Chapter 21 -- Ludwig van Beethoven

A dilemma: where does one properly put Beethoven? If we analyze and listen to his earliest music, it is as much a part of the Classical tradition as that of his famous teacher,Franz Joseph Haydn. His first compositions included the standard forms of sonatas, concerti, symphonies, string quartets, etc.

And, at the end of his life, he was still composing sonatas, concerti, symphonies, string quartets, etc.

However, if we try to pigeonhole his late music into the Classical style, it just doesn’t work. One of the most striking changes is that Beethoven's personality engulfs his music. Added to that, the harmonies, the technical difficulties, the unusual structures in his later compositions seem more appropriate to a much later era.

During the 19th century, the Romantic Era splintered off into two directions: one inspired by the strict discipline of the Classical Era, focusing on time-honored structure and forms—the traditionalists. The other was a truly innovative Romantic style where

Illustration 1: Excerpt of manuscript of Symphony No 9 in d minor byLudwig van Beethoven (courtesy of Petrucci Music Library)

formal structure took a back seat to freedom of expression—the music was the story of the artist's personal journey—the rebels. Not surprisingly, each side had contempt for theopposing viewpoint.

And. . . both of them trace their origins and inspiration to Ludwig van Beethoven.

How is it possible for one man to have that much influence on the next several generations of musicians?

It's a remarkable story and stands alone in the history of music. . . and this is the reason that Beethoven deserves his own chapter.

HIS STORY IN SYMPHONIES

Illustration 2: Fourth Movement of Symphony No 5 in C minor byLudwig van Beethoven

It's not mandatory to know the story of a composer's life in order to listen to his music, but sometimes knowing his back story adds a depth that aids in understanding of why the composer did what he did.

Unfortunately with Beethoven, this has difficulties. While a number of detailed biographies were written by Beethoven's contemporaries, modern research suggests that some of these authors were more than a little loose with the truth. Parts of the manuscripts are accurate, but we now know that some events have been fabricated wholesale. Generally, something that is inaccurate or inconsistent is worse than nothing at all—which is why many of the biographies of him are worse than useless.

What do we have, then, that can tell us a true story of his life and put his enormous talents in perspective?

One of them is a set of conversation books Beethoven used after he lost his hearing. If a visitor wanted to ask him questions, he would write his question in one of the books. Beethoven would read the question and then answer verbally. Unfortunately, as you can imagine, the material is quite one-sided and we’ll never know what his responses were.

However, the best answer can be found in his music. Unlike the biographies, it tells no lies. It is his pure unfiltered voice. Through it, we can follow the trail of his developmentinto one of the greatest and most influential minds in Western culture.

In contrast to much of the music business today, his music was not arranged, padded out,corrected, or exaggerated. There was no collaboration, no producer or arranger to come along and flesh out ideas. Minus a few relatively minor copying errors here or there, his published work is the pure raw thoughts and emotions that Beethoven experienced—andcommunicated. Beethoven’s manuscripts are definitive primary sources.

As we've seen earlier, notation is a storage device that preserves the meticulous detail of the parameters necessary to reconstruct the performance of a piece of music. However, itpreserves much more.

On a very basic level—and perhaps this is more relevant to the point of what music is allabout—a piece of music itself is a storage device for emotions. The notes, the rests, the harmonies, melodies, dynamics are simply the delivery mechanism for the thoughts and feelings of a human being.

It is similar to a computer program that executes a series of commands. However, instead of generating calculations, it generates a sequence of emotions that manipulate the listener through a pattern of feelings. As we've seen, we in the West tend to be very

specific with this emotional program; we are obsessed with the great detail of musical notation and to perform it exactly as written (and then argue endlessly about those details).

And, some psychologists and neurologists go even further. They argue that as motions can convey emotion (imagine someone walking into a room and slamming his briefcase down on the table—that's a very clear communication), it's perfectly logical that a wide variety of emotions are communicated in the motions a performer uses to play piano music. This is obviously something that only a performer would be able to experience.

There are many layers to a musical composition, but the emotions may well be the most important one. It’s also not just music that does this--on a very basic level, plays, films, books, etc. are also programs of emotions.

Beethoven composed in all of the common classical mediums during his life. It could just as easy to make the case to trace his life by way of his 17 string quartets or his 32 piano sonatas.

This chapter will focus on his nine symphonies for a number of reasons.

First, as a general body of music they are the most accessible of his major compositions, and the most popular (for example, an Amazon.com search for “Beethoven complete symphonies” gets almost 2,700 results).

Second, as musical statements they represent a group of work he labored over very seriously. For Beethoven and those that followed him, the symphony is a parallel to a novel by a writer – a very complex and involved work of art.

