel) and the bass as Peter. A complete performance lasts approximately 50 minutes. Beethoven’s only oratorio, he was quite critical of the piece and of the performance of the orchestra and chorus at its premiere. He panned Huber’s libretto, saying, in an 1824 letter to the Gesellschaft für Musikfreunde, “Let us leave out of consideration the value of poems of this sort. We all know that allowances are to be made… so far as I am concerned, I would rather set Homer, Klopstock, Schiller to music. If they offer difficulties to overcome, these immortal poets at least are worthy of it.” (Beethoven eventually did set Schiller to music in his monumental Ninth Symphony, nearly twenty years after the oratorio.) The editors at Breitkopf & Härtel agreed with Beethoven’s critical assessment of the text, and Christian Schreiber was enlisted to make massive changes to the libretto. However, upon reviewing the changes, Beethoven still was not happy, saying, “I know that the text is extremely bad, but if even a bad text is conceived as a whole entity, it is very difficult to avoid disrupting it by individual corrections”.

Copying Beethoven

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Plot#

The film starts off in the year 1827 with Beethoven dying in his bed during a thunderstorm and his copyist Anna Holtz arrived on time to see him and tell she finally heard his fugue before he passes. The story then shifts back to 1824 as Beethoven is finishing his Ninth Symphony. He is plagued by deafness, loneliness, and personal trauma. A new copyist, Anna Holtz, is engaged to help the composer finish preparing the score of his symphony for the first performance. Anna is a young conservatory student and aspiring composer. Her understanding of his work is such that she corrects mistakes he has made (the mistakes were made deliberately), while her personality opens a door into his private world. Beethoven is initially skeptical, but he slowly comes to trust Anna’s assistance and eventually grows to rely on her and view her with respect, and even with admiration. Anna Holtz (as Beethoven always refers to her) is sent to be his copyist, but due to her sex, is constantly thought less of, and is mistaken for a serving girl, maid, and even a prostitute. Pushing past, though quite unhappily, from these assumptions, Anna proves herself to Beethoven, not only as a copyist, but also as his friend, and something of his protégé and heir as far as he is concerned. He gains much admiration of her after she assists him by directing him, hidden among his musicians (although she can be seen from the top seats), as he simultaneously copies her movements to direct the orchestra during what would turn out to be his final concert on stage. Though Anna agreed to her romantic interest, Martin Bauer, that she would help him complete his symphony, and then immediately leave after showing him her work, she instead continues to assist him as his copyist. After seeing the admiration she has gained from Beethoven, Anna proceeds to show him a piece of music that she composed. Beethoven tactlessly and unknowingly insults her. Anna, more than ready not to return, continues to stay with her great-aunt and the nuns at the convent. Anna is surprised when Beethoven, desperate to keep Anna in his employment and under his tutelage, bursts into the convent and begs Anna, on his knees, to come back and work as his equal on both of their music. He begins to teach her about Romanticism, music, and mostly, how to allow her artistic side freedom. Continuing his infuriating behavior, Beethoven smashes the model of Martin’s bridge he built for an engineer’s competition, thereby ruining Martin as well. Anna, angry, confronts Beethoven, asking him if he had ever considered that she loved Martin. Beethoven replies, “You don’t love him.” Upon hearing this, Anna angrily asks if she is supposed to love Beethoven instead. Beethoven again replies, “No. You want to be me.” From here, Anna agrees that Beethoven did the right thing, and continues to work with him, pushing him past his hardships and failures, and then staying by his bedside until he died (on March 26, 1827). The film ends with Anna finally embracing herself as an artist, unique from all other composers, including Beethoven, and readying herself for a promising future.

Coriolan Overture

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Context#

The structure, in sonata form, and themes of the overture follow the play only generally - “the work remains remarkably self-contained, musically and formally”. The main C minor theme (‘Allegro con brio’) represents Coriolanus’ resolve and war-like tendencies (he is about to invade Rome), while the more tender E-flat major theme represents the pleadings of his mother to desist. Coriolanus eventually gives in to tenderness, but since he cannot turn back having led an army of his former enemies, the Volsci, to Rome’s gates, he kills himself. (This differs from the better-known play Coriolanus by William Shakespeare, in which he is murdered. Both Shakespeare’s and Collin’s plays are about the same semi-legendary figure, whose actual fate was not recorded.) Winton Dean identified Méhul’s overture to his opera Mélidore et Phrosine (1794) as a precursor in terms of its “stormy D minor allegro with a distinct anticipation of Coriolan”. One of Wagner’s longest ‘programmatic elucidations’ of musical works in 1852–54 is that for Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture. The Coriolan Overture is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B, two bassoons, two horns in E, two trumpets in C, timpani, and strings.

Curse of the ninth

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The curse of the ninth superstition originated in the late-Romantic period of classical music. Then he wrote his Ninth Symphony and thought he had beaten the curse, but died with his Tenth Symphony incomplete. This superstition, however, was only hatched by Mahler. Before him, Beethoven and Schubert had died before or while writing their tenth symphonies. As Maddy Shaw Roberts writes, “The Curse of the Nine is a great story, and it probably fueled a lot of the angst behind Mahler’s heart-wrenching symphonies. But perhaps it’s best to treat it as a superstition.” * Malcolm Arnold * Kurt Atterberg * Anton Bruckner (he completed 10 symphonies, but “Study Symphony” and “Symphony No.0” are not counted) * Antonín Dvořák (only 5 of his symphonies were known during his lifetime) * Alexander Glazunov * David Maslanka * Vincent Persichetti * Einojuhani Rautavaara * Luis Humberto Salgado * Alfred Schnittke * Roger Sessions * Ralph Vaughan Williams * Boris Tishchenko In contrast, there are numerous composers who completed ten or more symphonies. * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart * Joseph Haydn * Havergal Brian * David Diamond * Roy Harris * Vagn Holmboe * Rued Langgaard * Darius Milhaud * Nikolai Myaskovsky * Andrzej Panufnik * Allan Pettersson * Joachim Raff * Edmund Rubbra * William Schuman * Robert Simpson * Dmitri Shostakovich * Emil Tabakov * Heitor Villa-Lobos * Mieczyslaw Weinberg In 2012, composer Philip Glass stated, “Everyone is afraid to do a ninth. It is a jinx that people think about”.

Dancing Beethoven

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Awards and nominations#

Dancing Beethoven was nominated in the 32nd Goya Awards for Best Documentary Film and for the for Best Documentary Feature although finally won.

Der glorreiche Augenblick

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition#

Der glorreiche Augenblick was written for the opening of the Congress of Vienna after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The cantata is scored for two sopranos, tenor and bass soloists, chorus and orchestra. It sets texts by . The Cantata was written in 1814, but not published until 1837, hence the high opus number. The cantata was first performed on November 29th 1814, where it was claimed that all of the Congress of Vienna had attended the premiere including Austrian chancellor Klemens von Metternich, Emperor Alexander I of Russia and King Frederick William III of Prussia.

Die Himmel rühmen des Ewigen Ehre

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Beethoven wrote the lied for voice and piano as the fourth of a collection of six lieder on texts by Gellert. Gellert’s poem in six stanzas, “”, appeared first in his 1757 collection Geistliche Oden und Lieder (Spiritual odes and songs). It is a paraphrase of Psalm 19 (“The heavens declare the glory of God”). Like the psalm, the poem speaks of the Creator’s magnificence showing in the wonders of nature, which suited natural theology, popular during Gellert’s lifetime. The poem was set to music for voice and continuo in Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Gellert Odes and Songs. in 1758, among several others. Beethoven set the first two stanzas of the poem. It was published as No. 4 in a collection of six lieder by Beethoven on texts by Gellert in 1803. In the collection, it bears the same title as the poem and begins “”. Beethoven’s setting was arranged for four-part choir, organ and orchestra by and became one of the most popular spiritual songs. It was arranged for organ and choir as “The Heavens are Telling” in 1925 by Virgil Thomson while he was a student at Harvard University, and became popular in the United States. Thomas Doss wrote a transcription for wind band with optional choir. An English version, “The heavens are telling the Lord’s endless glory”, with Beethoven’s melody has appeared in four hymnals.

Egmont (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sections#

The incidental music comprises the following sections, among which the overture, the lieder “Die Trommel gerühret”, “Freudvoll und leidvoll” and “Klärchens Tod” are particularly well-known: # Overture: Sostenuto, ma non troppo – Allegro # Lied: “Die Trommel gerühret” # Entracte: Andante # Entracte: Larghetto # Lied: “Freudvoll und leidvoll” # Entracte: Allegro – Marcia # Entracte: Poco sostenuto e risoluto # Klärchens Tod # Melodram: “Süßer Schlaf” # Siegessymphonie (symphony of victory): Allegro con brio

Elegischer Gesang

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Text#

The text has been variously identified as anonymous, or attributed to Ignaz Franz Castelli (1781–1862). However, an examination of Haug’s poem reveals him as the author. It is a compilation of the first line of stanza three, and half of line three and line four of stanza four. Sanft, wie du lebtest, hast du vollendet, zu heilig für den Schmerz! Kein Auge wein’ ob des himmlischen Geistes Heimkehr. Gentle as you lived, have you completed too sacred for the pain! No eye weep for the Heavenly Spirit’s homecoming. As gentle as you have lived, have you died, too holy for sorrow! Let no eye shed a tear for the spirit’s heavenly homecoming. Life gently touched thee, And passed as softly. Too holy to know pain! No eye could weep for this heavenly spirit, when homeward turning.

Eleven Bagatelles, Op. 119

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

By the end of 1803, Beethoven had already sketched bagatelles Nos. 1 to 5 (along with several other short works for piano that he never published). In 1820, he first finished the last five bagatelles of Op. 119, and published them as a set of five in June 1821 for Wiener Pianoforteschule Schule by Friedrich Stark. The following year, he revised his old bagatelle sketches to construct a new collection for publication, adding a final bagatelle, No. 6, composed in late 1822. Initially, Beethoven struggled to get a deal to publish any of the bagatelles. It is unclear to what degree this represents the composer’s intentions. Some scholars have argued that the two halves of Op. 119 — Nos. 1 to 6, and Nos. 7 to 11 — are best thought of as separate collections. However, it is also possible that when Beethoven composed No. 6 in late 1822, he had already planned to send all eleven pieces to England. In that case, No. 6 would not be meant as a conclusion to the first five, but as a way to connect them with the latter five. The key relationship and thematic similarities between No. 6 and No. 7 support this hypothesis, as does the fact that in subsequent correspondence, Beethoven expressed only satisfaction with how the bagatelles were published in England after his ex-pupil Ferdinand Ries helped get the collection published.

Eroica (1949 film)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Plot#

An express messenger rides to Vienna and reports at a ball given by Prince Lichnowsky that Napoleon Bonaparte is approaching Vienna with his troops. The news spreads like wildfire in the city and also reaches Beethoven, who, together with his friends, is sitting in the tavern. Beethoven is very enthusiastic about the ideals embodied by Napoleon after the French Revolution. He hurries home to write a powerful and glorious symphony - which later becomes famous as Beethoven’s “Eroica” - for Napoleon. After the symphony is successful, two messengers from Napoleon come to see Beethoven. They request Beethoven to participate in a reception given by the French emperor. Favouring the glamour, Napoleon has elaborated detailed clothing instructions for Beethoven. Beethoven is disappointed by his idol’s superficiality and deletes the dedication to Napoleon from the title page of the symphony. For his safety, Beethoven travels to Hungary and finds quarters at the aristocratic home of his pupil Therese von Brunswick and her cousin Giulietta Guicciardi. Beethoven falls in love with Giulietta, who is even willing to leave her fiancé for Beethoven. This interpretation of Beethoven’s life is distorted, however, as it was in 1800, four years earlier, that Beethoven actually met Giulietta. In the film story, Therese thinks that, due to his talent, it is not Beethoven’s destiny to have a fulfilling relationship with a woman. Beethoven not only worries about his nephew Karl whom he thinks is leading a dissolute life and is under his mother’s harmful influence but also becomes aware of a worsening of his hearing abilities. As Beethoven despairs of a reason why God would want to deprive him of his hearing, Beethoven’s friend Amenda replies that Beethoven’s destiny is to compose a type of music never heard before. It is saddening for Beethoven to learn during rehearsals for his opera “Fidelio” that the musicians cannot follow his “conducting”, and in fact are actually following their music director instead. In a depressed mood, Beethoven goes home and once more speaks with God, as Amenda’s words come to his mind. When Therese comes to look after him, he comes to terms with his destiny and begins to compose again.

Eroica (2003 film)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Plot#

The film is set in Vienna on 9 June 1804, the date of the private, first performance of Beethoven’s third symphony, later to be known as the ‘Eroica’. The performance, and most of the action in the film, takes place at the palace of one of Beethoven’s patrons, Prince Franz Lobkowitz. Midway during the performance, Beethoven tries to persuade his lover, a widow named Josephine von Deym, to marry him, but she refuses because of the unfair laws regarding child custody — she is a member of the nobility, and cannot marry a commoner without losing custody of her children. Later, composer Joseph Haydn, now old and feeble, arrives just in time to hear the last movement of the symphony. During the last few minutes of the symphony, the film flashes forward, and we see Beethoven going to dinner with his pupil, Ferdinand Ries, where he is told that Napoleon has just declared himself Emperor of France, thereby completely betraying Beethoven’s faith in his leadership of a republican nation. In a rage, he crumples up the title page of his symphony, which he originally intended to call the “Bonaparte”. As he leaves the performance, Haydn is asked his opinion of the symphony, which he describes as “quite new”, and then utters his now-famous and prophetic comment, “From this day forward, everything in music is changed”. The film ends on a grim note; as the performance of the Eroica ends, Beethoven looks at his audience and is momentarily unable to hear any natural sounds – an ominous sign of his approaching deafness.

Eroica Variations

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

*Recording by Katherine Chi from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format

Es ist vollbracht (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Context#

The wave of patriotic music of 1814, frustrated by the intermezzo of the Hundred Days during which Napoleon came back from his exile to Elba, had its natural and logical extension on the occasion of the second entry of the allied troops in Paris on 7 July 1815. G. F. Treitschke, who had revised the libretto for Fidelio in 1814, asked Beethoven for a closing chorus to his dramatic piece, or Singspiel. It was performed on July 15, 16 and 23, and on the occasion of the Emperor’s nameday, was revived with appropriate changes, “Es ist vollbracht” being substituted by “Germania”.

Fidelio

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Backdrop#

In its time, Fidelio was Beethoven’s contribution to an ongoing and successful tradition of operatic composition; a tradition harder to discern today because none of the operas involved, other than Beethoven’s, has survived into the modern repertory. The tradition was imported to Beethoven’s Vienna from Revolutionary France and involved work of many composers, most notably Luigi Cherubini, whose work Beethoven (unusually) strongly admired. The new French school arrived in Vienna in 1802 with the performance of Cherubini’s Lodoïska, and led, per Dean, to “an avalanche of French operas, many of which became more popular in Vienna than in Paris.” Many of these operas were so-called “rescue operas”, which Dean describes thus: The … singspiel form, the background of domestic realism tinged with comedy, the superposition of a heroic or patriotic story involving violence and often a spectacular catastrophe, a happy end produced not by a deus ex machina but by an act of superhuman courage, a strong ethical content tending to divide the characters into sheep and goats: this was the pattern of rescue opera … Beethoven adopted it lock, stock, and barrel. This new kind of heroic opera appealed far more to Beethoven than the (to him) frivolous-seeming dramas of character that had impelled Mozart’s earlier work. Beethoven, who heard Cherubini’s work in Vienna, joined the new trend with enthusiasm; and indeed Fidelio borrows its plot, characters, and (according to Dean) even certain musical devices from the work of Beethoven’s predecessors in the French rescue-opera tradition. These include Pierre Gaveaux’s opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal (1798) and Ferdinando Paer’s Leonora (1804).

Flute Sonata in B-flat major (attributed to Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Following Beethoven’s death, a number of unpublished works were discovered amongst his papers including the Piano Trio, WoO. 38, the Piano Sonata, WoO. 51, the Rondino, WoO. 25 and this sonata for flute and keyboard. Alexander Thayer noted that when the sonata was discovered, the manuscript was not in Beethoven’s handwriting, making attribution to the composer problematic. Musicologist Willy Hess argued that Beethoven would not have retained the work in his papers unless he had some personal connection with the composition. The manuscript was initially obtained by Artaria & Co., who elected not to publish the composition. The sonata was finally published in 1906 by Breitkopf & Härtel. The current location of the manuscript is unknown.

Für Elise

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The score was published in 1867, 40 years after Beethoven’s death. The discoverer of the piece, Ludwig Nohl, affirmed that the original autograph manuscript, now lost, had the title: “Für Elise am 27 April 1810 zur Erinnerung von L. v. Bthvn” (“For Elise on April 27 in memory by L. v. Bthvn”). The music was published as part of Nohl’s Neue Briefe Beethovens (New Letters by Beethoven) on pages 28 to 33, printed in Stuttgart by Johann Friedrich Cotta. The version of “Für Elise” heard today is an earlier version transcribed by Nohl. A revised version from 1822, with drastic changes to the accompaniment, was transcribed from a manuscript by the Beethoven scholar Barry Cooper. The most notable difference is that in the first theme, the left-hand arpeggios are delayed by a 16th note. There are a few extra bars in the transitional section into the B section; and finally, the rising A minor arpeggio figure comes later in the piece. The tempo marking Poco moto is believed to have been on the manuscript Nohl transcribed (now lost). The later version includes the marking Molto grazioso. It is believed that Beethoven intended to add the piece to a cycle of bagatelles. Whatever the validity of Nohl’s edition, an editorial peculiarity of it involves whether the second right-hand note in bar 7, that is, the first note of the three-note upbeat figure that characterizes the main melody, is an E 4 or a D 4 . Nohl’s score gives E 4 in bar 7 but D 4 in all parallel passages. Many editions change all the figures to begin with E 4 until the final bars, where D 4 is used and resolved by adding a C to the final A octave. But the use of D4 in bar 7 can be traced to a draft Beethoven wrote that is today housed in the Beethoven-Haus Bonn. Another point in favor of D 4 is that the ascending seventh of the motive in this form is repeated in sequence in bars 9 to 11, which begin the second section of the principal theme. The pianist and musicologist Luca Chiantore argues in his thesis and his 2010 book Beethoven al piano (new Italian edition: Beethoven al pianoforte, 2014) that Beethoven might not have given the piece the form in which we know it today. Chiantore suggests that the original signed manuscript, which Nohl claimed to have transcribed, might not have existed. On the other hand, Barry Cooper wrote, in a 1984 essay in The Musical Times, that one of two surviving sketches closely resembles the published version.

