Revolution and Change

Revolution, War & Music 17891815;

Ludwig van Beethoven

Key Terms & Concepts

The French Revolution
Paris Conservatory
The Industrial Revolution
Early Period, Middle (Heroic)
Period, Late Period
Sonata-rondo form
Heiligenstadt Testament
Fugue
Exposition
Episode

The French Revolution

The storming of the
Bastille (right), 14 July
1789
1792: King Louis XVI
and Queen Marie
Antoinette executed
1799: General
Napolon as First
Consul of the
Republic

The French Revolution

Napolon Bonaparte,
Emperor: 1804-1814
The French
Revolution led to
widespread changes
in social conditions
throughout Europe

The French Revolution and Music

Music became part of the French States
unifying festivities
The Republican government underwrote
the Opra and Opra-Comique, as the
King had done

The government instituted the first modern

Conservatory in Paris in 1795, which
became a model for many others

The Industrial Revolution

British textile industry began the trend to
mechanizing work
Mass-production led to change in jobs
(think layoffs of hand-powered labor) and
hiring of men, women & children to work in
factories; massive economic change

The middle class grew in Europe at the

expense of the lower and aristocratic
classes; massive social change

Ludwig van
Beethoven
(1770-1827)

Ludwig van Beethoven

(1770-1827)
Influenced by the music of Haydn & Mozart
Began as a piano prodigy and composer

Became increasingly deaf from 1802 until

death
His life spanned the French Revolution and
Empire, and the beginning of the Industrial
Revolution

Beethoven
Musical work divided into three periods:
Early style: 1770 to 1802, Beethoven masters
composition and begins to find his own style
Middle style: 1802 to 1815, many works said
to sound Heroic; very expressive & dramatic
Late style: 1815 to 1827, experimentation and
increasingly difficult music to play and to listen
to

Beethovens First Period

Born in Bonn, Germany in 1770; worked
for the Elector of Cologne as a pianist and
improviser
Moved five hundred miles to Vienna in
1792 to study with Mozart, at Haydns
encouragement

Mozarts death meant Beethoven ended

up studying with Haydn until 1794. The
two had a distant personal relationship

Beethovens First Period 2

Beethoven studied with Albrechtsberger in
1795
He became soon well-known as a
composer and pianist in Vienna, receiving
support from nobility (including Prince
Lichnowsky)

Beethovens First Period 3

Beethovens composition began with works for
the piano, his own main instrument
Op. 2 Piano Sonatas dedicated to Haydn
(3 works)

Sonate pathtique, Op. 13 in C minor (c.1799)

Sonate pathtique, Op. 13

First movement in C minor; sonata form
Second movement in A-flat major (contrasting
key)

Third, last movement in C minor; sonata-rondo

form. What is sonata-rondo form????

Sonata-Rondo Form
Expos.
P tr S
R E1
A tr B
i
III

Dev.
(P)
R
E2
A
C
i
(bVI)

Recap.
Coda
P S
(P) Coda
R E3 R Coda
A B
A
coda
i
I
i
i

(R= refrain, E=Episode)

Sonata Rondo in Op. 13 finale

(score and recording on Blackboard)
Sonata form: Expos.
Sonata form: P tr
S1 S2
Rondo form: R E1
Rondo form: A
trans B1 B2
key:
cm
EbM
mm.#:
1
18
25 43
Sonata form:
Sonata form:
Rondo form:
Rondo form:
key:
mm.#:

Recap.
P
tr
R E3
A trans
cm
120 128

S1
B1
CM
134

Dev.
(P)
R
E2
A
C
cm AbM
61 78

S2

(P)
R
B2 A
cm
153 171

Coda
Coda
Coda
coda
cm
182

Other important works of

Beethovens First Period
Non-piano works composed after
Beethoven was well-established and
confident
Six String Quartets, Op. 18 (1800)
First Symphony in C Major (1800)

Tradition both respected and altered

Opposing styles and emotions juxtaposed
(these became characteristics of his style)

Beethoven in 1802
Beginning of deafness;
famous Heiligenstadt
Testament (found after
his death) describes his
reaction to the
unstoppable, growing
hearing trouble

The Middle Period (1802-15) 1

Beethoven was freer to compose as he
pleased:
Ironically, his deafness was freeing in this way
Job offers from other nobles in 1808 led
Viennese nobility to pool money to keep
Beethoven in Vienna, giving him financial
freedom