When Beethoven composed his first symphony, his work was very much in the classical model of his teacher, Franz Joseph Haydn. At his death in 1827, he had completely transformed the medium and had become the greatest innovator of his time. Nearly 200 years after his death, anyone who composes a piece of music called a symphony is still walking in the composer's footsteps.

Two centuries after his death, his symphonies remain the most popular and most performed of any composer. Herbert von Karajan, the most recorded conductor of the 20th century, recorded the complete symphonies four times on audio recordings. In addition, he filmed two more complete performances of the nine.

For orchestra conductors trying to establish a repuation, they are the gold standard upon which a performer’s reputation is measured.

A recent published collection of Beethoven's music fills out 85 cds—that's a lot of musicfor someone who only lived to age 57. What might be surprising is that for being such an innovator and a prolific composer, Beethoven often had difficulty getting his ideas to a point where he was satisfied with them, unlike his contemporaries.

Melodies seem to have flowed effortlessly out of Mozart—in every year of his adult life he singlehandedly composed more music than the Beatles did during their entire career.

Haydn's assertion that he sometimes had to get down on his knees to pray for musical inspiration often gets a chuckle out of musicians who know his tremendous output and wonder how one person could compose such an amount of music in one lifetime regardless of him claiming that he needed divine help.

We know from Beethoven's sketchbooks that he had no such luck. His music sometimes seems as if it had to be chiseled out of stone one note at a time. Beethoven worked intensely on pieces of music, sometimes taking years and revision after revision until he was satisfied with it.

Living to age 77, Haydn composed nearly 110 symphonies. Mozart died at age 35 and composed over 40 of them.

Beethoven died at age 57, composing only nine symphonies with sketches for a tenth left incomplete. Nine compared to 40 or 110? How is it that many consider this man to be the greatest symphonist who ever lived?

Unlike his predecessors, his music was not created for the purpose of light entertainmentfor nobility. This was a new era demanding different works from its creative artists. His intense revision process, coupled with a brilliantly creative imagination, (and a stubborn personality as witnessed in his music) refined ideas to a peak never seen before.

The early 19th century was a time when audiences were demanding a much more personal, individual vision. With composers now having the freedom—intellectual freedom as well as financial freedom—to compete with each other for the public's favor,all of those factors contributed to a somewhat smaller outputi.

The musical era starting in the early 19th century is often described as “The celebration

of the individual” and we can see this characteristic taking hold early in Beethoven's life and output. It was an intense era, an era full of promise and change.

Economics had changed to where the middle class had enough clout to be a factor in the music market. Public concerts were common and now a venue for an artist to earn serious amounts of money staging them. Beethoven became quite well known during hislifetime and died a comfortably wealthy man, due in part to being a ruthless businessman. The publication of his first opus (a set of piano trios) was successful enough to take care of his living expenses for an entire year (Barry Cooper, Beethoven, Oxford University Press, US)

And, there is also the factor of sheer luck. While Beethoven was enormously talented, hewas also fortunate to live in an era where his dynamic, personal, humorous, and sometimes rebellious style was what audiences were ready to hear. His personal tragedy of his hearing loss (and his resolve to overcome the damage), coupled with his strong political views was a perfect match for the zeitgeist of the era he lived in. Had he been born at a different time, we may still remember him as an outstanding musician and composer. It may be, though, that we wouldn’t be talking about him as one of the all time greats.

As noted at the beginning of this chapter, Ludwig van Beethoven is a challenge to classify. His earliest music is clearly Classical in its feel and structure. He lived the bulkof his life within the confines of what most historians would call the Classical Era. His orchestra was essentially the same as the orchestra used by Haydn and Mozart. The expansion of instruments and sizes of the sections were decades away.

And even with the same basic set of symphonic instruments, Beethoven’s late music is completely out of place in the early 1800s. His forms, harmonies, and musical ideas didn't just push the musical envelope of the time—it ripped the seams of the envelope. For decades after his death, music critics argued that he had lost his sanity. However as time passed, his "insanity" turned out to be his far-reaching vision and a creativity that was decades ahead of his time.

Composers who followed him found his footsteps to be giant. The first symphony of Brahms got the nickname "The Tenth", a reference to the fact that some critics felt it wasthe first symphony since Beethoven ninth (dating from 50 years earlier) that lived up to the standards of the great master. In every one of his own nine symphonies, Anton Bruckner took Beethoven's 9th symphony as a starting point. Gustav Mahler's 5th symphony begins with the three short/one long motif that permeates Beethoven's 5th symphony. Mahler also re-orchestrated Beethoven's symphonies, updating the scores to

the enlarged orchestra of the late 1800s in an acknowledgment that Beethoven seemed tobe writing for a medium that didn't exist yet.

It also helps to understand the time in which he lived.

Beethoven was born in 1770, into an era that was rapidly changing and becoming highlyfertile ground for political and social upheaval of the likes that had never been seen before.

