Beethoven's 250Th Birthday

Program Notes for Masterworks 5: Beethoven’s 250th Birthday Saturday, January 18, 2020 & Sunday, January 19, 2020 MARK RUSSELL SMITH, CONDUCTOR • AUGUSTIN HADELICH, VIOLIN • Beethoven – Overture to “Egmont,” Op. 84 • Beethoven – Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 • Beethoven – Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 Ludwig van Beethoven Overture to “Egmont,” Op. 84 Composer: born December 16, 1770, Bonn; died March 26, 1827, Vienna. Work composed: 1809-1810. World premiere: Beethoven conducted the first performance of the Egmont Overture on June 15, 1810, as an introduction to Goethe’s play, Egmont, at Vienna’s Hoftheater. Instrumentation: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. Estimated duration: 8 minutes. When Vienna’s Court Theatre approached Ludwig van Beethoven with a commission to write music for a revival of Wolfgang von Goethe’s tragic play Egmont, Beethoven responded eagerly. Beethoven revered Goethe, calling him “the foremost German poet,” and Beethoven was also drawn to the subject matter of the play, which revolves around the actions of the Flemish Count Egmont, a historical 16th century figure. Egmont fought to save his country from military conquest by the Spanish Duke of Alba, and was later executed for his actions, but Egmont’s heroism and his self- sacrifice inspired his beleaguered countrymen to continue their fight for freedom. Beethoven, also of Flemish descent, may have seen something of himself in the noble Egmont. The themes of struggle against an oppressor, sacrifice, and abiding love resonated deeply with Beethoven; he later incorporated them into his opera Fidelio. The Overture begins somberly, with blasts of sound heralding the oppressive power of the Spanish armies. The introduction segues into an energetic Allegro that captures the indomitable spirit of the popular revolt against the Spanish; the music also highlights Egmont’s heroism in the struggle to save his people. There is a noble rhythmic motif, which Beethoven develops throughout, and the overture ends on a victorious shout. Ludwig van Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 Work composed: 1806. Commissioned by and dedicated to Franz Clement, music director and concertmaster of the Theatre an der Wien. World premiere: Beethoven conducted and Clement was the soloist at the premiere on December 23, 1806. Instrumentation: solo violin, flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. Estimated duration: 42 minutes. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto shattered conventional notions of what a Romantic solo concerto could or should be. Instead of using the concerto as a vehicle to show off the soloist’s technique, Beethoven placed the music front and center, while still giving the soloist plenty of opportunities to display musical skill. Franz Clement, the 21-year-old music director and concertmaster of the Theater an der Wien, commissioned the Violin Concerto in 1806. After the premiere, Clement suggested changes to the solo part, which Beethoven incorporated into his revised score. Even masterworks can be diminished by a mediocre performance. According to published accounts, Beethoven finished the concerto just two days before the premiere, which meant Clement had to sight-read the opening performance. Although it was beautiful, it was staggeringly difficult, and the lack of adequate rehearsal, among other factors, left the Violin Concerto with a bad reputation that took 30 years to dissipate. Almost four decades after its premiere, 12-year-old violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim presented the concerto at his debut with the London Philharmonic in 1844. Joachim pored over the score, memorized the entire piece, and composed his own cadenzas in preparation. The hard work paid off; one reviewer noted, “[Joachim] is perhaps the finest violin player, not only of his age, but of his siècle [century]. He performed Beethoven’s solitary concerto, which we have heard all the great performers of the last twenty years attempt, and invariably fail in … its performance was an eloquent vindication of the master-spirit who imagined it.” Unlike Beethoven’s piano concertos, which feature thick, dense chords and difficult runs, the Violin Concerto epitomizes grace. This warm expressiveness matched Clement’s style of playing, which Beethoven said exemplified “an extremely delightful tenderness and purity.” The concerto begins unconventionally, with five repeating notes in the timpani. This simple knocking is repeated, like a gentle but persistent heartbeat, throughout the movement, and becomes a