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All Beethoven
November 24, 2007
Click on the  to hear the musical examples.
Ludwig van Beethoven
1770-1827 |
Overture to
Goethe's Egmost, Op.84
Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827
The German poet and polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote the historical drama Egmont between 1775 and 1787. Based on actual events – although with considerable poetic license – the play conveys Goethe’s idealism and passion for political and individual freedom. The play concerns Lamoral, Count of Egmont, a Dutch patriot and a Catholic who attempted, unsuccessfully, to attenuate the power of the Inquisition instituted in the Netherlands, which was under Spanish rule during the mid sixteenth century. Caught between the Dutch resistance and his loyalty to King Philip II, Egmont was imprisoned and hanged for treason.
Goethe's Egmont bears only scant similarity to the historical Count of Egmont. In the play, Egmont organizes a resistance movement against the Spanish forces who invade and occupy the Netherlands led by the ruthless Duke of Alva. Egmont is cast as a martyr for freedom of thought, managing to rouse the populace to revolt as he is about to be executed.
In 1809 the director of the Imperial Theater in Vienna commissioned Beethoven to compose music to accompany Goethe's tragedy. Sharing the ideals of the Enlightenment with the playwright, Beethoven went to work enthusiastically. In addition to the overture he wrote nine pieces of incidental music, including two soprano arias. He also added a narrator to bridge the gaps in the story and thus, according to Goethe, "...it can be performed as an oratorio." Goethe was pleased with Beethoven's efforts, commenting, "Beethoven has followed my intentions with admirable genius."
The Overture, which quickly acquired a life of its own, captures the essence of the drama. It opens with threatening minor chords symbolizing the Spanish brutality, answered pleadingly by the oboe and upper woodwinds, representing the Dutch suffering.  The central allegro theme in 3/4 time has no specific narrative significance but rather, reflects the general dramatic tension, especially the sighing appoggiaturas in the violins. The Overture ends with the “Victory Symphony,” the final section of the incidental music, signifying Egmont's call for the Dutch uprising that eventually drove the Spanish out of the Low Countries.
Piano Concerto No.3 IN c minor, Op.37
Ludwig van Beethoven
Although the autograph of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in c minor is dated 1800, sketches date back to as early as 1796, and the composer made revisions up to the date of publication. The premiere was at an Akademie (concert) of Beethoven’s works in April 1803, together with that of the Second Symphony and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives.
But even then the manuscript was not completed. Beethoven was the soloist and asked his friend, the young conductor Ignaz von Seyfried, to turn pages for him. Here is Seyfried’s description: “...but heaven help me! – that was easier said than done. I saw almost nothing but empty pages; at the most, on one page or another a few Egyptian hieroglyphs wholly unintelligible to me were scribbled down to serve as a clue for him; for he played almost all of the solo parts from memory since, as was so often the case, he had not had the time to set it all down on paper.” The Concerto was finally published in 1804.
The key of the Concerto, c minor, is also that of the Fifth Symphony and of the last Piano Sonata and has been considered to be Beethoven’s Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) key. This literary and musical movement, whose heyday occurred during Beethoven’s early childhood, reflected the revolutionary attitudes and stormy emotions of the time. But for Beethoven emotional upheaval was a constant throughout his life.
The Concerto’s first movement opens with a powerful statement of one of the composer’s deceptively simple musical ideas: a rumination on a triad, first as an arpeggio, then filled in with a descending scale. The contrast with the second theme, a graceful melody with expressive leaps and appoggiaturas, is, therefore, all the greater. In this concerto Beethoven still adhered strictly to the tradition of the classical concerto, in which a long orchestral introduction precedes the entrance of the soloist; in the last two piano concertos, the soloist plunges in from the start. At a later date, probably in 1809, Beethoven wrote a cadenza for the movement for his patron and pupil Archduke Rudolf. There is an unusual and mysterious transition at the end of the cadenza back to the orchestra.
The gentle largo second movement is in sharp contrast to the first, a contrast accentuated by the surprisingly distant key of E Major. It contains a lovely dialogue between flute and bassoon, accompanied by the pizzicato strings and piano arpeggios. The Concerto ends with a Rondo and an unusual coda that suddenly takes off with a transformation of the main theme in triple meter, ending in C major.
Symphony No.7 IN A major, Op.92
Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827
"My kingdom is the air. Just like the wind, tones whirl around and so
often eddy in my soul. For my instrumental music I need an orchestra of about
sixty good musicians. I am convinced that only such a number can bring out the
quickly changing gradations in performance" - thus said Beethoven around
the time of the first performance of his Seventh Symphony.
He got his wish. The premiere, on December 8, 1813, was a gala benefit concert
to aid the wounded of the latest battles against Napoleon. Also on the program
was Wellington's Victory (the "Battle Symphony") and numerous smaller
works. Beethoven–although nearly completely deaf–conducted, and a
collection of the most important musical celebrities were in the orchestra:
Louis Spohr, Domenico Dragonetti and Ignaz Schuppanzigh played in the strings;
Giacomo Meyerbeer and Johann Nepomuck Hummel played the timpani; Ignaz Moscheles
played the cymbals, and even old Antonio Salieri was there, directing the percussion
section.*
Each movement of the Symphony is dominated by persistent rhythmic motive which –
especially in the second movement – is equal in importance the melodic content
of the themes. Richard Wagner described the Seventh Symphony as "the apotheosis
of dance in its loftiest aspects." The story goes that he once attempted
to demonstrate this dance to the accompaniment of Liszt's piano playing.
The lengthy slow introduction, featuring some of the repertory’s loveliest
oboe solos, belies the mood of the symphony to follow.  The lively 6/8 rhythm
actually consists of a single complex theme held together by an underlying dotted
rhythm in the accompaniment. and The pulse extends for the entire movement and is only occasionally interrupted
by a special musical articulation.
The theme of second movement is minimal, a 4/4 ostinato consisting primarily
of repeated pitches over which Beethoven adds counter-melodies and increases
the orchestration to build emotional tension. and A contrasting second section of the movement breaks out into a series of new
melodies in the relative major key but retaining the pulse. Beethoven’s innovative use of the rhythmic pulse in this movement influenced
the Romantic composers that followed, serving as a model for Schubert in his
great C Major Symphony.
The scherzo, in 3/4, is defined by driving quarter notes, dynamic contrasts
and shifting rhythms. The trio, with its legato wind melody, provides the expected contrast, breaking
away from the rhythmic pulse of the scherzo.
Musicologist Sir Donald Tovey described the finale as “A triumph of Bacchic
fury.” The rondo theme, with its emphatic timpani part, resembles a stomping
peasant dance–admittedly refined for the occasion. But this movement is built on variety and contrast, as each episode contrasts
sharply with the rondo theme by setting up its own defining rhythms. and
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* Louis Spohr (1784-1859) was one of Paris’s most noted opera composers. Domenico Dragonetti (1763-1846) was a virtuoso double bass player and composer. Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829) was a famous Italian guitar virtuoso and composer. Ignaz Schuppanzigh (1776-1830) was an Austrian violinist, who headed a string quartet for whom Beethoven wrote the three Op.59 quartets. Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1776-1837) was a composer and pianist remembered mostly for his clarinet compositions. Pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870) was a famous interpreter and editor of Beethoven’s music. And former court composer to the Hapsburg emperors, composer Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) is familiar to music lovers for the fictional account of his rivalry with Mozart in the film Amadeus.
Copyright © Elizabeth and Joseph Kahn 2007
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