A few centuries earlier, the Church had dominated all of society—especially music and the arts. In the Renaissance with the rise of humanism, in addition to the splintering of the Church during the Reformation, we see power (political and economic) shifting to the monarchy, creating the era of absolute monarchs.

An additional game changer was the first Industrial Revolution. The middle class began to gain unprecedented wealth and influence, a trend seen again in the Second Industrial Revolution that began in the late 1800s.

We see the end of rule by Divine Right echoed in Rousseau's Social Contract Theory, suggesting that there were certain rights that belonged to every human being and that government should be at the consent of the masses. We see "enlightened despots" such as Emperor Joseph II, who believed that his subjects should be treated humanely.

In 1776 a disorderly band of colonies in the New World decided enough was enough andofficially severed political ties with the powerful British Empire, choosing self-government and eventually creating a representative form of government that hadn't been seen for thousands of years.

In 1789, France followed the example of the United States, creating a political shock wave all over Europe.

It was an age of revolution; an age where the individual could believe that he was born with rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

A piece of music tells stories on many levels. In earlier centuries, music told the story of the Church and the total influence of God in society. Later, the music told story of the grandiosity of the nobility. Even later, in it we begin to hear logic, reason, and the celebration of the universal, the story of "Everyman".

Society—and, of course, music—then turned to celebrating the power of the individual.

This was the rise of the musical personality, the heroic artist giving his personal vision, telling his personal story. Members of his society had the personal and financial means to create a market for art and music that told the stories they wanted to hear.

Enter Beethoven.

Born into a musical family, Beethoven showed a tremendous musical talent at an early age. He was a child prodigy and began composing music early, although not on the levelof Mozart. His father recognized his son's talent and began exploiting the fact, taking theyoung child on tourii.

Tradition tells us that Mozart heard him play and made the statement, "Some day he willmake a noise in the world!", although modern scholars find no hard evidence that the two actually met.

His composition teachers included Antonio Salieri and Haydn--who found the young man impulsive and his compositions difficult to understand.

Even if they didn’t see eye to eye, Beethoven's first works are clearly in the mold of Haydn. However, a few distinct traits of his personality already begin to show through: arough edged humor, an energy, a drive—even to the point of obsessiveness—that begins to surface.

As far as we know, Beethoven always had a certain contempt for nobility and the concept of being born into privilege. On the other hand, he kept many ties to nobility and a number of them supported him financially.

When he was 19, a critical event happened at an impressionable time in his life—the French Revolution. For each of us, quite often in our adolescence, there are events that affect us for the rest of our lives. They determine how we will see things and react to them and are the standard to which we compare all future events. The French Revolutionwas an event that seems to have profoundly affected Beethoven.

This was not the only upheaval he was to experience. As early as his mid-20s, his life took a very tragic turn as he discovered that he was losing his hearing. Analyzing his description of the symptoms, modern scholars have not come to a definitive conclusion as to the cause. Among the suspected culprits was lead poisoning.

As he was simultaneously trying to establish his reputation as a composer, Beethoven was the most famous pianist throughout Europe, known for his legendary improvisational ability. For a performer knowing that he would eventually be unable to hear what he was playing, it was nearly as devastating as having an arm amputated.

In one of his writings known as the Heiligenstadt Testament, he even confessed to considering suicide. However, the young composer stated that he had decided to take Fate by the throat and continue working through his affliction. He would not let it win.

Regardless of anything his doctors could do, even supplying him with primitive hearing devices, within a couple of decades, he was completely deaf.

This is where the musical genius becomes the musical deity. From this world of silence, he composed the most powerful music of his life, and as many critics say, some of the finest and most powerful music composed in Western history.

The following section is a cursory analysis of his nine symphonies with some historical notes. It is recommended that the reader take the opportunity to listen to the works discussed here. There are numerous fine performances on YouTube, the Petrucci Music Library (imslp.org), and other locations on the internet.

SYMPHONIES 1 AND 2 -- THE EARLY PERIOD

Beethoven's two first symphonies are very much in the Classical mold of his teacher, Haydn. There is little sign of a feeling of struggle that characterizes his later music.

Symphony No. 1 in C Major

1. Adagio molto —Allegro con brio2. Andante cantabile con moto3. Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace4. Adagio—Allegro molto e vivace

First performed in 1800, Beethoven's first symphony is perfectly Classical in feel with the standard four movement framework: fast (with a slow introduction reminiscent of histeacher, Haydn), slow, medium, fast. The structures of the movements draw heavily from the sonata form, also a trademark of Haydn.There is also a good natured sense of humor in it with a few harmonic tricks. He may have gotten that from his teacher, Haydn, who occasionally indulged himself in mild musical pranks in his symphonies.

Symphony No. 2 in D major

1. Adagio molto, Allegro con brio2. Larghetto3. Scherzo: Allegro4. Allegro molto

The second symphony, first performed in 1803, also begins with a slow Haydenesqe introduction and the remainder of the symphony follows through in the pattern established by his Classical peers.

