TAPE   1 HU 04: Beethoven Unit Listening Notes

Selection 1 -       Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125, "Choral" (fourth movement only)                                 (25 min)
Performers: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; Herbert von Karajan, cond. (DG 415 066-2)

Hear a recording of the beginning of the  fourth movement. Here is a recording of the rest of the fourth movement, the choral part.

The last movement of Beethoven's last symphony breaks new ground in a number of ways. Most obviously, it incorporates four vocal soloists and a chorus; up to this time the symphony had been a strictly instrumental genre. Secondly, it is as long as many entire symphonies, and the preceding three movements are each longer than usual as well. Finally, it involves a number of formal innovations, the most striking of which is the quotation of fragments of the earlier movements. The tape opens with short excerpts from each of the first three movements so you will recognize the quotations when they occur.

How would you describe the opening musical gesture of the fourth movement? (And why do I call it a gesture rather than a theme?) What human (or demonic) gesture does it remind you of? How does it make you feel, especially right after the dreamy third movement?

Soon the low strings (cellos and basses) play a passage in unison. Beethoven's audiences would immediately have recognized the style of this passage as recitative, a musical style used in an opera or oratorio when a character has a lot of text to deliver clearly and audibly. Does it sound like the cellos are trying to speak? If so, what are they saying? Why do you suppose Beethoven did this?

After the opening gesture is repeated, fragments of the first three movements are quoted, each interrupted by recitative-like passages in the cellos. What do the cellos seem to be saying now?

Here are short recordings of the original themes from the first three movements.            Movement 1            Movement 2      Movement 3

Finally the cellos finish saying whatever it is they have to say, the orchestra provides the final punctuation, and we are introduced to the main theme of the movement. It sounds like a simple folk song, and it is meant to, but in fact Beethoven wrote it himself and revised it many times before he had just what he wanted. It is treated in a loose theme and variations style: first in unison, then with a countermelody, finally as a heroic march. What eventually interrupts the growing confidence of the theme? What happens immediately after that?

The words are:

O Freunde, nicht diese Tone!   Sondern laftt uns        O friends, not these sounds! Rather let us raise our
angenehmere anstimmen und freudenvollere!             voices more pleasantly and joyfully!

Do you now want to change any of the answers you gave above?

The orchestra and singers now cooperate; the text is Schiller's Ode to Joy, which can be found in the Reader. From here to the end you will encounter many different musical styles: dramatic choruses, operatic soloists, even a little town band with drums and cymbals. Note how Beethoven follows the text:

• powerful chords are heard when the cherub stands before God

• a single tenor sings of the hero running to victory (does the tenor represent the hero?)

• a unison passage for male voices and low instruments represents the millions

(remember the melody they sing, as it will later be combined with the main theme)

• shimmering strings and flutes depict the realm above the stars.

What roles do the chorus and orchestra play at the end?

 

Selection 2 -      Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67                                                                                     (34min)
Performers: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; Herbert von Karajan, cond. (DG 415 066-2)

Movment 1 (RealAudio)  (Here is the mp3 file)

Movement 3 and the beginning of 4 (Real Audio only)

Mp3 of third movement and beginningof 4

This is the symphony in C minor discussed by Hoffmann on p. 332 of the reader. Since it is one of the most analyzed musical works in history, its construction need not be treated in great detail here. Those who are interested can find understandable analyses in a number of general music texts, such as Wright, Listening to Music, Kerman, Listen, and Kamien, Music: An Appreciation, available in Geisel Library. One point you should be aware of, though, is that Beethoven relies more on motives than on themes to build this work, especially in the first movement. The distinction is that a motive is the shortest recognizable melodic fragment, while we usually reserve the term "theme" for a melody which is longer and more self-contained. How does this affect the character of the music? Which has more drive and impetus, a sustained melody or a series of motivic fragments?

Consider this quote from Hoffmann's essay: "It is the intimate interrelationship among the themes that engenders that unity which alone has the power to hold the listener firmly in a single mood." There is one obvious interrelationship when the fourth movement is interrupted by a reminiscence of the main theme from the third movement. Can you detect any other, more subtle relationships, especially in the rhythmic shape of the themes?

The "climax that climbs on and on" that Hoffmann speaks of is in the fourth movement. What do you think he means by "the spirit world of the infinite" or "that unutterable portentous longing"? Does this music seem transcendent to you? What does that mean? Is it at all like religion?

The four movements are:

I.        Allegro con brio                           Fast and ominous sounding due to the minor key; built of

short motives.

 

Here are short samples of the two main themes:

Theme 1

Theme 2

 

Here are some of the times of the main sections. See if you can find the big surprises or departures from sonata form.

 

1st Movement

Exposition:

Theme 1:                                0:00

Theme 2:                                0:47

Theme 1:                                1:26

Theme 2:                                2:12

 

Development                        2:55

 

Recapitulation:    

Theme 1                                 4:16

Theme 2                                 5:09

Coda:                                      5:50

II.      Andante con moto                          Gentle theme and variations in a major key with two

themes, one like a fanfare.

III.    Allegro                                         Ghostly scherzo in a minor key; crescendo at end leads

directly to fourth movement

 

Movement 3 and the beginning of 4 (Real Audio only)

Movement 3 and the beginning of 4 (mp3)

 

Here are the times of the three main sections. What is the departure from normal practice at the ending?

 

Minuet                   0:00

Trio                         1:42

Minuet                   3:09

 

IV.    Allegro                               Rousing finale in a major key; rising themes; brass instru­
ments prominent.