A Guide to Beethoven's 'Eroica' Symphony

[Music] in 1798 the future king of Sweden visited Vienna from France and suggested that Beethoven writes a heroic symphony on the subject of the revolutionary idol Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon was loved by many at the time for his brilliant campaigns in Italy and Egypt by 1803 he had effectively become the dictator of France recognized across Europe as a symbol of mankind's political and spiritual freedom almost a herald of the great Romantic era and so Beethoven was moved to write this great symphony one of his greatest and no quickguide can really do justice to what is probably the largest symphony that had ever been written at this point in history the symphony was originally called Bonaparte II however in 1804 Napoleon crowned himself the Emperor of France so much for those ideals of the Equality of mankind that Beethoven had respected Beethoven outraged scratched out his dedications and instead called it heroic Symphony composed to celebrate the memory of a great man and this might be a touch ironic so instead it became known as the Eroica symphony meaning heroic and we might best think of this symphony as an expression of heroic feelings in symphonic form or as Beethoven using symphonic form to explore the journey of the hero so what makes this work heroic well for starters it marks a significant change in musical style remember that Beethoven had started going deaf in 1802 he wrote his devastating Heiligenstadt Testament where he tries to admit to his friends that he is forced to remove himself from because he can no longer hear well enough to interact with other people yet this social isolation seems to have led to a significant transformation in style what's impressive is that this new style seems to emerge out of nowhere in many ways it's quite unprecedented yet it seems to spring from Beethoven's pen fully-fledged bringing us into a new period of music where he sets himself apart completely from his stylistic predecessors Hyden and Mozart one thing very characteristic of this symphony is its use of organic growth this was a widespread romantic idea in art of the time made popular by philosophers such as Goethe it's the idea that the musical argument the themes the structure everything about this symphony comes about through a sense of natural growth a sense of process our ideas are not simply presented but achieved through some kind of organic development for example triumph isn't simply presented but achieved through struggle but on top of that this symphony is of an unprecedented scale in almost every dimension the size of the orchestra its sheer duration its epic tonal drama the weight of its expression and arguably its sense of overarching connectedness uniting the four movements as having one clear purpose so let's look at the music the first movement is a massive Sonata form with an extra theme coming in in the development after two big hammer blows to introduce us the cellos state the main theme the first thing to note is that this whole epic movement emerges from such a simple almost uninteresting theme it's a four bar arpeggio on a major chord but then there's this c-sharp possibly the most famous single note in all symphonic music for several reasons but for now you'll notice how it completely contradicts the stability of the first four bars and throws us off balance if you remember anything about this symphony remember this note later on it leads to one of the most astonishing and subtle dramatic strokes in Beethoven's music this theme is developed and explored until we get to these forceful swats and ease to Ruskin writes that these seem to push hard against a harmonic barrier until an exhilarating breakthrough to the tonic a climactic statement of our fanfare motive in tutti triumph through struggle and all of this has emerged fairly organically there are several important transition themes this one this and this which leads with a big climax to the second subject in the dominant key and towards the end of the exposition we get this rhythmically and harmonically groundbreaking moment [Music] Beethoven in full power the development continues to take us on this wild ride expanding Sonata form two lengths never heard before in fact so much so that while it is technically the same Sonata form used by Hyden and Mozart it feels like a different beast altogether due to its sheer expansion we hear our themes from the exposition in all kinds of different climatic variations one moment of particular significance is this first we hear a few garter [Music] and then Beethoven gives us this passage of music more intense than anything that had ever been heard before it right through to the fiery trumpets at the end unbelievable even today it's hard to imagine how audiences at the time would have experienced it immediately following this is a new theme yes a brand new theme in the development section it's in E minor a key which almost couldn't be further tonally speaking from a flat major this is the most stable theme in the whole movement we are sitting floating on this harmony far far from home in the middle of the development section how will we ever get back however of course Beethoven does find a way home after more development we get to this spine-tingling dominant preparation preparing us to get home for the recap [Music] however even this dominant preparation lasts about sixty bars of pure build-up famously it ends with this string passage which is so quiet that the horn can't contain its enthusiasm anymore and lets out the theme a little early now the recapitulation which begins with one of the most ingenious tropes in all music remember that c-sharp from the beginning here's what he did the first time but here's what he does this time and