The "feel" of this one, though, is a little different. There is again an ebullient and sometimes impish sense of humor that pervades it. Compared with its predecessor, the second is filled with an unstoppable energy. Unlike the first which has a quiet entry, the second begins with two loud full orchestra notes quickly getting the listener’s attention.

The theme that begins fourth movement was a little shocking to purists at the time with awide jump in the intervals of its melody. There were a few harmonies that also were outside the norm as Beethoven was already asserting his personal stamp on his music—aprophesy of things to come.

Had Beethoven stopped composing here or at least continued in the same vein, he wouldhave left a legacy as having created one of the best, most dramatic—and yes, most fun—of Classical symphonies.

SYMPHONIES 3 THROUGH 7 -- THE MIDDLE PERIOD

Something seems to have happened between the creation of his second and third symphonies.

There is a phrase sometimes used to describe such a situation; "new wine in old wineskins". Prior to the use of bottles, wine was fermented in animal skins. New wineskins would be needed to store new wine as it fermented. They would have the flexibility to be able to expand with the fermentation of the wine. Putting new wine in old wineskins would cause them to explode.

Such a musical explosion takes place in his third symphony, first performed in 1804.

Symphony No. 3 in Eb major “Eroica”

1. Allegro con brio2. Marcia funebre: Adagio assai3. Scherzo: Allegro vivace4. Finale: Allegro molto

Beethoven dispenses with the slow and quiet introductory passage typical of his old teacher Haydn. It starts off with two fortissimo chords from the full orchestra (that would be right at home closing the movement) and immediately plows right into the firstmain theme which is introduced by the cellos. The scale of the movement is larger, grander, more complex with the creative touches and surprises that became a trademark of Beethoven. It ends in an extraordinary coda hammering home the main theme throughrepetition, with Beethoven adding more and more instruments until it becomes a heroic celebration of the theme.

The second movement is, of all things, a funeral march: grand, heroic, filled with twists and turns of mood almost like one remembering the complex life of a great man.

The third movement is no longer a minuet--it is a "scherzo", a fast romping good-natured movement. The final movement is an imaginative and large scale theme and variations (he must have had a liking for this melody because he used the same theme a number of times in other compositions).

The “Eroica” (meaning Heroic), as it came to be called, is almost twice as long as most of Haydn's symphonies. The treatment of the musical themes and the scope of the complexity and the drama he created were far beyond what anyone else had done up to that point. The triumph of the first movement giving way to the tragedy of a funeral march in the second movement is an example of the broad scale of his unique creative concept. Even though his orchestra is esssentially the same one that Haydn used, Beethoven's use of the orchestral instruments was unconventional.

There is a well-known story behind this “heroic” symphony. Fortunately, this one can becorroborated.

Napoleon Bonaparte had become known as the great liberator of Europe, and someone that Beethoven deeply admired. The accounts of Beethoven's life (that we can trust) suggest that he was obsessed with the ideals of freedom and human rights.

The symphony began life as "Sinfonia Bonaparte", a testament to his hero.

His plan did not end well.

In a solemn and opulent ceremony Napoleon Bonaparte narcissistically crowned himselfemperor. When word reached Beethoven, he was furious and came to the conclusion thatNapoleon was yet one more tyrant. He tore up the dedication page and scratched out the words "Sinfonia Bonaparte" so angrily that he ripped a hole in his manuscript.

The composer rededicated the symphony "to the memory of a great man"; perhaps with a personal meaning that it was to an ideal that only existed in his memory before reality sunk in.

Whatever the outcome, it was a very personal portrait.

A portrait of Napoleon? A little psychology tells us that’s not necessarily the case.

Many times, those we look up to as ideals are actually reflections of our own aspirations.In our heroes, we see ourselves.

If there was any need for a glimpse at the real Beethoven, it can be found in this symphony. Beethoven later redubbed the nickname, "Eroica". However, we have a pretty good case in concluding that the "hero" is Beethoven himself.

Starting with the third symphony he seemed to have alternated his symphonies. Some of them are intense dramatic musical statements--most of these are the odd numbered symphonies. Most of his even numbered symphonies tend to be a little gentler, a little more introspective, a little more conservative. Whether he planned it this way is unknown.

Symphony No. 4 in Bb Major

1. Adagio – Allegro vivace2. Adagio3. Allegro vivace4. Allegro ma non troppo

His fourth symphony sits between two great dramas--the heroic third and the bombastic fifth symphony. It starts softly and is almost a throwback to a classical style, but it has many of the characteristics of Beethoven's mature symphonic musical style. It has his unusual (and sometimes tricky to perform) rhythms and syncopations. It was given its

first public performance in 1807.

Regardless of its fresh innovations, nothing could have prepared his contemporaries for his fifth symphony.