Germania (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

During and after the defeat of Napoleon during the Wars of Liberation, German patriotism flourished and spurred the production of poems, plays, and songs exalting the nation. Among these German artists who contributed to the glorification of their country was Friedrich Treitschke. In 1814, he wrote a patriotic opera, Die gute Nachricht, to which several Viennese composers contributed music. Beethoven composed the music for the closing song, in B-flat major, celebrating Germania, the allegory of Germany. The work was first performed on 11 April 1814 in the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna. It is written for a baritone solo (the role of Bruno), SATB chorus, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 French horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and a string section. Beethoven’s own patriotic motivation is illustrated in the following letter he wrote about his participation in a charity concert for the soldiers of the preceding war: :

Gertrude's Dream Waltz

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Grosse Fuge

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition history#

Beethoven originally composed the fugue as the final movement of String Quartet No. 13 in B major, Op. 130 in late 1825. The piece was commissioned by Prince Nikolai Galitzin along with two other string quartets in January 1823. Beethoven finished the project three years later. The copy of Op. 130 that Galitzin received in early 1826 had the fugue intact. Soon after Galitzin’s commission, Beethoven set to work. After finishing the String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, he began work on the quartet in B early in 1825. On 29 August, he estimated the composition would be finished in ten days. The two previous Galitzin pieces were published by Schott and Maurice Schlesinger. Beethoven sold the publishing rights for the B quartet to Matthias Artaria in January 1826 for 80 ducats. Beethoven ended other quartets with fugal forms, as had Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Beethoven once quipped, “To make a fugue requires no particular skill…in my study days I made dozens of them. But the fancy wishes also to assert its privileges, and to-day a new and really poetical element must be introduced into the old traditional form.” As Beethoven aged, his string quartets got longer. The Grosse Fuge sprawls over 741 measures of music. The finale dwarfs the rest of the quartet. During rehearsals at Beethoven’s apartment, the Schuppanzigh Quartet struggled with the fugue. Ignaz Schuppanzigh’s ensemble normally sight read music at their concerts. Second violinist Karl Holz joked with Beethoven that his was the only music that required practice. The Schuppanzigh Quartet gave the premiere performance on 21 March 1826 at a house where the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde hosted chamber music concerts in Vienna. The other movements were received enthusiastically, and the audience requested encores of the second and fourth movement. Beethoven was informed by his brother Johann that the music delighted “the whole city”. The fugue was not a success. Its length and complexity challenged both the performers and the audience. One critic described it as incomprehensible. After performing the premiere, Karl Holz, who was also the composer’s secretary and confidant, told Beethoven about the encores for the second and fourth movements. Beethoven growled, “And why didn’t they encore the Fugue? That alone should have been repeated! Cattle! Asses!” Just a few weeks later on 11 April, Matthias Artaria asked Beethoven to approve a piano duet arrangement of the fugue. Publishing proofs for the string quartet were ready by August, but Artaria worried about the quartet’s commercial potential. Karl Holz recalled: “Artaria…charged me with the terrible and difficult task of convincing Beethoven to compose a new finale, which would be more accessible to the listeners as well as the instrumentalists, to substitute for the fugue which was so difficult to understand. I maintained to Beethoven that this fugue, which departed from the ordinary and surpassed even the last quartets in originality, should be published as a separate work and that it merited a designation as a separate opus.” Artaria offered an additional fee for publication of the fugue, and Beethoven quickly agreed. Aside from the extra money, various justifications have been offered for why Beethoven acquiesced to Artaria. The lively final movement which replaced the fugue is in the form of a contredanse and is completely uncontroversial. Beethoven composed this replacement finale while staying at the estate of his brother Johann in Gneixendorf during the late autumn of 1826. It was the last completed score of his life. In May 1827, two months after Beethoven’s death, Matthias Artaria published the first edition of Op. 130 with the new finale, the Grosse Fuge as Op. 133, and the four-hand piano arrangement of the fugue as Op. 134. The fugue is dedicated to Beethoven’s student and patron Archduke Rudolf of Austria.

Gustav Mahler's orchestration of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

By the mid-nineteenth century questions regarding the orchestration of Beethoven’s work attracted the attention of major composers. Richard Wagner addressed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in two key texts, Zu Beethoven’s Neunter Symphonie in 1846 and Zum Vortrag der neunten Symphonie Beethovens, 1873. Wagner’s alterations were based on two premises: Beethoven’s deafness and the technical development and capabilities of newer instruments. In contrast, Mahler argued that editing was necessary in performances of Beethoven’s works. Mahler first performed Beethoven’s Ninth in 1886 in Prague, which he reportedly conducted from memory.

Horn Sonata (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Instrumentation#

This work was written for the natural horn and in the cor basse idiom, i.e. Beethoven incorporates rapid arpeggios in the first and third movement as well as use of the factitious low G below the second harmonic. These were all traits of cor basse playing, the genre in which Punto specialised. However, like many works of this period, to broaden the potential market for the work, an arrangement of the sonata for cello was made, probably by Beethoven, for publication. It was then published as “Sonate pour le Forte-Piano avec un Cor ou Violoncelle.” Versions for violin, and for flute were also made. A further arrangement for string quintet was made by oboist Carl Khym for the music publisher Simrock in 1817.

Impressing the Czar

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

1989 review of Impressing the Czar, New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/arts/dance/19czar.html 2008 Review of Impressing the Czar, New York Times

Instruments of a Beating Heart

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Summary#

The documentary follows Ayame, a soon to be second grade school girl eager to participate in a group performance of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” to welcome new first graders. Encouraged by the teacher to think beyond herself, Ayame wins the cymbal role in the audition. However, a lack of dedication to her task leads to mistakes during rehearsals, prompting the teacher to emphasize the importance of harmony and diligence. Following a reprimand during practice, Ayame loses confidence. Classmates and teachers offer encouragement and support, leading her to rejoin the group and become a part of its eventual success.

Jena Symphony

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Stein thought it was quite likely an early work by Beethoven and pointed out some stylistic similarities in the preface to the score. From each of the four movements he singled out a few passages he considered especially Beethoven-like. Stein’s belief in Beethoven’s authorship was strengthened by the fact that Beethoven’s letters show that prior to writing his own Symphony No. 1 he tried to write a C major symphony with Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 97 as a model, and it is easy to find parallels between the Jena Symphony and Haydn’s No. 97. When H. C. Robbins Landon found another copy of the work at the archives of Göttweig Abbey with Witt’s name on it, he convinced most other scholars that the work was in fact by Witt. Ralph Leavis, for example, condemned the work as “a piece of plagiarism, put together almost with scissors and paste from reminiscences of Haydn.” A second copy under Witt’s name was later found at Rudolstadt.

Kakadu Variations

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition history#

Despite the late publication date, the Kakadu Variations is often described as an early work, thought to have been composed around 1803, and left unpublished for the next two decades. Although the first full autograph dates from 1816, the earlier composition date is supported by correspondence in 1803 from Beethoven’s brother Karl, which appears to describe the Variations, and by the fact that the composer himself later described it as “among my early works”. Commentator Lewis Lockwood, a leading authority on Beethoven, has argued, however, that the Kakadu Variations has a more complex history. Lockwood proposes that the 1816 autograph reflects a substantial reworking of an earlier draft, including a major revision of the introduction. Given that it was not published until 1824, it is even possible that Beethoven made further revisions at the time of publication, a period when he was producing some of his greatest works, including the Diabelli Variations, the Missa Solemnis and the Ninth Symphony. Direct evidence for this comes, among other elements, in the form of the extremely energetic and tight counterpoint of the double fugue in G minor that makes up the transition from variation X to the allegretto finale. This double fugue is highly reminiscent, both of that in the finale of the 9th Symphony linking the tenor solo to the recapitulation of the “Freude..”, and of the Handelian fugue near the end of the Diabelli Variations. The presence of such tight and dramatic fugal writing is one of the hallmarks of Beethoven’s late style. Lockwood considers the Kakadu Variations to be an uneven work, with “many moments of grace and beauty, but no true unity of style or style-feeling”. While the central part of the work is typical of Beethoven’s early style, the introduction and, to a lesser extent, the final variation display a maturity and depth that is characteristic of Beethoven’s late period. The complex harmonic progressions and contrapuntal passages in these sections are closer to Beethoven’s style of 1816 than to his more youthful works. Lockwood suggests that the revision and publication late in life of a project begun in youth should be understood as an act of nostalgia on Beethoven’s part, in which “the old composer, profoundly engaged in musical projects of the greatest difficulty and depth, looks back with nostalgia on a simple work from his youth, and seeks to bring it out in the world, having clothed it with just enough complexity to balance its naivete and directness with the wisdom of his later years”.

Karajan: Beethoven Symphonies (1963)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The 1963 complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies remains available in the vinyl, CD and digital download formats. The eight-LP set on release in 1963 in the U.S. retailed for $47.98, The cycle is usually now presented across five CDs. It is available in 24-bit/96 kHz high definition sound on six hybrid Super Audio CDs or one Blu-ray audio disc, the latter two also containing a rehearsal session for the ninth symphony. The 1962 cycle has been cited for the particular commitment and driven energy of the playing by the orchestra, which was considered to mark high new standards among European orchestras. Critics cited the interpretation of Karajan as a benchmark in this repertoire. Recording technology in the genre of orchestral and concerto repertoire had also seen numerous advances in the preceding years, with the advent of tape from the mid-1950s as the medium for recorded music, which facilitated better fidelity and easier editing, together with advances in microphone technology and superior playback technology. Richard Osborne, music critic and biographer to Herbert von Karajan, cites “astronomical” recording costs in the venture, with a figure of 1.5 million Deutsche Mark expended to make the recordings. Estimates at the time indicate a requirement to sell 100,000 LP boxed sets to recoup the costs. The head of a rival classical music recording company, EMI, suggested that Deutsche Grammophon was “heading for a colossal financial catastrophe”. The executive producer of the set was Deutsche Grammophon’s head of artists and repertoire, . Each recording in the cycle was engineered by Günter Hermanns, with production by Otto Gerdes (Nos. 1, 2, 8) and Otto Ernst Wohlert (Nos. 3–7, 9). The in Berlin Dahlem was often used by this label for its studio recordings of this orchestra and conductor during the 1960s until the 1980s. A figure of one million complete sets sold in the first ten years has been claimed.

L'île des pirates

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The ballet L’île des pirates was presented in four acts by Louis Henry with music composed by Casimir Gide, Luigi Carlini, Gioachino Rossini, and Ludwig van Beethoven. The first act and the pas de deux in Act III were composed by Luigi Carlini, while Casimir Gide provided the music for the last three acts, supplemented by two passages from Gioachino Rossini and a sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. The libretto came from Adolphe Nourrit, and Louis Henry developed the choreography. with Fanny as “Mathilde”. Louis-Stanislas Montjoie played the role of the pirate. The second performance of the ballet was an even greater success than the first. The role portrayed by Fanny Elssler was later taken over at the Paris Opera by Madame Duvernay and Pauline Leroux.

Late piano sonatas (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Recordings#

Complete cycle: *Claudio Arrau (Philips Classics) *Vladimir Ashkenazy (Decca Classics) *Wilhelm Backhaus (Decca Classics) *Daniel Barenboim (3 recordings: 2 on Deutsche Grammophon, 1 on EMI Classics) *Alfred Brendel (3 recordings: 2 on Philips Classics, reissued on Decca Classics; 1 earlier set on Vox, reissued by Brilliant Classics) *Annie Fischer (Hungaroton) *Claude Frank (Music and Arts) *Walter Gieseking *Seonuk Gim (Accentus Music) *Richard Goode (Nonesuch) *Glenn Gould (30—32 on Columbia Masterworks (1956); posthumous releases of 28 on CBC Records from a radio broadcast, and 29 on Sony Classical) *Friedrich Gulda (3 recordings: 1 on Decca Classics; 1 on Amadeo Records, reissued on Brilliant Classics and Decca Classics; and one on Orfeo, first released in 2010) *Éric Heidsieck (EMI Classics) *Wilhelm Kempff (2 recordings on Deutsche Grammophon) *Stephen Kovacevich (EMI Classics) *Christian Leotta (ATMA Classique) *Igor Levit (Sony Classics) *John Lill (Resonance Records) *HJ Lim (EMI Classics) *Paul Lewis (Harmonia Mundi) *Yves Nat (EMI Classics) *Kun-Woo Paik (Decca Classics) *Maurizio Pollini (Deutsche Grammophon) *Sviatoslav Richter (various performances of each sonata on varying labels) *Bernard Roberts (Nimbus) *Charles Rosen (CBS, reissued on CD Sony Classics) *András Schiff (ECM Records) *Artur Schnabel (EMI Classics) *Peter Serkin (Musical Concepts) *Rudolf Serkin (Sony Classical) *Solomon (EMI Classics) *Mitsuko Uchida (Philips Classics) Partial cycle (3 or more): *Christoph Eschenbach (Nos. 29–32 on EMI Classics) *Emil Gilels (Nos. 28–31 on Deutsche Grammophon) Of the five sonatas, the last one (in C minor) is the most often recorded, as heard in interpretations by Julius Katchen, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Mikhail Pletnev, Ivo Pogorelić, and Anatol Ugorski.

Mass in C major (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History and composition#

Beethoven had studied counterpoint in Vienna with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, an authority in the field, but had not turned to sacred music until late in his career. He received a commission from Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II in 1807, extending a tradition established by Joseph Haydn, who for decades had served as the family’s Kapellmeister (music director). Following his return from England in 1795, Haydn had composed one mass per year for the Esterházy family, to celebrate the name day of the Prince’s wife, Princess Maria Josepha Esterházy. Haydn had ceased this tradition with the failure of his health in 1802. Beethoven was fully aware of the tradition that Haydn had established and it influenced him strongly in writing the Mass in C major. Beethoven confessed in a letter to the prince: “may I just say that I will hand the mass over to you with great trepidation, as Your Serene Highness is accustomed to having the inimitable masterworks of the great Haydn performed.” The musicologist Lewis Lockwood wrote:

Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Instrumentation#

The cantata is scored for the following orchestra. *Woodwinds: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons *Brass: 4 horns in D and G, 2 trumpets in D *Percussion: timpani *Strings: violins I & II, violas, cellos, double basses *SATB choir

Selective list of recordings#

Michael Tilson Thomas, London Symphony Orchestra and Ambrosian Singers: Beethoven: Late Choral Music, CBS Records, 1975
Claudio Abbado, Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna State Opera: Beethoven: Symphonie No. 6 ‘Pastorale, Deutsche Grammophon, 1987
Robert Shaw, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus: Beethoven: Mass in C, Elegiac Song & Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Telarc, 1990
John Eliot Gardiner, English Baroque Soloists: Messe in C, Archiv, 1992
Matthew Best, Croydon Singers and Croydon Orchestra, Early Cantatas, Hyperion, 1997
Richard Hickox, Collegium Music 90: Mass in C, Chandos, 2003

Metamorphosen

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition history#

By 1944, Strauss was in poor health and needed to visit the Swiss spa at Baden near Zürich. He was unable to get the Nazi government’s permission to travel abroad. Karl Böhm, Paul Sacher, and Willi Schuh came up with a plan to get the travel permit: a commission from Sacher and invitation to the premiere in Zurich. The commission was made in a letter by Böhm on August 28, 1944, for a “suite for strings”. Strauss replied that he had been working for some time on an adagio for 11 strings. In fact, his early work on Metamorphosen was for a septet (2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos and a bass). The starting date for the score is given as 13 March 1945, which suggests that the destruction of the Vienna opera house the previous day gave Strauss the impetus to finish the work and draw together his previous sketches in just one month (finished on 12 April 1945). As with his other late works, Strauss builds the music from a series of small melodic ideas “which are the point of departure for the development of the entire composition”. In this unfolding of ideas “Strauss applies here all of the rhetorical means developed over the centuries to express pain”. But he also alternates passages in a major key expressing hope and optimism with passages of sadness, as in the finales of both Gustav Mahler’s 6th Symphony and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony. The overall structure of the piece is “a slow introduction, a quick central section, and a return to the initial slower tempo”, which echoes the structure of Death and Transfiguration. There are five basic thematic elements in Metamorphosen. First, there are the opening chords. Second, there is the repetition of three short notes followed by a fourth long note. Third, there is the direct quote from bar 3 of the “Marcia funebre” from Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony. Fourth, there is a minor theme with triplets. Fifth, there is the lyrical theme “that becomes the source of much of the contrasting music in major, sunnier keys”. The second theme does not stand on its own, but precedes the third and fourth themes. Its most obvious source is Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, for example the short-short-short-long repetition of G played by the horns in the third movement. But it has other progenitors: the Finale of Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony (a personal favorite of Strauss as a conductor) and the Fugue from Bach’s Solo Violin Sonata in G minor BWV 1001. Strauss also used it in the Oboe Concerto, written only a few months after Metamorphosen, displaying “a remarkable example of the thematic links between the last instrumental works”. He had also used this motif over 60 years before in his 1881 Piano Sonata. At the end of Metamorphosen, Strauss quotes the first four bars of the Eroicas “Marcia funebre” with the annotation “IN MEMORIAM!” at the bottom. Metamorphosen exhibits the complex counterpoint for which Strauss showed a predilection throughout his life.

Minuet WoO 10, No. 2 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The minuet is in incipient ternary form, A-A-B-A, a type of song form as differentiated from other, such as the binary song form in the format A-B, the ternary A-B-A, or the rondo, A-B-A-C-A or an alternate form but with the “A” theme repeating after each new theme in the sequence of themes. In terms of A-B-A sections, the three parts are: #Moderato #Trio #Moderato The Moderato section features a melody, marked legato (to play in a smooth, even style without noticeable breaks between the notes). Quarter notes occupy most of the left hand in this A section, which is made up of two periods. The first four-measure (a) phrase is in the tonic of G Major; the second four-measure (b) phrase modulates from the tonic to the dominant of D Major. This period, the main theme of the piece, is repeated once. Next comes the second period which consists of a four-measure (c) phrase with a different melody and modulates back into the tonic for the final four-measures, which begins and ends in G Major. This phrase is a variation of (a) so as to stay in the tonic, so must be designated (a-1) to make this and other slight alterations clear. It is still very recognizable as the (a) thematic music. The trio section features non-stop eighth notes in the right hand and, once again, quarter notes in the left hand. It starts with an eight-measure modulating passage repeated once and moves on to another eight-measure passage that ends in the tonic, and is also repeated once. This passage contains four harmonious measures that are followed by a varied reiteration of the theme in the trio part (which is played in the first eight-measure passage). The section, without going into as much detail as is shown above for the legato section (although this could be done) is thus in binary song form. The last section, which is Moderato also, is a repeat of the first section, but without the repeat. It is that which makes the piece an incipient ternary song form: A-A-B-A.

