Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)

1) Symphonies No. 1-9 (complete recording) In this 5 CD set on the LaserLight Digital label, Herbert Kegel conducts the Dresden Philharmonic. (I used to have various of these from other orchestras and other conductors. My personal favorite I don't have on CD, a performance by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta, of the Ninth Symphony. Since that recording was made, others have recorded it, and I hear various different versions over the National Public Radio station I listen to daily.)

a) Symphony No. 1 in c major, Opus 21 This early symphony conforms to the symphonic tradition as per late Haydn, Beethoven having been a student of Haydn's. Models of Haydn and Mozart are evident in the composition, although it is a fully independent piece.

b) Symphony No. 2 in D major, Opus 36 Another early symphony which conforms to the late Haydn symphonic tradition, this one was begun in 1801 and completed in autumn of 1802, with the first performance taking place on April 6, 1803 in an 'academy' along with other works by Beethoven. During the time that he composed this relaxed piece, Beethoven's pent-up suffering from a deep despair over his increasingly impaired hearing exploded in early October 1802 in his Heiligenstadt Testament, but he gives no expression to a pessimistic attitude in the Second Symphony. The main outlines of the symphonies were established a considerable time before October of 1802.

c) Symphony No. 3 in e major, Opus 55 Breaking away from the late Haydn symphonic tradition, this symphony was written about Napoleon, whom Beethoven at first admired, when Napoleon was First Consul. A score of the symphony should have existed with the autograph title heading 'Bonaparte' and Beethoven's designation of the name. When Bonaparte declared himself the French emperor, Beethoven was exceedingly disillusioned and angered, thinking this step to be excessive and presumptuous. He tore off the title page of the autograph score and replaced it with a new one bearing the plain title 'Sinfonia Eroica' (heroic symphony. The manuscript in question is gone today, but a copyist's score of the work corrected by Beethoven has been preserved which bears the autograph title 'Sinfonia Grande, intitulata Bonaparte, del Sigr. Louis van Beethoven.' Later the composer himself scratched out the endorsement 'intitulata Bonaparte'. The original printed edition bears tht title, 'Sinfonia Eroica... composta per festeggiare il sovvenire di un grand uomo'. In the early 19th century the word 'hero' had a much wider application than today, and it meant that man who accomplishes what is great and important, who is in Beethoven's words 'un grand uomo'. This symphony is itself much longer than its predecessors (about twice as long as the First Symphony), and the theme from the final movement is found in different works, a ballet, a German dance, and a work called Eroica Variations for piano solo.

d) Symphony No. 4 in B flat major, Opus 60 The main work for this symphony was done in 1806 and was complete by November of that year. The first performance took place in Vienna, March 1807. Like the First Symphony, the first movement is preceded by an extended slow introduction. The beginning of the fast main section establishes the key of B flat immediately. Altogether it's a very cheerful and spirited work.

e) Symphony No. 5 in c minor, Opus 67 Written about the same time as the Fourth Symphony, this work was completed in (it is believed) spring of 1808 and was premiered in Vienna on December 22, 1808. It is a particularly clearly perceived impression of a poetic idea, the heroic progression from struggle into the light, and this meaning, if somewhat myth-like, can be followed. The first movement proclaims those intense hammer blows that can be explained as suggested by music of the French revolution. The music evolves into a gentle slow movement, followed by two fast movements, one certainly triumphant. For those of you who like coincidental trivia, the first four notes of this Symphony, which have been likened to 'Fate knocking at the door', sound very much like the Morse code for the letter V (which in Roman numerals is 5).

f) Symphony No. 6 in F major, Opus 68 (Pastorale) This symphony is in five movements rather than the traditional four, and Beethoven gave them specific headings as to their content: first movement, Awakening of happy feelings on arriving in the country ; second movement, By the brook; third movement, Peasant's merrymaking; fourth movement, The Storm; fifth movement, Shepherd's song: Happy and thankful feelings after the storm. The music clearly implies poetic ideas and suggests them to the listener, the calls of nightingale, quail and cuckoo at the end of the second movement are exceptions in their faithful reproduction of natural models. But then, many of us heard this music behind Walt Disney's animation in the movie Fantasia, and we still see the centaurs and pegasi and unicorns with a classical Grecian background.

g) Symphony No. 7 in a major, Opus 92 Prepared from around the autumn of 1811 until well into 1812, the autograph copy of the score bears the date '13 May 1812'. Although the Eighth Symphony was completed soon after, the first performance of the Seventh didn't happen until December 8, 1813. It is said that Richard Wagner liked this symphony.

h) Symphony No. 8 in F major, Opus 93 Occupying Beethoven's time between summer and October of 1812, this symphony is a small one. (Too short in my opinion. This is one of those pieces you wish there was more to listen to.) The first performance took place February 27, 1814. According to the sketches, Beethoven originally intended to write a piano concerto, not a symphony.

i) Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125 (choral) This is THE Symphony, composed while Beethoven was deaf. The main work was done in 1823, but there are sketches from 1817 to 1818 for two new symphonies (only one came into being). Finished in February 1824, the first performance of this grand work took place in Vienna on May 7, 1824. A precursor to this work was the Choral Fantasia (Opus 80), which combined the piano concerto, symphony, and choral work in one piece. Nothing had come of Beethoven's wish to set Schiller's Ode to Joy to music earlier in 1793 and 1812, but his visions came together here. His own words preface the Ode, taking the listener from the clashing tones of the first three movements to the more joyful and triumphant tones to come, an ecstatic hymn embracing all the musical forces, instrumental and vocal. It is no wonder that Beethoven's successor, Johannes Brahms, did not compose a symphony for a long time. This Ninth Symphony of Beethoven's was a hard act to follow. On this recording by the Dresden Philharmonic conducted by Herbert Kegel, the Radio Chorus Berlin (Dietrich Knothe, Chorus Master) and the Radio Chorus Leipzig (Jorg Peter Weigle, Chorus Master), join forces with soloists soprano Alison Hargan, contralto Ute Walther, tenor Eberhard Buchner, and bass Kolos Kovats.



I'll add more as I find enough information to give a decent listing. I listen to more than I have in my cd collection, and by no means own cd's of all my favorite pieces.

Copyright 1998, kye@icsi.net

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