Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| |
| Instrumentation: | Orchestra |
|---|---|
| Key: | E-flat major |
| Form: | Symphony |
| Date of composition: | 1803-1804 |
| Opus Number: | 55 |
| Movements/Sections: | 4 |
| Dedication: | Fürst F. J. von Lobkowitz |
The Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major (Op. 55) by Ludwig van Beethoven (known as the Eroica—Italian for "Heroic") is a work many consider to herald the dawn of musical Romanticism.
Contents |
[edit] Background
This symphony is one of Beethoven's most famous works, originally intended by him to be dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte. Beethoven had admired the ideals of the French Revolution embodied in Napoleon, but when Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French in May 1804, Beethoven was apparently so disgusted that he erased Napoleon's name from the title page with such force that he broke his pen and left a ragged hole in the paper. Some time later, when the work was published in 1806, Beethoven inscribed the title Sinfonia eroica, composta per festeggiare il sovvenire d'un grand'uomo (Heroic symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man). This great man might have been an ideal, non-existent hero, but more likely, it was the spirit of heroism itself that interested Beethoven. However, it seems obvious that Beethoven was referring to the memory of Napoleon's once-dignified nature.
Beethoven wrote most of the symphony in late 1803 and completed it in early 1804. The symphony was premiered privately in summer 1804 in Count Lobkowitz's castle Eisenberg. The first public performance was given in Vienna's Theater an der Wien on April 7, 1805 with the composer conducting.
[edit] Orchestration
The orchestration for the Third Symphony is as follows:
- Strings
- 1st, 2nd Violins
- Violas
- Violoncellos
- Double Basses
[edit] Form
The piece, like most symphonies, is in four movements:
- Allegro con brio
- Marcia funebre: Adagio assai
- Scherzo: Allegro vivace
- Finale: Allegro molto
A typical performance lasts between 44 and 55 minutes.
[edit] Textual note
In the first movement, at the end of the exposition (about three minutes in), Beethoven indicates a repeat. It was generally omitted until the late 1950s, but is now generally observed.
[edit] Technical analysis of the first movement: Allegro con brio
This movement is in a highly modified sonata form, so dividing it into three parts (exposition, development, recapitulation) is misleading. The 'development' is twice as large as the exposition, and the 'recapitulation' includes a similarly large coda. It can better be described as having five segments of roughly equal size:
- exposition: m.1-153
- development, first half: 154-284
- development, second half: 285-397
- recapitulation: 398-556
- coda: 557-691
[edit] Exposition
The exposition runs as follows:
- Introduction: 1-2
The Eroica is the first of Beethoven’s symphonies to start without a slow introduction. Instead, there are two hammerstroke chords. Such a dramatic beginning is not unusual for the period—Mozart used similar gambits—but what is notable is that they are not thematic; they foreshadow what is to come without ever actually recurring.
- First subject area: 3-45
Bars 3-6 establish a firm metre, but as one only chord (E-flat) has been stated, the tonality has still not been confirmed. The opening theme is stated in the cello, but it consists only of a broken chord rocking around the note of E-flat, which falls on the strong beat of each bar. It is at once a theme and an anti-theme. Much more memorable is the rhythmic drive of this theme. Beethoven, however, questions this rhythmic drive by slurring the E-flat of bar 6 to the following D.
In bar 7, the cello and bass move down to C-sharp. This would normally imply a move towards the keys of IV (A-flat) or II (F), and as such would be interpreted as a D-flat, not C-sharp. In its present context, however, it serves as a springboard back to D, and as such is a C-sharp. This "upward drive" from C-sharp to D is mirrored in the first violins, which move from G to A-flat. The parallel fifths between the two outer parts are avoided by the syncopation of the first violin. The harmony in bars 7-11 is referred to by Tovey as a "cloud", which resolves in "sunshine" . This "cloud" is a weakening of the tonic, which in fact has not yet been confirmed; the first dominant chord does not appear until bar 13.
