Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 (Proms 2012)

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Prom 12: Beethoven Cycle -- Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6 Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 (Pastoral) 1 - Allegro ma non troppo 2 - Andante molto mosso 3 - Allegro 4 - Allegro 5 - Allegretto West--Eastern Divan Orchestra Daniel Barenboim, conductor Royal Albert Hall, 23 July 2012

Ludwig van Beethoven: A “Bagatelle” Tribute

by Georg Predota

Arguably, the first composer to write true piano music was Ludwig van Beethoven. To be sure, he had tremendous technical ability, and critics wrote, “He was attacking pianos with such force that during the performance, keys, hammers and strings would be flying.”

Ludwig van Beethoven at 26 years old

However, virtuosity is all but one aspect of Beethoven’s piano repertoire, as he was able to compose music with “glowing passion, exuberance, heroism, nobility and dramatic pathos.” His 32 piano sonatas and the late variation sets are at the pinnacle of piano literature, but Beethoven also composed three sets of what he titled “Bagatelles.” 

That particular title implies no specific form, and Beethoven himself called the first six of his Op. 119 “Kleinigkeiten,” or trifles. So, just how serious are these Bagatelles? Well, some of the bagatelles were originally planned as movements for piano sonatas but were subsequently rejected by Beethoven before publication. This seems to suggest that some of the bagatelles, as potential sonata movements, are the compositional equal to sonata movements in quality and completeness.

Beethoven’s house of birth in Bonn, 2008

One thing for sure, the bagatelles are a series of short and sometimes light-hearted piano works in a variety of contrasting characters and moods. It’s hardly surprising that some scholars consider Beethoven’s bagatelles to be the first 19th-century character pieces. To celebrate Beethoven’s baptism on 17 December, let us briefly explore his Bagatelles Op. 33, Op. 119, and Op. 126.

Bagatelles Op. 33

The first of Beethoven’s three published sets of Bagatelles was issued in 1803 by Bureau d’Arts et d’Industrie. The surviving sketches and the nature of the music suggest that Beethoven simply compiled a number of separate pieces that originated anywhere between boyhood and the start of the new century. All 7 Bagatelles display conventional musical forms and styles, and most are written in three-part form.

Photograph of bust statue of Ludwig van Beethoven by Hugo Hagen

Beethoven thoroughly revised his Bagatelles shortly before publication. At the same time, however, he was incredibly busy and worked on his Piano Concerto No. 3, the Symphony No. 2 and the oratorio “Christ on the Mount of Olives.” We still don’t know exactly why Beethoven devoted so much time to the Bagatelles, but Paul Lewis suggests that “in light of Beethoven’s rising fame, it was to satisfy a growing demand from students and amateurs for easy pieces from his pen.”

We find a simple and innocent tune in No. 1, garnished with plenty of ornamentation and light-hearted transitions. No. 2 has the character of a scherzo that humorously manipulates rhythm and accents, while No. 3 appears folk-like in its melody and features a delicious change of key in the second phrase. The A-Major Bagatelle No. 4 is essentially a parody of a musette with a stationary bass pedal, and the minor-mode central section offers harmonic variety.

Beethoven provides some musical humour in No. 5 as this playful piece is a parody of dull passagework. In a really funny moment, the music gets stuck on a single note repeated over and over, like Beethoven can’t decide what to do next. In the end, he decides to repeat what he has already written before. In No. 6, we find a tune of conflicting characters, with the first phrase being lyrical and the second phrase being tuneful. The beginning of No. 7 almost suggests Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata.

Bagatelles Op. 119

Beethoven’s Bagatelles Op. 119 No. 1 manuscript

In 1823, Beethoven was finishing his late piano sonatas Op. 109, 110, and 111, and he was working on the Diabelli Variations and the Missa Solemnis. In that year, he wrote to Ferdinand Ries in London, “you are receiving six bagatelles or trifles, and again another five, which belong together, in two parts. Dispose of them as favourably as you can.” Ries sold the set to the London publisher Clementi, who issued all eleven pieces in 1823. This edition is titled “Trifles for the Piano Forte, consisting of eleven pleasing pieces composed in various styles.” 

Essentially, in Beethoven’s Op. 119, we are dealing with two different collections combining old and new works. The set builds on five miniatures, which Beethoven composed in 1820 for the third and final volume of Friedrich Starke’s Wiener Piano-Forte-Schule (Viennese School of Piano Playing). Eventually, these 5 bagatelles became Nos 7-11 of Op. 119. Nos 1-5 had already been completed, or possibly sketched, much earlier and dated from around 1800. The central bagatelle in this set was the last to be composed, probably in late 1822, shortly before publication.