Symphony No. 5 in C minor

1. Allegro con brio2. Andante con moto3. Scherzo Allegro4. Allegro

The first four notes – three short notes and one long—may be the most recognized melody on the planet. Various writers have called it his "Battle Symphony", his "Victory Symphony" (in part because the Morse code for the letter 'V' is the same pattern), or the "Fate Symphony" because it is so powerful of a document that it's hard for many people to think of it in just purely musical terms.

It may be the most intense, compact, powerful, and innovative piece of music composed up to that time, and perhaps still hasn’t been equaled.

Beethoven--at least in any authenticated history--seems to have had little to say about it, but if we take a look at the circumstances surrounding the creation of it, we may be able to understand a little more about it and the time for which it was created.

Battle? Fate? Victory? What about a piece of music would lead listeners to draw that conclusion?

Beethoven was engaged in his own personal battle that threatened to take away his most precious gifts – he realized that he was losing his hearing.

The young Beethoven was certainly an up and coming composer who had studied with some of the greats of his era. At this time in his life, he was considered to be the finest pianist in Europe. His improvisations were legendary. There was a potential for substantial income from performances.

By all odds, the future should have been in the palm of his hand.

Instead, Beethoven found himself being robbed of a talent that should have been greater in him than in anyone else. The best doctors of the time were helpless to do anything about it.

What was his first reaction? From one of the reliable sources—a letter to his brothers known as the Heiligenstadt Testament—we know that it was despair. In his own words we know he contemplated suicide.

And later in the same document, we see him saying he said that he he would not let deafness defeat him and resolved to “take Fate by the throat.”

Let's step back for a moment and look at the larger historical musical picture. Up to this time, if you listen to the work of composers and try to guess what was happening in theirlives—tragedy or prosperity—you will have a nearly impossible task on your hands.

Music tells stories on many levels—the instrument makers, the printers and the needs that led to standardized notation, and the economics of their times; the thinking and understanding of the time in the structures used; not to mention the intended audience for the composition.

Earlier music told the story of a powerful Church, or a powerful monarchy—or in Haydn's time, the story of the common man. The composer's personal story was simply not that important in earlier times.

This is where Beethoven begins to stand alone from the crowd. It is his point of view that we are hearing. We hear his triumphs, his tragedies, his fears—not someone else's.

Simultaneously we also know that there was a great battle going on in society around him. Revolutions were taking place. A powerful monarchy was being overthrown by a small set of colonies on the other side of the Atlantic showing the world that a representative form of government based on the will of its common citizens could exist.

We do know with some certainty that Beethoven was obsessed with human rights.

These political movements going on around him couldn't help but fire his imagination and very likely resonated as freedoms took tyrants “by the throat”.

Beethoven's fifth symphony begins with a dramatic movement dominated by a motif consisting of three short notes followed by one long note. He constructed the entire first theme out of it, creating a melody sounding very ominous and oppressive. The movement itself is a conflict between the first theme and a second defiant melody that seems to give a sense of hope and strength.

The second movement is two sets of theme and variations (alternating) that once again bring back the opening motif. This was something that had never been done before.

The third movement is a fast scherzo overwhelmed by the same motif, but once again a battle between the ominous and the optimistic.

Like all good symphonies of the time, the fifth symphony has four movements. However, the third movement plows directly into the fourth without a break—again, an innovation that no one had ever done before.

The main theme of the fourth movement is a defiant victory theme—almost with the power of a fight song. And again. . . the four note motif returns and threatens to overwhelm the victory, but in the end, the symphony ends in unquestionable triumph as the positive sounding key of C major replaces the ominous key of C minor.

In this one piece, Beethoven had done a number of things never done before. He created the first “cyclical” symphony where the four movements were musically related—not unlike a “concept album” in modern pop music. He also shifted the dramatic balance to where the greatest drama comes at the end, not in the first movement.

The fifth symphony is unmistakeably telling a personal story. The Romantic Era is often referred to as “the celebration of the individual”. This is unquestionably one of the works of art—even if it is still within the confines of a Classical structure—that led the way for musicians who followed him.Again, as far as we know he never said publicly what was behind the powerful emotions expressed in this symphony; but it is probably not likely that someone who had not experienced the adversity and tragedy that Beethoven did—or someone who didn’t sense the hope and promise of freedom—would have created such a document that hinted of such a powerful struggle.

Symphony No. 6 in F major “Pastoral”

1. Erwachen heiterer Empfindungen bei der Ankunft auf dem Lande (Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in the country): Allegro ma non troppo2. Szene am Bach (Scene at the brook): Andante molto mosso3. Lustiges Zusammensein der Landleute (Happy gathering of country folk): Allegro4. Gewitter, Sturm (Thunderstorm; Storm): Allegro5. Hirtengesang. Frohe und dankbare Gefühle nach dem Sturm (Shepherds' song; cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm): Allegretto

Beethoven's sixth symphony is of a completely different character. It is relaxed: almost as if the battle has been fought and won.

