How Beethoven Revolutionized the Symphony

I've been revolutionized music as we know it his Innovative approaches led to groundbreaking compositions which left an indelible mark on the world of music but just how did he do it in this video we will uncover six key ways that Beethoven transformed the symphony and changed the face of Music forever number one instrumentation before Beethoven the standard symphonic orchestra consisted of a relatively small group of instruments the standard Orchestra of Mozart and Haydn consisted of six Woodwinds a maximum of four brass instruments a set of timpani and strings but Beethoven wasn't content to stick with the status quo in his third Symphony he introduced a third horn to create a more heroic sound worthy of the name the Heroica Symphony in the Fifth Symphony he took things further introducing a piccolo Contra bassoon and three trombones in the finale showing that the symphony could be just as Grand and impressive as operas and religious works and in his Ninth Symphony Beethoven took things even further by incorporating vocal soloists a choir and an expanded Orchestra complete with extra horns and percussion Beethoven's bold moves in the realm of instrumentation helped pave the way for the larger more diverse orchestras we have today but that's just the tip of the iceberg Number Two Step Aside minuets it's time to make way for the scherzo not only did Beethoven change the size of the symphonic orchestra he also transformed the traditional structure of the symphony starting with the third movement his contemporaries Mozart Hayden and others favored the graceful predictable Minuet and Trio a graceful minuet dance in 3-4 time followed by a contrasting minuet for fewer instruments often only three instruments hence the name Trio and then a repeat of the first minuet to finish off the movement Beethoven took a different approach while he did keep the ABA pattern structure and three four time signature for this movement he completely overhauled the traditional style and feel the key is in the name scherzo derived from the word for joke or prank and Beethoven sketzos are often just as unpredictable and fun as its name suggests just listen to the scherzo from Beethoven's Third Symphony foreign from his seventh Symphony [Applause] [Music] but Beethoven didn't just stop at introducing the scherzo he also had the audacity to switch the traditional placement of slow movement and scherzo in his Ninth Symphony traditionally the slow movement would always come second and the Minuet and Trio would come third in his Ninth Symphony Beethoven puts the scared so second and the slow movement third for greater dramatic effect this paved the way for future composers to experiment with the structure of their Symphonies and break the traditional order number three programmatic music have you ever listened to a symphony and felt like there was a deeper story being told through the music you can thank Beethoven for that he was the first composer to attach a program or an underlying narrative to a symphony the most famous example of this is in his sixth Symphony in which each movement is accompanied by a description of what the music is depicting the first movement is called Awakening of cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside The Next Movement is called by the Brook and you can hear the water running along [Music] later we hear a movement called storm [Music] with these titles Beethoven's programmatic sixth Symphony laid the foundation for works like berlioz's Symphony fantastique Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony and even an entirely new genre the symphonic poem but Beethoven's experimentation with narrative in symphonic music didn't end there his third Symphony for example is said to represent the life death and journey of a hero possibly Napoleon Bonaparte or perhaps Beethoven himself and in the last movement of his Ninth Symphony Beethoven explores themes of human Unity through a conversation between the orchestra and the cellos and basses at the beginning of this finale we hear each of the previous themes of the Symphony played by the orchestra but the cellos and basses discard each theme one by one foreign [Music] the orchestra plays a new theme the Ode to Joy and the cellos and bases seem to say ah yes I like this one number four thematic development as a central part of Western Art music the development of musical themes and material has always played a crucial role in the symphony but Beethoven took this element to a whole new level just listen to the famous four note motive from his Fifth Symphony foreign [Music] 25 times within the first 30 seconds of the first movement and it continues to be heard in various guises throughout the entire Symphony in all four movements take this moment for example from the third movement which is based on the rhythms of that famous theme and let's not forget the iconic Ode to Joy Melody from The Ninth Symphony which is developed and expanded upon throughout the entire final movement first it is hinted up by the oboes and soon after it is played in its simplest form with no harmonic accompaniment by the cellos and bases from there Beethoven takes this theme and does incredible things with it adding Harmony and a counter Melody adding lyrics [Music] turning it into a Turkish March then adding Counterpoint it's then playing it so fast that it is barely recognizable Beethoven's incredible skill in thematic development completely revolutionized the way composers approached the symphony and eventually led to the creation of the symphonic poem number five length and scope prior to Beethoven the average length of a symphony was between 15 and 30 minutes but Beethoven didn't let these time constraints hold him back after a conventional length first and second Symphony he decided to push the envelope with his third Symphony which lasts almost an hour instantly becoming the longest Symphony in existence at that time and his Ninth Symphony was even longer clocking in at around 80 minutes with the last movement being almost as long as the whole of his first Symphony by breaking these classical era limits Beethoven was able to extend the scope of the symphony and explore more fully the possibilities within a musical idea one example of breaking these classical era limits lies in his transformation of the traditional Coda or outro before Beethoven the coda was a sort of outro a neat quick wrapping up of a movement but Beethoven realized he could use it for further development of old themes and even introduce new themes in his Coda a great example is the coda of the eighth symphony's last movement it feels like we could run into the final bars at any moment but suddenly his neat ending is rudely interrupted by the introduction of a betavini encoder [Music] almost another two minutes are added on while Beethoven continues to explore the material he has previously introduced this extended length and scope paved the way for later composers to delve deeper into the emotion and depths of their Works leading to some of the greatest musical inventions in history number six emotional depth Beethoven formed the symphony from a mostly light entertainment into a dynamic expression of human feeling and emotion on par with grand vocal music like church works and Opera he used all the tools at his disposal from instrumentation to thematic development to give meaning to his Symphonies and share a message with his listeners Beethoven's Symphonies like the epic journey of the hero in the third Symphony or the Pastoral scenes of the sixth or the search for human Brotherhood in the ninth all seem to have underlying emotional narratives after Beethoven symphonic music became more than just notes and chords and later composers like Schubert Brahms Mendelson Schumann berlioz list Marla Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich all used the symphony as a way to express their emotions and share something deeper with the world Beethoven revolutionized the symphony taking it from entertainment to self-expression forging a deeper connection with others his influence is still felt today in the way we think about the purpose and power of instrumental music if you want to discover more great music then let me introduce you to 14 masterpieces I've made a mini course 14 pieces where each piece of music is chosen not only because it's a great piece but because it will teach you how to listen to music so you'll discover some amazing music but you'll also develop your ears and get a stronger understanding of how to appreciate and enjoy classical music you can check it out in the link in the description or go to insidethescore.com forward slash 14 pieces thank you for watching

Channel: Inside the Score

Views: 135,552

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Id: VfwK3BDB0Yc

Length: 11min 4sec (664 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 25 2023