In the 1820s, Beethoven’s Leipzig publisher Carl Friedrich Peters was initially interested in publishing the first bagatelles but later emphatically rejected them as he wrote to Beethoven, “I’ve had them played by several people, and not one of them will believe me that they are by you. I asked for “Kleinigkeiten,” but these are really too small… I will say no more about it, other than that I will never print these but will rather lose the fee I have already paid.” And he added, “the pieces are not worth the money, and you should consider it beneath your dignity to waste time with such trivia that anyone can write.”

However, in Beethoven’s mind these miniatures were by no means inferior to his more extended piano works but “were simply ideas that were complete in themselves.” He actually enjoyed writing these little pieces, and he highly valued his “trifles.” Imogen Cooper writes, “Op. 119 form a compendium of technique and piano texture in concise form, as is appropriate for a piano tutor.” We may add, however, that Beethoven may not have always had the amateur performer in mind, given the technical challenges written into some of these “Kleinigkeiten.”

No. 1 presents a rather nostalgic opening, while a busy No. 2 unfolds with triplets surrounding the theme in the right hand. Written in the style of an Allemande, No. 3 promises a point of reflection, but it is interrupted by the opening waltz. A lyrical No. 4 is juxtaposed by an almost pompous No. 5, and No. 6 is the most varied and developed. Trills dominate No. 7, while a tranquil No. 8 features some intriguing harmonic progressions.

No. 9 unfolds in the character of a Ländler and features heavily accented syncopation. No. 10 is noteworthy because of its extreme brevity. Lasting only a few seconds and fitting into a single system of printed music, it is Beethoven’s shortest work, perhaps one of the shortest works of any composer of note. Finally, No. 11 rounds off the set in a mood of graceful contemplation.

Bagatelles Op. 126

Beethoven’s Bagatelle Op. 126

When Beethoven offered the Bagatelles Op. 126 to the publishers Schott & Co. in November 1824, he described them as “6 Bagatelles or Trifles for solo piano, some of which are rather more developed and probably the best pieces of this kind I have written.” Contrary to his earlier Bagatelle settings, Op. 126 was conceived as an integral group of pieces which Beethoven labelled a “cycle of little pieces.”

Designed as a unified cycle from the outset, the Bagatelles are alternately lyrical and introspective, and fast and dramatic, “with the two threads drawn together in the final number; and their keys form a descending chain of thirds, beginning in G major and minor, and ending in E flat major.” And let us not forget that Op. 126 was Beethoven’s last work for the piano offering a concentration of musical thoughts typical of his late style.

As Paul Lewis writes, “Typical of that style is a native fluency in contrapuntal writing paired with freedom from formal constraints in applying it, along with a willingness to write his contrapuntal voices several octaves apart. Beethoven, the architect of massive, great formal structures, shows himself in these pieces as a master of the miniature, deftly creating an immediate impression with his opening gestures and developing his motives with unfettered originality.”

Beethoven treats his material with a great deal of freedom, transforming it through intricate ornamentation as in No. 1. Full of driving energy, No. 2 channels the music into playful directions while the noble simplicity of No. 3 is sustained through many changes in texture. The contrapuntal opening of No. 4 is contrasted by a dream-like section, with plenty of unexpected harmonic and mood changes.

The quietly expressive No. 5 creates a gentle flow with triplet patterns and subtle syncopations, while No. 6 starts and ends with an energetic, turbulent section, framing a central, more composed segment that begins like a barcarolle. The opening Presto dismisses the slower section and the piece ends abruptly. As a commentator wrote, it ends “almost if dismissing the introspective nature of the preceding music; a fitting way for Beethoven to conclude his piano compositions.”

In terms of compositional style, the Bagatelles are comparable to the late string quartets, particularly with the second movement of Op. 132. And to be sure, the relationship between the late bagatelles and Beethoven’s late period works has been the subject of various studies. It uses the same musical language but “offers a musical universe in just a couple of minutes.”

Stylistically, the late Bagatelles looked forward to the foundations of romanticism as the expression of personal emotions became increasingly important. To some observers, Beethoven’s late Bagatelles are the first character pieces, a genre that gained unprecedented prominence later in the century. As Maurice Hinson suggests, “Beethoven’s Op. 126 are, if anything in music can be, self-portraits, as they express his moods and frame of mind the day he composed them.”

As you might have expected, we can’t really talk about Beethoven Bagatelles without mentioning the Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59. One of the most popular short pieces by the composer, this Bagatelle goes by the nickname “Für Elise.” Probably composed around 1810, it was reworked in the early 1820s. It was first published only in 1867, four decades after the composer’s death, in an appendix to a collection of Beethoven letters and hitherto unknown works.