Just as the tonic is struggling to assert itself, so is the metre. The syncopation of the first violin in bar 7 is a major disrupting force in its own right. In the bass and cello, the D in bar 10 is not held on as a dotted minim, as was the first violin G in bar 9. Instead, the last beat is detached, and slurred over to the following bar, a process which is immediately repeated in the first violin and many times afterwards, calling into doubt the position of the bar lines.
Both tonic and metre become clear again with a reprise of the main theme in bars 15-18, although the piano dynamic makes the moment something of an anti-climax. Neither tonic nor metre can hold fort, however.
The first upward drive, which Schenker refers to as "the initial breath of the movement," is immediately mirrored on a smaller scale by prominent upward steps of a semitone in the first violin (b.18-19 and 22-23) and flute (b.21-22). At the same time, the upwards drive is being continued on a deeper level, with a rise in the treble from Eb2 to Eb3, finishing on the high Eb in bar 37.
The first subject area within itself contains a movement from I to V to I. Bars 1-22 are in the tonic, 23-36 the dominant, and 37-45 the tonic again. The effortless movement into the new key via the chord of the augmented sixth (b.22), and the sharp contrast of melodic material give the passage from 23-36 the appearance of a second subject group on first listening. In bar 25, just after the tonic has given way to the dominant, so too the metre crumbles, the sforzandos of bars 25-34 creating multiple bars of hemiola (in 2/4), interspersed with single beats, and finishing with three bars of 3/4 which cross the bar lines (b.32-35).
Bar 37 sees the return of both the tonic and the "correct" metre, with a fortissimo tutti return of the main theme. Despite the triumphant scoring, the tonic still cannot hold its place, but the alteration of the flute and oboe parts in bars 38-39 looks forward to the eventual mutation of the main theme that will allow the tonic to hold strong in the recapitulation. The A-flat chord in bar 43 avoids what would have been a hidden false relation between the E-flat (bass) of b.42 and the E-natural (treble) of b.44; and the G (treble) of b.42 and the G-flat (bass) of b.44. The interpolation of this A-flat chord and the syncopation of the first violin to avoid parallel fifths in bar 9 are important. They both uphold correct musical grammar and syntax; without them, there would be what would have been deemed unacceptable "errors." They uphold musical reason. Yet both of them interrupt the metrical flow, and occur at a moment of harmonic "clouding." They are a microcosm of the main theme of this movement - upholding reason yet emphasising its limits.
In bar 44, an augmented sixth chord again leads into the second subject area. This is the same chord that led us into the dominant area in bar 22, meaning that any well-trained listener who knows the story of Peter and the Wolf, but not of the Eroica, may well have suspicions on first listening as to whether or not this really is the move to the second subject area.
- Second subject area: 45-147
The second subject area is massive – over twice the length of the first subject area, but lends itself well to being subdivided for analytical purposes. This is due to the sheer amount and variety of material. One can see from a cursory look at Schenker’s hectic foreground and middleground graphs of the second subject area, however, that this variety seems to be imposed from without, rather than welling from within. Philip Downs is correct to state that "the creating of a second group of similarly enormous proportions and differences by means of an organic process is not accomplished until the Ninth Symphony."
We can group the material of the second subject group together as follows:
- 45-56
- 57-64
- 65-83
- 83-108
- 109-123
- 123-131
- 132-147
As the second subject is repeated almost verbatim in the tonic key in the recapitulation, an in depth analysis of every section would be beyond the scope of this essay. There are, however, some especially important features, which shall be covered.
The first twelve bars (45-56) of the second subject reference are (to use Tovey’s distinction) on F, and move to Bb. A clear parallel can be drawn with bars 18-23, which moves from Eb to Bb. Whereas 18-23 is moving in the dominant direction, 45-56 is moving in the subdominant direction; whereas 18-23 emphasises the rising semitone, 45-56 emphasises the falling semitone; whereas 18-23 emphasises the upbeat and first beat of each bar, 45-56 emphasises the middle beat, this emphasis reinforced with sforzandos; 18-23 ends with an augmented sixth, 45-56 is introduced by one. These two pseudo-modulatory passages are dialectically opposed. Yet they both finish in the same place (Bb major); they both destabilise the metre; they use similar sequences; and the scoring is almost identical. Furthermore, 18-23 leads in to what at first seems like the second subject area; 45-56 introduces what really is the second subject area.
