Post on 13-Jan-2016
Beethoven (Part 2)&
Review for Test #2
Music Appreciation, Class #9
Where we left off…1812-1817
Health
Public performances/appearancesStylistic crisis?
Caspar, Karl and Johanna
1. Health crisisLiver disease
Hearing loss 1818Public performances
1814: last public appearance as a pianist
1815: last public appearance as a conductor
Exhausted musical possibilities?
2. Family crisisKaspar van Beethoven
Died November, 1815Johanna van Beethoven (widow)
Karl van Beethoven (son)
Trial1815-1820
Court for commoners vs. Court for nobility“Van” vs. “Von”
Evidence?Karl’s birth (4 months)
Ludwig’s victoryKarl’s reaction (1826)
Why?
3. Romantic Crisis“Immortal Beloved” letters
Recipient?Three possibilities
Dated 1812-14Among his papers?
3. “Immortal Beloved”…so near! so far! Is not our love truly a heavenly
structure, and also as firm as the vault of heaven? …
…Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men…
…I can live only wholly with you or not at all - Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits …
Final musical periodReflection
1816-1827
SpiritualBach
Contrapuntal
“The Age of Enlightenment” is replaced by “Romanticism”Emotion over thought
Why?
9th SymphonyComposed between 1817-1824
1st major Beethoven premiere in almost 12 years
Three standard movementsNew: 4th movement: “Choral”
“An Die Freude” (“Ode to Joy”)
Friedrich Schiller, 1785
Passé ideas and idealsBrotherhoodEqualityJusticeLiberty
Beethoven’s purposeConflict/instability vs. Resolution
Confrontation of evilUnable to resolve the recapulation!
Military
Triumph over petty decisiveness
Intellectual vs. spiritual vs. emotional struggle
Themes/Beethoven’s beliefsHumanity
Children of GodSpiritual vs. religious
Universality
Love (romantic and platonic)Redemptive
Inspirational
TranslationO friends, no more these sounds! Let us sing more
cheerful songs, More full of joy! Joy’s magic power re-unites all that custom has divided, all
men become brothers, under the sway of thy gentle wings. And the cherub stands before God! Gladly, like the heavenly bodies Which He sent on their
courses Through the splendor of the firmament; Thus, brothers, you should run your race, like a hero going to victory!
You millions, I embrace you. This kiss is for all the world! Brothers, above the starry canopy There must dwell a loving father.
Do you fall in worship, you millions? World, do you know your creator? Seek Him in the heavens; He must live above the stars
Only Two RehearsalsRequirements
Two orchestrasTwo choruses= four conductors
Four soloists
ComplaintsCross-town rivals
Musical difficulties
New technical demandsRewrites and edits
Beethoven’s weekRental (Inflation)
TheaterOrchestraChorusSoloistsCopyists
Ticket sales
Health
May 7, 1824Social/musical event
Beethoven’s long absenceRumors
Conductor?1st Violinist
Applause
“Immortal Beloved” 1994
Historical fiction
Premiere of the 9th
Fall of the Berlin WallDecember 25, 1989
Leonard BernsteinInternational orchestra, chorus, soloists
"Joy" (Freude) changed to "Freedom" (Freiheit) in the text sung
Worldwide live telecastVideo?
Beethoven’s DeathFinal days
Cures
Monday, March 26, 1827Legend
FuneralMarch 29, 1827
20,000 Viennese mourners
PallbearerFranz Peter Schubert
“Blessed be the first one among us to follow Beethoven to the grave.”
Ferdinand Hiller
Ferdinand Hiller (16)Prominent Jewish family
CulturedMusicalSocial
Friendships Johann Wolfgang von GoetheFelix and Fanny Mendelssohn (Bartholdy)
“Beethoven’s Hair” Russell Martin
Three stories in one
Beethoven’s biography
History/journey of the locketNazis in Vienna and Denmark
DNA testing and results
The Locket with Hiller’s inscription
Close-up Of The Locket
Extraordinary Beethoven web sites
San Jose State Universityhttp://www.sjsu.edu/depts/beethoven/
“Beethoven’s Hair”http://www.beethovenshair.ca/
Help!
