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Ludwig van Beethoven. Modern Impressions:. Impressions of Beethoven’s Contemporaries:. Carl Czerny. Christian Gottlob Neefe. Mozart. Bonn, Germany: December 17, 1770- March 26, 1827 Composer and Pianist Between the Classical and Romantic eras
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Impressions of Beethoven’s Contemporaries: Carl Czerny Christian GottlobNeefe Mozart
Bonn, Germany: December 17, 1770- March 26, 1827 • Composer and Pianist • Between the Classical and Romantic eras • Major Works: 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatas, 16 string quartets, 1 opera (Fidelio), 1 mass (Missasolemnis), etc. • Teachers: Father, Johann van Beethoven and Christian GottlobNeefe • Child prodigy? Dispute about age
Highlights: • 1781: Starts lessons with Neefe in Bonn • 1782: First publication--Piano Variations on a March by Dressler • 1787: Vienna and Mozart • 1792: Vienna and Haydn • 1795: First Public Concert: Burgtheater in Vienna---he plays the B-flat Major Piano Concerto (No. 2) • 1796: Travels with patron Prince Lichnowsky to Prague, Dresden, Leipzig, and on to Berlin (performances) • 1799:Famous Piano Duel • 1800: First Concert of own music in the Hoftheater • 1818: Nephew comes to live with him; use of conversation notebooks • 1824: Premiere of Ninth Symphony
Beethoven as a composer • Improvising at Piano and Composing in the sketches • Piano duel 1799 (Joseph Wölffl) • Pocket Sketchbooks • Conversation Books
Ideas of Periodization and Maturity • Early Years • First Maturity (1792-1802) • Middle Period (“Heroic”) • Second Maturity (1802-1812) • “Late” Beethoven • Final Maturity (1813-1827) • Composer Narratives • Crisis and creativity • Deafness
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony • Symphony No.5inC Minor, op. 67 • Composedin 1804–1808 • Four-movement form • E. T. A. Hoffman wrote a famous review of the symphony where he described it as "one of the mostimportant works of the time." • Vienna, Theater an der Wien, 1808
Sonata Form: • (Introduction) • Exposition • Development • Recapitulation • Coda • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRgXUFnfKIY Short-short-short-Long motif
Discussion Questions: • 1) What is the meaning of the opening motif? • Can we associate it with biography? • Fate knocking at the door (Schindler) • Secret? • Struggle? (polar harmonies) • Bitter lamenting? • Fear and Horror? • Variety? • Can we hear “Beethoven” in this work? • Narratives of Crisis and Triumph • Onset of hearing loss / Deafness? • Interpretations change throughout history