He was more able to compose what he

wished than any previous composer

The Middle Period (1802-15) 2

Publishers competed for Beethovens
music; he bargained, and sold rights to
publish his music in many countries at
once, which he learned from Haydn
He sketched his compositions over and
over again, leaving behind one of the most
complete views ever of how a composer
worked (see p. 380)

A Beethoven Sketch

The Middle Period (1802-15) 3

His music sounded more like a drama

Near the same time, many audience

members changed from thinking of music as
a conversation of instruments to music as
an abstract drama, involving struggle and
resolution
His works became longer than any before
1814 was the height of his popularity

Major Works of the Middle Period

(1802-15)
The Eroica Symphony in E-flat Major (1804)
The Fifth Symphony in C minor (1808)
The Sixth Symphony (Pastoral) in F Major
(1808)
Piano and Violin Concerti, 5 string quartets, 2
violin sonatas, the Archduke Piano Trio Op.
97
Fidelio (opera)

The Eroica Symphony in E-flat

Major (1804)
Longer than any previous symphony
Originally dedicated to Napolon, until
Beethoven heard of his tyranny; then he
scratched out the dedication, even tearing
a hole in the page
Mvt. I: Heroic; sonata form, Mvt. II: funeral
march, Mvt. III: fast scherzo with military
horn calls, Mvt. IV: variation-form

Title page of the Eroica

The Eroica Symphony in E-flat Major

(1804), I (Anthology, p. 282-321; CD 8:46)
Sonata form with unusual proportions:

Exposition: mm. 1-153

Development: mm. 154-397
Recapitulation: mm. 398-551
Coda: mm. 552-691

(153 mm.)
(244 mm.)
(153 mm.)
(141 mm.)

There are some powerful dissonances in the

work (see the C-sharp in mm. 7-8, and esp. the
Development, mm. 272-283)
Beethoven uncharacteristically uses a New
Theme (NT) in the Development (mm. 284-299)
The horn seems to prematurely begin the
recapitulation (!?)

The Late Period (1815-27) 1

Increasing isolation
1818: Beethoven was almost completely deaf
Family problems and bad health
Europe-wide economic depression after 1815
meant less money for musical performances
Austrian government became repressive in
1815, fearing revolution

The Late Period (1815-27) 2

Only two large works
Missa Solemnis
Ninth Symphony (Choral symphony)

Focus on music for private performance:

5 string quartets, 5 piano sonatas, Diabelli
variations
Increasing use of variation technique,
continuity between movements, mixes of
historical and popular styles, fugue

String Quartet in C-Sharp Minor,

Op. 131
Unusual quartet: 7 movements, without
pause; the 4 traditional movements are
present, but jumbled & added to
I: fugue; II: sonata-rondo (both sometimes
used as finales, if at all)
Unusual key structure across the 7
movements:
C#m, DM, Bm, AM, EM, G#m, G#m

String Qt in C-# Minor, Op.131, I

Anthology, pp. 322-325; CD 8:62)
Movement I: SLOW fugue (instead of fast sonata
form or fugal finale)
Exposition (mm. 1-21) uses the full subject in all 4
voices (fugal answer on IV not V!)
Episode I (mm. 21-47) uses motivic fragments from
the subject, mixed with free counterpoint
Later Entries (mm. 48 ff, mm. 91 ff) do not always use
the full subject., esp. 48 ff.
Extreme expression mixed with unusual harmonies
(Augmented: mm. 14, 27, etc.)
Key areas (EM, G#min, BM, AM, DM) appear in the
other movements as well

String Qt in C-# Minor, Op.131, I

(Anthology, pp. 322-325; CD 8:62)
Exposition
1-21

Episode 1
21-47

I vln (1)
II vln (5)
vla (9)
vcl (13)
C-sharp minor
->
F-sharp minor

Partial Entry
48-54

Episode 2
55-90

II vln (48)
vla (49)
vcl (50)
I vln (54)
G-# minor,
F-# major...

E-flat minor

Final cadence:
German diminished 3rd
(B#-F#-A-D)

Final Entries
91-121
vla (93)
II vln (94)
I vln (99)
vcl (100, aug)

A major
->
C-# minor

C-sharp minor

I
(C#-E-G#)

vla (108)
II vln (110)
vcl (111)
II vln (112)

Beethovens Centrality
Beethoven became a mythical cultural
hero, immediately after his death (and still
today)
Late works were initially disliked, but came
to be seen as masterpieces for the
connoisseur
The idea that Beethoven was expressing
himself in his works made him an ideal
composer to Romantic composers