1

John Rice

W. W. NORTON AND COMPANY

NEW YORK· LONDON

•

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Londoninthel790s

T~e~rench ,Revolution transformed France's cultural landscape, includ- Ing Its mUSIC. But Europe as a whole also felt effects of the Revolution.As

we saw in Chapter 15, Mozart's La clemenza di Tao, performed in Prague in 1791, could have communicated a counter-revolutionary message to its first audience. Another city that heard the Revolution's musical reverberations was London. Throughout the century London had drawn talented and ambitious musicians from the Continent; but during the Revolution, musicians previously active in Paris, or who might have settled there, came to London instead. In 1793one ofthe daily papers marveled at the large number of such musical refugees: "Nothing less than the demolition of one Monarchy, and the general derangement of all the rest, could have poured into England and settled such a mass of talents as we have now to boast. Music as well as misery has fled for shelter to England."

RIVAL CONCERT SERIES

The death in 1782 of Johann Christian Bach, who had helped to organize con- certs at the Hanover Square Rooms since they"opened in 1774,led to the end of the popular Bach-Abel Concerts. But they were quickly replaced by other series, several of which also took place at Hanover Square: the Hanover Square Grand

237

1 238 CHAPTER SIXTEEN LONDON IN THE 17905

Concert (1783-84), the Professional Concert (1785-93), and Salomon's Concert (1791-94). The last was the hrainchild of the violinist and impresario Johann Peter Salomon, yet another German immigrant, who brought the public concert to an unprecedented level of artistic excellence. All three of these series presented 12 or 13 concerts (one each week) during

a season that began around the middle of the winter and continued until late spring. In tryingto win subscribers, their organizers engaged celebrated com- posers, instrumentalists, and singers to appear regularly, and exclusively, on their series. But the series did not differ much in the format of their programs, which consisted of two parts separated by an intermission. Both parts began with symphonies. often called overtures, a term reflecting the symphony's an- cestry in the operatic sinfonia (see Chapter 5). The second part ended with an orchestral work variously called a finale, a full piece, or a symphony. Concerts typically included Italian arias sung by two or three singers, male and female, who often joined in the performance of a duet or trio near the end of the pro- gram. Two or three concertos for different instruments, one of which often served as the conclusion of the concert's first half, constituted the third essen- tial ingredient of concerts in London. Audiences loved novelty, and programs frequently called attention to the newness of music that was to be performed. An announcement in the Public Advertiser of the first concert in the

Professional Concert's 1790 series, on February 15, contained the evening's program:

ACT I

Overture Quartetto

HAYDN PLEYEL

For two Violins, Tenor [viola], and Violoncello, by Messrs. CRAMER, BORGHI, BLAKE,and CERVETTO

Song Sonata Piano Forte Song Concerto Violin

Miss CANTELO Mr. DAME Signora STORACE Mr. CRAMER

ACT II

New Grand Overture Song Concerto Hautboy [oboe] Song New Overture

M.S. HAYDN Miss CANTELO Mr. PARKE Signora STORACE M.S. CIROWETZ

Q

HAYDN'S fiRST VISIT TO ENGLAND 239

This program was exceptional only in that no male singer participated. The songs performed by the evening's vocal soloists, MissCautela (first name unknown) and Nancy Storace, were almost certainly Italian arias. Storace, born in England to an English mother and an Italian father, had sung opera in Italy and Vienna, where she created the role of Susanna in Mozart'sLe noz- zedi Figaro. The program emphasized the novelty of the "overtures'S-again, probably concert symphonies-that framed the second half by the abbrevia- tion "M.S." (manuscript), implying they had not yet been printed. Only the symphony by the young Bohemian composer Adalbert Gyrowetz could have been really new, as Gyrowetz had recently arrived in London and might have composed it especially for this occasion. But the compositional star of the evening-the only composer named more than once-had not yet written any symphonies for London. In February 1790he wasfar from England; during his long life he had never ventured more than about 100miles from his birthplace

near Vienna.