Missa solemnis (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition history#

The Missa Solemnis is Beethoven’s third choral composition on a sacred subject, after the oratorio Christus am Ölberge (1802), and his earlier mass setting, the Mass in C major (1807). The new composition was written to celebrate the investiture of Rudolph of Habsburg-Lorraine as Archbishop of Olomouc, which took place on 9 March 1820. The sketchbooks and the correspondence reveal that the composer worked on the Missa solemnis for a period of four years, starting on the spring of 1819; it is also of the same year the text of the Ordinary that Beethoven chose for the composition: it contains the Latin text, with the signs of the words’ accentuation and the simultaneous translation in German. as well as the Renaissance and Baroque sacred music of composers such as Palestrina, J. S. Bach and Handel, It is known that in 1820, while working on the mass, Beethoven studied church modes by referring to Glareanus’ Dodekachordon and Gioseffo Zarlino’s Istitutioni Harmoniche; these are two of the most influential music treatises from the Renaissance, of which the Lobkowitz library possessed copies. In a letter dated June 5, 1822, Beethoven called the Missa solemnis “his greatest work”.

Ode to Joy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The poem#

Schiller wrote the first version of the poem when he was staying in Gohlis, Leipzig. In 1785, from the beginning of May until mid-September, he stayed with his publisher, Georg Joachim Göschen, in Leipzig and wrote “An die Freude” along with his play Don Carlos. Schiller later made some revisions to the poem, which was then republished posthumously in 1808, and it was this latter version that forms the basis for Beethoven’s setting. Despite the lasting popularity of the ode, Schiller himself regarded it as a failure later in his life, going so far as to call it “detached from reality” and “of value maybe for us two, but not for the world, nor for the art of poetry” in an 1800 letter to his longtime friend and patron Christian Gottfried Körner (whose friendship had originally inspired him to write the ode).

Piano Concerto No. 1 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

The concerto has three movements: As with the Piano Concerto No. 2, this C major concerto reflects Beethoven’s assimilation of the styles of Mozart and Haydn, while its abrupt harmonic shifts demonstrate Beethoven’s musical personality. It adheres to the concerto variant of sonata form and is scored for solo piano and an orchestra consisting of flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. The flute, oboes, trumpets, and timpani are tacet during the second movement.

Piano Concerto No. 2 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

The work is scored for solo piano, flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns and strings; it is the only one of Beethoven’s seven completed concertos that omits clarinets, trumpets and timpani. The concerto is in three movements: The first movement begins with a triumphant orchestral opening on the tonic chord, and maintains a playfulness while using chromatic passages to show off the soloist’s technique. The second movement is characteristically serene and peaceful, while the closing Rondo brings back the youth-filled playfulness heard in the opening movement.

Piano Concerto No. 3 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The concerto is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in E, E and C, 2 trumpets in C, timpani, strings, and piano soloist. As is standard for Classical/Romantic-era concertos, the work is in three movements, with a typical performance time of 35 minutes:

I. Allegro con brio#

This movement is known to make forceful use of the theme (direct and indirect) throughout. Orchestral exposition: In the orchestral exposition, the theme is introduced by the strings and used throughout the movement. It is developed several times. In the third section (second subject), the clarinet and violin 1 introduce the second main theme, which is initially in the relative key, E major, and then in the tonic major, C major, finally back to C minor. Second exposition: The piano enters with an ascending scale motif. The structure of the exposition in the piano solo is similar to that of the orchestral exposition. Development: The piano enters, playing similar scales used in the beginning of the second exposition, this time in D major rather than C minor. The music is generally quiet. Recapitulation: The orchestra restates the theme in fortissimo, with the wind instruments responding by building up a minor ninth chord as in the exposition. For the return of the second subject, Beethoven modulates to the tonic major, C major. A dark transition to the cadenza occurs, immediately switching from C major to C minor. Cadenza: Beethoven wrote one cadenza for this movement, which is at times stormy and ends on a series of trills that calm down to pianissimo. Many other composers and pianists, such as Charles Alkan, Gabriel Fauré, Edwin Fischer, Wilhelm Kempff, Franz Liszt, Ignaz Moscheles (whose cadenza was misattributed to Johannes Brahms), Carl Reinecke, Fazıl Say, Clara Schumann, and Bedřich Smetana, have written alternative cadenzas. Coda: Beethoven subverts the expectation of a return to the tonic at the end of the cadenza by prolonging the final trill and eventually arriving on a dominant seventh. The piano plays a series of arpeggios before the music settles into the home key of C minor. Then the music intensifies before a full tutti occurs, followed by the piano playing descending arpeggios, the ascending scale from the second exposition, and finally a resolute ending on C.

Piano Concerto No. 4 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Orchestration#

It is scored for solo piano and an orchestra consisting of one flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings.

Premiere and reception#

It was premiered in March 1807 at a private concert of the home of Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz. The Coriolan Overture and the Fourth Symphony were premiered in that same concert. However, the public premiere was not until a concert on 22 December 1808 at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien. Beethoven again took the stage as soloist. The marathon concert saw Beethoven’s last appearance as a soloist with orchestra, as well as the premieres of the Choral Fantasy and the Fifth and Sixth symphonies. Beethoven dedicated the concerto to his friend, student, and patron, the Archduke Rudolf of Austria. A review in the 17 May 1809 edition of the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung states that " this concerto is the most admirable, singular, artistic and complex Beethoven concerto ever". However, after its first performance, the piece was neglected until 1836, when it was revived by Felix Mendelssohn. The first recording was performed by York Bowen and issued by Vocalion in 1925. Today, the work is frequently recorded, and it is a favorite of concert audiences. It is also considered by many to be one of the pinnacles of the piano concerto repertoire.

Piano Concerto No. 5 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Beethoven’s return to Vienna from Heiligenstadt in 1802 marked a change in musical style and is now often designated as the start of his middle or “heroic” period characterized by many original works composed on a grand scale. In the autumn of 1808, after being rejected for a position at the Royal Theatre, Beethoven received an offer from Napoleon’s brother Jérôme Bonaparte, the king of Westphalia, for a well-paid position as Kapellmeister at the court in Cassel. To persuade him to stay in Vienna, Archduke Rudolf, Prince Kinsky, and Prince Lobkowitz pledged to pay him a pension of 4000 florins a year. Archduke Rudolf paid his share of the salary on the agreed date. Kinsky, immediately called to military duty, did not contribute and died in November 1812 after falling from his horse. When the Austrian currency destabilized in 1811, Lobkowitz went bankrupt. To benefit from the agreement, Beethoven had to obtain recourse from the law, which in 1815 brought him some payment. Beethoven felt the Napoleonic Wars reaching Vienna in early 1809 and completed writing the piano concerto in April while Vienna was under siege by Napoleon’s armies. He wrote to his publisher in July 1809 that there was “nothing but drums, cannons, men, misery of all sorts” around him. To save his hearing, he fled to his brother’s cellar and covered his ears with pillows. The work’s heroic style reflects the war-ridden era in its military topics and heroic tone. Beethoven experimented with new techniques, such as the piano entrance beginning earlier than typical and with a cadenza. The concerto’s public premiere was on 28 November 1811 in Leipzig, with Friedrich Schneider as the soloist. Beethoven’s hearing loss did not prevent him from composing music, but it made playing at concerts increasingly difficult. The concerto debuted in Vienna on 12 February 1812, with Carl Czerny, Beethoven’s pupil, as the soloist. The English premiere was on 8 May 1820 with Charles Neate as soloist. Felix Mendelssohn gave an English performance on 24 June 1829. Archduke Rudolf of Austria was Beethoven’s aristocratic patron, and in 1803 or 1804, Rudolf began studying piano and composition with Beethoven. They became friends, and their meetings continued until 1824. Beethoven dedicated many pieces to him, including this concerto. The origins of the concerto’s epithet, Emperor, are obscure and no consensus exists on its origin. An unlikely and unauthenticated story says that at the first Vienna performance, a French officer said, “C’est l’Empereur!” Other sources say that Johann Baptist Cramer coined it. According to Donald Tovey and Betsy Schwarm, Beethoven would have disliked the epithet due to his disapproval of Napoleon’s conquest. Beethoven had previously reconsidered the dedication of his third symphony; initially dedicated to Napoleon, Beethoven changed it after Napoleon assumed the title of emperor in 1804. According to Yan Shen, musicologists agree that the concerto has no connection to an emperor.

Piano Quartets (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

When Beethoven composed these three pieces, the Piano Quartet was a rarely used ensemble. Apart from Beethoven’s own arrangement of his Quintet for Piano and Wind Instruments (Op. 16) for piano quartet, these three works are the only compositions he wrote for piano, violin, viola, and cello. Beethoven later reused material from the C major quartet for two of his early Piano Sonatas: No. 1 and No. 3. In Beethoven’s original manuscript, the work in C major comes first, followed by E major and D major. When the quartets were published after his death by Artaria in Vienna, there were in a different order: E major, D major, and C major.

Piano Sonata No. 1 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The sonata is laid out in four movements:

I. Allegro#

The first movement, in cut time, is in the tonic key of F minor and in conventional sonata form, as was typical at Beethoven’s time. A tense, agitated feel is ubiquitous throughout the movement. : \new PianoStaff q q 4 r r2 r4 q q q r4 q q » The piece opens with an ascending arpeggiated figure (a so-called Mannheim Rocket, like that opening the fourth movement of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40), culminating in a sixteenth-note triplet turn. This theme was used by Arnold Schoenberg for his initial example of sentence form. This subject is reiterated and increasingly shortened until reaching a climatic half cadence in measure 8. After a short intriguing fermata, the ascending-arpeggio motif is now introduced on the dominant minor key (C minor), played by the left hand. This is seamlessly continued by imitative sequences (mm. 9–14), effectively working as a transition preparing the secondary key (see sonata form). An ascending bass progression leading to a half-close in the key of A major is played three times (mm. 15–19) against syncopated descending thirds on the right hand, all of which unequivocally establishes A major (the relative major of F minor) as the secondary key. (Using the relative major as secondary key is the most conventional procedure for minor-key sonata expositions.) A new melodic subject based on a descending arpeggio is presented over a ceaseless dominant pedal in broken octaves (mm. 20–25). This subject clearly references the opening subject of the sonata, both being quarter-note arpeggios, whilst contrasting with it by inverting its contour (descending vs. ascending), articulation (legato vs. staccato) and harmony (outlining a dominant ninth chord as opposed to the tonic chord in the opening subject). This dual quality of unity and contrast achieved by using the same musical material in opposite ways (to articulate the tonic and secondary keys respectively), proved to be an effective device for Beethoven, which he would use again for his other much more famous piano sonata in F minor, Op. 57. The second subject stays in A major throughout, as would be expected of conventional sonata form, although it also hints its parallel minor key (A minor). After sequencing iterations (mm. 26–31) of the 3-note motif that followed the descending arpeggio, the music seems to take off on a loud closing theme outlining a cadential progression (III 6 , IV 6 , V, V 7 ). which is played twice (mm. 33–40) and solidly resolves to an A major chord. A little codetta (or cadence theme, mm. 41–48) echoing the second half of the opening subject (m. 2), again with shadings of A minor, and eventually resolving in an emphatically perfect cadence (the first one so far). The exposition is repeated. The development opens with the initial theme (mm. 49–54) in the secondary key, A minor, but is mostly dedicated to the second subject and its eighth-note accompaniment (mm. 55–73), first in its original form, then exchanging roles between the hands. This goes through the relatively close keys of B minor, C minor, B minor and back to A major, where it creates a sequence on the last two notes of the theme (mm. 73–80), going through a descending-fifths progression leading to a terse dominant pedal on C (mm. 81–92), preparing the return of the tonic key. A very quiet passage of mysterious-sounding suspensions follows (mm. 93–100), over which the exposition’s transition material is reprised, serving as a retransition back to the opening material. The recapitulation (mm. 101–145) starts loudly instead of quietly (a common device in Beethoven’s early piano sonatas), and with many of the left-hand chords now happening on strong beats, unlike the syncopated exposition. Most events from the exposition are reprised in the same order, with slight changes of dynamics and voicings. Most significantly, all the material previously stated on the secondary key is now restated in the tonic, so that this time the final perfect cadence is heard on the tonic-key, giving a satisfying resolution to the key dichotomy in the exposition. To this end, the original transition to the secondary key is rewritten passing through the subdominant key and leading back to the tonic, which is a conventional procedure in classical sonata recapitulations. At the end of the recapitulation, instead of giving the perfect cadence in the exact parallel location to that of the exposition, Beethoven delays the resolution for an extra 6 measures, during which two ‘fake’ attempts at a final resolution (in the subdominant and relative major keys, respectively) heighten anticipation for the ’true’ cadence. The movement finishes on a fortissimo perfect cadence on F minor.

Piano Sonata No. 10 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Form#

The sonata is in three movements:

I. Allegro#

The first movement, marked legato in the urtext score, opens with a brief sixteenth-note phrase, accompanied by short, tied arpeggios in the bass. This phrase is used consistently throughout the movement and subject to a great deal of highly imaginative development through changing harmonies and shifting key-centres. Bars 70–80 are particularly notable, in that the main theme is subjected to highly chromatic treatment at this point. Thirty-second-note passages develop in the upper register of the piano, limiting the tempo at which it can reasonably be taken. The entire movement ends with a coda, where, according to Charles Rosen, Beethoven ‘decides to normalize the rhythm of the main theme, and make it no longer witty but expressive.’ The closing two bars consist of a quiet, quick turn in the treble.

Piano Sonata No. 11 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The sonata has four movements: A typical performance lasts 25–30 minutes.

I. Allegro con brio#

The first movement is in typical sonata form. The exposition starts in the tonic key and transitions into the dominant key as the second theme begins. The development plays around with the closing measures of the exposition before making the right hand play arpeggios as the bass line slowly descends chromatically. The theme of the closing octaves from the exposition comes back again in the bass, leading into a chromatic scale resolving in an F dominant seventh chord (dominant function of the sonata), which sets up the recapitulation. The recapitulation is at first the same as the exposition, but has some changes, with a deviation that sets the rest of the movement to stay in the tonic key.

Piano Sonata No. 12 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The structure of the sonata is unconventional in that the piece opens with a relatively slow movement in the format of theme and variations (Mozart did the same in his Piano Sonata No. 11). The third movement incorporates a funeral march, clearly anticipating the watershed of the Eroica Symphony that Beethoven wrote in 1803–1804. This is the only movement from his sonatas that Beethoven arranged for orchestra, and was played during Beethoven’s own funeral procession in 1827. This sonata is also unusual in that none of its four movements is in sonata-allegro form. In most of Beethoven’s four-movement sonatas, the third movement is in and in ternary form, while the second movement is slow and in a different key from the other movements. In this sonata, the second and third movements have switched roles, where the second movement is the ternary scherzo and trio, while the third movement is the slow movement in the tonic minor.

Piano Sonata No. 13 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition and publication#

Beethoven was about 30 years old when he wrote the sonata. He had already made a name for himself in Vienna as pianist and composer and was beginning to explore alternatives to the classical-era compositional procedures that he had largely adhered to during the 18th century. The most famous works of his “middle period”, often emphasizing heroism, were yet to come. Beethoven’s sketches for the first, second, and final movements survive, but the original autograph copy is lost. The sonata was published separately from its more famous companion, Op. 27 No. 2 (the “Moonlight” Sonata), but at the same time, by Cappi in Vienna; the first advertisements for the work appeared 3 March 1802. Little is known of Beethoven’s relationship with her.

Piano Sonata No. 14 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Names#

The first edition of the score is headed Sonata quasi una fantasia (“sonata resembling a fantasy”), the same title as that of its companion piece, Op. 27, No. 1. Grove Music Online translates the Italian title as “sonata in the manner of a fantasy”. “The subtitle reminds listeners that the piece, although technically a sonata, is suggestive of a free-flowing, improvised fantasia.” Many sources say that the nickname Moonlight Sonata arose after the German music critic and poet Ludwig Rellstab likened the effect of the first movement to that of moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne. This comes from the musicologist Wilhelm von Lenz, who wrote in 1852: “Rellstab compares this work to a boat, visiting, by moonlight, the remote parts of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. The soubriquet Mondscheinsonate, which twenty years ago made connoisseurs cry out in Germany, has no other origin.” Taken literally, “twenty years” would mean the nickname had to have started after Beethoven’s death. In fact Rellstab made his comment about the sonata’s first movement in a story called Theodor that he published in 1824: “The lake reposes in twilit moon-shimmer Mondenschimmer , muffled waves strike the dark shore; gloomy wooded mountains rise and close off the holy place from the world; ghostly swans glide with whispering rustles on the tide, and an Aeolian harp sends down mysterious tones of lovelorn yearning from the ruins.” Rellstab made no mention of Lake Lucerne, which seems to have been Lenz’s own addition. Rellstab met Beethoven in 1825, making it theoretically possible for Beethoven to have known of the moonlight comparison, though the nickname may not have arisen until later. By the late 1830s, the name “Mondscheinsonate” was being used in German publications and “Moonlight Sonata” in English publications. Later in the nineteenth century, the sonata was universally known by that name. Many critics have objected to the subjective, romantic nature of the title “Moonlight”, which has at times been called “a misleading approach to a movement with almost the character of a funeral march” and “absurd”. Other critics have approved of the sobriquet, finding it evocative or in line with their own interpretation of the work. Gramophone founder Compton Mackenzie found the title “harmless”, remarking that “it is silly for austere critics to work themselves up into a state of almost hysterical rage with poor Rellstab”, and adding, “what these austere critics fail to grasp is that unless the general public had responded to the suggestion of moonlight in this music Rellstab’s remark would long ago have been forgotten.” Musicologist Donald Francis Tovey thought the title of Moonlight was appropriate for the first movement but not for the other two. Carl Czerny, Beethoven’s pupil, described the first movement as “a ghost scene, where out of the far distance a plaintive ghostly voice sounds”. Hector Berlioz admired the first movement as well describing it as “one of those poems that human language does not know how to qualify.” Franz Liszt described the second movement as “a flower between two abysses”.