recurring motif. In another distinctive break from tradition, the soloist does not enter for a full three minutes, and then begins a cappella (unaccompanied), before reiterating the first theme in a high register. The Larghetto’s stately, intimate, tranquil melody becomes an orchestral backdrop over which the solo violin traces graceful arabesques in ethereally high registers. The soloist takes center stage in this movement, playing extended cadenzas and other passages with minimal accompaniment. The final Rondo-Allegro flows seamlessly from the Larghetto; the soloist launches immediately into a rocking melody that suggests a boat bobbing at anchor. Typical rondo format features a primary theme (A), interspersed with contrasting sections (B, C, D, etc.) Each of these contrasting sections departs from the (A) theme, sometimes in mood, sometimes by shifting from major to minor, or by changing keys entirely. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 Work composed: begun in the fall of 1811; completed in April 1812. World premiere: Beethoven conducted the premiere on December 8, 1813, at the University of Vienna, in a benefit concert for Bavarian soldiers injured in the Napoleonic wars. Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings Estimated duration: 36 minutes. Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, like his “Eroica” (No. 3), is associated with Napoleon. Unlike the “Eroica,” however, which Beethoven originally conceived as a tribute to the French emperor, the Seventh can be heard, among other things, as a celebration of Napoleon’s defeat. Beethoven’s hearing had been fading since the early 1800s, and by 1813, he was almost completely deaf. To compensate, Beethoven adopted an idiosyncratic conducting style, described by colleague Louis Spohr: “Whenever a sforzando occurred, he tore his arms, previously crossed upon his breast, asunder with great vehemence. At piano he crouched down lower and lower according to the degree of softness he desired. If a crescendo then entered he gradually rose again and at the entrance to the forte he jumped into the air. Sometimes, too, he unconsciously shouted to strengthen the forte … It was evident that the poor deaf master was no longer able to hear the pianos in his music … ” Beethoven’s deafness apparently had no effect on the audience or critics, who received the Seventh Symphony with great enthusiasm. At its premiere, one newspaper reported, the “applause rose to the point of ecstasy.” Writing about a subsequent performance, a Leipzig critic noted, “the new symphony (A major) was received with so much applause, again. The reception was as animated as at the first time; the Andante [sic – the writer is actually referring to the Allegretto] (A minor), the crown of modern instrumental music, as at the first performance, had to be repeated.” The introduction to the Seventh Symphony was the longest ever written in the history of the symphony up to that time. At 64 measures, it remains one of the most extensive. The Poco sostenuto’s carefully constructed foundation of anticipatory energy leads gently into the joyful Vivace, which builds into an ebullient shout. The Allegretto has enjoyed fame separate from the Seventh Symphony as a whole. It quickly became an audience favorite, so much so that 19th century conductors would often insert it into less popular Beethoven symphonies during concerts. Beethoven’s preference scherzos rather than minuets as symphonic third movements expanded the creative and expressive possibilities of the symphony as a whole. A scherzo (“joke” in Italian) as Beethoven uses it defies expectation, often in a tongue-in-cheek manner. The first section, the scherzo itself, brims with mirthful humor; the joke becomes sharper when paired with the brass- heavy “trio,” which Beethoven indicated should be “very much less fast” than the scherzo. In 1848, Richard Wagner wrote that Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony was “the apotheosis of the dance; it is dance in her highest aspect, as it were the loftiest deed of bodily motion incorporated in an ideal mould of tone.” The whirling energy of the closing Allegro con brio, for example, suggests a ballet dancer performing a series of dazzling fouettes, whipping one leg around and around with effortless skill. Critics and scholars have likened this movement to a Bacchic revel, and Beethoven himself wrote, “Music is the wine which inspires us to new generative processes, and I am the Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine to make mankind spiritually drunken … ” © 2020 Elizabeth Schwartz .

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