HAYDN'S FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND

Salomon's efforts during the 1780s to give his concerts an edge over the com- petition included repeatedly inviting Joseph Haydn-the popularity of whose symphonies in London can be surmised from their prominence on the concert program quoted above-to write symphonies forLondon and todirect their per- formance in person. Haydn, busy fulfIlling his duties for Prince NicolausEst~r- hazy (see Chapter 10) and writing music for other patrons whodid not require him to travel, declined Salomon's invitations, But in September 1790Nicolaus died. His son Anton largely abandoned Eszterhaza, Nicolaus'smagnincent but isolated palace, and disbanded his father's opera troupe. Hekept Haydnonsal-

ary hut gave him little to do. 1 S . . . .' f his next concerts, rea- alomon, In Germany hiring mUSICIans or. hi the time In November

ized that if he was ever to engage Haydn, t ISwas ' ,. db' g admitted to Haydns or early December he hurried to VIenna an ,on em

L d nd have come to fetch

residence. announced: "I am Salomon from on on a"I this agreement Haydn you. Tomorrow we shall conclude an agreement. n f h

d dl t th ir performance rom t e

promised to write six symphonies an to irec e 58 ld d h t th composer nOW , coukeyhoard Some of Haydn's friends doubte I a e ' .. . d f' d ccess in a city much bigger

survive the long trip across Europe an in su ld" t tning for the great war , than Vienna. Mozart said to him: Youhave no ra . der-ded: "Mylanguage ISun er and you speak too few languages." Haydn respon . stood all over the world!" . h F Uowinginthe O I

1 ItVl<nna toget er. a n December 15 Haydn and Sa oman e . H d arrived in

f .' f the Contment, ay n

ootsteps of so many great mUSICIans rom

240

• CHAPTER SIXTEEN LONDON IN THE [7905

London at the beginning of January 1791.Thus began the fu-st of two long visits, each of which included two concert seasons.

Haydn wrote to a friend that it took him two days to recover from his journey by coach and boat. "Now, however, I am fresh and well again, and Occupied in looking at this endlessly huge city of London, whose various beauties and marvels quite astonished me." He must have been equally surprised at the richness of London's musical life, ofwhich he could have gotten some idea fromanannouncement in the PublicAdvertiser on January 7,1791: "Never could this country boast of such a Con- stellation of musical excellence as now illuminates our fashionable hemisphere. No one metropolis can exhibit such aunion of masters as London now possesses." There follows a list of the weekly events planned for the upcoming season:

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

The Nobleman's Subscription is held every Sunday at a different house.

The Professional Concert-at the Hanover-Square Rooms-with Mrs. Billington.

The Opera.

The Ancient Music at the rooms in

Tottenham Street, under the patronage ofTheir Majesties.

The Anacreontic Society also, occasionally, on Wednesday.

The Pantheon. A pasticcio of music and

dancing, in case that the Opera Coalition shall take place; ifnot, a concert with Mad. Mara and Sig. Pacchierottj

Academy ofAncient Music, every other Thursday, at Freemason's Hall.

Aconcert under the auspices of Haydn at the Rooms, HanoverSquare, with Sig. David.

The Opera.

With the signifIcant exception of Haydn, all the musicians mentioned on this list. were singers: the sopranos Elizabeth Billington and Gertrud Mara, the musicc Gasparo Pacchierotti, and the tenor Giacomo David were all among ~urope's leading performers of Italian opera. Their names again underline the Importance of vocal music (and It Ii ias in parucular) . .a Ian opera arras III particular III concerts III London, as in the rest of Europe.

The ~ist al~o re~in~s us of the crucial role that Italian opera had played in London s musical life smce the early eighteenth century (see Chapter 7). Indeed,

• HAYDN'S FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND 241

Haydn came to England with the expectation of writing not 0 I honi. . n y symp ames but also an opera seraa, which was to be entitled L'anima del filosofo, ossia Drieo cd Euridice (The Philospher's Soul, or Orpheus and Eurydice), He came close to completing it and putting. it into production, but it fell victim to a rivalry between two theat~rs competmg for the exclusive right topresent Italian opera, andwas never performed. Fortunately, Haydn had been paid forit in advance;he took it back to Vienna and eventually had parts of it published.

