Concert Attendance Paper

The symphony is in four very powerful and entertaining movements. The first movement begins in the pianissimo tone with the strings section, but quickly enters the fortissimo tone with the introduction of the woodwind, brass and percussion sections. The dynamics of the musical melody varies throughout the movement moving from crescendo to decrescendo modes. The first movement reminds you of a raging storm from soft blowing winds to thunder and lighting. The audience is mesmerized by this first movement of the sonata.

Berlioz believed in originality just like Beethoven, this is display in both composers’ unsymmetrical structures. Beethoven starts The Fifth with dramatically contrasting dynamics, as with Berlioz beginning with a normal Sonata structure, however, with extreme fortepianos. Both composers utilize sequencing and sheer repetition. Beethoven employs the ‘Fate’ motif across themes; and Berlioz’s variation of triplet rhythms. On the other hand, Berlioz introduces a larger orchestra than that of Beethoven’s (1st – 3rd movements), Beethoven relies on his own intimate thoughts, to convey his individual and majestic orchestral writings while Berlioz’s compositional technique lies in the nature of the

The first movement of Beethoven’s 9th is quick, driving forward and at times giving the feeling of rushed urgency, while maintaining a composed majesty beneath the surface. This is reflected in the original tempo marking of allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso, meaning literally “quickly but not too fast, a little majestic”. The movement begins with a the strings playing intervals over a quiet string tremolo, reminiscent of an orchestra tuning themselves before a performance. This crescendos to a loud and bombastic introduction of the first movement’s main theme and the introduction of the brass section. The first movement also makes heavy use of dynamic contrast, with large crescendos that swell in time with the music and diminuendos that quickly reign in the impressive power of the full symphony orchestra. The first movement also follows a traditional sonata form, with the main theme having variations throughout the roughly 18 minutes of play time. Personally, I found the ending of the first movement

Then follows a scherzo with trio - Molto vivace - also in D minor. The scherzo itself is in sonata form with all parts repeated. The octave tuned drums immediately announcing the important role they play in the tonality of the movement as a whole. Then follows a hushed fugato, which serves an introductory purpose as the full force of the orchestra. Then follows a more harmonic path with the utmost vigor. The second subject in C major adds an unusual harmonic flavor. The trio has a quasi-pastoral flavor, The trio is played only once, although Beethoven fools us into believing we will here it once more at the end, like in the first movement but it abruptly ends.

Beethoven’s fifth symphony, composed in 1808, is a fantastic musical masterpiece. It sends you on a wild emotional rollercoaster for the entire thirty-two minute length of the piece. The first movement is in sonata form, the second is in theme and variations form, the third is a scherzo and the last movement is also in sonata form.

I choose “Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125, "Choral": IV. Ode to Joy” composed Beethoven. I have no specific reason why I picked this song, besides the fact that I admired Beethoven when I was young. When I listened to the piece the first time I was surprised by its dynamics. In my head I have this preconceived idea that classical music was soft. I did a little research on the classical era and discovered; that music was an important part of society at the time and Beethoven was one of the top composers at the time. I was also informed that the all classical music was dynamic, the song could be quiet one minute then loud the next. In the beginning of “Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125, "Choral": IV. Ode to Joy” it seemed to drag, and then

In “Winter,” Vivaldi utilizes this pattern. If one listens to the first minute or so Vivaldi’s second movement in that work, then listens to the anything beyond the first 30 or so seconds of the first movement or past the first 45 seconds of the third movement, the contrast is obvious. Vivaldi’s second movement in “Winter” is by far the slowest of the three movements. This Concerto for Four Violins follows this same pattern.

The lower voices continue to follow this pattern until the cello has joined in to create a flowing rhythm. This feeling a motion is created through the use of slurs, crescendos, and decrescendos. The combination of these symbols and the rising and falling pitches being played creates a very emotional piece. The instruments present in this piece are those in a classical string quartet, two violins, a viola, and a cello.

In the first sonata there is a very nice trio playing a smooth and intimate section. A very slow moving part that is rather simple in its virtuosity but rich in its harmonies is a perfect introduction to the sonata, creating a gentle atmosphere to the listener. Moving on to the allegro part (part ll) the music begins to become slightly more virtuosic at around 40 seconds in to the section we can hear the violins begun to expand their range, playing in a call and response style. Completely opposite to the first section this section becomes lively very quickly at around 15 seconds the violin begins to expand to an ascending arpeggio and is brought back into the piece throughout this section. The Adagio section as expected slows down and becomes

The second piece sounded more unique since there were soloists. The Triple Concerto. It was composed in 1803 and it was the only concerto Beethoven composed with more than one soloist. This is one of the longer pieces and continued for approximately 40 minutes. The genre of this piece is triple concerto, where there is a large ensemble with three instrumental soloists which in this piece are the

Following was “Sonata No. 21 in C Major” by Ludwig Van Beethoven. This piece has three movements: Allegro con brio, Introduzione: Adagio molto, and Rondo: Allegretto moderato- Prestissimo. The introductory movement is very fun and playful. It has energetic movement that drives through the rest of the piece, keeping it exciting. The second movement slowed things down with its tranquil, yet lively interludes that made the listener feel very

Finally, saving the best for the last was Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, which is still one of the most recognized and played piece in the history of classical music. Beethoven marks his place as a composer in the transitional period between the classical and romantic eras and had profound influence on the future generations of composers. In this piece, the first movement is in sonata form, which is typical of composers in the classical era. This musical structure is typically divided into three parts, beginning with an exposition that is elaborated in a development, and then resolved with a return to the opening, a recapitulation. Right from the opening, Beethoven captures our attention with the famous, dramatic “ta-ta-ta-taaa” that

Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856) was a Romantic Era composer who composed the Piano Quintet, Op.44 in 1842. Clara Schumann is said to be the inspiration behind this piece. The Piano Quintet is seen as not only Robert Schumann’s best compositions but is also the best in Western music and chamber music created during the romantic era. The Piano Quintet is a piece dedicated and inspired by Clara Schumann, one of the leading pianists of the Romantic Era and Robert Schumann’s wife. This piece incorporates “musical signatures with deep significance for the Schumanns” (Potter, Naxos.com).

Beethoven created no break between movements in his fourth and fifth concertos; in them, there is no break between the second and the third movements. This kind of composition style was used in his early sonatas. Weber used the same composition style in his Op.79 F-minor concerto. Mendelssohn borrowed this feature, making his concerto have no break between from the first to the third movement. At the end of the first movement, the piano part repeats the dominant of G-minor, which becomes the tonic in the second movement. It has the same principle between the second and the third movement. This kind of composition style was later used in his E-minor violin concerto. This became an important feature of those works he composed

Stravinsky’s “Piano Sonata,” has three movements. The first movement is quarter note equals 112, the second is adagietto and the third is quarter note equals 112 as well. This piece sounds very similar to compositions from the Baroque, Classical and Early Romantic eras. All three movements sound like a mixture of Bach and Beethoven. Stravinsky said that he was influenced greatly by Beethoven