Beethovens Ninth Symphony: The Genesis - Research Paper Example

 Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony: The Genesis “The events of Beethoven's life are the stuff of Romantic legend, evoking images of the solitary creator shaking his fist at Fate and finally overcoming it through a supreme effort of creative will.”(Answers.com) Safe to say, from everything known about his life, Beethoven’s personality was a composite of influences, as his music, in the end, was a product of those same influences--personal, political, social and professional. As he inspired, he was inspired—an emotional creature sensitive to everything occurring within him and about him. His father, his first teacher, was an alcoholic, which certainly affected the young Beethoven. Working his way up from musical assistant to various teachers, who saw immediately his great potential, he quickly caught the eye of powerful patrons, including Count Ferdinand Waldstein, destined to become his first and most enthusiastic patron. Despite his many years of training, it is considered that he did not begin a serious career in music as a pianist and composer until 1794, and he did so by utilizing the patronage of others, a common practice among both musicians and artists of the period. “Beethoven's epochal career is often divided into early, middle, and late periods, represented, respectively, by works based on Classic-period models, by revolutionary pieces that expanded the vocabulary of music, and by compositions written in a unique, highly personal musical language incorporating elements of contrapuntal and variation writing while approaching large-scale forms with complete freedom. Though certainly subject to debate, these divisions point to the immense depth and multifariousness of Beethoven's creative personality.” (Ask.com) In 1792 he moved to Vienna to study with Haydn, a mentor with whom his relationship might be described as testy, brief but productive. It is said that Haydn, known for his cutting wit, contributed greatly to his student’s style. Although their relationship started out well, and Haydn was happy to have Beethoven as a student, Haydn’s advancing age together with Beethoven's notorious temper diminished the quality and ultimate effect of their lessons. Yet both “ Mozart and Haydn, his (Beethoven) greatest predecessors, served as a paradigm of creative work in the new direction of Classicism... In other words, the genius musician (Beethoven) voraciously absorbed not only the progressive music of his time, but also the richest creative experience of the most erudite contemporary composers. The musical knowledge he acquired and interpreted, together with an unmatched capacity to constantly work, makes (made) Beethoven one of the most knowledgeable composers of his time.”(Beethoven’s Rise to Fame) As the heir apparent of the Classical tradition of Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven had very different life experiences. Both his youthful political and social idealism springing from the French Revolution, upheavals in Europe in general and the personal tragedy of his growing deafness all impacted his music as an adaptive process in the current musical language to incorporate struggle. Thus the drama of Beethoven’s middle period music is missing in similar intensity from the music of both Haydn and Mozart. It is this sense of struggle that appealed to the music public and made, as many believe, Beethoven’s music more accessible to the masses as no other composer before him. We are tempted to find evidence of Beethoven’s own personality that may have influenced his music in letters written to various friends and associates. Yet, the editor of a book containing these letters cautions, “No one can deny that Beethoven’s letters tell us a great deal about his daily life, his practical difficulties, his illnesses, friendships and aspirations; what is more, they reproduce his mental processes so faithfully that the reader may experience a sensation of almost embarrassing intimacy.... If we learn very little about that level of the composer's personality to which we owe his music, we should remember that music is a language incomparably more precise than the words we use to describe its effect or its inspiration.” (Hamburger, p 2) However, Beethoven himself reveals that inspiration for his music often came from various pieces of literature. “When asked to explain the meaning of the Piano Sonatas Op. 32, No. 2 and Op. 57, Beethoven said: "Read Shakespeare's Tempest!" (Hamburger, p 2) “There is no doubt that Beethoven was influenced yet not intimidated by the opinions of other great artists of his time, including Mozart. As Otto Jahn tells it...’Beethoven who as a very promising young man came to Vienna in the spring of 1787, but had to return home (to Bonn) after a brief stay, was taken to see Mozart, who asked him to play something. Mozart, thinking that he was listening to some studied show-piece, praised it rather coolly. Beethoven, who