The inscription “Für Elise” remains a mystery, and various theories suggest young women in or around Beethoven’s circle. The distinctive theme with the repeated neighbour-note is supported by arpeggiated chords shared between the hands. As a scholar reports, in some of the sketches from the early 1820s, Beethoven contemplated “a somewhat more sophisticated layout of the arpeggios, but these did not find their way into a definite version of the work.”

The Beethoven Bagatelles offer a diverse and evolving body of work, displaying the composer’s creative exploration in this genre of short and expressive piano pieces. They evolved from playful themes and structure to pieces of greater sophistication by blending dense harmonic landscapes with sudden shifts in mood, texture, and rhythm.

Beethoven the European: The Ninth, Celebrated in Leipzig, Paris, Milan and Vienna

by Georg Predota, Interlude

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125

Ludwig van Beethoven was a revolutionary man who lived and worked in tumultuous times as the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars greatly destabilised the European continent. For over two decades of Beethoven’s life, Napoleon was the most powerful man in Europe, an authoritarian who almost succeeded in unifying the continent under French hegemony.

In some works, as Jürgen Thym explains, “Beethoven gave voice to events that were occurring on the political and military level.” The “Bonaparte Symphony,” eventually subtitled “Eroica,” became a celebration of a hero and the musical representation of the ideal of heroic greatness. However, when Beethoven learned that Napoleon had crowned himself Emperor in 1804, he angrily tore up the title page containing the original dedication. And let’s not forget that he gave voice to the demise of the dictator in his highly popular “Wellington’s Victory.”

Ludwig van Beeethoven

The Human Perspective

Beyond the complex and seemingly incomprehensive enormity of Beethoven’s music, we find a man who was thoroughly human. Much has been written and made about his deafness and its impact on the creative process. It predictably affected his mental health by creating a sense of deep isolation and frustration that informed his interaction with society at large.

Beethoven had a small number of close male friends, and most of the women he admired were happily married, committed to somebody else and usually of higher social standing.

Eternally, in search of “tranquillity and freedom,” he showed utter disdain for discipline and authority and, unable to adopt a submissive attitude, brusquely dismissed the conventions of aristocratic society.

In Beethoven, we discover a fragmented individual who is full of contradictions. He struggled with a severe disability, a failing body, mental instability and an alcohol addiction. Once we add his volatile temperament, unrequited love and dreadful communication and social skills to the thorny mix, it becomes clear that composing and the discipline associated with his art was the personal therapy that confidently anchored the sinking ship.

Defiance

Beethoven’s ear trumpets

By 1814, Beethoven had become profoundly deaf, unable to perform in public, unable to hear music, and unable to talk with friends. This silence, which had slowly enveloped the composer beginning in the late 1790s, halted the enormous productivity of his heroic period and led to four years of almost complete inactivity.

The monumental pieces of his “late period” started to take shape in 1819, and the Ninth Symphony emerged as the result of a commission from the London Philharmonic Society in 1821. Completion of the work was delayed until 1824, and Beethoven actually pondered the possibility of concluding his symphony with an instrumental finale. As William Kindermann explained, “a passionate melody in D minor was eventually used in the A-minor String Quartet Op. 132, as Beethoven opted for an affirmative ending.”

Ode to Joy

By appealing to the spirit of Romanticism and the shared ideals of humanity as expressed in Schiller’s “Ode to Joy,” the composer appeared to have made not only a musical point but also issued a decisive cultural statement. As a cultural artefact, Beethoven’s celebration of universal brotherhood has been questioned. However, the utopian ideals expressed are once again highly relevant.

Today, the “Ode to Joy” is the anthem of both the European Union and the Council of Europe. Its described purpose is to “honour shared European values, expressing the ideals of freedom, peace, and unity.” In fact, it has become a trans- and international anthem, “a beacon of hope and community.”

ARTE CONCERT

Beethoven’s “Choral Symphony” first sounded at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna on 7 May 1824. To commemorate the 200th anniversary of this memorable event, ARTE is celebrating Beethoven the European by presenting a special celebration of this work; individual movements are performed in four of the most important concert venues across Europe.

Conductor Andris Nelsons opens the festivities at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the location of the premiere of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, also known as the “Emperor Concerto.” The European journey continued in Paris, as the Orchestre de Paris was the first French orchestra to play Beethoven’s symphonies shortly after the composer’s death. For the “Scherzo” movement, the Philharmonie de Paris is in the capable hands of Klaus Mäkelä.

Next, Riccardo Chailly takes us to Milan. He conducts the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala in a performance of the “Adagio e molto cantabile,” a melancholy and pensive, some would say, brooding movement. The crowing conclusion takes place at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, with Petr Popelka conducting the Vienna Symphony with soloists Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, Andreas Schager, and Christof Fischesser.

