Page 180 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

FiguRe 10.2
As a young officer, Napoleon Bonaparte seized control of the government of France in 1799. He established a new form of republican government that emphasized the revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality, and humanity. After Napoleon elevated himself to emperor in 1804, Beethoven changed
the title of his Symphony No. 3 from “Bonaparte” to “Eroica.” The portrait by Jacques-Louis David shows the newly crowned Napoleon in full imperial regalia. Liberator had become oppressor.
Symphony No. 3 in E♭ major (“Eroica”) (1803)
As its title suggests, Beethoven’s “Eroica” (“Heroic”) Symphony epitomizes the grandiose, heroic style. More than any other single orchestral work, it changed the historical direction of the symphony. It assaults the ear with startling rhyth- mic effects and chord changes that were shocking to early-nineteenth-century listeners. It makes mountains of sound out of the simplest triads by repeating them with ever-increasing volume. Most novel, the work has biographical con-
tent, for the hero of the “Eroica” Symphony, at least originally, was Napoleon Bonaparte (Figure 10.2)
Austria and the German states were at war with France in the early nineteenth century. Yet the German-speaking Beethoven was taken with the enemy’s revolu- tionary call for liberty, equality, and fraternity. Napoleon Bonaparte became his hero, and the composer dedicated his third symphony to him, writing on the title page “intitolata Bonaparte.” But when news that Napoleon had declared him- self emperor reached Beethoven, he flew into a rage, saying, “Now he, too, will trample on all the rights of man and indulge his ambition.” Tak- ing up a knife, he scratched so violently to erase Bonaparte’s name from the title page that he left a hole in the paper (Figure 10.3). When the work was published, Napoleon’s name had been re- moved in favor of the more general title “Heroic Symphony: To Celebrate the Memory of a Great Man.” Beethoven was not an imperialist; he was
a revolutionary.
Symphony No. 5 in C minor (1808)
At the center of Beethoven’s symphonic output stands his remarkable Symphony No. 5 (see also Chapter 1). Its novelty rests in the way the composer conveys a sense of psychological progression over the course of four movements. An imaginative listener might per- ceive the following sequence of events: (1) a fateful encounter with elemental forces, (2) a period of quiet soul-searching, followed by (3) a further wrestling with the elements, and, finally, (4) a triumphant victory over the forces of Fate. Beethoven himself is said to have re-
marked with regard to the famous opening motive of the symphony: “There Fate knocks at the door!”
The rhythm of the opening—perhaps the best-known moment in all of classical music—animates the entire symphony. Not only does it dominate the opening Allegro, but it reappears in varied form in the three later movements as well, binding the symphony into a unified whole (Example 10.3).
FiguRe 10.3
The title page of the autograph of Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony: Sinfonia grande intitolata Bonaparte. Note the hole where Beethoven took
a knife and scratched out the name “Bonaparte.”
158 chapter ten beethoven: bridge to romanticism
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