Bars 57-64 contain four bars of thematic material (57-60), which are repeated in variation (61-64). A major feature of these eight bars is the contrary motion between the outer parts.
Bars 65-83 are important due to the introduction of a rhythmic figure of new intensity.
Bars 83-108 contain a rapid destabilisation of the home key (here the dominant), a concept carried over from the first subject area.
Bars 109-123 contain a stable key, but the metre is again disrupted; this time the second beat of the bar is emphasised by sforzando chords in every bar except 117-118.
Bars 123-131 are the climax of both the second subject area, and the exposition as a whole. Here, both the key and metre are completely destroyed, culminating in the six sforzando chords in bars 128-131. These striking chords both look back to the opening of the movement, and signal the close of the exposition (A. Peter Brown calls the material in bars 132-147 closing gestures ).
- Codetta: 148-154
The codetta is little more than a transitional passage linking the end of the second subject group with the repeat/development.
[edit] Development
The development can be split up into four sections as follows.
It is worth noting that if the exposition repeat is not played, the development is almost 100 bars (two thirds) longer than the exposition. Various commentators have drawn a parallel between the four part structure of the development and the Hegelian dialectic, stating that the first two sections form a thesis and antithesis; the third and fourth the synthesis. This interpretation, however, is contentious.
- Section 1: 154-220
The first section of the development begins with a section that looks forward to the much-misunderstood ending of the development (cf 154-160 and 378-395). Bars 154-160 take us into the principal key of the development (C major/minor), 378-395 into the tonic key of the recapitulation. By closely linking the beginning and the end of the development, Beethoven is keeping all the disunified parts of the development within one clearly demarcated whole. One could even look at this idea as a foreshadowing of Ligeti’s metaphor of ‘objects in a draw.’
In bars 166-177, the rhythmic pattern that caused metrical disruption in bars 45-56 reoccurs with similar scoring, and again leading from dominant to principal key (here, G to Cm).
At bar 178, a sequential development of the opening ‘theme’ begins. This is the first time in the movement where the whole harmony is moved up by a semitone, but it shall not be the last. Bars 178-181 are in Cm; 181-184 in C#m, and 184-189 in Dm. This sequence with the rising semitone is important for several reasons. Firstly, it builds on the rising semitone idea of the exposition. Secondly, it is flailing rapidly from the subdominant area to the dominant area and back, missing all the keys in between. This idea shall become much more obvious in the secondary development. Lastly, and most importantly, it doesn’t make sense. It sounds ‘right’ to the modern ear, if such an empirically vague idea is allowed to come into the discussion. It is one of the most exhilarating passages of the movement. It takes the music from where it was to where it is going. Yet in the common practice harmony of the early nineteenth century, it does not make sense; it is illogical.
Bars 186-193 involve the incorporation of ideas from both the first and second subject groups. The remainder of the first section utilizes techniques already used in the exposition to destabilize the metre. Again, an augmented sixth chord resolving to the dominant is used at a point of structural articulation (219). Philip Downs tells us that ‘the peculiar force of the progression lies in the way it appears to change the harmonic flow very suddenly, giving the effect of the sleight of hand that brings the rabbit out of the hat.’
- Section 2: 220-284
The second section, which develops only material that weakened the metre in the exposition, starts in a very similar manner to the first; the opening sixteen bars are almost identical. As there is no further development here, one could question why Beethoven chose to insert this section. After the loud ending to the first section, these sixteen bars are certainly an anti-climax. Furthermore, they are a quite backdrop that provides a springboard for what shall be the real climax of the development. In this way, these sixteen bars are an integral part of the formal structure. But they are somewhat static. They come in a constantly changing and forward directed development; yet we have already heard them.
The next fourteen bars (236-250) use the same rhythmic figure found in the preceding sixteen bars, combined with a fugato development.