Piano Sonata No. 15 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The sonata is in D major, and follows the typical four-movement form of the classical sonata.

I. Allegro#

The first movement, Allegro, begins in the tonic major with a repetitive and monotone bass line sometimes described as “timpanic.” This droning theme continues in various forms throughout the sonata. On top is the simple primary theme of the movement. Eventually, the work introduces a second, more tense melody in F minor, which builds up into a passage of constant quavers (eighth notes). The development of the movement runs through various minor keys, ever becoming more dramatic and angst-filled as it compresses the main theme into a repeated one-bar rhythm, which gradually fades away. It then recapitulates back into the themes of the beginning.

Piano Sonata No. 16 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The sonata consists of three movements. A typical performance lasts about 20 minutes.

I. Allegro vivace#

The first movement begins in an animated fashion. The humorous main theme is littered with brisk, semiquaver passages, and chords written in a stuttering fashion, suggesting that the hands are unable to play in unison with one another. The second subject in the exposition alternates between B major and B minor; this tendency to alternate between keys became typical later in Beethoven’s career.

Piano Sonata No. 17 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The piece consists of three movements and takes approximately 25 minutes to perform: Each of the movements is in sonata form, although the second lacks a substantial development section.

I. Largo – Allegro#

: The first movement alternates brief moments of seeming peacefulness with extensive passages of turmoil, after some time expanding into a haunting “storm” in which the peacefulness is lost. This musical form is unusual among Beethoven sonatas to that date. Concerning the time period and style, it was thought of as an odd thing to write (a pianist’s skills were demonstrated in many ways, and showing changes in tone, technique and tempo efficiently many times in one movement was one of them). The development begins with rolled, long chords, quickly ending to the tremolo theme of the exposition. There is a long recitative section at the beginning of this movement’s recapitulation (foreshadowing the oboe recitative in the first movement of Symphony No. 5), again ending with fast and suspenseful passages that resolve to the home key of D minor.

Piano Sonata No. 18 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Analysis#

The sonata consists of four movements and takes approximately twenty-two minutes to perform: The sonata is unusual in lacking a slow movement.

I. Allegro#

Beethoven’s progressive harmonic language is apparent from the very first chord of the piece (third inversion of the eleventh on dominant B ); the stability of a tonic chord in root position is delayed until bar 8. The expressive harmonic colour coupled with the changes of tempi in the introduction (mm. 1–18) create an evocative opening, reminiscent of the improvisatory style of C. P. E. Bach’s piano sonatas. This opening cell is repeated extensively throughout the movement – at the start of the development (m. 89), in the recapitulation (m. 137), and during the coda (transposed into the subdominant A (m. 220), and then at its original pitch (m. 237)). The modulatory passage between the first and second subjects (mm. 33–45) explores the opening chord, but in a minor variation (with a C, implying ii 7 of E minor), even appearing in bar 36 in the exact spacing (albeit with different spelling) of the Tristan chord written by Richard Wagner some 55 years later.

Piano Sonata No. 2 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The sonata is laid out in four movements:

I. Allegro vivace#

: \layout \context \PianoStaff \consists “Span_stem_engraver” \new PianoStaff 8-. 4-. r8 e32( d cis b a4) r8 -. 4-. r8 fis32( e d cis b4) r8 -. 4-. -. 4-. -. 4-. gis’^. e4^. \new Dynamics s8\p \new Staff > » : The first movement is an athletic movement that has a bright disposition. The second theme of exposition contains some striking modulations for the time period. A large portion of the development section is in F major, which contains a third relationship with the key of the work, A major. A difficult, but beautiful canonic section is also to be found in the development. The recapitulation contains no coda and the movement ends quietly and unassumingly. Tovey wrote, “The opening of the second subject in the first movement is a wonderful example of the harmonic principle previously mentioned…In all music, nothing equally dramatic can be found before the D minor sonata, Op. 31 No. 2 which is rightly regarded as marking the beginning of Beethoven’s second period.”

Piano Sonata No. 21 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

The Waldstein has three movements: The first and last movements of the sonata are the most substantial, each taking about 11 minutes to perform. The second movement only lasts about 4 minutes in performance.

I. Allegro con brio#

The first movement is in sonata form and common time: it has a repeated exposition with two subject groups, a development section, a recapitulation and a coda. The movement opens with repeated pianissimo chords in a straightforward but anxious rhythm, devoid of melody for two bars: : # (set-global-staff-size 18) \new PianoStaff 4.( b'16 a) g8 r r4 \clef treble \grace cis8( d4~)( d16 c b a g4-.) r4 \new Staff \relative c, \clef bass c8 » It then swiftly ascends, followed by a three-note descent in the middle register and a four-note descent in the upper. This phrase is then repeated starting on B major – a whole tone lower – a device Beethoven also used for the opening of the Sonata No. 16 in G Major (Op. 31 No. 1). After a half cadence to the dominant (G major), the opening phrase returns again but this time in a tremolo variation. The second subject group, marked dolce, is a chordal theme in E major, the mediant key. Modulation to the mediant for the second subject area is another feature shared by this sonata and the Sonata No. 16. Beethoven would employ the same shift again in later works (in the Hammerklavier Sonata, for example). For the recapitulation, Beethoven transposes the second subject into A major, quickly changing into A minor and then back to C major for the coda.

Piano Sonata No. 22 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Analysis#

The sonata consists of just two movements:

I. In tempo d’un menuetto#

Beethoven skips the opening and slow movements and moves on to a minuet in time, with a modulating trio. Anton Kuerti refers to this piece as a parody of uncreative composers, while András Schiff refers to it as portraying “Beauty and the Beast”. The first theme is written in a rigidly classical style with repetitive phrases that are a caricature of elegance, while the second consists of a bombastic canon in octaves. The movement gradually increases in activity when it garners variations for its main theme. This first movement is in A–B–A–B–A form where A and B are strongly contrasted themes. Theme A is of minuet dance type in F major that one might find in Joseph Haydn. In contrast, theme B, the trio, is a succession of forte triplets in C major that are played by both hands staccato or legato; the triplets are in octaves (and later in sixths) and with a dialogue between the left and right hands and with many sforzandi to interrupt the meter. The A-section repeats in a whole, with a slight variation. Then the B, the trio section, reappears, this time in the tonic key of F major and of considerably shorter length. The opening A-theme reappears with more ornaments. After an extended group of trills, there is a brief coda.

Piano Sonata No. 23 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Form#

The sonata consists of three movements:

I. Allegro assai#

A sonata-allegro form The total performance time of this movement is usually between and 11 minutes.

II. Andante con moto#

A set of variations in D major, on a theme remarkable for its melodic simplicity combined with the use of unusually thick voicing and a peculiar counter-melody in the bass. Its sixteen bars (repeated) consist of nothing but common chords, set in a series of four- and two-bar phrases that all end on the tonic. (see image) The four variations follow: The fourth variation ends with a deceptive cadence containing the dominant 7th chord instead of the tonic that resolves to a soft diminished seventh on B marked (pianissimo), followed by a much louder diminished seventh, marked (fortissimo), at an octave higher that serves as a transition (without pause) to the finale. The total performance time of this movement is about 6 to 8 minutes.

Piano Sonata No. 25 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Analysis#

It consists of three movements: It is one of Beethoven’s shortest sonatas with an approximate performance time of only nine minutes, if Beethoven’s prescribed repeats are all observed. It is also the shortest of all his sonatas with a three movement structure.

I. Presto alla tedesca#

The first movement opens forcefully with a three-note motif (G–B–G) heard frequently throughout the movement. The second theme group in D major is based on fast scale and arpeggio passages and leads very swiftly into the forceful codetta. A few hesitant octave notes are played before the exposition repeats. The entire exposition is about 35 seconds long (without the repeat). The development section dominates this movement, being approximately 60 seconds long. It features frequent modulation as well as themes borrowed and fragmented from the exposition including the opening three note motive which is heard in the form of left-hand crossovers. This motive starts on E major, then moves on to B major seventh and later to C minor followed by G seventh, ending in a strange E major, B seventh combination. The recapitulation snaps the listener back to the home key forcefully with its opening three-note motif, then proceeds to repeat the exposition entirely in the home key. The development and recapitulation together are enclosed in a second, longer repeat mark. As a final touch, the coda features the main theme played in G major in the left hand with a treble clef, then the theme again in A minor in the right hand with bass accompaniment, then again with comedic acciaccatura inserted. The recapitulation and coda together take up approximately another minute. The whole movement with the exposition repeated lasts approximately three minutes. If the second repeat prescribed by Beethoven, encompassing the development and recapitulation, is observed, this brings the total performance time to around four and a half minutes.

Piano Sonata No. 26 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Form#

The three movements of Les Adieux were originally written in German and French, and the last two movements are described in German because of the unusual tempo. The translation in English shown in italic as below:

I. Das Lebewohl#

: The sonata opens in a time Adagio with a short, simple motif of three chords, at first forming an interrupted cadence, over which are written the three syllables Le-be-wohl (“Fare-thee-well”). This motif is the basis upon which both the first and the second subject groups are drawn. As soon as the introduction transitions to the exposition, the time signature changes to (alla breve) and the score is marked Allegro. The first movement oscillates between a turbulent first subject which portrays deep disturbance and a second subject which is more lyrical in nature and gives the impression of reflections. The rhythmic figure of two short notes and a longer note which is used repeatedly in the first subject is developed inexorably through the “development” section with rich harmonies and discords which are harmonically closer to the later period of Beethoven’s compositions than the middle for their intellectual penetration. The movement has a surprisingly long coda which occupies over a quarter of the movement’s length. The coda encompasses both the subjects in a display of powerful mastery over composition. Typically the movement played with the expected repeats lasts a little over 7 minutes.

Piano Sonata No. 27 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History of composition#

Beethoven’s previous piano sonata, popularly known as Les Adieux, was composed almost five years before Op. 90. Beethoven’s autograph survives and is dated August 16. The sonata was published almost a year later, in June 1815, by S. A. Steiner, after Beethoven made a few corrections. Beethoven’s letter to Prince Moritz von Lichnowsky, sent in September 1814, explains the dedication: I had a delightful walk yesterday with a friend in the Brühl, and in the course of our friendly chat you were particularly mentioned, and lo! and behold! on my return I found your kind letter. I see you are resolved to continue to load me with benefits. As I am unwilling you should suppose that a step I have already taken is prompted by your recent favors, or by any motive of the sort, I must tell you that a sonata of mine is about to appear, dedicated to you. I wished to give you a surprise, as this dedication has been long designed for you, but your letter of yesterday induces me to name the fact. I required no new motive thus publicly to testify my sense of your friendship and kindness. Beethoven’s friend and biographer Anton Schindler reported that the sonata’s two movements were to be titled Kampf zwischen Kopf und Herz (“A Contest Between Head and Heart”) and Conversation mit der Geliebten (“Conversation with the Beloved”), respectively, and that the sonata as a whole referred to Moritz’s romance with a woman he was thinking of marrying. Schindler’s explanation first appeared in his 1842 book Beethoven in Paris and has been repeated in several other books. Later studies showed that the story was almost certainly invented by Schindler, at least in part, and that he went so far as to forge an entry in one of Beethoven’s conversation books to validate the anecdote.

Piano Sonata No. 28 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

As with the previous sonata, it is unclear why Beethoven wrote Op. 101. The earliest known sketches are on leaves that once formed the parts of the Scheide Sketchbook of 1815–16. It shows the first movement already well developed and notated as an extended draft in score, and there are also a few preliminary ideas for the final Allegro. Beethoven himself described this sonata, composed in the town of Baden, just south of Vienna, during the summer of 1816, as “a series of impressions and reveries.” The more intimate nature of the late sonatas probably has some connection with his deafness, which by this stage was almost total, isolating him from society so completely that his only means of communicating with friends and visitors was via notebooks. Beethoven offered the sonata for publication in a letter to Breitkopf and Härtel on 19 July 1816, when it was still far from complete. Eventually it was sold to the local Viennese publisher Sigmond Anton Steiner, after its completion. It was published in January 1817, and would appear in public the following month after delays. The Piano Sonata No. 28, Op. 101 is the first of the series of Beethoven’s “Late Period” sonatas (although sometimes Op. 90 is considered the first), when his music moved in a new direction toward a more personal, intimate, sometimes even introspective, realm of freedom and fantasy. In this period he had achieved a complete mastery of form, texture and tonality and was subverting the very conventions he had mastered to create works of remarkable profundity and beauty. It is also characteristic of these late works to incorporate contrapuntal techniques (e.g. canon and fugue) into the sonata form. This was the only one of his 32 sonatas that Beethoven ever saw played publicly; this was in 1816, and the performer was a bank official and musical dilettante.

Piano Sonata No. 29 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Prior to the creation of the Hammerklavier sonata, the years between 1807 and 1812 were considered one of Beethoven’s most productive period. During that time, he composed four symphonies (Nos. 5 through 8), three piano sonatas (opp. 78–81a), the Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”, the Mass in C major, and various chamber works. After this period, Beethoven’s output reduced drastically, although scholars disagree on when exactly this period of decreased activity began, with the date ranging from 1812 to 1816. The earliest sketches for the sonata likely date from December 1817, although the original manuscript is now lost. Amongst the sketches for the first movement is an idea for an abandoned cantata for Archduke Rudolph, using the text ‘Vivat Rudolphus’ and a melody resembling that of the ‘Hammerklavier’ sonata. The sonata was planned from the beginning to be a tribute to Archduke Rudolph. This intention was confirmed in a letter dated 3 March 1819, in which Beethoven wrote that the sonata had long been “wholly intended in my heart’ for the archduke”. The process of its creation was considered the longest for any of his piano works, and it ushered in a period during which Beethoven composed several large-scale works including the Missa Solemnis, the Ninth Symphony, and the Diabelli Variations. Musicologist William Kinderman attributed this delay to his preoccupation with his nephew Karl van Beethoven, his health problems, and an increasing focus on each of his major new compositions, usually large-scale works. The sonata was originally planned to be published in 1819 in Vienna and London with the support of Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven’s former pupil and friend who had arranged for a London edition to be published simultaneously as the planned Viennese edition by Artaria. The Vienna edition was published in October 1819, while the London edition appeared in December of the same year, with a dedication to Antonie Brentano instead of Archduke Rudolph of the Vienna edition. The London edition of the sonata was published in two parts: the first part, Grand Sonata, contains the first three movements with the second and third movement in reversed order, and the second part is the fourth movement, titled Introduction & Fugue. The reason for this rearrangement was purely economical, as Charles Rosen believed Beethoven’s sole concern for publishing the sonata in London was to obtain additional financial benefit. The nickname Hammerklavier, a German neologism meaning piano, originated with Beethoven’s desire to use German terms to replace Italian terms in a “burst of patriotic enthusiasm”. In a letter to Sigmund Anton Steiner on 23 January 1817, Beethoven wrote: “henceforth on all our works…instead of pianoforte Hammerklavier is used”. Only the Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101, and the Sonata No. 29 is published as “für das Hammerklavier” (“for the piano”), and over time the nickname has become associated with the latter.

Piano Sonata No. 3 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The sonata, in C major, consists of four movements:

I. Allegro con brio#

: \new PianoStaff 2 16( ) 8-. -. 4-. -. r2 2 16( ) 8-. -. 4-. -. r2 \voiceOne c'2 b16( c b c) d8-. b-. g4 c b16( c b c) d8-. b-. \new Voice \relative c’ \voiceTwo s14 e2 f r4 e f2 » \new Dynamics s1\p s13 s1\p s4 s\sf \new Staff 1 4-. q-. r2 1 4-. q-. r2 \voiceOne g'1~ g4 g2. \new Voice \relative c \voiceTwo s1*4 r4 c d g, r4 c d g, » » The first movement follows the sonata allegro form of the classical period, and borrows thematically from Beethoven’s Piano Quartet No. 3 in C major, WoO 36, from a decade earlier. The movement opens with the main theme in the tonic key, beginning with a double-thirds trill-like pattern. This opening passage is infamous for pianists to play, and Arthur Rubinstein even used this passage to test pianos before performing on them. This pattern leads into an energetic outburst of a broken-chord and broken-octave section. The second theme of the exposition begins in the key of G minor, and is repeated in D minor at measure 33. It is not until measure 47 that the traditional dominant key is finally reached, where a subsidiary theme in the second thematic group appears, marked “dolce. " A forte shows later, leading to a very rich melody with left and right hand. Then a similar outburst of a broken-chord and broken-octave sections appears in fortissimo. Then it ends with some difficult trills and an octave scale. Beethoven opens the development by improvising on trill patterns introduced in the end of the exposition, which are much more difficult to play. Following a broken-chords section filled with harmony changes, the main theme is restated in D major (pianissimo), the supertonic key of C major. Then a fortissimo and Beethoven’s very common syncopations appear in the music giving a rhythm, this continues on to the resolution. Near the end of the movement is a rather remarkable cadenza, much in the style of a cadenza of a Classical piano concerto, which leads to a final statement of the opening motif. The first movement is about 10 minutes long and is one of Beethoven’s longest movements from his early period.

Piano Sonata No. 30 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Work on Op. 109 can be traced back to early in 1820, even before Beethoven’s negotiations with Adolf Schlesinger, the publisher of his last three sonatas. Recent research suggests that had asked Beethoven for a composition for his piano anthology The Vienna Pianoforte School, and that Beethoven had interrupted work on the Missa Solemnis. In the end, though, he offered Starke numbers 7–11 of the Bagatelles, Op. 119.

Genesis#

There is an April entry in Beethoven’s conversation book describing a “small new piece” that is, according to William Meredith, identical to the first movement of Op. 109. In fact, the outline of the movement makes the idea of a Bagatelle interrupted by fantasia-like interludes seem very plausible. Beethoven’s secretary Franz Oliva then allegedly suggested the idea of using this “small piece” as the beginning of the sonata that Schlesinger wanted. Sieghard Brandenburg has put forward the theory that Beethoven had originally planned a two-movement sonata, omitting the first movement. Apparently some of the motivic characteristics that link the first movement with the others were only introduced later. Alexander Wheelock Thayer, on the other hand, put forward the view that the beginning of a sonata in E minor by Beethoven was not developed further and had nothing to do with Op. 109. For the third movement, Beethoven first sketched a set of about six variations, then a set of nine, and finally a continuity draft for a set of six. The differences in character between the individual variations seem to be smaller in the nine-variation version than in the final printed edition, but according to Kay Dreyfus this already indicates a “process of exploration and re-discovery of the theme”.

