Beethoven’s earlier works had conformed to a more traditional and Mozart-like style, often including themes from Haydn as well. When Beethoven went to live in Heiligenstadt, he came to terms with his increasing deafness and decided to live on through his work. When he returned to Vienna he began to compose his Third Symphony, he incorporated a new unorthodox style of using the music to express his internal feelings through the piece itself. Many people felt that Beethoven’s complex expressions in his Third Symphony were somewhat unpleasant or longer than needed, however that did not mean that his third symphony was not a success. The second movement of the third symphony was considered odd by many because of its juxtaposition of a funeral march among the other movements which were more triumphant or lighthearted. Furthermore, Beethoven’s unprecedented expression of self in the Eroica forced his contemporaries to change their notions of a symphonies purpose. (Gibbs) “It foreshadowed the world that Wagner and, ultimately, Sigmund Freud would explore—the realm of the unconscious. That’s what was so revolutionary.”
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
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, the Viatka District in Russia on May 7, 1840 to a Russian miner and a mother of French origin. During his early life, Tchaikovsky did receive some musical training from a French governess in the form of piano lessons, but the training did not continue. As a young child, Tchaikovsky's family moved to St. Petersburg because
Texture – The texture is homophonic throughout the whole of Section A. There are three layers of sound in the Section A. The first is the melody – played by the violins and trumpets. This is the layer of sound which is most prominent throughout A. The second is the timpani and viola part. This is the softest layer throughout the section. It provides harmony to the melody, using the notes of the D major chord. The last layer is the continuo bass It provides accompaniment and bass.
The polyphonic texture can be seen through the music where is has three different layers which are produced by the different intrsuments. The polyphonic texture is a texture that is simultaneously performed by two or more melodic lines, or players, that have relatively equal interest. The polyphonic texture is not layers that are accompanied by chords, which would be called as the homophonic texture. The music for the Chinese Lion Dance consists of only percussion instruments such as the Gu (which is known as the drum), the Luo (known as the Gong) and the Bo (which is known as the cymbal). These are the instruments that are played together during the performance of the Chinese Lion
Composers since the early classical era have used sonata form to express through music ideas which are at once complex and unified. This form contains a variety of themes and permutations of these themes, but is brought together into a comprehensible whole when these excerpts reappear. Beethoven, in the first movement of his Piano Sonata Opus 2 Number 3 utilizes this form to its full potential, modifying the typical structure in his characteristic way.
The early period of Beethoven’s composition extends from approximately 1794 to 1800. In this period, Beethoven seen as copying Joseph Haydn and Muzio Clementi, at the same time exploring his own style of music. Some important pieces from this period are the first and second symphonies, the first six string quartets, the first two piano concertos, and about a dozen piano sonatas.
Traditionally, the transition should segue way into the second theme. However, this transition leads to another idea, which is characterized by majestic chords (mm. 17 – 18).
The second movement of Beethoven’s Sonata in A Major, Opus 69 was Scherzo: Allegro molto and began with Jordan-Anders playing the opening notes of the melody in a narrow range with a melodic movement that was conjunct. The texture here was monophonic for only a few measures. The timbre of the piano was bright and the harmony was minor. I heard the second movement in triple meter, and by the time the cello began to play there seemed to be a return to the polyphonic texture which was common in the first movement. The movement of the melody was disjunct with a medium range, the dynamics of the piano soft (piano) and the tempo
Symphony number nine in D minor, Op.125, the "Choral" is the outstanding piece accompanied with a vocal chorus. Beethoven began concentrated work on the piece in 1822. It occupied him throughout 1823, and he completed it in February 1824. The first performance took place at the Karntnertor Theater in Vienna on May 7, 1824. The deaf composer stood on stage beating time and turning the pages of his score, but the real conducting was done by Michael Umlauf. The first American performance was given on May 20, 1846 by the New York Philharmonic under George Loder. Its performance can never be an ordinary event, just another concert, it is something special because the feeling you get inside when you hear
The fourth movement is titled “thunderstorm” and is a romantic movement. It is in episodic form (a format of the romantic period). It is extremely programmatic. The movement depicts a thunderstorm through the use of the timpani that creates the rumble of the thunder and the punctuated sforzando chords that create a harsh lightning (for example in bar 21). These programmatic features are romantic traits and show Beethoven’s ability to push the boundaries of the style he was contained to. The use of percussion and brass in a dominant role is also a romantic feature. There are multiple dramatic dynamic changes throughout the movement ranging from pianissimo to fortissimo, which is unusual for the classical period. The movement also exercises dissonance and the melody is unresolved, a
Beethoven’s symphony No. 5 in c minor, Op. 67, I has four movements allegro con brio, andante con moto, scherzo allegro, and allegro. The first movement is a sonata that contains a motif and fortissimo phases using imitation and sequence with a constant flowing melody. The second movement contains two themes in alternation. The first theme starts later followed by the second which later dies of as a third theme is born followed by fortissimo The third movement contains a scherzo and trio and is in ternary form the theme is immediately stated and continually gets revived. The fourth and final movement starts immediately after the third and is a variation of a sonata. The piece has strong cadence and recapitulates only to finish in an extremely
This work was composed during the Classical period, 1750- 1820. One aspect of the classical music style beign applied to this work includes the reoccurance of two or more contrasting themes. Another is the use of short and clearly defined musical phrases. Lastly, this piece, on a purely musical level, was simply more to hum along to. This type of melody took over the complex polyphony of the Baroque period.
The symphony consists of four movements. The first movement, Allegro vivace, is in sonata form. In the first theme (Ex.1), many sequences were used to construct the melody. And being inspired by Italian opera, Mendelssohn here tired to delay the closure of the theme as much as possible. While the second theme, it shares the similar materials as the first theme. In the development section, although a new theme appears, it consists of some materials of the first theme. Then, all these three themes appear again in the recapitulation, creating a sense of unity.
Employing remote keys and tonicisation seem not sufficient for the composer to display his ability to expand the expressiveness of his music. Thus, Beethoven employed the technique modal mixture through out the second theme in both exposition and recapitulation. For instance, the second theme in the exposition starts with B major harmony (mm.65-69) (Fig. C). With a descending scale, the second theme swiftly changes to b minor (mm.72-79) (Fig. J). It creates abrupt change in the mood from a sweet dance-like major passage to a stormy minor one. From measure 72, b minor persists throughout the second theme except