The climax of the development begins with the forte chords in bar 252. Here the metre has long been left behind, and the harmonic instability has reached a peak. If one were to allow analysis to descend into descriptive adjectives and metaphors, the section from 252-283 could be called the culmination of the battle, in which the metre, tonic and main theme have been struggling to assert themselves. The listener expects the music to either collapse and die; or for the metre, tonic and theme to triumphantly and heroically assert themselves.
Instead, we get the infamous ‘new theme’ in E minor (oboe, 284-291).
- Section 3: 284-337
This is the start of the third section. One must ask, however, whether this is really a ‘new theme’ at all. Research into the Beethoven sketchbooks has shown that the melody in the second violin and cello was composed before the oboe melody; the oboe melody was written as counterpoint. If the compare the second violin / cello melody is compared with the opening theme, a striking resemblance can be found. This theme is not new at all – it is clearly derived from the opening.
This has major implications on the ‘battle’ of the metre, tonic and theme to establish themselves. The metre is secure; yet the emphasis in bars 294 and 298 falls on the second beat. There is a secure key; yet it is obscured by chromatic coloration, and it is the most distant key from the tonic in the whole movement. The theme has established itself in variation, yet for nearly two centuries, even some of the most revered scholars have called the oboe part the theme, and paid little heed to the second violin and cello. The battle has been both won and lost.
The E-minor episode is repeated in A-minor, before the main key of the development (C) is reached at bar 300, and the opening theme returns in a familiar form, before being developed sequentially. Eventually, the E-minor episode is repeated in Eb-minor (323-335).
- Section 4: 338-397
The fourth and final section of the development starts on bar 338. Here, the opening theme is presented in a new form; one which will finally allow it to escape its tonal instability. Ironically, it is the ‘escape’ from its total dependence on the tonic note that allows the theme to gain tonal stability. Whereas before, the theme stagnated on E-flat, leading to chromatic harmony to regain forward motion; here the theme finishes on the dominant note – a feature that will finally allow it to return to the tonic, with a sense not of stagnation, but of closure and completion. Concurrently, the bass is moving in duple metre, yet it fits in perfectly with the theme in triple metre. And the harmonic progression is moving towards the tonic. This is the start of the resolution of the tensions involving metre, tonic and theme.
In bars 366-370, the block forte chords that previously disrupted the metre, occur again, but this time remain firmly in 3/4. The tension that is no longer there is reflected in the move to piano dynamics in bar 370 and pianissimo in bar 378.
In bars 394-395, the horn entry provides what is one of the most misunderstood moments in all of symphonic history. The opening of the main theme is played in the tonic, but over dominant harmony. This is not so much a culmination of the tonic-dominant tension, but a reminder. After the fourth section of the development settled so many of the previous tensions, Beethoven reminds the listener that this is still a movement in ‘conventional’ sonata form, and that the recapitulation has a purpose.
[edit] Recapitulation
The coda has been included as part of the recapitulation, because, as shall be shown, it is still fulfilling a recapitulatory function.The recapitulation runs as follows:
- First subject area: 398-448
The recapitulation starts with the main theme with original scoring, and, as in the exposition, falls down to C# (b.402), but resolves in a different direction. This is one Tovey has called ‘one of the most astonishing and subtle dramatic strokes in all music’ . Unlike in the exposition, the C# is here treated as a D-flat, the harmony moving onto the dominant seventh of the supertonic.
- Incorporating secondary development: 408-429
Although the music appears to be moving to the closely related key of F minor, an A natural appear, and a secondary development starting in F major appears in bars 408-429. What has happened with this modulation is that the music has moved from the tonic to the dominant area, via the subdominant area. The music then moves abruptly from F major to D-flat major (the subdominant of the subdominant), then resolves in a conventional manner via the subdominant to the tonic.
- Second subject area in tonic: 448- 550
The recapitulation resumes in bar 430 with the opening theme in its modified form. In bars 448-550, the second subject area is repeated in the tonic, with exceptionally few modifications, bar the small orchestration changes forced by the change of key and register.