Piano Sonata No. 31 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

In the summer of 1819, Adolf Martin Schlesinger, from the Schlesinger firm of music publishers based in Berlin, sent his son Maurice to meet Beethoven to form business relations with the composer. The two met in Mödling, where Maurice left a favourable impression on the composer. After some negotiation by letter, the elder Schlesinger offered to purchase three piano sonatas for 90 ducats in April 1820, though Beethoven had originally asked for 120 ducats. In May 1820, Beethoven agreed, and he undertook to deliver the sonatas within three months. These three sonatas are the ones now known as Opp. 109, 110, and 111, the last of his piano sonatas. The composer was prevented from completing the promised sonatas on schedule by several factors, including his work on the Missa solemnis (Op. 123), rheumatic attacks in the winter of 1820, and a bout of jaundice in the summer of 1821. Barry Cooper notes that Op. 110 “did not begin to take shape” until the latter half of 1821. Although Op. 109 was published by Schlesinger in November 1821, correspondence shows that Op. 110 was still not ready by the middle of December 1821. The sonata’s completed autograph score bears the date 25 December 1821, but Beethoven continued to revise the last movement and did not finish until early 1822. The copyist’s score was presumably delivered to Schlesinger around this time, since Beethoven received a payment of 30 ducats for the sonata in January 1822. Adolf Schlesinger’s letters to Beethoven in July 1822 confirm that the sonata, along with Op. 111, was being engraved in Paris. The sonata was published simultaneously in Paris and Berlin that year, and it was announced in the Bibliographie de la France on 14 September. Some copies of the first edition reached Vienna as early as August, and the sonata was announced in the Wiener Zeitung that month. The sonata was published without a dedication, though there is evidence that Beethoven intended to dedicate Opp. 110 and 111 to Antonie Brentano. In February 1823, Beethoven sent a letter to the composer Ferdinand Ries in London, informing him that he had sent manuscripts of Opp. 110 and 111 so that Ries could arrange their publication in Britain. Beethoven noted that while Op. 110 was already available in London, the edition had mistakes that would be corrected in Ries’s edition. Ries persuaded Muzio Clementi to acquire the British rights to the two sonatas, and Clementi published them in London that year.

Piano Sonata No. 32 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Beethoven conceived of the plan for his final three piano sonatas (Op. 109, 110 and 111) during the summer of 1820, while he worked on his Missa solemnis. Although the work was only seriously outlined by 1819, the famous first theme of the allegro ed appassionato was found in a draft book dating from 1801 to 1802, contemporary to his Second Symphony. Moreover, the study of these draft books implies that Beethoven initially had plans for a sonata in three movements, quite different from that which we know: it is only thereafter that the initial theme of the first movement became that of the String Quartet No. 13, and that what should have been used as the theme with the adagio—a slow melody in A—was abandoned. Only the motif planned for the third movement, the famous theme mentioned above, was preserved to become that of the first movement. The Arietta, too, offers a considerable amount of research on its themes; the drafts found for this movement seem to indicate that as the second movement took form, Beethoven gave up the idea of a third movement, the sonata finally appearing to him as ideal. Along with Beethoven’s monumental Diabelli Variations (1823) and his two collections of bagatelles—Op. 119 (1822) and Op. 126 (1823)—the sonata was one of Beethoven’s last compositions for piano. Nearly ignored by contemporaries, it was not until the second half of the 19th century that it found its way into the repertoire of most leading pianists.

Piano Sonata No. 4 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The sonata is laid out in four movements:

I. Allegro molto e con brio#

The first movement is in sonata form.

II. Largo con gran espressione#

The second movement is in ternary form.

III. Allegro#

The third movement is in scherzo and trio form.

IV. Rondo: Poco allegretto e grazioso#

The fourth movement is in rondo form. This movement of the sonata in particular was featured in the documentary Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037.

Piano Sonata No. 5 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Form#

The sonata is divided into three movements:

I. Allegro molto e con brio#

The first movement, in sonata form, opens energetically with contrasting loud and soft phrases. The theme is angular in shape, both in its rising arpeggios and its dotted rhythm. The movement features alternating strongly and weakly stressed bars, though Beethoven gradually and subtly switches the stress from odd-numbered measures to even-numbered measures. In addition to rhythmic syncopation, this movement juxtaposes short fragmentary themes with longer, more lyrical melodies, heightening the dramatic, impulsive effect. The exposition lasts from mm. 1–105. The primary theme, a modified sentence structure, lasts from mm. 1–30. The transition, which is separately thematized and provides a quiet contrast, is in two parts and lasts from mm. 31–55. The secondary theme, which is accompanied by an Alberti bass, lasts from mm. 56–75 and ends with the essential exposition closure. The closing section, in two parts, quotes both secondary and primary themes. The development (after Darcy/Hepokoski’s Sonata Theory) is half-rotational and divides into pre-core and core sections (after William Caplin); it lasts from mm. 106–168. The retransition, mm. 158–167, leads into the recapitulation. The recapitulation is at mm. 168–284, 11 measures longer than the exposition. The exposition’s transition is altered harmonically in the recapitulation. Initially, the secondary theme is stated in F major (major subdominant), a “false start”, before being stated in tonic C minor. The secondary theme is also expanded from the exposition. The essential structural closure is in m. 253.

Piano Sonata No. 6 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Form#

The sonata is divided into three movements:

I. Allegro#

: The first movement is in sonata form. The development is based on the C–G–C tag which concludes the exposition, with no clear use of any other material from the exposition. The recapitulation is unusual because the 1st theme returns in D major before modulating back to tonic for the second theme.

II. Menuetto. Allegretto#

: The second movement is a minuet in F minor with a trio, with the return of the minuet strongly embellished. It is more reminiscent of Beethoven’s bagatelles than of most of his minuets. The trio, in D major, has a hint of anticipation of the third movement of Symphony No. 1.

Piano Sonata No. 7 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The Op. 10 sonatas are usually described as angular or experimental, as Beethoven began moving further and further away from his earlier models. This third sonata of the set is the longest at approximately 24 minutes. It is the only one of the Op. 10 sonatas that has four movements:

I. Presto#

The first movement is in sonata form.

II. Largo e mesto#

The second movement is a slow movement in sonata form. This movement is in the parallel key of D minor.

Piano Sonata No. 8 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

In its entirety, encompassing all three movements, the work takes approximately 17–20 minutes to perform. The sonata consists of three movements:

I. Grave – Allegro di molto e con brio#

The first movement is in sonata form. It begins with a slow introductory theme, marked Grave. : The exposition, marked Allegro di molto con brio, is in time (alla breve) in the home key of C minor and features three themes. Theme 1 features an aggressive rocket theme covering two octaves, accompanied with constant tremolo octaves in the left hand. : Beethoven then makes use of unorthodox mode mixture, as he presents theme 2 in E minor rather than its customary parallel major. This theme is more lyrical than the first and makes use of grace notes and crossed hands. Theme 3 modulates to the mediant, E major, and features a murky figuration for the bass; an extended pattern of alternating octaves. A codetta, with ideas from the opening allegro, closes the section. Some performers of the sonata include the introduction in the repeat of the exposition (Rudolf Serkin and András Schiff, for example), but most return to the beginning of the allegro section. This movement is one of the few compositions that contain hundred twenty-eighth notes. The development section begins in the key of G minor but quickly modulates to E minor. In this section, Beethoven extends Haydn’s compositional practice by returning to the introductory section. After this reappearance of the Grave, the composer generates suspense with an extended dominant preparation. The recapitulation brings back the themes of the exposition in different keys: themes 1 and 3 are played in the tonic key of C minor, then theme 2 is played in the unexpected key of F minor but then returns to the tonic key. The coda is very dramatic and includes a brief reminder of the Grave before ending with a swift cadence.

Piano Sonata No. 9 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The sonata is in three movements:

I. Allegro#

The first movement opens with a series of ascending fourths in the right hand, followed by a quartet-like echoing of a phrase in different octaves. The second theme, in B major, is based on a descending run followed by an ascending chromatic run. The development is full of sixteenth-note arpeggios in the left hand, and sixteenth-note left-hand scales accompany the start of the recapitulation, but the movement ends quietly. This movement also features a high F 6 in measure 41, which was out of the typical range of the piano at the time, which went from F 1 to F 6 . It’s possible Beethoven had intentionally wrote it like this anticipating that although the note wasn’t playable at the time, it would become playable in the (near) future.

Piano Sonata, WoO 51 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Beethoven is believed to have begun composing the sonata some time around 1790–91 for Eleonore von Breuning on the basis of a letter to her from 1796 in which he announced that a sonata that he had promised to her some time previously would be sent to her. A recent evaluation opines that the sonata shares stylistic characteristics with the Piano Sonatas, WoO 47, Nos. 1–3. While Alexander Thayer believed that the sonata was a complete three movement work by 1796, at the time of Beethoven’s death the manuscript copy only contained the complete first movement and an incomplete second movement. For publication in 1830 Ferdinand Ries composed an additional eleven measures of music to complete the second movement.

Piano sonatas (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bonn sonatas#

The first three sonatas, written in 1782–1783, are usually not acknowledged as part of the complete set of piano sonatas because Beethoven was 13 when they were published. * WoO 47: Three Piano Sonatas (composed 1782–3, published 1783) *#Piano Sonata in E-flat major *#Piano Sonata in F minor *#Piano Sonata in D major

Early sonatas#

Beethoven’s early sonatas were highly influenced by those of Haydn and Mozart. Piano Sonatas No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 13, and 15 are four movements long, which was rather uncommon in his time. *Opus 2: Three Piano Sonatas (1795) *#Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor *#Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major *#Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major * Opus 7: Piano Sonata No. 4 in E-flat major (“Grand Sonata”) (1797) * Opus 10: Three Piano Sonatas (1798) *# Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor *# Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major *# Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major * Opus 13: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor (“Pathétique”) (1798) * Opus 14: Two Piano Sonatas (1799) *#Piano Sonata No. 9 in E major (Also arranged by the composer for String Quartet in F major (Hess 34) in 1801) *#Piano Sonata No. 10 in G major * Opus 22: Piano Sonata No. 11 in B-flat major (1800) * Opus 26: Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-flat major (1801) * Opus 27: Two Piano Sonatas (1801) *# Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major ‘Sonata quasi una fantasia’ *# Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor ‘Sonata quasi una fantasia’ (“Moonlight”) * Opus 28: Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major (“Pastoral”) (1801)

Piano Sonatas Nos. 19 and 20 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sonata No. 19#

Charles Rosen, while noting the sonata’s lack of technical challenges, states that it is a “deeply affecting and distinguished work”. The work has two movements:

I. Andante#

: The first movement is written in standard sonata-allegro form. After the first and second theme, it moves into the recapitulation with very little development. After restating the theme in the bass with new counterpoint in the treble, the work closes with a brief coda, ending with a Picardy third.

Piano Trio, Op. 11 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The trio is in three movements: Typical performances of the work last between about 18 and 21 minutes.

External links#

Performance of Piano Trio, Op. 11 by the Eroica Trio from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format
, Camerata Pacifica

Piano Trio, Op. 97 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The Archduke Trio came to fruition just months after a highly successful premiere of his Battle Symphony (Wellingtons Sieg, Op. 91). Though the relationship between Beethoven and Archduke Rudolf had its challenges, Beethoven was indebted to him for his unwavering financial support, on which account Beethoven continued to dedicate works to him. In this work, Beethoven increases the independence of the piano’s role in relation to the violin and cello and in comparison with his earlier piano trios. There is much debate over the amount of time Beethoven dedicated to composing the Archduke Trio, though an earlier autograph from March 1811 could prove that it was composed in only three weeks’ time. At this time, Beethoven was experiencing great success with his compositions and pitting publishers against each other. He may have been considering marriage according to personal correspondence via letters. Beethoven also wrote personally to Archduke Rudolf with the newly composed trio to have it copied within the archduke’s palace out of fear that it would be stolen. This was a frequent transaction between the two and resulted in the archduke establishing a library of all of Beethoven’s compositions with manuscript copies for preservation.

Piano Trio, WoO 38 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Beethoven is believed to have worked on this trio shortly before he left Bonn for Vienna in 1792. The precise circumstances of composition are not known and the work remained unpublished until after the composer died in 1827. When F. P. Dunst published the work in 1830, the publication included a statement to the effect that the work was Beethoven’s, signed by Carl Czerny, Anton Diabelli and Ferdinand Ries. At that time the manuscript was stated to be held by Anton Schindler, but, according to Cooper it is now lost.

Piano Trios, Op. 1 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

No. 1 in E major#

The first trio is in four movements: The first movement opens with an ascending arpeggiated figure (a so-called Mannheim Rocket, like that opening the first movement of the composer’s own Piano Sonata No.1, Op.2 No.1),

No. 2 in G major#

The second trio is in four movements:

No. 3 in C minor#

The third trio is in four movements: Unlike the other piano trios in this opus, the third trio does not have a scherzo as its third movement but a minuet instead. This third piano trio was later reworked by Beethoven into the C minor string quintet, Op. 104.

Piano Trios, Op. 70 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Piano Trio in D major, Op. 70 No. 1 “Ghost”#

The first piano trio has three movements:

Piano Trio in E major, Op. 70 No. 2#

The second piano trio has four movements: The second movement is in double variation form.

External links#

*Performances of Piano Trio Op. 70 No. 1 and Piano Trio Op. 70 No. 2 by the Claremont Trio from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format

Polonaise in C (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The piece is marked Alla Polacca, vivace (as a polonaise, lively). After four bars, there is a brief barless passage of ascending and descending scales moving to adagio (slow) and then to più presto (faster). At the conclusion of this unusual introduction, the piece returns to the first tempo and meter, and the polonaise rhythm and main theme are introduced. The piece ends with a lengthy coda. It takes about five minutes to perform. \relative c’ \new PianoStaff 8( g4) g16-. a-. b-. c-. d-. e-. \new Dynamics s4_\markup \italic dolce \new Staff \key c \major \time 3/4 \clef bass c,,8 16 8 c,,8 16 c,,8 16 8 ( ) g, 16 8 »

Quintet for Piano and Winds (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

It is in three movements: The performance takes around 23–27 minutes.

Transcriptions#

Beethoven subsequently transcribed the Op. 16 quintet as a quartet for piano and string trio (violin, viola, and cello), using the same opus number, tempo markings, and overall timing. Artaria published an unauthorized transcription of the Op. 16 quintet as a string quartet which they designated as the composer’s Op. 75.

References#

Notes Sources * * * * *

Rage Over a Lost Penny

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

Despite the late opus number, the work’s composition has been dated to between 1795 and 1798. Beethoven left the piece unpublished and incomplete; it was published in 1828 by Anton Diabelli, who obscured the fact that it had been left unfinished. Robert Schumann wrote of the work that “it would be difficult to find anything merrier than this whim… It is the most amiable, harmless anger, similar to that felt when one cannot pull a shoe from off the foot,” citing the work as an instance of Beethoven’s earthliness against those who exult in a transcendental image of the composer. Erwin Schulhoff arranged the work for orchestra.

Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

A dispute over the terms for the granting of full statehood to the self-governing colony of Rhodesia led its predominantly white minority government, headed by Prime Minister Ian Smith, to unilaterally declare independence from the UK on 11 November 1965. As Whitehall had been insisting on majority rule as a condition for independence, this declaration went unrecognised and caused the UK and the United Nations to impose economic sanctions on Rhodesia. Queen Elizabeth II continued to be “Queen of Rhodesia” in the eyes of Smith’s government, hence “God Save the Queen” remained the Rhodesian national anthem. Though this was intended to demonstrate Rhodesia’s enduring loyalty to the Queen, the retention of a song so associated with the UK in the midst of the Anglo-Rhodesian constitutional struggle soon gave Rhodesian state occasions “a faintly ironic tone”, in the words of the London Times.

Septet (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure and analysis#

The composition is in six movements and runs approximately 40 minutes in performance:

Analysis#

The overall layout resembles a serenade and is in fact more or less the same as that of Mozart’s string trio, K. 563, in the same key, but Beethoven expands the form by the addition of substantial introductions to the first and last movements and by changing the second minuet to a scherzo. Beethoven had already used the theme of the third movement in his Piano Sonata Op. 49 No. 2, which was an earlier work despite its higher opus number. The finale features a violin cadenza. The scoring of the Septet for a single clarinet, horn and bassoon (rather than for pairs of these wind instruments) was innovative. So was the unusually prominent role of the clarinet, as important as the violin. The Septet was one of Beethoven’s most successful and popular works and circulated in many editions and arrangements for different forces. In about 1803, Beethoven himself arranged the work as a trio for clarinet (or violin), cello, and piano, and this version was published as in 1805 in Vienna. Beethoven dedicated the Trio Op. 38 to Professor Johann Adam Schmidt (1759–1809), a German-Austrian surgeon and ophthalmologist, and a personal physician of Beethoven, whom he attended to from 1801 until 1809. Conductor Arturo Toscanini rearranged the string section of the Septet so that it could be played by the full string section of the orchestra, but he did not change the rest of the scoring. He recorded the Septet for RCA Victor with the NBC Symphony Orchestra on 26 November 1951 in Carnegie Hall.

Serenade for Violin, Viola and Cello (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The composition is in six movements A typical performance takes around 26–30 minutes.

Transcriptions#

In 1803, Franz Xaver Kleinheinz arranged this piece for viola and piano. It was published in 1804 as the Notturno for Viola and Piano in D major, Op. 42. In September 1803 Beethoven wrote to his publisher: “I have gone through the arrangements and made drastic corrections in some passages. So do not dare to state in writing that I have arranged them … If you do, you will be telling a lie, seeing that, moreover, I could never have found the time, or even had the patience, to do work of that kind.” Nonetheless, Beethoven was incorrectly credited as the author of the arrangement. In addition to straightforward correction of the transcription, Beethoven permitted himself an odd extra bar and occasional new imitative counterpoint. In his book Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style, Leonard G. Ratner cites the fourth movement as a representative example of the polonaise.

