The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume IIIThayer, Alexander Wheelock
History
The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume III
Thayer, Alexander Wheelock
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827
It will be recalled that in 1822 Beethoven told Rochlitz that he had
two symphonies in his mind which were to differ from each other. One
difference at least is indicated here by the purpose to use voices in
a movement to be written in the old modes. His well-known love for
classic subjects, no doubt, prompted the thought of the “pious orgies”
of a Pagan festival. Schiller’s hymn is still absent from his mind.
These sketches were all sidewise excursions undertaken while Beethoven
was chiefly occupied with the composition of the Pianoforte Sonata, Op.
106. What progress, if any, was made with the Symphony during the next
four years can not well be determined. The work was interrupted by
the composition of other works, notably the Mass in D, the last three
Pianoforte Sonatas and the overture and chorus for “The Consecration of
the House.” It was not until the Mass and the Josephstadt Theatre music
were finished in the sketches that he gave his attention largely to the
Symphony. In the sketches of 1822, there are evidences of considerable
progress on the first movement, little if any on the Scherzo (designed
to take third place in the scheme of movements), the fugue-themes of
1815 and 1817 appearing in them almost unchanged. There is no hint as
yet of the slow movement, but among the sketches appears the beginning
of the melody of the “Ode to Joy” with the underlying words, assigned
as a Finale. The thought of using the ode for a concluding movement had
presented itself, but only tentatively, not as a fixed determination.
Following this sketch, but of another date (to judge by the handwriting
and the contents), comes a memorandum indicating that the symphony in
mind was to consist of four movements--the first (no doubt, though it
is not mentioned) being the present first, the second in 2-4 time, the
third (presumably) in 6-8, while the fourth was to be built on the
fugal theme of 1817 and to be “well fugued.” The next recognizable
sketch is for a Presto in 2-4 designated as a second movement and this
is followed by the beginning of the first movement preceded by four
measures in triple time marked “_Alla Autrichien_.” A third sketch is
marked as belonging to a “_Sinfonie allemand_.” It is a new melody to
the words beginning Schiller’s ode to be used in a chorus; and again
the accompanying memorandum reads: “_Sinfonie allemand_,” but now with
this addition: “either with variations after which the chorus _Freude
schöner Götterfunken Tochter aus Elysium_ enters or without variations.
End of the Sinfonie with Turkish music and vocal chorus.” It is
possible that the melody had an earlier origin than that which appears
first in the sketches and was eventually used. The last relevant sketch
in the book of 1822 is a sort of thematic index to the symphony as it
now lay planned in Beethoven’s purpose:
[Illustration]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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