It begins like a breath of fresh air—quite literally. For the first time, Beethoven gives each of the movements a subtitle. If he hadn't, it wouldn't have been too hard to guess that it was about another great passion of his—nature.

The “Pastoral Symphony” is meant to be his musical impressions of general feelings upon arriving in the country; technically not a true program symphony with distinct references to concrete experiences. Not for the last time in his life, what he was trying toexpress in music was too large for the medium to hold.

Even if it is meant to be only impressions of nature, it nevertheless contains musical lines that are unmistakably depicting the gentle sound of a flowing stream, bird calls, a peasant dance, and a violent thunderstorm. Like his fourth symphony, Beethoven showed his more relaxed, lyrical side. As he did with his fifth symphony, he broke a number of formal traditions, including having five movements instead of the usual four with the last three movements played without a break.

An interesting footnote: Beethoven's fifth and sixth symphonies were first heard in the same four hour concert (yes, really four hours long) in 1808, but the order of the two (and by some accounts even the numbering) was reversed. The composer likely understood the power of his fifth symphony, as did many of his contemporaries who immediately recognized it as a major work of the time.

Symphony No. 7 in A Major

1. Poco sostenuto – Vivace2. Allegretto3. Presto – Assai meno presto (trio)4. Allegro con brio

The final symphony of his “middle” period is his seventh symphony composed in 1811 and 1812, first publicly performed in 1813. Going back to a more traditional four movement form with breaks between the movements, it is a work by a mature Beethoven who had completely mastered his craft.

The seventh symphony starts off with a series of loud sfortzando chords followed by softer passages. Some historians have suggested that his hearing had deteriorated to the point where he could no longer hear the quieter parts of his music, so he included a few loud blasts to be able to verify that the orchestra was playing it correctly.

For the most part, the remainder of the symphony follows more or less conventional forms (sonata form, theme and variations, scherzo-trio, sonata form).

As noted earlier, one of the things that makes Beethoven different from other composers up to that point is the amount of personality in his music. It is difficult to listen to it just as a piece of music. His music is a self-portrait, a story of one man's journey. These symphonies are the roots the era where the artist speaks with his own individual voice. Itis the first glimpse of the modern era where we often buy music as much for the personality of the performer as we do for the songs itself.

His predecessors were limited in what they could compose by the patronage system. Artists were now saying what they wanted to say. It was also the era where the general public had become powerful enough to support a composer/performer's career. They got what they expected—just as the nobility and the clergy did with the musicians they supported in eras prior to this.

Listening to the symphonies in chronological order, there is a very logical progression, but it is startling to compare his seventh with the second symphony he composed only 10 years earlier.

The greatest changes—and arguably the greatest symphony ever written—was yet to come.

SYMPHONIES 8 AND 9 -- THE FINAL PERIOD

The final period of Beethoven's life was heavily affected by his deafness. Unable to perform, he devoted his time and energy to composing.

Composing music that he was unable to hear? Were there other people involved in arranging and scoring his music?

The answer to the question is “no”. Not only is his late music is completely his unalteredproduct, scholars take great pains to examine his original manuscripts (and his sometimes almost undecipherable handwriting) to make sure that published music is as accurate to his original intentions as it can be.

Part of a musician's training is to be able to write notes on a paper and “hear” the pitches, the timbres, the rhythms, the harmonies in his imagination. From the fact that Beethoven would often take his sketchbooks out into the country and compose miles away from a piano or any other instrument—even when he could still hear--we know that he had an extraordinary talent for thisiii.

It was a skill that allowed him keep his vow to “take Fate by the throat.”

The music from Beethoven's final period is unlike anything heard before. His ambitious use of harmonies, his rethinking of traditional structures, and his musical ideas in general make his music sound like it should have been written decades later. Beethoven was so far ahead of his time that more than a few of his contemporaries felt that he had gone insane.

It wasn't until long after his death that it became universally recognized that in his prisonof silence, he achieved a spiritual depth to his music that few others, if any, have achieved.

Symphony No 8 in F major

1. Allegro vivace e con brio2. Allegretto scherzando3. Tempo di Menuetto4. Allegro vivace

On the surface, Beethoven's eighth symphony appears to be a “back to basics” symphony, going back to his classical roots. Shorter in length than the sixth and seventh,it has the standard four movement scheme created by Haydn, although with no proper slow movement. A very high spirited and good humored piece, it has the fingerprints of a master craftsman who had become the greatest composer of his era.

There is a saying that “you can never go home again” and this could almost have been written about this symphony. On paper, it fairly well follows in the footsteps of his old teacher, Haydn. However, the music could never be mistaken for something written two decades earlier. The world was a different place. Musical language was different—thanks in a large part to Beethoven.