Seufzer eines Ungeliebten – Gegenliebe

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition and publication history#

The composer was about 24 when he wrote the song; he had arrived in Vienna in 1792 to study and build his career. Beethoven’s primary teacher in Vienna was Joseph Haydn, who had himself already set the “Gegenliebe” poem to music (1784, Hob. XVIIa: 16). Beethoven also studied with Antonio Salieri, who helped him in his goal of becoming an opera composer. Beethoven’s sketches for Seufzer/Gegenliebe are mixed with that of another song about unrequited love, “Adelaide”, which unlike Seufzer/Gegenliebe was published at the time and was quite successful. It is unknown whether Beethoven attempted to publish Seufzer/Gegenliebe at the time of its composition. Much later in his lifetime, Beethoven offered the song to the publisher Peters of Leipzig, in a letter from 5 June 1822, but in the end it was published only posthumously (1837) by Anton Diabelli. The work appears today in standard editions of Beethoven’s songs and is occasionally performed and recorded.

Seven Bagatelles, Op. 33

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sextet for Horns and String Quartet (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Prior to the publication by Simrock in 1810, nothing is known about the circumstances of the piece’s composition beyond the existence of a few sketches that confirm the work was composed in the mid 1790s. The concertante nature of the piece has led writers like John Henken to speculate that the piece may have been written for specific Bonn-based performers, and to express surprise that more is not known about the work’s early history.

String Quartet No. 1 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The quartet consists of four movements: The theme of the finale is almost directly borrowed from the finale of his earlier string trio, Op. 9, No. 3 in C minor; the themes are very closely related. The principal theme of the first movement echoes that of Mozart’s Violin Sonata No. 32 K. 454 (1784) and Haydn’s 1787 Opus 50, No. 1 quartet.

History#

According to , Beethoven’s friend, the second movement was inspired by the crypt scene from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The quartet was heavily revised between the version that Amenda first received, and that was dedicated to him, and the one that was sent to the publisher a year later, including changing the second movement’s marking from Adagio molto to the more specific Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato. Of these modifications, Beethoven wrote: “Be sure not to hand on to anybody your quartet, in which I have made some drastic alterations. For only now have I learnt to write quartets; and this you will notice, I fancy, when you receive them.” The “Amenda” manuscript, as it is sometimes known, was edited by Paul Mies and published by Bärenreiter around 1965, and by G. Henle Verlag of Munich (perhaps also edited by Mies) in 1962. This early version of one of Beethoven’s best-known works has been recorded perhaps fewer than a half-dozen times as of July 2014.

String Quartet No. 10 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The string quartet has four movements.

I. Poco adagio – Allegro#

The first movement is in sonata form. * Slow introduction – Poco adagio (mm. 1–24) * Exposition – Allegro (mm. 25–77) ** 1st tonal area, E major (mm. 25–51) ** Pizzicati lead transition to tonal area 2 ** 2nd tonal area, B major (mm. 52–69) ** Closing (mm. 70–77) * Development (mm. 78–139) * Recapitulation (mm. 140–205) * Coda (mm. 206–262) The first movement starts with a tranquil introduction, marked Poco Adagio. This is followed by the resolute main theme, accompanied by the pizzicato motives which lend the quartet its name. The rather tightly-knit exposition is followed by a five-part development in C major, characterized by the main theme and the pizzicati, which refrains from variations. The development of the theme material is also missing in the recapitulation, although this is 12 bars longer than the exposition. The movement ends with the coda, dominated by first violin semiquavers and pizzicati, which, also without theme development, contains a virtuoso 25-bar violin cadenza and, at 59 bars, is the longest coda in Beethoven’s first ten quartets. The first movement is the only movement in this quartet that is in sonata form. The only other such Beethoven quartet is the String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131 (there in the final movement). According to musicologist Peter Schleuning, the violin solo in the coda with its broken chords is inspired by the final movement in Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4.

String Quartet No. 11 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Form#

The quartet is in four movements:

I. Allegro con brio#

This movement is in sonata form.

Exposition (bars 1–59)#

1st tonal area, F minor (bars 1–21): Neapolitan (G chord) important (bar 6, 19); the Neapolitan appears in root position, not its normal first inversion, and the large-scale tritone motion of the bass voice (from G in bar 6 to C in bar 10) again emphasises the strident nature of this movement. It ends on a half cadence on the downbeat of bar 21. Transition (bar 21–23): The unison C on the downbeat of bar 21 (V of F minor) is reinterpreted immediately as the leading tone to the second tonal area, D major. A very short transitional phrase solidifies the move to D major. 2nd tonal area, D major (bars 24–57): This is signified by a two-bar-long lyrical melody first stated in the viola, then passing through the cello and second violin, then cello again. A long V of D (bars 32–37) is unexpectedly resolved to A major, which is simply a deceptive V–VI cadence (VI of D major would be B, here enharmonically respelled as A). The A-major chord is also V of the Neapolitan (II in D major would be E, enharmonically respelled as D). This V–I motion of the Neapolitan is explicitly stated by the quartet in unison in bar 39. Bars 40–43 return to the lyrical nature of the second theme and solidify D major. A modified counterstatement of this entire gesture occurs, landing us on an even more explicit use of the Neapolitan, again enharmonically respelled as D, in bars 49–50. Closing (bars 58–59): There is no repeat of this already very short exposition, which adds to the startling nature of this piece as a whole.

String Quartet No. 12 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

String Quartet No. 12, Op. 127, is the first of Beethoven’s late quartets and was commissioned by the wealthy Russian prince Nicolas Galitzin, an enthusiast of Beethoven’s music. A cellist himself, Galitzin strove to play Beethoven’s music, waiting impatiently for him to compose at whatever price he saw fit. Galitzin’s commission brought Beethoven back to composing in the string quartet genre after a 10-year absence, and suspended his financial woes. Beethoven replied to Galitzin on January 25, 1823, requesting 50 ducats for three quartets: Opp. 127, 132, and 130. He committed to completing the first quartet by the end of February or mid-March. At the time, his Symphony No. 9 was taking the majority of Beethoven’s time. Therefore he pushed work on Op. 127 back well over a year, completing Symphony No. 9 in February 1824.

String Quartet No. 13 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

Beethoven originally wrote the work in six movements, lasting 42–50 minutes, as follows: (Nomenclature: “danza tedesca” means “German dance”, “Cavatina” a short and simple song, and “Große Fuge” means “Great Fugue” or “Grand Fugue”.) The work is unusual among quartets in having six movements. They follow the pattern of movements seen in the Ninth Symphony and occasionally elsewhere in Beethoven’s work (opening, dance movement, slow movement, finale), except that the middle part of the cycle is repeated: opening, dance movement, slow movement, dance movement, slow movement, finale.

String Quartet No. 14 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

About 40 minutes in length, it consists of seven movements played without break: : The Op. 131 quartet is a monumental feat of integration. While Beethoven composed the quartet in six distinct key areas, the work begins and ends in C minor. The finale directly quotes the first movement’s fugue theme in its second thematic area. This type of cyclical composition was avant-garde for a work of that period. Joseph Kerman wrote: “blatant functional reference to the theme of another movement: this never happens”. (It had happened in some other Beethoven works such as the Piano Sonata Op. 101, Cello Sonata Op. 102 No. 1, and the Fifth and Ninth Symphonies; it had even happened before in Joseph Haydn’s Forty-Sixth Symphony. Nevertheless, Op. 131 is the first Beethoven work in which the quotation is integrated completely into its new context instead of appearing like an explicit quotation, though even this effect had been anticipated the previous year in the young Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet, and much earlier in Christian Latrobe’s A major Piano Sonata dedicated to Haydn.) Op. 131 is often grouped with 132 and 130. There is motivic sharing among the three works. In particular, the “motto” fugue of the leading note rising to the tonic before moving to the minor sixth and then dropping down to the dominant is an important figure these works share. This quartet is one of Beethoven’s most elusive works musically. The topic has been written about extensively since very early after its creation, from Karl Holz, the second violinist of the Schuppanzigh Quartet, to Richard Wagner, to contemporary musicologists. One popular topic is a possible religious/spiritual genesis for this work, supported by similarities to the Missa Solemnis. In the first movement of Op. 131, the continually flowing texture resembles the earlier work’s Benedictus and Dona Nobis Pacem. In addition, purposely or not, Beethoven quotes a motivic figure from Missa Solemnis in the quartet’s second movement. A week before Schubert’s death, Holz and his string quartet visited to play for him. The last musical work Schubert wished to hear was the String Quartet No. 14; Holz later recalled that “Schubert was sent into such transports of delight and enthusiasm and was so overcome that we all feared for him.” The piece was featured in the plot of the 2012 film A Late Quartet. It also featured in the Band of Brothers episode “Why We Fight”.

String Quartet No. 15 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The five movements of the quartet are: The performance of the work takes around 45 minutes.

I. Assai sostenuto – Allegro#

The slow introduction to the first movement, like that of the thirteenth quartet, is based on a motif that recurs throughout the late quartets and in the Große Fuge as well: the second tetrachord of the harmonic minor scale. The movement is in a modified sonata form which involves three full rotations of the expositional primary and secondary thematic material, each with a different tonal plan, in contrast to the usual sonata form which only cycles fully through this material twice (for the exposition and recapitulation). The first expositional rotation begins in the tonic and moves down a third to VI (F major) for the second key area (m. 48), while the second – following a developmental episode – is almost a direct transposition that begins in E minor (m. 103) and moves similarly down a third to C major. The final abbreviated rotation (m. 193) remains in the tonic throughout, followed by a coda (m. 232) featuring a dominant pedal point. The movement’s unusual structure has invited a variety of analytical interpretations. Composer Roger Sessions describes the form as more of a triple exposition than a normal sonata form, and the second rotation could be interpreted as a simulation of the expositional repeat seen in many classical sonata form expositions, with the added interest of transposition. Conversely, other analysts have interpreted the second rotation as the onset of the recapitulation or as a “double recapitulation effect” rather than as an expositional repeat, with Hepokoski and Darcy describing it as a “tonally ‘wrong’ recapitulatory rotation followed by a notably varied, ‘right’ one in the tonic”. and Joseph Kerman referring, albeit with reservations, to an “E-minor recapitulation” and an “A-minor recapitulation”. Charles Rosen, on the other hand, considered this structure to be governed, as all of Beethoven’s works, by the principle of sonata resolution, pointing to Haydn’s 75th and 89th symphonies as precedents. For Rosen, the exposition comprises the A minor and F major sections; the brief developmental episode is a true development; and the middle section that directly transposes the exposition is a harmonic development (in the dominant and mediant keys, on the sharp side of the tonic) while acting thematically as a recapitulation. This allows the final section to act as a harmonic recapitulation (as it remains in the tonic throughout), while incorporating thematic development.

String Quartet No. 16 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

“Quartett für zwei Violinen, Viola und Violoncello (F-Dur) op. 135, 1. Satz”, Beethoven House
Project Gutenberg E-Book of the Quartet
Performance by the Borromeo String Quartet from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format

String Quartet No. 2 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bibliography#

especially the essay by Michael Steinberg (pp. 155–159)

String Quartet No. 3 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Analysis#

It consists of four movements: According to Michael Steinberg, this is “the gentlest, most consistently Minore & Maggiore lyrical work within Beethoven’s Op. 18 “, except for the fourth movement, in which “Beethoven first explores the idea of shifting the centre of gravity toward the end of a multimovement work”. The first movement starts with a gentle and unassuming theme: However, its return at the start of the recapitulation shows the theme in an entirely different light. Philip Radcliffe describes this moment as “beautifully contrived”. Burstein describes the dramatic and unusual harmonic progression at the end of the development section as “breathtaking”. “The sudden reinterpretation of the C creates a type of tonal crisis which has deep structural ramifications for the entire movement. Beethoven’s brilliant manner of dealing with the implications of this unusual strategy indicates a debt to his teacher, Haydn, and also reveals much about Beethoven’s own craft and artistic vision.” The final movement contains a theme that resembles the Mexican hat dance.

String Quartet No. 4 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

As with all of the Op. 18 quartets, the String Quartet No. 4 follows the four-movement format. The second movement is a fugal scherzo rather than the more typical slow movement.

I. Allegro ma non tanto (C minor)#

The movement is in sonata form. It begins softly, but urgently, with ostinato eighth notes in the cello, while the first violin climbs ever higher through a series of leaps. This first subject culminates as the transition takes over in m. 13 with alternating tonic and dominant chords between the first violin and the other three instruments. The second subject is delayed, but enters at m. 33. It expands on the same rhythmic figure present in mm. 5 to 7. The development starts at m. 76. The recapitulation is from mm. 136 to 202 followed by a coda starting in m. 202.

String Quartet No. 6 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The quartet is in four movements:

I. Allegro con brio#

This work begins with a sonata form. The first theme starts in B major with a conversation between the first violin and the cello. After a little bit of back and forth, the second violin takes over the conversation from the cello. Then the piece modulates to the dominant of F major and then F minor for the second theme. After a repeat of the first and second themes, the development section starts in F major. It then shifts to D major and on to G minor and eventually returns to F major before shifting to B for the recapitulation. This time around the second theme stays in B.

String Quartet No. 7 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Form#

It consists of four movements: The first movement is in an expansive sonata form, including a fugato in the development and lasting nearly twelve minutes even though it forgoes the then-customary repeat of the exposition. The opening cello melody has its tonality only weakly defined, with the first cadence establishing the key of F major only occurring several bars into the movement. Another feature of the first movement is the delayed emotional recapitulation. As became one of Beethoven’s many tools for emotional manipulation, delaying the grandiosity of the recapitulation for several bars after the establishment of the tonic key allowed Beethoven to heighten expectation of a definitive statement. While both the majestic, slow third movement and the fourth (between which there is no break) are also in sonata form, the second movement scherzo is formally one of the most unusual movements of Beethoven’s middle period, easily classifiable as being also in sonata form. The final movement is built around a popular Russian theme, likely an attempt to ingratiate the work to its Russian commissioner.

String Quartet No. 8 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

It is in four movements: According to Carl Czerny, the second movement of the quartet occurred to Beethoven as he contemplated the starry sky and thought of the music of the spheres (Thayer, Life of Beethoven); it has a hymnlike quality reminiscent of a much later devotion, the hymn to the Divine in the Quartet Op. 132. The scherzo movement of the quartet, the third movement (allegretto), uses a Russian theme also used by Modest Mussorgsky in Boris Godunov, by Anton Arensky in his String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky in “Orchestral Interlude: The Battle of Poltava” from Mazeppa, and by Sergei Rachmaninoff in his 6 Morceaux for Piano Duet, Op. 11. The original song, “Glory to the Sun”, was collected by Nikolay Lvov and Jan Prac; sheet music was published in 1790 (2nd ed., 1806), verses in the 1770s. However, Beethoven used it in an ungentle way. According to Joseph Kerman, “It sounds as though Count Razumovsky had been tactless enough to hand Beethoven the tune, and Beethoven is pile-driving it into the ground by way of revenge.”. In an extremely unusual example of melodic setting prior to the 20th century, portions of the tune with strong tonic harmonic leanings are harmonized with the dominant, and vice versa; the harmonic clash is harsh, and many listeners have found this portion of the quartet to be quite amusing, especially as contrasted with the prosaic, almost “exercise-book” counterpoint which precedes it (another example of Beethoven parodying a student counterpoint exercise can be found in the scherzo of the Quartet No. 10, opus 74). Pianist Jonathan Biss, who is Neubauer Family Chair in Piano Studies at Curtis Institute of Music, has suggested that Opus 59 No. 2 is a proper analogue to – a “close cousin of” – Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 (“Appassionata”), in that both have a start-to-finish darkness. The two pieces were composed around the same time and Biss notes that although Beethoven wrote many pieces that begin in tragic mode, there are surprisingly few that end there as well. Both compositions also have an opening phrase that is repeated a 1/2 step higher.

String Quartet No. 9 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Discussion#

The introductory andante con moto section of the first movement is not directly related to the rest of the movement and serves a similar function to the introduction of his Op. 74 quartet. Thereafter, the movement’s main thematic material is exposed and developed. The relation (or apparent lack thereof) between the slow, sombre and dissonant introduction and the bright allegro which follows, is similar to what is found in Mozart’s “Dissonance” Quartet, also in the key of C. The quartet’s second movement makes use of an augmented second in the descending scale first played by the first violin at the beginning of the movement. This interval, repeated through the movement, gives it an association with the Hungarian scale. Unlike the other two opus 59 quartets, this one does not have an explicit “Theme Russe” in any of its movements. Nevertheless, it can be argued that this second movement with its sparse texture and comfortless melodies, evokes a Russian feel by bringing to mind the vast, barren and desolate landscape of the Siberian tundra. The quartet’s third movement is a lighter menuetto which provides the motif that is subsequently turned upside down for the last movement, a fugal allegro molto that begins with the viola and adds the second violin, cello and first violin in that order. The movement is in alla breve time and is almost a perpetuum mobile in quavers. The fugue is semi-rigorous, somewhere between the fugato of Mozart’s string quartet K.387 and the rigorous fugue of his Adagio and Fugue K.546. About halfway into the movement, a contrasting theme is introduced, which moves in minims. The movement concludes with an enormous Mannheim crescendo, peaking at an implicit Dynamics (music) .

String Quintet, Op. 104 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The work is structured in four movements:

String Quintet, Op. 29 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

The work has four movements: The first movement is in sonata form with two principal themes, the second appearing in an unusual key area. The slow movement is notable for its expressive character and emotional intensity. The scherzo is built largely from a brief one-bar leaping motif, contrasted by a more lyrical trio section. The finale contains prominent tremolo passages, contrapuntal writing including a fugato episode, and vigorous lower-string accompaniment, features that have contributed to the work’s nickname, “Storm.”

String Trio, Op. 3 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Piano Trio (Hess 47)#

Sometime prior to 1800, Beethoven arranged the first movement of the trio for piano, violin and cello (Hess 47): it has been speculated that the composer may have intended to transcribe the entire trio for the same forces but lost interest as the existing manuscript breaks off part way through a transcription of the second movement.

Cello Sonata Op. 64#

The trio was arranged for cello and piano (Op. 64): this was first published in 1807 by Artaria. The arrangement is thought to be not by the composer, with Keith Anderson pointing out that Artaria’s title sheet for the transcription simply implies that Beethoven was involved without explicitly stating that he was.

