Simply Beethoven (Great Lives) by Plantinga Leon

Author:Plantinga, Leon [Plantinga, Leon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simply Charly
Published: 2020-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

Return to Vienna

Waiting for him was a shipment of his newly printed scores from Breitkopf & Härtel, who, in addition to music of all sorts, also published the leading journal about music in Germany, the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (General Music Journal). Thus, the company dealt with Beethoven, rather awkwardly, in two very different ways: as a producer of his music and as a critic thereof. A long letter to B&H from this time registers the composer’s annoyance at the response to his music in the journal:

I am sorry that I ever said a word about those miserable reviews. Who can mind what such reviewers say when he sees how they elevate the most wretched scribblers, and how they treat most insultingly works of art to which they cannot at once apply their standard as a shoemaker does his last, as indeed they must do because of their incompetence.

In the same letter, Beethoven is also dryly critical of the edition he had just received of his Sonata, Op. 81a, titled Lebewohl , or “Farewell.” (The score calls it “Les Adieux,” which, he claimed, is much less personal than “Lebewohl.”) Perhaps the most programmatic of all Beethoven’s instrumental compositions, this sonata records his purported feelings about the Archduke Rudolph’s leaving the city during the French occupation of Vienna in 1809-1810. Beethoven supplied exacting superscripts: first movement, “The Farewell. Vienna, 4 May 1809 on the departure of his Imperial Majesty the Esteemed Archduke Rudolph”; second movement, “Absence”; third movement, “Return.” The descending musical motif of the opening movement imitates the signal of the post horn, that small brass instrument that mailmen throughout Europe and England used to announce the arrival and departure of the post coach. (In composed music, it usually meant departure). The second movement registers abject dejection through poignant dissonance and a certain aimlessness of direction, while in the third, marked “vivacissimamente,” the joy in its reckless racing motion is irresistible.

All this personal feeling for the 23-year-old nobleman, a member of the Imperial family, should be taken with a grain of salt. It is clear from the composer’s correspondence with friends that the Archduke’s demands on him (such as several lessons a week) were frequently burdensome; his periodic absences were clearly something of a relief. But—exceptionally for Beethoven—the formal relationship of patron and artist prevailed here mainly, it seems, because the composer’s financial wellbeing depended upon it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.