November 6, 2008
Test #2 Review
CD TracksCumulative
New tracks
Sample review questions
What were the most important changes made to the piano during the Classical era?
What enormous political/social event was celebrated with a performance of the Beethoven 9th in December 25, 1989?
At the end of his career, Haydn wrote his first and only oratorio. It is a highly descriptive telling of Holy Scripture from Genesis and the Psalms. What is the name of this piece?
Compare Haydn’s years with the Esterházy family vs. Mozart and his employers.
What was the tradition known as DROIT DE SEIGNEUR?
What are the “Sketch Books”?What are “Conversation Books”?
What city was the musical and cultural center of the Classic period?
The exposition of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony contains how many notes?
How does the overture to Mozart's Don Giovanni end?
Beethoven violently changed the dedication of the “Emperor” concerto to the “Eroica” concerto in December 1804. Why?
Thousands of Viennese attended Beethoven’s funeral. Among his pallbearers was what great composer and Beethoven devotee?
Why is the Classical Period also known as the “Age of Reason” or the “Age of Enlightenment”?
Mozart was unusually proud of which two specific scenes in The Marriage Of Figaro. Why?
What is Don Giovanni’s fate? Is he dragged to Hell, or does he alone make the decisions which determine that fate? In what way is that revolutionary?
Who was Lorenzo Da Ponte? Why was he hired to work in Vienna? Da Ponte promised Emperor Franz Joseph a major change
in Beaumarchasis’ radical play The Marriage Of Figaro in order to obtain permission to work with Mozart on the project. What was Da Ponte’s promise, and did he keep it?
What is THE HEILIGENSTADT LETTER?
Who was Antonio Salieri? Facts vs. fiction, please!How and when did the myths about him and his
relationship to Mozart begin? What Tony and Academy Award winning play and movie
tells that story?
What is “Chamber Music”? What composer is credited with the greatest accomplishments in Chamber Music? How many musicians are required for Chamber Music?
Did Beethoven write and re-write his music or did he compose seemingly without effort?
The writers, poets and playwrights of the Classic period worked with what cultural and aesthetic goals in mind?
Did Mozart’s talent require training? What proof was recorded of his talents?
“Music, of all the arts, has the greatest influence over the passions....The Marriage of Figaro contains all of the elements of the French Revolution”
When did Beethoven’s hearing begin to fail? Why? Why have the facts recently changed?
The excavation of what two major cities marks the birth of the Classical Period?
Why is Haydn considered to be the “Father Of The Symphony”?“Papa Haydn”?
How many movements are standard in a Classical concerto? Which tempo scheme is standard for a Classical concerto?
Between 1812 and 1817 Beethoven composed almost no music. Three crisis interrupted his musical concentration. What were those three events?
Mozart once wrote to his father that he was really only interested in writing one genre and that all his other compositions were just to generate income. What is that one genre?
What is the “surprise” in the “Surprise Symphony” by Haydn? Why did he feel the need to surprise his audiences? How did he accomplish the surprise?
Essay Questions Explain how Susanna (The Marriage Of Figaro) and Leporello (Don
Giovanni) are radical characters and thereby symbolic of the entire Classical period. Your answer must include a discussion of the musical and social/political implications each character presents.
What did Ferdinand Hiller do on May 27, 1827? What was the fate of the locket? How has the history of Beethoven’s final years changed as a result? Where is the largest collection of Beethoven artifacts housed today?
Describe Beethoven’s week of May 1-7, 1824 in detail, including the premiere of the 9th.
Identify and label each section of the Sonata form in detail.
Draw a diagram of the finale of Act II of Marriage Of Figaro showing the continuum of new characters and new plot twists. Characters names are: Antonio, Bartolo, Basilio/Curzio, The Count, The Countess, Figaro, Marcellina, Susanna. Then explain TWO ways in which the finale of Act II of Marriage Of Figaro was a revolutionary act.
New York PhilharmonicThree tickets left!