A TRIUMPHANT DEBUT

Salomon soon announced his intention to present 12concerts onFridaynights, with Haydn directing the performance of a new work for each concert; sub- scriptions were to cost five guineas. After several delays, Haydn'sfirst series of concerts began on March II, 1791.He made his debut on a program tbat began and ended with symphonies by the Bohemians Antonio Rosetti and Leopold Kozeluch, and included arias sung by a soprano and tenor (both prominent op- era singers), concertos for oboe and violin, and a symphonie concertante for piano and harp byyet another Bohemian musician, JanLadislavDussek.Butthe piece de resistance was Haydn's "NewGrand Overture," playedatthe beginning

ofthe second half of the program, No fewer than three of the soloists-the pianist Dussek, the harpist Anne-

Marie Krumpholz, and the violinist Madame Gautherot-had spent the period immediately before the French Revolution in Paris, exemplifying howLondon benefrted during the Revolution from musical talent developed in France.Also French was the symphonie concertante, aconcerto fortwoormore instruments of which French composers and audiences were particularly fond; Mozarthad

encountered it in Paris in 1778,as wesawin Chapter II Haydn's "New Grand Overture" wasprobahly his SymphonyNo,92inGMajor,

composed in 1789: not new, but apparently unknown in London. (Haydnwasto present it again in July 1791in Oxford, on the occasion ofhis receiving an hen-

, f ned for it the nickname orary degree from the umversuy: that per ormance ear . Oxford Symphony) Haydn directed its performance from the keyboard, In the middle of an orchestra whose arrangement wasdescribed byan eyeWItness:

h t end the doublebasses,

The pianoforte was in the centre, at eac ex reme .,h t t nors orviolasandtwoVIO- then on each side twovioloncellos, t en wo e

d k h'ghplatformforSalomon

lins,andinthehollowofthepianoa es ana I .' 1A, [ h sthe first violin sectIOD. t [as concertmaster] and his j-iprenc per ap. h d all these instruments were the back, verging down to apOIntat eac en , Stilt f ther, , b f a full orchestra. 1 ur doubled giving the requlslte DUm er or t, d on either side the trumpe a. back, raised high up. were drums, an

• 242 CHAPTER SIXTEEN LONDON IN THE 17905

trombones, bassoons. oboes, clarinets. flutes, &c., in numbers accord- ingto the requirements of the symphonies and other music to be played on the different evenings.

The Morning Chronicle echoed the audience's ecstatic reaction to Haydn's concert: "Never, perhaps, was there a richer musical treat," Not surprisingly, it devoted most of its report to Haydn's symphony:

It is not wonderful that to souls capable of being touched by music, HAYDN should be an object of homage, and even of idolatry; for like OUf Own SHAKSPEARE, he moves and governs the passions at his will. His new Grand Overture was pronounced by every scientific ear to be a

most wonderful composition; but the first movement in particular rises in grandeur ofsubject, and in the rich variety ofair and passion, beyond any even ofhis own productions. The Overture has four movements .. Theyare allbeautiful, but the first ispre-eminent in every charm, and the band performed itwith admirable correctness .... Wewere happy to see the concert so well attended the fu-st night; for

wecannot suppress our very anxious hopes, that the first musical genius ofthe agemaybe induced, byour liberal welcome, to take up his residence in England.

Although Haydn's first season in London was marred by the failure to bring L'anima deL filosofo to the stage, as a symphonist he triumphed. His success came despite his not fulfilling the agreement with Salomon, in which he had promised to write six symphonies. Having been engaged so soon before the beginning of the concert season, and with much of his early weeks in London taken up with the composition ofhis opera, he had little time to write sympho- nies. Of those he presented in 1791,only two, Nos. 95'in C Minor and 96 in D Major,are among the 12that he would eventually compose for London. Salomon allowed him to fulfill his promise with a mixture ofnew symphonies and works (like the Oxford Symphony) new enough not to be familiar in England.

HAYDN'S SECOND SEASON

Haydn's success during the winter and spring of 1791caused Salomon to ask him to stay in England and to headline the 1792 season. In July 1791Haydn wrote Prince Anton Esterhazy, seeking permission to extend his leave to the follow~ng summer. Anton's coldly polite answer, which managed to misspell Haydns name, was an unpleasant reminder that despite his fame he was still a nobleman's servant;

- HAYDN'S FlRST VISIT TO ENGLAND

Tothe Kapellmeister Hayden: It is with much pleasure that I learn from your letter of July 20 how much your talents are prized in London and I genuinely rejoice thereat; but at the same time I cannot conceal from you that your present, already ex- tended absence has turned out to be not only very vexatious forme but also very expensive since Iwas compelled to have recourse to outsiders far the

festivities held at Eszterhaza this month. You will not think ill of me therefore that I cannot grant you the re-

quested extension for a further year ofyour leave of absence; but instead expect to hear from you by the next post the exact time when you will ar- rive back here again.