String Trios, Op. 9 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

Although this opus does not contain the most played works by Beethoven it was a significant milestone in his development as a composer. At the time of publication the 28-year-old Beethoven regarded the trios as his best compositions. The trios can be seen as a part of the preparation for the upcoming string quartets, which became the leading genre among his chamber music. The musicologist Gerald Abraham has remarked that in terms of their style and aesthetic value the string trios of Op. 9 rank with Beethoven’s first string quartets which ousted the trios from the concert halls. Beethoven composed no further trios after the first quartets (Op. 18) were published in 1801. Each trio is of four movements with sonata form in the first movements, suggesting that Beethoven did not intend them to be light chamber pieces. The most vigorous of the three trios is perhaps the G major, with the fast movements’ thematic richness and almost symphonic elaborations especially in the first Allegro. The Adagio in E major resembles in its beauty and melancholic atmosphere other slow movements written by Beethoven at that time. The trio ends with a brilliant and virtuoso Presto. Trio in D major is the most traditional piece in the opus. It lacks the G major’s symphonic effects but conveys a finely subtle chamber music with warm and intimate atmosphere. However the slow movement in D minor is perhaps the saddest piece in the opus. The last trio, in C minor, brings the most energy and novelty with highly passionate tone. C minor is one of Beethoven’s most important keys. Three of his piano sonatas and the fifth symphony were written in C minor, for instance. This trio invokes those later works’ power and peculiar character so typical of Beethoven. Dynamic effects, sharp contrasts in rhythm, harmonic confrontations among other means of music provide momentum and the tone of anxiety. By contrast, the Adagio brings peace and resignation in C major, with a more lively episode in E major in the middle of the movement. Both the Scherzo and the Finale continue the passionate and energetic storm of the first movement.

Symphony No. 1 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Historical background#

The symphony is clearly indebted to Beethoven’s predecessors, particularly his teacher Joseph Haydn as well as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but nonetheless has characteristics that mark it uniquely as Beethoven’s work, notably the frequent use of sforzandi, as well as sudden shifts in tonal centers that were uncommon for traditional symphonic form (particularly in the 3rd movement), and the prominent, more independent use of wind instruments. Sketches for the finale are found among the exercises Beethoven wrote while studying counterpoint under Johann Georg Albrechtsberger in the spring of 1797. Beethoven originally intended to dedicate the symphony to Elector Maximilian Franz, who had been forced from Bonn by the armies of revolutionary France and was staying in Hetzendorf, just outside Vienna at the time. Beethoven had left the Elector’s employ in somewhat acrimonious circumstances in March 1794 and the dedication may have been intended as a peace offering. However, Maximilian Franz died 26 July 1801 and the dedication subsequently went to Baron van Swieten. The premiere took place on 2 April 1800 at the K.K. Hoftheater nächst der Burg in Vienna, conducted by Beethoven himself. Most sources agree that the concert program also included Beethoven’s Septet as well as a symphony by Mozart, but there is some disagreement as to whether the remainder of the program included excerpts from Haydn’s oratorio The Creation or from The Seasons and whether Beethoven’s own Piano Concerto No. 1 or No. 2 was performed. This concert effectively served to announce Beethoven’s talents to Vienna. Holy Roman Emperor Francis II is reported to have attended the premiere and reacted by saying, ”There is something revolutionary in that music!”

Symphony No. 10 (Beethoven/Cooper)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

After completing the Ninth Symphony in 1824, Beethoven devoted his energies largely to composing his late string quartets, although there are contemporary references to some work on a symphony (e.g. in his letter of 18 March 1827); allegedly he played a movement of this piece on the piano for his friend Karl Holz, whose description of what he heard matches the sketches identified by Cooper. Cooper claimed that he found over 250 measures of sketches for the first movement, which he wove together to form the first movement, keeping as close as he could to Beethoven’s compositional method and sketching processes. Cooper’s reconstruction of the first movement consists of an Andante in E major enclosing a central Allegro in C minor. Cooper claimed to have also found sketches for a Scherzo which he used as a third movement and other later movements, but he deemed them not extensive or developed enough to be assembled into a performing version. It’s important to note that when Beethoven had written out these initial sketches, some were written alongside some for the 9th symphony, and were clearly intended for a different work. Although his initial sketches suggest another symphony, it remained unfinished until his death in 1827. There are a few references to this work in Beethoven’s correspondence.

Symphony No. 2 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Beethoven’s 2nd Symphony was mostly written during his stay at Heiligenstadt in 1802, at a time when his deafness was becoming more pronounced and he began to realize that it might be incurable. The work was premiered in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on 5 April 1803, and was conducted by the composer. During that same concert, the Third Piano Concerto and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives were also debuted. It is one of the last works of Beethoven’s early period. Beethoven wrote the 2nd Symphony without a standard minuet; instead, a scherzo took its place, giving the composition even greater scope and energy. The scherzo and the finale are filled with Beethovenian musical jokes, which shocked the sensibilities of many contemporary critics. One Viennese critic for the (Newspaper for the Elegant World) wrote of the symphony, “The 2nd symphony is a crass ogre, a stabbed, unbound writhing dragon that refuses to die, and although bleeding in the Finale, angrily beats about with tail erect.”

Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Instrumentation#

The Symphony is scored for: ;Woodwinds: :2 flutes :2 oboes :2 clarinets in B :2 bassoons ;Brass: :3 horns in E (1 & 2 in C in mvt 2) :2 trumpets in E & C ;Percussion : ;Strings: :violins I, II :violas :cellos :double basses

Form#

The work is in 4 movements: Depending upon the conductor’s style and observation of the exposition repeat in the first movement, the typical performance time is between 45 and 55 minutes.

Symphony No. 3 (Tippett)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

The work consists of two parts: # Allegro non troppo e pesante (Arrest) - Allegro molto e con grande energia (Movement) # Allegro molto - Slow Blues (Andante) - Fast blues (Allegro)

Background#

Tippett’s conception of the Third Symphony occurred during a concert in Edinburgh in 1965 during a performance of either Pierre Boulez’s Piano Sonata No. 2 or Pli selon pli. Tippett detected an absence of harmonic, rhythmic and melodic motion in the work. Such an approach to composition could only be utilised by Tippett if he presented it within the context of a dialectic with its opposite, hence the Third Symphony was constructed on the concepts of “arrest” and “movement” which Tippett likened to the pull and thrust of a jet engine. Parts 1 and 2 of the work, and their component sections, follow this cycle of “arrest” and “movement”. Describing its creative cycle, Tippett remarked: “The work took seven years of intermittent consideration and eventual creation. From such tiny noting of a future possibility I had to put down a kind of mnemonic shorthand, so that I could remember what I thought the structure of the whole work might be when I’d only experienced the initial moment of conception. …a great many disjointed, unstructured notions have been noted in my own kind of verbal shorthand. …the original spontaneous conception of “immobile” polarized against “speedy” (so ridiculously simple, but clearly having the power to initiate the creative process now apparently ready to being) was always the structuring factor. While holding these ideas in my mind over a period of years, allowing them gradually to grow, I come next to a moment when I had nearly everything in my mind except the notes. The symphony so far had a structure and balance; it had ideas about orchestration. Thus I could begin what is usually thought of as the composition. I began at the piano a search for the right sounds. Now I don’t find the precise sounds I want on the piano, but through the piano (this is after all a piece for an orchestra). But I can invent as though the orchestral score were in my head all the time.” Tippett wanted to avoid the “Shostakovich bombast” characteristic of many finales and decided to compose the finale as a set of blues. He possessed a great admiration for Bessie Smith’s 1925 recording of St Louis Blues in particular. Tippett interpreted the repeated bass line of the blues in terms of a Purcellian ground bass, which would make the finale a form of passacaglia. The most important reason for Tippett’s decision to use the blues was its ability to communicate simply and directly. By the time Tippett came to compose the symphony in spring 1970, he had already written the text of the four songs for the finale. Mahler’s settings of Chinese poems in Das Lied von der Erde served as a precedent for Tippett of a work which articulated song text in the shape of a symphony: “I began thus to plan and organize lyrics that would have a shape - of a human being moving from innocence to experience”. The symphony’s text was formulated as a critical response to the sentiment embodied in Schiller’s Ode to Joy: Schiller’s ecstatic celebration of the brotherhood of man was untenable in a century that had witnessed the Holocaust, gulags and the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. In the dramatic fourth song, therefore, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is quoted three times at climactic points and its message is challenged in the text and music of the work. Tippett’s confrontation with Beethoven is suggested from the outset of the piece, the abrupt chords in the first bar being reminiscent of the opening of Beethoven’s own Symphony No. 3.

Symphony No. 4 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Beethoven spent the summer of 1806 at the country estate of his patron, Prince Lichnowsky, in Silesia. In September Beethoven and the Prince visited the house of one of the latter’s friends, Count Franz von Oppersdorff, in nearby Oberglogau. The Count maintained a private orchestra, and the composer was honoured with a performance of his Second Symphony, written four years earlier. After this, Oppersdorff offered the composer a substantial sum to write a new symphony for him. Beethoven had been working on what later became his Fifth Symphony, and his first intention may have been to complete it in fulfilment of the Count’s commission. There are several theories about why, if so, he did not do this. According to George Grove, economic necessity obliged Beethoven to offer the Fifth (together with the Pastoral) jointly to Prince Lobkowitz and Count Razumovsky. or that the composer may not yet have felt ready to press on with “the radical and emotionally demanding Fifth”, Although Oppersdorff had paid for exclusive rights to the work for its first six months, his orchestra did not give the first performance. The symphony was premiered in March 1807 at a private concert in Vienna at the town house of Prince Lobkowitz, another of Beethoven’s patrons. The first public performance was at the Burgtheater in Vienna in April 1808. The orchestral parts were published in March 1809, but the full score was not printed until 1821. The manuscript, which was for a time owned by Felix Mendelssohn,

Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition#

The 5th Symphony falls squarely within what is called Beethoven’s “Middle Period” of composition, starting from about 1803, when Beethoven chose to launch new works of unprecedented scope and ambition, often emphasizing the musical portrayal of heroism, as in the 3rd Symphony and the opera Fidelio. The process of composition for the 5th Symphony was lengthy and had frequent interruptions; the first sketches date from 1804, following the completion of the 3rd Symphony. Beethoven repeatedly interrupted his work on the 5th to prepare other compositions, including the original version of Fidelio, the Appassionata piano sonata, the three Razumovsky string quartets, the Violin Concerto, the Fourth Piano Concerto, the Fourth Symphony, and the Mass in C. The 5th and 6th Symphonies were completed simultaneously during 1807–1808, and both premiered at the same concert. Beethoven was in his mid-30s during this time; his personal life was troubled by increasing deafness. In the world at large, the period was marked by the Napoleonic Wars, political turmoil in Austria, and the occupation of Vienna by Napoleon’s troops in 1805. The symphony was written at his lodgings at the Pasqualati House in Vienna.

Symphony No. 6 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Beethoven was a lover of nature who spent a great deal of his time on walks in the country. He frequently left Vienna to work in rural locations. He said that the Sixth Symphony is “more the expression of feeling than painting”, a point underlined by the title of the first movement. The first sketches of the Pastoral Symphony appeared in 1802. It was composed simultaneously with Beethoven’s more famous Fifth Symphony. Both symphonies were premiered in a long and under-rehearsed concert in the Theater at der Wien in Vienna on 22 December 1808. Frank A. D’Accone suggested that Beethoven borrowed the programmatic ideas (a shepherd’s pipe, birds singing, streams flowing, and a thunderstorm) for his five-movement narrative layout from Le Portrait musical de la Nature ou Grande Symphonie, which was composed by Justin Heinrich Knecht (1752–1817) in 1784.

Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

When Beethoven began composing his Symphony No. 7, Napoleon was planning his campaign against Russia. After Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (and possibly Symphony No. 5 as well), Symphony No. 7 seems to be another one of his musical confrontations with Napoleon, this time in the context of the European wars of liberation from years of Napoleonic domination. Beethoven’s life at this time was marked by a worsening hearing loss, which led him to use “conversation notebooks” to communicate.

Symphony No. 8 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition, premiere and reception#

The work was begun in the summer of 1812, immediately after the completion of the Seventh Symphony. The work took Beethoven only four months to complete, The concert also included Wellington’s Victory and the premiere of Beethoven’s song “Tremate, empi, tremate.” Beethoven was growing increasingly deaf at the time, but nevertheless insisted on leading the premiere. Reportedly, “the orchestra largely ignored his ungainly gestures and followed the principal violinist instead.” When asked by his pupil Carl Czerny why the Eighth was less popular than the Seventh, Beethoven is said to have replied, “because the Eighth is so much better.” A critic wrote that “the applause it received was not accompanied by that enthusiasm which distinguishes a work which gives universal delight; in short—as the Italians say—it did not create a furor.” According to Czerny, Beethoven was angered by this reception. George Bernard Shaw, in his capacity as a music critic, agreed with Beethoven’s assessment of the work, writing that “In all subtler respects the Eighth is better than the Seventh .” More recently, Jan Swafford has described the Eighth as “a beautiful, brief, ironic look backward to Haydn and Mozart.” Martin Geck has commented on the authenticity of the Eighth, noting that it contains “all the relevant hallmarks, including motivic and thematic writing notable for its advanced planning, defiant counterpoint, furious cross-rhythms, sudden shifts from piano to forte, and idyllic and even hymnlike episodes.”

Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition#

The Philharmonic Society of London originally commissioned the symphony in 1817. Beethoven made preliminary sketches for the work later that year with the key set as D minor and vocal participation also forecast. The main composition work was done between autumn, 1822 and the completion of the autograph in February, 1824. The symphony emerged from other pieces by Beethoven that, while completed works in their own right, are also in some sense forerunners of the future symphony. The Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, composed in 1808, basically an extended piano concerto movement, brings in a choir and vocal soloists for the climax. The vocal forces sing a theme first played instrumentally, and this theme is reminiscent of the corresponding theme in the Ninth Symphony. Going further back, an earlier version of the Choral Fantasy theme is found in the song “Gegenliebe” (“Returned Love”) for piano and high voice, which dates from before 1795. According to Robert W. Gutman, Mozart’s Offertory in D minor, “Misericordias Domini”, K. 222, written in 1775, contains a melody that foreshadows “Ode to Joy”.

The Consecration of the House (overture)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition history#

Previously, in 1811, Beethoven had written The Ruins of Athens (Die Ruinen von Athen), Op. 113, incidental music for August von Kotzebue’s play of the same name, for the dedication of a new theatre in Pest. This same work was to be performed again in 1822 for the new theatre in Vienna. However, Carl Meisl, the commissioner of the Royal Imperial Navy, changed the texts of numbers 1, 6, 7, and 8 of Beethoven’s work. Beethoven was not pleased with the revision, and felt that the new text did not fit the music. Meisl also introduced a section, Wo sich die Pulse, for which Beethoven wrote new music (WoO 98). Beethoven wrote a completely new overture for the work, altered some of the musical numbers, and added others, including a final chorus with violin solo and ballet. This new overture is known as The Consecration of the House Overture. (The extra incidental pieces constitute the entire work.) In an anecdote from Beethoven’s biographer Anton Schindler, the two were on a walk during the composer’s health trip to Baden when he stopped to write down two themes for the overture. The influence of Handel on this specific work is displayed in a recount of the conversation by Schindler: “He explained that he planned to develop one of them the themes freely, and the other in the formal style of Handel”. Musically, the ‘free development’ isn’t blatantly prevalent, but the influences from Handel are evident in the fugato theme of the allegro section (albeit with a huge amount of Beethoven’s own invention characterizing it as well). In 1826, the year before he died, Beethoven had been enthusiastically studying Saul, and wrote to a friend: “In future I shall write in the style of my master Handel one oratorio every year, or a concerto for some string or wind instrument – that is, when I’ve finished my Tenth Symphony and my Requiem”. He composed none of these works (although a hypothetical reconstruction of the Tenth was assembled by Barry Cooper in 1988), but perhaps The Consecration of the House gives us an insight into what these oratorios and other Handelian compositions would have sounded like.

The Creatures of Prometheus

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Viganò was tasked with presenting a work to the Archduchess Maria Theresa at the Vienna Court Theatre (Burgtheater), and chose the subject matter of Prometheus in an allegorical sense. While Viganò usually composed his own music for his performances, he felt this performance was far too important and asked Beethoven to compose instead. The ballet was written in two acts, with Beethoven creating an overture, an introduction, fifteen numbers, and a finale.

The Hymn of Joy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Van Dyke wrote this poem in 1907 while staying at the home of Williams College president Harry Augustus Garfield. He was serving as a guest preacher at Williams at the time. He told his host that the local Berkshire Mountains had been his inspiration. Van Dyke wrote of this hymn: These verses are simple expressions of common Christian feelings and desires in this present time—hymns of today that may be sung together by people who know the thought of the age, and are not afraid that any truth of science will destroy religion, or any revolution on earth overthrow the kingdom of heaven. Therefore this is a hymn of trust and joy and hope. “This hymn is generally considered by hymnologists to be one of the most joyous expressions of hymn lyrics in the English language.”

The Ruins of Athens

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Instrumentation#

The incidental music is scored for these instruments: ;Woodwinds: :1 piccolo :2 flutes :2 oboes :2 clarinets in B, A and C :2 bassoons :1 contrabassoon ;Brass: :4 horns :2 trumpets :3 trombones (alto, tenor, and bass) ;Percussion :timpani :triangle :cymbals :bass drum :castanets ;Strings: :violins I, II :violas :cellos :contrabasses

Action of the play#

The goddess Athena, awakening from a thousand-year sleep (No. 2), overhears two Greek slaves lamenting foreign occupation (Duet, No. 3). She is deeply distressed at the ruined state of her city, a part of the Ottoman Empire (Nos. 4 & 5). Led by the herald Hermes, Athena joins Emperor Franz I at the opening of the theatre in Pest, where they assist at a triumph of the muses Thalia and Melpomene. Between their two busts, Zeus erects another of Franz, and Athena crowns it. The Festspiel ends with a chorus pledging renewed ancient Hungarian loyalty.

Three Equals for four trombones, WoO 30

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

The title of Beethoven’s work, ‘Drei Equale für vier Posaunen’ is derived from the mediaeval Latin musical term ad equales or a voce (or a parte) equali. It designates two or more performers who sustain an equally difficult and important part (’equal voices’) in either vocal or instrumental music, written for a particular restricted range of voice parts. The term gained popularity during the 16th century among writers on music theory. Equal-voiced music is contrasted with pieces written a voce piena, or for a ‘full range of voices’. The singular and plural forms in various languages are confusingly similar: *Mediaeval Latin: ‘aequale’ (plural ’tres aequali’) *English: ’equal’ (plural ’three equals’) *German: ‘Equal’ (plural ‘drei Equale’) *Italian ‘uguale’ (plural ’tre uguali’) Although the German word ‘Posaune’ is usually rendered as ’trombone’ in English, it has also been used historically to refer to slide trumpets, deriving from Middle High German busīne, busūne, ’trumpet’, from Old French buisine, busine, from Latin bucina, Italian buccina. ‘Posaune’ can be generally applied to brass instruments, as in ‘Posaunenchor’ (brass band).

