Orchestras

• New orchestras in Boston and New York

• 1842

• Began to play Beethoven symphonies

• Created a sensation

• Beginning of the Beethoven legend in America

• Romantic view of Beethoven

Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

• THE nineteenth-century piece– Established Beethoven

• “The first great awakening of the musical instinct here was when the C-minor Symphony of Beethoven was played.”

• John S. Dwight

Beethoven, Symphony 5, in C-minor

• Four movements– First movement – powerful, concentrated da-

da-da-dum motive. Sonata Form– Second movement – double theme and

variations– Third movement – Scherzo and Trio– Fourth movement – Finale, Sonata Form

Beethoven, Symphony 5, in C-minor

• Entire work is integrated– Third and fourth movements tied together– Tonal motion – from minor to major – last

movement– Grand triumph when C major arrives– Dramatic, powerful entrance of Finale

• Trombones and piccolo

Transcendentalism

• Idealistic movement drawn from German Romanticism

• Centered in New England, especially Concord, Mass.

• Important figures:– Ralph Waldo Emerson– Henry David Thoreau– Theodore Parker– Amos Bronson Alcott

Transcendentalism Music

• John S. Dwight• Margaret Fuller

Margaret Fuller

• “Beethoven, towering far above our heads, still with colossal gesture, points above.”

• “Beethoven seems to have chronicled all the sobs, the heart-heavings, and godlike Promethean thefts of the Earth-spirit.”

• “The infinite Shakespeare, the stern Angelo, Dante, -- bittersweet like thee, -- are no longer seen in thy presence. And beside these names, there are none that could vibrate in thy crystal sphere. Thou hast all of them, and that ample surge of life besides, that great winged being which they only dreamed of.

John S. Dwight, 1849

• To Dwight, not only was all music sacred, not only was music religion, but it was the very voice of God: – “It [music] is God’s alphabet, and not man’s.” It is the

inbreathing of God, who is love.” – Music had the capacity to unite all mankind “at the

heart of all things.” – Beethoven’s music: “Perhaps no music ever stirred

profounder depths in the hearer’s religious consciousness, than some great orchestral symphonies, say those of Beethoven.”

Music Hall, Boston,1891

William W. Story, 1842• "The fifth symphony in C minor -- the work of his complete

manhood, -- seems distinctly to enunciate the story which was allotted him to tell; the story of genius struggling with nature for expression. In the first grand division is developed the limitation and prohibition which nature asserts to the aspirations of the spirit, and that blind struggle between the soul and fate, as of one in the folds of a snake. Here is painted the spasmodic effort and failure, -- the aimless seekings -- the panting as for breath within a confined atmosphere -- the fatal approximation to despair -- the doubts -- the fears -- the disappointment. It is, as Beethoven himself said, 'as if fate was knocking at the door.' In the second movement is the morning landscape of a new era, whereon the beams of faith and hope are dawning through the cloudy bars of doubt and distrust, which circle the horizon. Hope as yet is stronger than Faith, and that superstitious child hath not yet left her mother's side. Still the old wearisome limit, the weakened prohibition, and the echo of a former despair, are heard, like the suppressed growling of a lurkng thunderstorm.

• Aspiration often, in its soaring, changes to doubt and falls. The two elements of faith and distrust are in conflict, and nothing is accomplished, though all is hoped. Thus end the 'andante,' and then breaks in the 'scherzo,', which is the third movement. Now a new spirit hath grown up, a spirit of strength and power; of giant will as well as of towering aspiration. For a time it tries its strength in sudden efforts of vast force, and then relapses. It is as a champion, who paces the lists, bending his sword to test its temper -- shifting his position, and restless for the approaching conflict -- then suddenly strengthening and gathering its force to one determination, it spreads its 'sail-broad vans for flight.' Here the music become rapturous in its strength, and the work is accomplished as soon as thought. It soars and soars, and towering onward with a great progression, goes on its limitless journey above, exulting, and as if all barriers were broken down. The motion of the 'scherzo' seems to me like that of the gryphon upon which Neptune is mounted in one of Flaxman's outlines. There is in both, the same steady and uniform grandeur. This is the accomplishment of the task, the victory over fate, and only from below come back dim and faint the recollections of a former struggle and a former defeat."

Spiritualism

• Margaret, Katherine, Leah

• 19th-century movement• Seances -- communing with the

dead• Began with Fox sisters• Heard rapping noise in kitchen,

convinced it was from the dead• Papers picked up the story• P. T. Barnum took them on tour• Later confessed that it was hoax

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Henry Olcott

• Founded Theosophy

• Outgrowth of spiritualism

• Mystical movement

• Belief in ancient wisdom accessed through clairvoyant techniques

• Movement important in early 20th century

• Attracted many intellectuals and artists

Beethoven and Theosophy

David Tame• “Part III of this book is there intended to be a piece-

by-piece guide to understanding and using the music of Beethoven toward he goal of self-transformation.”

• He sees Beethoven as a world conqueror, a conqueror of hearts.

• “Beethoven’s music uplifts our spiritual centers, our chakras,” and “even, to some extent, lastingly transform who we are.” The consciousness of God exists in the music of Beethoven, and the listener absorbs these.”

Corinne Helene

• Beethoven’s music is not the creation of a human mind, but rather music from “outer space,” “celestial music – music which Beethoven brought down to earth and translated for human hearing.”

• “the definite mission of Beethoven was to serve as a messenger of cosmic music.”