“Music that strikes fire from human hearts.” L. van Beethoven
In the spring of 1787, a teenager dressed in the costume of a court musician knocked at the door of a poor little house on the outskirts of Vienna, where the famous Mozart lived. He modestly asked the great maestro to listen to his improvisations on a given theme. Mozart, absorbed in his work on the opera Don Giovanni, gave the guest two lines of polyphonic presentation. The boy was not taken aback and did an excellent job, amazing the renowned composer with his extraordinary abilities. To the friends present here, Mozart said: “Pay attention to this young man, the time will come, the whole world will talk about him.” These words turned out to be prophetic. The music of the great German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) really knows the whole world today.
Beethoven’s path in music is a path from classicism to a new style, romanticism, a path of bold experiment and creative searches. Beethoven’s musical heritage is enormous and surprisingly diverse: 9 symphonies, 32 sonatas for piano, 10 for violin, a number of overtures, including those to the drama by JV Goethe “Egmont”, 16 string quartets, 5 concertos for piano and orchestra, “ Solemn Mass ”, cantatas, opera“ Fidelio ”, romances, arrangements of folk songs (there are about 160 of them, including Russians), etc.
Beethoven reached unattainable heights in symphonic music, pushing the boundaries of the sonata-symphonic form. The Third “Heroic” Symphony (1802-1804) became the anthem of the perseverance of the human spirit, the confirmation of the victory of light and reason. This grandiose creation, exceeding the previously known symphonies in its scale, number of themes and episodes, reflects the turbulent era of the French Revolution. Initially, Beethoven wanted to dedicate this work to his idol Napoleon Bonaparte. But when the “general of the revolution” proclaimed himself emperor, it became obvious that he was driven by a thirst for power and glory. Beethoven deleted the dedication from the title page, writing one word – “Heroic”.
The symphony consists of four parts. In the first, fast music sounds, conveying the spirit of heroic struggle, the desire for victory. In the second, slow movement, a funeral march full of sublime sorrow sounds. For the first time, the minuet of the third movement has been replaced by a swift scherzo calling for life, light and joy. The final, fourth movement is full of dramatic and lyrical variations. The audience accepted Beethoven’s “Heroic” symphony with more than restraint: the work seemed too long and difficult to understand.
The sixth “Pastoral” symphony (1808) was written under the influence of folk songs and cheerful dance tunes. It had the subtitle “Memories of Countryside Life.” The solo cello recreated the picture of the murmur of a stream, in it one could hear the voices of birds: nightingale, quail, cuckoo, stamping dancers to a cheerful village song. But a sudden clap of thunder breaks the festivities. Pictures of a storm and a thunderstorm that broke out amaze the listeners.
“Thunderstorm, storm … Listen to the gusts of wind carrying rain, to the dull rumble of bass, to the shrill whistle of small flutes … The hurricane is approaching, growing … Then the trombones come in, the thunder of the timpani doubles, this is no longer rain, the wind, but a terrible flood ”(G. L. Berlioz). The pictures of bad weather were replaced by the light and joyful melody of a shepherd’s horn and flute.
The pinnacle of Beethoven’s symphonic work is the Ninth Symphony (1822-1824). Images of everyday storms, sorrowful losses, peaceful pictures of nature and rural life became a kind of prologue to an unusual ending, written on the text of the ode of the German poet JF Schiller (1759-1805):
Thy power binds holy
Everything that lives apart in the world:
Everyone sees a brother in everyone
Where your flight blows …
Embrace, millions!
Merge in a kiss, light!
For the first time in symphonic music, the sound of the orchestra and the sound of the choir merged into one, proclaiming a hymn to goodness, truth and beauty, calling for brotherhood of all people on earth.
Beethoven’s sonatas also entered the treasury of world musical culture. The best of them are the violin “Kreutserova” (No. 9), the piano “Lunnaya” (No. 14), “Aurora” (No. 21), “Appassionata” (No. 23).
The Moonlight Sonata (the name was given after the composer’s death) is dedicated to Juliet Guicciardi, whose unrequited love left a deep imprint on Beethoven’s soul. Lyrical, dreamy music, conveying a mood of deep sadness, and then enjoying the beauty of the world, is replaced in the finale by a stormy dramatic outburst of feelings.
No less famous is the Appassionata (Italian appassionato – passionately), dedicated to one of the composer’s close friends. In scale, it is as close as possible to a symphony, but it includes not four, but three parts that make up a single whole. The music of this sonata permeates the spirit of a passionate, selfless struggle, the power of the elemental forces of nature, the will of a person who tames and pacifies the elements of nature.
Sonata Aurora, subtitled Sonata of Sunrise, breathes with joy and solar energy. Its first part conveys the impression of a busy and noisy day, followed by a quiet night. The second paints a picture of the dawn of a new morning flaring up.
In the last years of his life, Beethoven wrote relatively little and slowly. The complete deafness that befell him in the middle of his career did not allow him to get out of a state of deep depression. And yet, what was written at this time was also marked by a miraculous rise of his talent.