Three Piano Sonatas, WoO 47 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

No. 1 in E major#

The second theme of the first movement closely resembles part of the first, so that in the recapitulation the first theme can be omitted entirely without its absence being noticed. One of the main characteristics of Beethoven’s thought is evident in this sonata: the development of a multitude of contrasting motifs and characters from a basic cell. The liveliness of the Rondo reveals Beethoven’s evident pleasure in his own virtuosity. : \new PianoStaff > > bes8-. ees8-. f8-. > > > > > > > > > > \slurDotted > > \slurSolid > ees8 ees8 ees8 ees8\prall( d8) d4 bes8 \rest \grace bes'16 aes8\p \grace g16 f8 \grace ees16 d8 d8(\f ees8) ees4 bes8\rest \grace c'16 bes8\p \grace aes16 g8 \grace f16 ees8 ees8\startTrillSpan(\f d8)\stopTrillSpan d4. \grace bes'16 aes8\p \grace g16 f8 \grace ees16 d8 ees8-.\ff g16( f16) ees8-. d8-. c8-. ees16( d16) c8-. bes8-. aes8-. c16( bes16) aes8-. g8-. f8-. aes16( g16) f8-. ees8-. \grace d16 bes'8 d,16( ees16) f16( ees16 d16 c16) bes2 \new Staff \relative c \clef bass \key ees \major > \clef treble bes16 aes'16 f16 aes16 bes,16 aes'16 f16 aes16 bes,16 aes'16 f16 aes16 bes,16 aes'16 f16 aes16 bes,16 g'16 ees16 g16 bes,16 g'16 ees16 g16 bes,16 g'16 ees16 g16 bes,16 g'16 ees16 g16 bes,16 aes'16 f16 aes16 bes,16 aes'16 f16 aes16 bes,16 aes'16 f16 aes16 bes,16 aes'16 f16 aes16 ees8-. g16( f16) ees8-. d8-. c8-. ees16( d16) c8-. bes8-. \clef bass aes8-. c16( bes16) aes8-. g8-. f8-. aes16( g16) f8-. ees8-. \grace d16 bes'8 d,16( ees16) f16( ees16 d16 c16) bes2 » :Beginning of No. 1 in E major

Tremate, empi, tremate

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

- , Hannelore Kuhse (soprano), Eberhard Büchner (tenor), Siegfried Vogel (bass); Arthur Apelt conducting the Staatskapelle Berlin (1972)

Trio for piano, flute and bassoon (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

According to scholar Barry Cooper, Beethoven composed the work around 1786, when he was 15 years old. The intended recipient is supposed to be the Count Friedrich Von Westerholt, an amateur bassoonist, whose daughter Anna Maria was taking piano lessons from Beethoven.

Music#

The composition is scored for piano, flute, and bassoon. It is in three movements: A typical performance takes around 26 minutes.

References#

Notes Sources * * * * * *

Trio for two Oboes and English Horn (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

This trio consists of four movements:

External links#

*Arrangement for two violins and viola, published by G. Henle Verlag. * *

Triple Concerto (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Beethoven’s early biographer Anton Schindler claimed that the Triple Concerto was written for Beethoven’s royal pupil, the Archduke Rudolf of Austria. The Archduke, who became an accomplished pianist and composer under Beethoven’s tutelage, was only in his mid-teens at this time, and it seems plausible that Beethoven’s strategy was to create a showy but relatively easy piano part that would be backed up by two more mature and skilled soloists. However, there is no record of Rudolf ever performing the work, The Triple Concerto was publicly premiered in May 1808, at the summer Augarten concerts in Vienna. The violinist in the premiere was Carl August Seidler, and the cellist was Nikolaus Kraft, who was known for “technical mastery” and a “clear, rich tone”. The concerto was Beethoven’s first work to use advanced cello techniques. In the published version, the concerto bore a dedication to a different patron: Prince Lobkowitz. A piano trio version of the concerto was arranged by Carl Reinecke.

Turkish March (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In popular culture#

Franz Liszt wrote a version for piano and orchestra in 1837 entitled “Fantasie über Motiven aus Beethovens Ruinen von Athen” (S. 122). He also wrote a piano transcription titled “Capriccio alla turca sur des motifs de Beethoven” (S. 388) in 1846. Anton Rubinstein arranged a popular piano version of the march in B major. Sergei Rachmaninoff further arranged Rubinstein’s version, heard on piano roll (1928). An electronic version known as “The Elephant Never Forgets” from the 1970 album “Moog Indigo” by electronic music pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey was used as the theme for the Mexican TV series El Chavo del Ocho, without authorization and without being credited to its author. On 16 November 2009, Perrey, along with Kingsley, Sylvain Meunier, and the heirs of Harry Breuer, Frances, Anthony, and Robert, sued Televisa for using their melodies without permission, Xenon Pictures, Lions Gate, Univision, and Galavisión were also involved in the lawsuits. However, Chespirito was not directly involved in the lawsuit. In 2010, Perrey and the defendants reached a legal settlement in which the defendants had to pay for the use of the melodies “The Elephant Never Forgets”, “Baroque Hoedown” (used as the ending theme in Chespirito’s parallel TV series El Chapulín Colorado), and “Country Rock Polka” (used to a lesser extent in other of his productions of that time). In addition, Perrey and Kingsley’s credit is now prominently mentioned on any El Chavo del Ocho promotional materials.

Two Episodes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Lindberg composed Two Episodes as both a standalone piece and as a concert opener for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, for which it was first commissioned. Before the world premiere, Lindberg reflected, “If I was really pressed to choose just one composer from the classical canon it would have to be Beethoven because he stands out as an example of what it is to be a contemporary composer – just as much as figures like Xenakis in my own lifetime. I’ve re-examined his late works with fresh ears in preparing for this composition, to create music that leads naturally to the amazing opening of the Ninth Symphony but which can also have an independent life of its own.” Though Two Episodes does not directly quote the Ninth Symphony, the work is peppered with references to Beethoven’s music. Lindberg remarked, “For obvious reasons, I’ve kept well away from all references to Beethoven’s finale which has to leap out on its own terms.” He continued, “Rather than quotations, I’ve embedded a number of Beethovenian allusions, so there are clear aural links, and the orchestration matches the symphony, so it will have a period colour without harp, piano, and exotic percussion that feature in many of my works. The harmonic world will naturally be much later than Beethoven’s, though it is the outcome of where he was heading.”

Variations in E-flat major (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Recordings#

Beaux Arts Trio, 1965 (Philips)
Daniel Barenboim piano, Pinchas Zukerman violin, Jacqueline du Pré cello, 1969 (EMI Classics)
Wilhelm Kempff piano, Henryk Szeryng violin, Pierre Fournier cello, 1969 (Deutsche Grammophon)
Isaac Stern, Leonard Rose, Eugene Istomin, 1970 (Columbia Records)
Borodin Trio, 1984 Chandos
Vladimir Ashkenazy piano, Itzhak Perlman violin, Lynn Harrell cello, 1986 (EMI Classics)
Guarneri Trio Prague, 1999 (Harmonia Mundi)
The Florestan Trio, 2004 (Hyperion Records)
Trio Wanderer, 2012 (Harmonia Mundi)

External links#

*, piano: Wilhelm Kempff, violin: Henryk Szeryng, cello: Pierre Fournier; from Klaviertrios, vol. 9, Deutsche Grammophon (1969)

Vestas Feuer

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Emanuel Schikaneder (1751–1812) was not just a librettist but also an actor, singer, playwright, and theater director. He had already achieved a form of immortality in 1791 by authoring the libretto of (and generally sponsoring) Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, a tremendous success at its premiere and still an important part of his company’s repertoire. According to Lockwood, The Magic Flute was an opera that Beethoven “loved … and knew like the back of his hand”. In 1801, Schikaneder’s company had abandoned the Theater auf der Wieden in which The Magic Flute had premiered, and moved into a larger and grander theater he had built, the Theater an der Wien. This theater was well suited to Schikaneder’s preference for theatrical spectacle, with elaborate scenery and stage effects. The theater opened with an opera about Alexander the Great, composed by Franz Teyber; the libretto had been offered by Schikaneder first to Beethoven, who had declined it. By 1803, the year of his Beethoven collaboration, the 51-year-old Schikaneder was already seeing his career go into decline (ultimately, it collapsed entirely), but at the time he was still an important figure in the Viennese theatrical and musical scene. “Vestas Feuer” was his last libretto. For Beethoven, 1803 was a pivotal year. He was 32, and during the eleven years he had spent in Vienna he had already established himself as a leading composer. He had recently begun an important shift in his compositional methods and goals, a shift that emphasized the musical portrayal of heroism and led to what today is often called his Middle Period. Already completed were important new works such as the Op. 31 piano sonatas, and on his desk were massive new works representing the Middle Period in full flower: the Waldstein Sonata and the Third Symphony.

Violin Concerto (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Genesis#

Beethoven had previously written a number of pieces for violin and orchestra. At some point in 1790–2, before his musical maturity, he began a Violin Concerto in C, of which only a fragment of the first movement survives. Whether the work, or even the first movement, had ever been completed is not known. In any event, it was neither performed nor published. Later in the 1790s, Beethoven had completed two Romances for violin – first the Romance in F and later the Romance in G. These works show a strong influence from the French school of violin playing, exemplified by violinists such as Giovanni Battista Viotti, Pierre Rode and Rodolphe Kreutzer. The two Romances, for instance, are in a similar style to slow movements of concerti by Viotti. This influence can also be seen in the D major Concerto; the ‘martial’ opening with the beat of the timpani follows the style of French music at the time, while the prevalence of figures in broken sixths and broken octaves closely resembles elements of compositions by Kreutzer and Viotti.

Violin Sonata in A major (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

, performed by Rachel Barton Pine

Violin Sonata No. 1 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Recordings#

Fritz Kreisler (violin), Franz Rupp (piano)
Yehudi Menuhin (violin), Wilhelm Kempff (piano)
Itzhak Perlman (violin), Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano)
Kristóf Baráti (violin), Klára Würtz (piano)
Leonidas Kavakos (violin), Enrico Pace (piano)
Pamela Frank (violin), Claude Frank (piano)
David Oistrakh (violin), Lev Oborin (piano)
Jascha Heifetz (violin), Emmanuel Bay (piano)
Alina Ibragimova (violin), Cédric Tiberghien (piano)

External links#

Performance of Violin Sonata No. 1 by Corey Cerovsek (violin) and Paavali Jumppanen (piano) from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format
List of works by Beethoven with dates, keys and internal movement keys including for example that for opus 12/2.

Violin Sonata No. 10 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure and analysis#

It has four movements: The final movement was written with Pierre Rode’s style in mind. Shortly before completing the work, Beethoven wrote to the Archduke Rudolph “… I did not make great haste in the last movement for the sake of mere punctuality, the more because, in writing it, I had to consider the playing of Rode. In our finales we like rushing and resounding passages, but this does not please R and — this hinders me somewhat.” As a result, the finale was a set of seven variations and a short coda on a cheerful theme. The work takes approximately 27 minutes to perform. It is described as the loveliest of his violin sonatas, with “calm, ethereal beauty” and “a searching test for the players. Everything must be right, from the very first trill”. The opening trill is an integral part of the subject.

Violin Sonata No. 5 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origin#

Beethoven initially intended to pair this work with his Violin Sonata No. 4, Opus 23, and the two sonatas complement each other in both key and character. However, the two were not published together and thus have different opus numbers. The reason for the separation is unknown.

Structure#

The work is in four movements: The entire sonata takes between 23–26 minutes to perform.

Violin Sonata No. 7 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

Performance of Violin Sonata No. 7 by Corey Cerovsek (violin) and Paavali Jumppanen (piano) from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format
- this is for the Allegro con brio
- this is for the Finale

Violin Sonata No. 8 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The sonata has three movements: This sonata is characteristic of early/middle Beethoven in its solid sonata structure, just beginning to get adventurous in syncopation, with some extraordinary off beat sforzandi. The work takes approximately 18 minutes to perform.

Notable recordings#

Famous recordings of the sonata include one by Fritz Kreisler with Sergei Rachmaninoff at the piano.

Violin Sonata No. 9 (Beethoven)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition#

In the composer’s 1803 sketchbook, the work was titled “Sonata per il Pianoforte ed uno violino obligato in uno stile molto concertante come d’un concerto” (“Sonata for the piano and one obligatory violin in a highly concertante style like a concerto”). The final movement of the work was originally written for another, earlier, sonata for violin and piano by Beethoven, the Sonata No. 6, Op. 30, No. 1, in A major. Beethoven gave no key designation to the work. Although the work is usually titled as being in A major, the Austrian composer and music theoretician Gerhard Präsent has published articles indicating that the main key is in fact A minor.

Wellington's Victory

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition, premiere and reception#

After the Battle of Vitoria, Beethoven’s friend Johann Nepomuk Maelzel talked him into writing a composition commemorating this battle that he could notate on his ‘mechanical orchestra’, the panharmonicon, a contraption that was able to play many of the military band instruments of the day. However, Beethoven wrote a composition for large band (100 musicians), so large that Maelzel could not build a machine large enough to perform the music. As an alternative, Beethoven rewrote the Siegessinfonie for orchestra, added a first part and renamed the work Wellington’s Victory. The piece was first performed in Vienna on 8 December 1813 at a concert to benefit Austrian and Bavarian soldiers wounded at the Battle of Hanau, with Beethoven conducting. It was immediately popular with concertgoers. Also on the programme were the premiere of his Symphony No. 7 and a work performed by Maelzel’s mechanical trumpeter. This performance, which featured 100 musicians, has been noted as being particularly loud. Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim described it as a “sonic assault on the listener” and the “beginning of a musical arms race for ever louder… symphonic performance”, quoting an unnamed attendee as remarking that the performance was “seemingly designed to make the listener as deaf as its composer”. Musicologist Frédéric Döhl described performances of this work as “not like an evening at the Berlin Philharmonie, but rather like a modern-day rock concert”.

Will You Be There

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

In the documentary Living with Michael Jackson, Jackson said that “Will You Be There” was one of several songs he wrote while at the Giving Tree, located on his Neverland Ranch property. “Heal the World”, also from Dangerous, was written at the same location. In a 2016 interview with /Film, Free Willy director Simon Wincer stated that the idea of including a Michael Jackson song in the film originated when the film’s music budget increased following positive reception to an advance screening. It was hoped that Jackson would write and record an entirely new song for the film, but he was unable to do so in time for the film’s release. “Will You Be There” was featured in the film at the suggestion of Jerry L. Greenberg, the president of Jackson’s record label MJJ Music.

Yikhav Kozak za Dunai

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The song was first published in Saint Petersburg in 1790 and became popular both in the Russian Empire and in Western Europe, where it was translated into French and German. In 1827 Mykhailo Maksymovych published the song in his collection, adding a sixth stanza.

Compositions#

Franciszek Lessel: “Jichaw Kozak z za Dunaju”, Eight Variations in a minor on a Russian Theme for piano, Op. 15, no. 1. 1814 (earliest known example of “Minka” reception in Western professional music)
Ludwig van Beethoven: “Schöne Minka, ich muss scheiden!”, Lieder verschiedener Völker (Songs of Various Nations), no. 16. 1816
Ludwig van Beethoven: “Schöne Minka”, Ten National Airs with Variations for Flute and Piano, Op. 107, no. 7. 1818–19
Anton Eberl: Variations sur un thème russe (for cello and piano), Op. 17
Ferdinand Ries: Variations in A minor on a Cossak Song, Op. 40/1
Vincenz Schuster: Drei Stücke für Guitarren-Violoncello und Guitarre: II. Moderato
Sigismund Neukomm: Clarinet Quintet in B-flat major, Op. 8: III. Poco adagio. Thème Russe con variazioni
Carl Maria von Weber: Nine Variations in C minor on a Russian Theme “Schöne Minka”, Op. 40, J. 179 for piano
Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Adagio, Variations and Rondo in A major, Op. 78 “Schöne Minka” for flute cello and piano
Spike Jones recorded a swing version of “Minka” in the 1940s in the United States
Yury Kazakov and Willard Palmer: Variations on a Ukrainian Theme, Їхав козак за Дунай

Music#

\new Staff \time 2/4 \clef treble \set Staff.midiInstrument = #“flute” \tempo Andante 4 = 85 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t a8\p a8 a8 a8 a8 c8 b8 a8 gis8 gis8 gis8 gis8 gis8 b8 a8 gis8 a8 a8 a8 a8 a8 c8 b8 a8 gis8 e8 e8 gis8 a4 b'4\rest c8 c8 c8 c8 c8 e8 d8 c8 b8 b8 b8 b8 b8 d8 c8 b8 a8 a8 a8 a8 a8 c8 b8 a8 gis8 e8 e8 gis8 a4 b'4\rest

Yorckscher Marsch

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

From the name of the Prussian General Yorck, Beethoven’s march is also known as Marsch des Yorck’schen Korps (Armeemarschsammlung II, 103, Bundeswehr (Armeemarschsammlung II, 37, Königlich Preußisch) and Heeresmarsch II, 5), was composed in 1808 in F major as a “Marsch für die böhmische Landwehr”. Since Prussia and the Prussian Army played a paramount role in the German states, the march is often played and is one of the most important German military marches. It is the traditional march of the Wachbataillon, the German Bundeswehrs elite drill unit, and is also played as the first march at the Grand Tattoo (Großer Zapfenstreich) and it was a march of the East German armed forces. Outside of Germany, this march is also played in the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Zärtliche Liebe

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Though Alexander Thayer put the date of composition to be 1797–98 in Thayer’s Life of Beethoven, recent research has found that "" was probably composed in 1795. Commentator John Palmer offers historical background on the work: The year 1795 was an important turning point in Beethoven’s career. He had lived in Vienna for over two years, studied with Haydn and others, and, most importantly, had insinuated himself into the homes and hearts of the nobility. He had become something of a “hot commodity” among Viennese aristocrats, and his music was becoming popular, as evinced in the publication of his Trios, op. 1 in 1795.

Zur Namensfeier

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Instrumentation#

The overture is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two soprano clarinets in C, two bassoons, two trumpets in C, four French horns in C, timpani in C and G, and strings.

External links#

- - , Vienna Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado conducting