finally we get to the coda where Beethoven practically shoots himself in the foot and tears us away from our comfy home key again and then he does it again [Music] but this gives him an opportunity to recapitulate that one unanswered question that new theme from the development it comes back in the coda and through Beethoven's brilliance he winds up successfully recapitulating it in e-flat minor the equivalent home key nice one Beethoven there's another long tense dominant preparation and then finally we get the main theme in a far more stable fashion repeating round and round again in a cyclic Away building on itself each time it comes around until we get a huge climax and it ends with these hammer strokes again mirroring the beginning it's an amazing feat of structural ingenuity but that's just the first movement the second movement is a kind of Rondo form it's famously somber it seems to express some form of grief not an individual's grief but more some kind of deep mass mourning it's long and there are several strokes of complete genius yet having mentioned its length it's also brilliantly concentrated none of the space is wasted in creating musical drama the initial theme itself is long and broad [Music] and the first section also has these brief moments of brightness [Music] Section B has this total sea change into the major a moment of consolation [Music] [Laughter] which once or twice bursts into triumph but the light falls and we return to the mournful main theme [Music] this doesn't last very long because section three bursts through a solemn double fugue on these two subjects [Music] this comes to a climax and then solemnly closes on the dominant where another fragment of the main melody comes rising upwards tentatively [Music] this is suddenly answered by a roar from the depths a fearful catastrophe this subsides into the weeping of flute and strings through which comes the main theme again this whole section closes with a sudden change of harmony and then some moments are measured as if it were by the slow swing of a pendulum [Music] but this brief possibility of consolation dies away and the movement concludes with a final utterance of the main theme this time utterly broken by grief the third movement is a scare so here Beethoven has finally attained the goal of replacing the minuet with something on a scale worthy of the rest of a great symphony if characteristics include this excited whispered opening which eventually blazes into fortissimo and then there's a trio of three horns which is written well for old classical horns and their tonal limitations and finally there's a cheeky coda which uses a lot of drums [Music] the finale is a kind of theme and variations though it doesn't quite fit the mold then again movements don't really need a clear label it was a unique form when it first appeared and it remains unique today the main theme comes in three stages a bass a tune and a fugue but first there is this short fiery introduction which asserts the wrong key and then corrects itself then the base part of our theme is given almost an anticlimactic joke after the last three movements [Music] but the second part is quite silly almost as if Beethoven is laughing at us [Music] then we get a few variations of respectable counterpoint and we begin to take this silly bassline seriously as a theme [Music] but then the tune sails in over the top in full radiance and we think no more of the bass though it continues on dutifully but then instead of continuing with more variations Beethoven leads us in a few steps into a fugue using the bass line as the subject this is worked into a vigorous climax and then we are back to more variations in a faraway key we get brilliant flute energy and there's an orchestral repeat of the second part with very rough energy [Music] this leads to a variation with a more sprightly dance rhythm as the base theme keeps us grounded throughout [Music] we get more variations and this all leads to a new fugue but this fugue is on the baseline inverted and combined with parts of the tune in a new form this fugue eventually comes to a grand climax with a pause of anticipation then in a great moments of reflection the tune enters slowly [Music] and then look seriously in the strings [Music] [Applause] and then there's a fortissimo variation with the tune now in the baseline notice the base theme has completely disappeared after this climax the rest is an extremely well-written and profound coda the music modulates passionately and then suddenly melts into one final moment of suspense and humanity but then the orchestra for the last time blazes out a larger version of the fiery introduction bringing the work to a triumphant end [Music] you may know that I'm taking part in the virtual music Academy's summer course I'll be teaching on Form and classical music but there are huge names there like the opera singer Dame Sarah Connolly conductor and director Ben Perry West End star Kelly Madison renowned trumpet soloist Matilda Lloyd and more it's for young musicians looking for expert guidance in paving a career in music you'll have contact with world-class musicians who will help you build your own personal roadmap for a career in music if you're interested in this then don't delay visit www.hp.com/recycle you can visit my patreon page at patreon.com forward slash inside the score I really do appreciate the support it definitely helps me to continue with these project and I certainly now plan on completing the Beethoven cycle please do subscribe if you want to see more like this and share this video if you liked it thank you for watching [Music]

Channel: Inside the Score

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Length: 19min 47sec (1187 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 27 2020