The symphony was composed in 1812 and received its first performance in 1814. During this time, Beethoven's hearing had deteriorated to the point of being nearly useless. His last attempt at a public performance was in 1811 and was a disaster. While he performed all of his early piano concerti, his final one was first performed by one of his students, Carl Czerny.

It is believed that at the time of the performance of the 8th symphony, Beethoven could hear only very muffled low frequencies.

The first movement begins immediately with an extroverted main theme and proceeds along the lines of a standard sonata form ideal. As typical with the composer, the coda contains a few surprises and a sense of humor.

In a standard Haydn symphony, the second movement would have been slow. The second movement of the 8th is taken at a fairly fast tempo and begins with a melody that has been suggested as a tongue in cheek tribute to Johann Maelzel, friend of Beethoven and inventor of the metronome.

The third movement is a minuet—back to the standard of the earlier Classical, but no one would be able to mistake this rhythmically spiky piece for the finesse earlier in the era.

The fourth movement is a sonata form characterized by Beethoven's relentless energy and willingness to dominate the music with a less than subtle sense of humor.

Symphony number 8 – Four movements; around a half hour in length; roughly the same orchestra as Haydn used. However, no one could ever mistake it for a composition by Haydn.

Symphony No. 9 in D minor “Choral”

1. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso2. Scherzo: Molto vivace – Presto3. Adagio molto e cantabile – Andante Moderato – Tempo Primo – Andante Moderato – Adagio – Lo Stesso Tempo4. Recitative: (Presto – Allegro ma non troppo – Vivace – Adagio cantabile – Allegro assai – Presto: O Freunde) – Allegro assai: Freude, schöner Götterfunken – Alla marcia – Allegro assai vivace: Froh, wie seine Sonnen – Andante maestoso: Seid umschlungen, Millionen! – Adagio ma non troppo, ma divoto: Ihr, stürzt nieder – Allegro energico, sempre ben marcato: (Freude, schöner Götterfunken – Seid umschlungen, Millionen!) – Allegro ma non tanto: Freude, Tochter aus Elysium! – Prestissimo, Maestoso, Molto Prestissimo:Seid umschlungen, Millionen!

While Beethoven was a little reckless with convention in his earlier symphonies, nothingever suggested the direction his final symphony would take.

Ignoring the musical mechanics, Beethoven explored new territory in musical expression. It has become one of the most popular classical symphonies ever written. The choral theme of the fourth movement—often known as the “Ode to Joy” has been set to the lyrics of numerous hymns, heard in numerous films and television programs, even becoming an internationally popular song. It has become a symbol of international unity and is often used to suggest the triumph of good over evil. It is a simple melody with a devastatingly powerful effect without a trace of irony or cynicism. Even when heard instrumentally, it suggests profound spiritual and emotional depth.

By the time of its first performance in May 1824, Beethoven was trapped in a prison of silence—his deafness was complete. But, instead of robbing him of his creative powers, it sharpened them. It gave a dynamic (and very stubborn) personality a motivation to fight his affliction and was probably responsible for removing distractions. He was left with the sound in his imagination, and he was able to focus in on it like no one else in history.

Beethoven's tremendous compositional skills remained intact—if not having grown—including his ability to “hear” the music in his imagination and notate it on paper exactly as he had conceived it.

The 9th symphony starts off quietly with a soft theme emerging from murmuring strings (an effect Anton Bruckner would use as a model for the beginning of all nine of his own symphonies). Like the first movement of his 5th symphony (also in sonata form), it presents a musical battle between a stark and oppressive first theme and a hopeful second theme. The first movement is arguably the most intense composition written up to that time.

Beethoven chose a prestissimo scherzo for his second movement with an intensity matching that of the first movement. The third movement is a slow double theme and alternating variations of each, similar to the structure of his fifth symphony.

It is the fourth movement where Beethoven boldly set foot into uncharted territory. The first part begins with a very gruff recitative (a name given to a very free section of an opera) led by the low strings. We then hear a phrase from the first movement, and it is cut off as if it is being rejected. We hear a phrase from the second movement, with the same outcome, followed by a similar treatment from the third movement.

The winds then play a new hopeful, encouraging phrase. This one is accepted and is thentaken up by the cello and bass section. It is repeated by different instruments, getting louder until it seems to be a celebration for the full orchestra. The loud dissonant sectionthat opened the movement interrupts once more. At this point, a solo bass voice sings, “Oh friends, not these tones! But let us sing something more cheerful and more joyful,” a text written by Beethoven. The vocal parts of the rest of the movement are set to a poem by Friedrich Schiller, his “Ode to Joy”, along with a few additional lines by Beethoven.

While voices with orchestra (in opera, for example) were common, this was the first time the purely instrumental form of the symphony ever had the human voice be part of a symphony.