noticed this, asked Mozart for a theme suitable for improvised variations. As he always played excellently when excited and, at this moment, was also inspired by the presence of a master whom he respected greatly, Beethoven began to perform upon the piano in such a manner that Mozart, whose attention increased to the point of fascination, at last went quietly to his friends sitting in the next room and said emphatically: “Keep your eyes on that fellow; one day he'll give the world something to talk about." ”(Jahn, Hamburger, ed. p 21) The above comment suggests two very important and strong influences on Beethoven’s music and his ability as a musician and composer. First, he apparently favored a strong creative instinct that vented itself in improvisation rather than studied stale pieces. Also, “he played excellently when excited,” (obviously by being given the opportunity by a great master to “do his thing”) indicates that he was certainly inspired by Mozart as a great master. Exactly how this influence was reflected in his music should be left to music experts. But one might assume it did impact Beethoven’s compositions. During what musical experts call Beethoven’s heroic sublime period, the composer’s political and social ideologies play an important and influential role. Rumph discusses the period and the influences on the master. “By the time Beethoven reached Vienna, the liberal mood of the Josephine era had already swung far to the right in the wake of the French Revolution...” (Rumph, p 35). Rumph attests to the fact that Beethoven held to the liberal ideals of his youth and, while others of his contemporaries were giving in to romantic classicism, he held firmly to his ideals and incorporated them into his music. “...the new Ministry of Police stifled a lively tradition of free speech. Yet Beethoven by no means abandoned the ideals of his youth. As is well known, he recycled a melody from the first imperial cantata in Leonore, at the moment of Florestan's liberation, a strain that originally accompanied the quintessentially enlightened words ‘Da stiegen die Menschen ans Licht’ (Then mankind ascended to the light).” (Rumph, p 35) Hamburger agrees but prefers to attribute the composer’s heroic period more to a natural inclination toward liberal thought than any conscious effort to express political preference. “It is difficult now to determine to what extent Beethoven’s revolutionary sympathies and eccentric behaviour were the result of conscious reflection; but it seems probable that they were largely emotional, the result of an instinctive radicalism common to all artists.”(Hamburger, p 3) In the early 1800s Beethoven realized he was going deaf and thought about killing himself. In a letter to his brother he says he would have, if it wasn’t for his art. Music kept him alive.. While the growing deafness at first drove him to despair, it later actually provided the impetus for new works. “...in a document--half letter and half will--addressed to his brothers in late 1802 and now known as the "Heiligenstadt Testament..." (Beethoven) ...resolving finally to "seize fate by the throat," he emerged from the crisis with a series of triumphant works that mark the beginning of a new period in his stylistic development.” (Island of Freedom) In that middle period, from 1802 to 1828 he composed the Third Symphony, a revolutionary work dedicated to Napoleon, whom he at first saw as a liberator of Europe. Later he changed the title to "Eroica," (the memory of a hero), in response to what he saw as Napoleon’s betrayal of his principles upon crowning himself emperor. The Heroic Symphony tells the true story behind the creation of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, commonly known as the Eroica Symphony (Italian for “heroic”). The events in this story and its central characters are all drawn from 19th-century sources. “According to Beethoven the melody (The Heroic Symphony) represented ‘a sublime spirit who came upon the people of his time and refined them through science and art.’ The connection between Napoleon Bonaparte and the Heroic Symphony was not common knowledge during Beethoven’s lifetime. In fact Napoleon’s influence was not made public until 1838 (11 years after Beethoven’s death).” (Celenza) Ferdinand Ries writes in a published biographical study of the composer: “I was the first to tell [Beethoven] the news that Bonaparte had crowned himself emperor, whereupon he shouted: So he too is nothing more than an ordinary man. Now he will trample all human rights underfoot and only pander to his own ambition; he will place himself above everyone else and become a tyrant! Beethoven reportedly then took the score, “ripped it all the way through, and flung it to the floor. The title page was written again, and only then did the symphony receive the title Sinfonia eroica.” (Celenza, Ries) Through disillusionment and growing deafness, however, starting about 1806 until 1812 we see this heroic character alternating with a feeling of deep classical serenity, a hallmark of many Beethoven works in his later period culminating in his famous 9th Symphony and other works more introspective. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 "Choral" was Beethoven’s last. Completed in 1824, it is considered one of the best known and more “popular” works of the Western classical music repertoire and considered by many Beethoven's greatest masterpiece. It is the first example of the use of voices in a symphony by a major computer. It stunned both the musical world and the listening pubic. Sung during the final movement by four vocal soloists and a chorus, the concept and some of the words were taken from the familiar “Ode to Joy,” a poem by German poet, philosopher, historian and playwright, Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805). Beethoven by this time was completely deaf when he wrote the work. In his early biography of the composer, Vincent d’Indy appears to question whether this later work of the composer actually reflects Beethoven’s earlier idealistic pre-occupation with the cause of liberty. d’Indy writes... “...At the present time the Choral Symphony is too well known to require any further attempt at analysis here. * We shall merely endeavor to explain what seems to us to be, according to the music, the true meaning of this work. We have not the least pretensions to infallibility; but, should we deceive ourselves, it will be in good faith, and assuredly, less grossly than those who have sought to discover in it a revolutionary apology for liberty.”(d,Indy, p 114) The statement seems to give some credibility at least to the notion that the symphony, while stirring, did not reflect these ideals but may have been incorporated into the piece for other effect. It may, in fact, be Beethoven’s attempt at expressing the culmination of the various periods of his life, from the excitement of youth, to the idealism and struggle of the middle period, to an exaltation of the wisdom and sense of accomplishment and triumph of his later years. d’Indy writes... “The entire work is nothing but a conflict between the various states of this theme, restless and changeable in the first two movements, tranquilized in the Adagio, and definitely fixed in the Finale, where words finally enter to explain its intent.” (d’Indy, P 114). Today, Swafford analyzes the various movements and comes to a similar enigmatic conclusion about the culminating nature of the work as Beethoven’s tribute to the struggles and triumphs of man. “First movement: loud, big, heroic, no?... the scherzo, Beethoven's trademark skittering, ebullient movement. Here it's those things ratcheted up to a Dionysian whirlwind, manically contrapuntal... the third movement is peculiar mainly in its cloudless tranquility. It's one of those singing, time-stopping adagios that mark Beethoven's last period (of introspection?)”(Swafford) Perplexed, Swafford ponders, “The famous finale is weirdest of all. Scholars have never quite agreed on its formal model, though it clearly involves a series of variations on the "Joy" theme. But why does this celebration of joy open with a dissonant shriek that Richard Wagner dubbed the "terror fanfare?” (Swafford) The writer concludes Beethoven didn’t want the work to be figured out, just enjoyed. Speaking of the final “Ode to Joy, “...Beethoven greets us person to person, with glass raised, and hails us as friends.”(Swafford) Wagner, whose music was later politicized by the Nazi regime, relied heavily on many of his predecessors for inspiration, arguing ... “that 'the genuine drama' (as he sometimes named his full conception of the musical work) should be properly rather than improperly 'erected on the basis of absolute Music'. He argued that the purely musical should be reconnected to the purely human. He argued that the empirical dimensions of the art of tone should be accommodated within a metaphysical argument for the expressive origin of melody in passion...he used Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as exemplar.” (Goehr, p 108) Goehr interprets Wagner. “If you think that what is peculiar about the Ninth is that it is a purely instrumental work until its last movement, and that the presence of words at its end explains its end in drama, then you are thinking along the right lines, but you have missed the crucial point. Wagner argued that it was not the presence of words in the 'Ode to Joy' that gave this symphony its end in drama. It was, rather, the reintroduction of the human voice, which, in singing, fulfilled the expressive promise of the preceding instrumental movements.” (Goehr, p 110-111) Goehr proves the point in Wagner’s own words... It is not the meaning of the words that really takes us with this entry of the human voice, but the human character of that voice. Neither is it the thought expressed in Schiller's verses that occupies our minds thereafter, but the familiar sound of the choral chant in which we feel bidden to join and thus take part in an ideal