243

Haydn ignored the summons: a personal rebellion that, in its own small way,echoed the Revolution unfolding in France. His experiences inLondonhad taught him his true value. He knew that Anton earned prestige fromhavinghim ashis music director. He calculated that the prince wouldnotdismiss him, even ifhe extended his leave without permission. Hewas right. The long period between the end of the 1791concert season and the begin-

ning of the 1792 season gave Haydn time tovisit Oxford, to relax at the country estate of abanker who had befriended him, and towrite musicforhis forthcom- ing concerts. That music included the Symphonie Concertante in Bb Major(for violin, oboe, cello, and bassoon) and four symphonies, the most celebratedof which (No, 94 in G Major) came to be known as tbe Surprise Symphonybecause ofthe fortissimo chord, reinforced with adrumbeat, in the otherwise placidslow movement. Another symphony, No.97in CMajor,is just asfinelycraftedbutless sensational in it effects. Composed within a few months of Mozart'sdeath on December 5, 1791,it exemplifies the brilliance, grandeur, and charm ofHaydn's "London" Symphonies and at the same time presents what he might have in-

tended as a gentle, private memorial tohis friend.

THE SYMPHONY NO, 97

The Symphony No. 97, like all ofHaydn's later symphonies, is in fourmovements: Vi I'd t' n marked Adagio: a setof a ivace in sonata form preceded by a s owintro uc 10. . ' ( A th logy24)'aminuetmarked var-iations on atheme Adagio rnanon troppo see ntnorogj ew-

AI ' d di t blywithin theparameters

legretto; and afmale that moves freelyan unpre ICa . f

. H dn also choseaparticular or- o rondo form. In choosing the key ofC major, ay . d . h h·

d . . that he assocIate Wit t 1S

chestral color, dominated by trumpets an tirnpam- . . h it k

f h Y ce'sopenmg theme,Wit 1 S

ey.The timpani influenced the character ate Iva f f . . ., t notes C andG (Ex, 16.1). an are-hke alternation ofthe nmparu s wonowe. . M· f th. d ' 5t ingQuartetmG ajar rom e Theslowintroductionbegins,hkeHay ns r d tthebeginning

Opus 33 set (see Ex, 14,5),with an ending, Butwhile the ca encea

---

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Vienna in the Napoleonic Era

The wars that shook Europe during and after the French Revolution made France and Austria implacable enemies. Queen Marie Antoinette was the

sister of the Austrian Emperors Joseph II and Leopold II and the aunt of Emperor Francis (who ruled from 1792 to 1830); her imprisonment and execution aroused Austrian fear and hostility. So did the threat that France. in exporting revo- lution to other parts of Europe, presented to the Habsburg Empire. From the French Republic's point of view, Austria's allegiance to the monarchic form of government presented an equally dangerous threat. The wars produced a great French leader whose heroic exploits mesmerized

Europe, even those parts of Europe that hated and feared him. The prestige that Napoleon Bonaparte 0769-1821) gained from his military victories allowed him tobuild up political power. Initially promising topreserve the Republic (as First Consul in 1799), he later crowned himself emperor (1804). His image so domi- nated Europe that it makes sense to call the 20-year period in which he rose to power and ruled France 0795-1815) the Napoleonic Era. Music continued to flourish in Vienna throughout the wars, and sometimes

composers found inspiration in the momentous events taking place around them. Haydn's Missa in tempore belli (Mass in Time of War, 1796) ends with a

254

jIO

VIENNA IN THE NAPOLEONIC ERA 255

Figure 17 1·Thettl .fB ' k ' , t epage oJ eethovens Wellington'sVictoryintheftrst edition of the

eyboard reduction (VLenna:Steiner)

martial Agn D" hi h us er, IIIw lC trumpets and drums provide an ominous back-

ground to the pra "G' "B h . . E' S(18 yer rve us peace. eet oven, wntmg the rotca ymphony 04) to celehrate Napoleon, and then ripping upthe title pagewhenhelearned

that the general had crowned himself emperor, wasin the swayofgreatpolitical events. A decade later he celebrated the defeat ofFrance at the BattleofVittoria in Wellington'sVictory, a musical depiction of the hattie, completewith national

anthems and percussion-simulated gunfrre (Fig.17.1). This might lead us to suppose that the musical cultures ofParis andVienna,

