Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1750 1827
1709 Bach’s Beethoven’s
Piano Death
1770 death
invented Beethoven’s
birth
1750 1825
1600
Haydn 1732-1809
Mozart 1756-1791
Beethoven 1770-1827
Review of periods of Music
History so far...
• 1600-1900 Common Practice Period
• 1600-1750 Baroque (invention of opera
and beginning of Common Practice
Period to death of Bach)
• 1750-1825 Classical (death of Bach to
Beethoven's second period)
• 1820-1900 Romantic (Beethoven's
second period to twentieth century)
Ludwig van Beethoven
• 1770-1827
Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770 - 1827)
• B theme is - - - –
Third Movement
• Typically Minuet and Trio: ABA
• Beethoven replaces the Minuet (moderate
triple meter dance) with SCHERZO, a much
faster triple meter dance (means ‘joke’ or
‘jest’)
• A (Minuet/Scherzo): a a b a1 b a1
• B (Trio): c c d c1 d c1
• A (Minuet/Scherzo):a a b a1
• Notice - no break as we move to the fourth
movement - attaca
Fourth Movement
• Typically a lighter form, easier to listen to
(usually Rondo)
• Beethoven brings back Sonata Allegro Form
for the final movement!!
• C Major - much brighter key (psychological
implications)
• Brings back ‘b’ theme from 3rd Movement
right before the recapitulation
Symphony No. 9
• “Ode to Joy” melody as theme of Fourth
Movement.
• Mentioned in 1793 as interested in
setting An de Freude to music.
• Symphony No. 9 premiered in 1825.
• Added voices to the orchestra.
Implications
• Voices in a symphony?
• Symphony - multi-movement work for
orchestra.
• Last symphony Beethoven composed.
Is this the direction he thought the
symphony would/should go?
Beethoven
• 1770-1827
• Pianist as well as composer
• Studied with Haydn
• Lost his hearing
• 9 symphonies
• Bridge between Classical and Romantic
periods
Heligenstadt Testament
• Note from Beethoven to his brothers.
• Believed to be his “suicide note”.
• Introduced revolutionary ideas that
interested and influenced later
composers.
Heligenstadt Testament
• Music is an Art
• Patience as a composer
• Reconciling the world after his death (medical
records of his diagnosis)
• Hasten to meet death
• Artist in isolation
• Suffering
• Forced to become a philosopher
Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
• Considered among the list of
composers from the Viennese School
• Wrote string quartets, piano sonatas,
operas, and symphonies
• Knew each other
• How many symphonies did each
compose? 100+; 50+; 9
Absolute Pitch
Absolute Pitch
• The ability to identify a pitch (note) with
no other reference.
• Composed as an “alternative” to
Beethoven’s symphonic works!
Symphonic Poem
• The Moldau by Bedrich Smetana
• pp. 228-229