Divine Service. . . . In fact. . . Schiller's words have been built . . . with no great skill, for this melody first unrolled its breadth before us as an entity per se, entrusted to the instruments alone, and there had thrilled us with the nameless joy of a paradise regained. (Goehr, Wagner, p 111) With this quote Goehr says, “Wagner had found an argument literally voiced in Beethoven’s last symphony for the end of the dominance of instrumentalized music and the return to music of voiced expression,” (Goehr, p 111) Analyzed from a landmark and historical musical achievement point of view, then, we must accept the work as altering quite significantly the path of classical music from now to then. The Ninth as a highly politicized work has been usurped by the French revolutionaries; Hitler admired its Teutonic triumphalism and had Wilhelm Furtwängler conduct the work at his birthday concerts in 1937 and 1942; Ian Smith made it Rhodesia's national anthem. When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 Leonard Bernstein conducted the work with an international orchestra and chorus to proclaim the event via satellite to the world. As a Bonn rather poor student young Beethoven was stirred by the democratic proclamations of the French Revolution. As early as 1792 he had a notion to write music for the Ode to Joy by Schiller who himself supported the Revolution. It is not an error then to associate this great work with political and social changes that had taken place in Beethoven’s time. In fact, it seems highly likely that the composer, while composing this extraordinary work conjured emotions from his early years. However, it seems just as likely that the softening wisdom of his later years, in which the piece was composed, had an equivalent impact. In his article “An Article of the Ninth Symphony” by Henry Feldman the author lays out perhaps one of the most complete and non-biased analysis of the Ninth for layman. Anyone interested in understanding the work from a political, social, historical and technical musical perspective should read the piece. It is important for us to remember that while many factors influence the work of great artists, and our temptation in analyzing the Ninth leads us to Beethoven’s life experiences, it is also important to remember that as a technically proficient artist much of his time in composing the work was certainly devoted to the technical aspects of his art. While experts argue influences, perhaps what Beethoven was actually trying to achieve at least in great part was a work that everyone would enjoy; that everyone, as humans with various life experiences of suffering, struggle and ultimate joy would appreciate and relate to. ”Precious few works in the history of music have enjoyed so esteemed a place in the hearts and affections of so many – far fewer have rivaled the profound scope and monumental artistic achievement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s ninth and final symphony. This work, whose genesis was in many ways influenced by the course of then-recent human history would ultimately help shape and define the history of civilization itself, and in doing so become firmly rooted in the world’s shared cultural patrimony – the single most eloquent representation of the universal brotherhood of Man.” (Anthony, 9/2008) References Anthony, J. American Youth Symphony, Angeles Chorale, Sunday, 21, September 2008, Royce Hall, UCLA. “Heroic Joy: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.” September 23, 2008. Symphony No. 9 in d minor, Op. 125, “Choral”Ludwig van Beethoven. Notes by J. Anthony McAlister. http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=25411440558&topic=5382 Celenza, Anna Harwell. “The Heroic Symphony”: Authors Note. http://www.charlesbridge.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=4272 d’Indy, Vincent. Beethoven: A Critical Biography. VII The Ninth Symphony and The Missa Solemnis. Theodore Baker; Boston Music Company, 1913. Feldman, Henry. An Article of the Ninth Symphony by Henry Feldman http://mx.geocities.com/sergio_bolanos/article.htm Goehr, Lydia. “The Quest for Voice: On Music, Politics, and the Limits of Philosophy.” The 1997 Ernest Bloch Lectures. Clarendon Press, 1998. Hamburger, Michael. Beethoven: Letters, Journals and Conversations. Pantheon, 1952. Jahn, Otto. From Mozart: Introduction to letter: To Councillor von Schaden. Bonn, Autumn 1787. Rumph, Stephen. Beethoven after Napoleon: Political Romanticism in the Late Works. University of California Press, 2004. Swafford, Jan. The Beethoven Mystery: Why haven't we figured out his Ninth Symphony yet? Posted June 30, 2003, at 5:58 PM. http://www.slate.com/id/2084948/ Beethoven's Rise to fame. 1792-1805: The First Years in Vienna. Studying with Haydn http://www.all-about-beethoven.com/beethovenrise.html Island of Freedom: Ludwick von Beethoven http://www.island-of-freedom.com/BEETHOV.HTM Ludwick van Beethoven. Biography http://www.answers.com/topic/ludwig-van-beethoven Read More