- Coda: 551-672
The coda begins by looking back to some of the core tonal centres of the development and recapitulation: Eb, Db and C. In bar 580, the ‘new theme’ is repeated in F, before finally in E-flat minor (with chromaticism suggesting E-flat major – b.389). The tension of this theme being in the remote E minor has finally resolved. The tension between tonic major and tonic minor, however, will have to wait until the Marcia funebre for its final resolution. The coda finishes with a giant composed out perfect cadence, which is disrupted in bar 673, just as in bar 15, with a sudden piano. Finally, just as the development was ‘sandwiched’ by the same material to make its form clear, so is the movement as a whole, the final three chords (690-692) matching the opening chords.
[edit] Critical reception
The work is considered a milestone in the history of classical music for a number of reasons. In terms of sheer scale, the piece is about twice as long as any symphony by Haydn or Mozart - the first movement alone is almost as long as the entirety of many Classical symphonies. The work also covers greater emotional ground than earlier works had - indeed, it is often considered to mark the beginning of the Romantic period in music. The second movement, in particular, displays a great range of emotion, from the misery of the main funeral march theme, to the relative solace of happier, major key episodes. The finale of the symphony shows a similar range, and is given an importance in the overall scheme which was virtually unheard of previously - whereas in earlier symphonies, the finale was a quick and breezy finishing off, here it is a lengthy set of variations and fugue on a theme Beethoven had originally written for his ballet music The Creatures of Prometheus.
Music critic J. W. N. Sullivan writes that the first movement is an expression of Beethoven's courage in confronting his deafness, the second, slow and dirgelike, depicting the overwhelming despair he felt, the third, the scherzo, an "indomitable uprising of creative energy" and the fourth an exuberant outpouring of creative energy.
[edit] Anecdote
A particularly sublime moment in the first movement occurs just before the recapitulation, when the solo horn enters with the main theme, in slight dissonance with the rest of the instruments, four measures before the "real" entrance. Beethoven's disciple Ferdinand Ries recounted:
- "The first rehearsal of the symphony was terrible, but the hornist did in fact come in on cue. I was standing next to Beethoven and, believing that he had made a wrong entrance, I said, 'That damned hornist! Can't he count? It sounds frightfully wrong.' I believe I was in danger of getting my ears boxed. Beethoven did not forgive me for a long time."
[edit] Modern usage
The second movement, a funeral march, is frequently performed on memorial occasions; and sometimes the entire work is performed. Serge Koussevitzky performed it when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died, and Bruno Walter did the same for Arturo Toscanini.
A character prone to malapropism in Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain requests that Beethoven's Erotica, not Eroica, be played at a funeral.
The second movement was used as a funeral dirge during the memorial service following the "Munich massacre" terrorist attacks during the 1972 Summer Olympics.
The recurring opening theme of the second movement is the theme music for Bismarck in the computer game Sid Meier's Civilization IV
Richard Strauss's mourning music Metamorphosen is essentially an abstract variation on the dirge from the Eroica, combining harmonically distorted variants of its main motifs and at the end quoting the opening bars literally.
A vinyl record of the Eroica is seen in the Hitchcock movie Psycho
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Eroica website from SF Symphony's 'Keeping Score' with Analysis, Background and Commentary by MTT (needs Flash).
- BBC 'Eroica' site
- Program notes for the San Francisco Symphony (Ries anecdote)
- Complete Eroica Discography
- A site about Eroica.
- Full Score of Beethoven's Third Symphony.
| Ludwig van Beethoven |
|---|
| Life and work • Musical style and innovations • Beethoven and his contemporaries • List of works |
| Symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven |
|---|
| First - Second - Third ("Eroica") - Fourth - Fifth - Sixth ("Pastoral") - Seventh - Eighth - Ninth ("Choral") |
de:3. Sinfonie (Beethoven) es:Sinfonía nº 3 (Beethoven) fr:Symphonie n° 3 de Beethoven ko:교향곡 3번 (베토벤) it:Sinfonia n. 3 (Beethoven) he:הסימפוניה השלישית של בטהובן ja:交響曲第3番 (ベートーヴェン) sv:Eroica