Andris Nelsons © Marco Borggreve

Klaus Makela © Marco Borggreve

Riccardo Chailly © riccardochailly.com

Petr Popelka © Susanne Hassler-Smith

Assessment

By artistically realising the potential for freedom and optimism within all of us, Beethoven’s music has not only transcended the mundane and the narcissistic, but it is still capable, as it has done in the past, of successfully challenging regressive political ideology. As the world is becoming increasingly fractured and polarised on countless issues, humanity needs Beethoven’s optimism even more urgently today than it did 200 years ago.

Beethoven - Symphony No.9 (10000 Japanese) - Freude schöner Götterfunken

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN The man and the artist

 

Beethoven’s life presents a sharp contrast to his music; where he was often impatient, abrupt, and even careless in everyday matters, his approach to music was marked by profound patience and careful brooding. Although his personal life was frequently distracted and melancholic, his music conveys a sadness that is noble and universal, never mere despair. As a political revolutionist and social rebel, he rejected conformity, yet in his music, he respected traditional forms, choosing to expand rather than discard them. His extempore playing was audacious, yet in his written compositions, Beethoven was cautious and meticulously selective.

Beethoven’s sketchbooks—more than fifty of which were found after his death—are a testament to his slow and careful creative process. These books, filled with musical ideas and repeated revisions, reveal the germination of themes from simple beginnings into the artistic designs of his final compositions. Grove notes that each elaboration brought spontaneity, making them “perhaps the most remarkable relic” of any artist. Beethoven worked simultaneously on multiple compositions and often kept themes in mind for years. Nottebohm, author of Beethoveniana, speculated that had Beethoven completed all the symphonies outlined in these books, there would be at least fifty. His creative process involved relentless revision until each phrase expressed exactly the emotions he sought.

Though outside events occasionally influenced his music—as with the Eroica Symphony—his work was largely independent of his personal experiences. A profound example of this detachment is seen in the Second Symphony, composed in 1802, the same year Beethoven wrote the “Heiligenstadt Will.” In this document, born from his despair over his worsening health and incurable deafness, Beethoven poured out his anguish over his unhappiness and isolation, sentiments not reflected in the lively Second Symphony he composed simultaneously.

Beethoven’s anguish over his deafness and isolation was powerfully conveyed in his Heiligenstadt Will, written in 1802. He described himself as living in "exile," gripped by anxiety whenever near others, fearing his condition would be noticed. He confessed that at times he considered ending his life but was restrained by his dedication to art: "It seemed as if I could not quit this earth until I had produced all I felt within me." He expressed a desperate wish to experience "just one pure day of joy", yearning to feel true happiness once more.

This despair, however, was absent from the music he composed that same year, particularly the Second Symphony, where Beethoven’s artistic voice triumphed over his personal sorrow. Critics observe that this symphony radiates joy and strength. "The scherzo is as proudly gay… the andante is completely happy and tranquil… for everything is smiling in this symphony," showcasing Beethoven’s noble heart and the unblemished illusions of life that he preserved in his music.

There were rare periods, notably from 1808 to 1811 during his relationship with Therese Malfatti and again after his brother’s death in 1815, when personal struggles silenced his creativity. Yet, despite lifelong battles with sickness, financial strain, and heartbreak—including the turmoil caused by his nephew—these hardships rarely penetrated his music. The “Eroica” Symphony might reflect an emotional response, but more often, Beethoven’s compositions served as a refuge and defense against grief. His music was a shelter from sorrow, a fortress that shielded him from life’s woes, allowing him to transcend his trials through art.

This is Why Beethoven's Symphony No.5 Is So Incredibly Popular

In this episode of Classical Insight: Piece by Piece, we dive into Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, one of the most famous and powerful works in classical music history. From the unforgettable opening four-note motif—da-da-da-dum—to its triumphant finale, this symphony is a testament to Beethoven’s genius. We explore the symphony’s revolutionary structure, its dramatic themes of struggle and victory, and the enduring cultural impact of the ‘Fate’ motif. Discover how Beethoven transformed classical music, shaping the course of musical history with this groundbreaking symphony. Whether you're new to classical music or a seasoned listener, this episode will deepen your appreciation of Beethoven’s masterpiece. 🔑 Key topics covered: 00:00 Introduction 00:33 The famous ‘Fate’ motif and its significance 01:03 What is a Symphony? 01:46 Historical Context of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 -Beethoven’s life and struggles during the composition 02:34 Musical Analysis: Structure and Themes 02:45 Musical analysis of each movement -First Movement: Allegro con brio 03:57 Musical analysis of each movement - Second Movement: Andante con moto 05:11 Musical analysis of each movement - Third Movement: Scherzo – Allegro 06:22 Musical analysis of each movement - Fourth Movement: Allegro 07:48 The symphony’s cultural impact and legacy - Where does 'V for Victory' come from