A classicist would have major problems with the movement. On paper, the structure of the movement looks ridiculous—if there is even a coherent structure to follow. In some ways it is similar to a recklessly free theme and variations, but one cannot call it that because of so many episodes of other things happening. Critics of the time were confused, leading some to conclude that Beethoven had lost his mind.

However, the impact of the music is devastatingly powerful. The audience at the first performance broke out in applause numerous times, something not often heard at classical concerts of this type.

In one account, after the final chords the audience erupted in a standing ovation. Beethoven, who was on stage facing the musicians could not hear it. One of the soloists turned him around to face the audience; the ovation became deafening and moved people to tears.

It is considered one of the greatest works of Western music and many music critics call it the greatest symphony ever composed. Not the least reason is the message Beethoven chose to set to music—a poem about the universal brotherhood of man brought together by joy. It was a very powerful and personal message.

However the story may go even deeper. Some scholars suggest that the word in Schiller's poem Freude--”joy” in German was a substitute for a word too risky to say publicly—Freiheit, the German word for freedom and that this hidden meaning was an open secret obvious to everyone at the time.

In 1961, during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West, a wall was built dividing the city of Berlin, serving as a stark reminder of the fear and animosity betweenEast and West, and the very real possibility that if war broke out between the two sides, the nuclear conflict could end the human race.

In 1989, when the two superpowers had reached a point of trust with each other, the wallwas torn down and the two sides of the city of Berlin were now one. A concert was organized to celebrate this stunning event. The music? Beethoven’s 9th with musicians from orchestras of all the major countries involved in World War II. In this performance,instead of proclaiming “Freude!” (joy), the performers substituted “Freiheit!” (Freedom).

A century and a half after his death, Beethoven’s music was as powerful and relevant – and moving – as it had ever been in history.

Beethoven lived in a time of revolution and was caught up in the tidal wave of change. His music both chronicles those events and served as a standard for those who followed. Things could never be the same.

Beethoven's career as a symphonist began in 1800 and ended in 1824. 24 years is also the exact span between Mozart's first and last symphonies. 36 years separate Haydn's first and final symphonies.

Under normal circumstances, a time span of 24 years would seem hardly enough to witness a major transformation in music, let alone cause one.

Beethoven was not a normal composer and he certainly wasn't living in normal times. He was a powerful personality endowed with musical genius and musical talents that rank among the finest of anyone who ever lived. The torture of his growing deafness managed only to refine his resolve and in the later years of his life, his compositions achieved a spiritual depth that seem far ahead of their time.

He was the perfect match for an era of revolution—both political and musical. When one listens to the symphonies of Haydn, one is listening to the common voice of an era. When one listens to the symphonies of Beethoven, one is listening to one man's distinct voice, his anger, his beliefs, his humor, his hopes.

And, in 24 short years enclosing his nine symphonies (approximately 6 hours of music together), we can clearly trace the history of a radical musical transformation from one era to another.

The Romantic Era is often described as “The Celebration of the Individual.”

So. . . would Beethoven be considered Classical or Romantic? That remains a tough call.His early music is unmistakably Classical—and certainly Classical elements are clearly heard up through his final works—but if you took away his influence on Romantic composers, you would completely eviscerate the era. Some of the music he composed near the end of his life seems even beyond the Romantic Era in its depth and expression.

One thing is certain – in his influence on the direction Western music continues to take, Beethoven stands alone. He was once quoted as saying, “There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven.”

He certainly got that right.

i To give you an idea of how a composer's approach changed, Schumann and Brahms only composed four symphonies each. Mendelssohn composed five mature symphonies; Tchaikovsky made it to six;Bruckner died before he could complete his ninth. Mahler became so superstitious that he tried to play games with Fate by composing a symphonic work as his unnumbered ninth. Then he composedhis numbered ninth with the attitude that he had cheated Fate. He died not long afterward.

It could be said that this was an exchange of quantity for quality, except that's not entirely accurate in that Haydn and Mozart seemed to have achieved both. It does reflect a change in the intensity of the music as well as each era demanding originality from its music rather that compositions that evolve from a template. In a situation where the composer needs to reinvent at least part of the wheel each time, his output will naturally be smaller.

ii To make him seem even more remarkable, Beethoven's father shaved a few years off his age now and then. It wasn't until Ludwig was an adult that he finally learned his actual age.

iii A number of other highly successful composers suffered the same fate but continued to compose, including Gabriel Faure and Bedřich Smetana. Perhaps the best known classical percussionist in the world, Evelyn Glennie, is deaf but has learned to “hear” by sensing the air vibrations of the music she is performing.

Material copyright 2016 by Gary Daum, all rights reserved. All photos and illustrations by Gary Daum unless otherwisenoted. Unlimited use granted to current members of the Georgetown Prep community.