so closely linked during much of the eighteenth century, diverged during and after the Revolution. Iu some respects they did. We saw in Chapter 13that Antonio Salieri, who wrote three operas for Paris in the 1780sandwhose expe- nences there strongly influenced his compositional style, found it impoSSible to return to Paris after 1789.While Parisian aristOCrats,leading patrons of the ancien regime, disappeared from musical life, the Viennese nobility projected its wealth and power with aself-conscious promotion of"greatness" in music, at the expense of music that it perceived as merely entertaining orpleasing; itwas largely Viennese noblemen who created the artistic climate in which Beethoven

a

256 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN VIENNA IN THE NAPOLEONIC ERA

h d isti tur ity and Haydn created his last masterpieces. Yet dur-reac e artrs ic rna ing the brief lulls between military campaigns: French music l~vers awar~ed a medal to Haydn and Viennese operagoers rediscovered the dehghts of opera comique. Perhaps the single most important French influence on Viennese mu- sic was Napoleon himself, and the image of heroism, energy, and decisiveness

that he projected so charismatically.

BEETHOVEN IN VIENNA: THE 17905

Bonn, the small city where Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was born, was almost as far from Vienna as it was possible to be in the German-speaking part of Europe. But as the residence of Maximilian, archbishop of Cologne and the brother of Emperors Joseph and Leopold, Bonn had close dynastic connections to Vienna. When young Beethoven, the son of a tenor employed by Maximil- ian, emerged as aprodigy, it was natural that the archbishop and other patrons in Bonn should think of sending him to Vienna to develop his talents to their fullest.

In 1792, less than a year after Mozart's death, Beethoven traveled to Vienna to study with Haydn. He took with him a letter from Count Ferdinand Waldstein, who helped organize his journey, expressing hope that the bril- liant young pianist would one day equal Mozart: "Youare going to Vienna in fulfillment ofyour long frustrated wishes. The Genius of Mozart is mourning and weeping the death ofher pupil. She found a refuge but no occupation with the inexhaustible Haydn; through him she wishes once more to form a union with another. With the help of assiduous labor you shall receive Mozart's spirit from Haydn's hands," With recommendations from such music lovers, Beethoven quickly found

patrons among Viennese aristocrats, delighted to playa role in the narrative that Waldstein sketched out so attractively. Beethoven himself played his part, devoting special attention throughout his life to genres in which Mozart and Haydn had been particularly successful. In a series of piano sonatas he directed all his virtuosity into an exploration of the coloristic and harmon- ic possibilities offered by the quickly evolving instrument. With the string quartets of Opus 18 he established a reputation as a composer of chamber music with the potential to equal the achievements of his great predecessors. And in the symphony too he cultivated a style that caused listeners to make comparisons with Haydn and Mozart, and to think of him as the youngest in a trio of great masters. A critic writing in 1803 (who thus could have known only his first two symphonies) praised him for combining in his symphonies "Mozart's universality and wild, extravagant audacity with Haydn's humorous caprice."

264 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN VIENNA IN THE NAPOLEONIC ERA

"

V Ky - ri , e lei .

lei son, e lei .

J J , I I , ..i r-----..i ,

e - ~ei . ."r .' . .. son,

,. - • ~ . ~ - ==-- I~ '@

I J , ..i ..i-- :.J. ,J, -,. , I

same tune in the second and third parts of the Kyrie, along with the same tem- po and meter, gives these otherwise very different passages a satisfying sense of unity. In this Kyrie the theatrical style and the ecclesiastical style, the galant and the learned, once again found common ground, as effectively as they did in mu- sic composed at around the same time: the slow movement of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony.

BEETHOVEN'S HEROIC STYLE

Since the nineteenth century Beethoven's biographers have used the word "he- roic" in reference to his life and work during the decade that began around 1800.After several years in which he achieved recognition and fmancial suc- cess as a pianist and as a composer of instrumental music and built up an im-

BEETHOVEN'S HEROIC STYLE 265

pressive network of mostly noble patrons d h. ' aroun t e turn of the centu (at th age of 30) he began to lose his hearing. Beethov ithd f ry a e h . d . en WI rew rom society and IS espau grew to the point where he thought ab t killi hi. ... ou 1 mg imself The en- SiS reached Its climax III 1802 with the writing f h t h. . 0 w a as come to be called the Heihgenstadt Testament-a remarkable doc t i hi. umen m W ich he revealed the depth of hIS sadness and isolation but also stat d hi I .. . e IS reso ve to prevail, for the sake of his art, over all obstacles. ,r.here is certainly something heroic in the tone and content of the

Heiligenstadt Testam~nt. Beethoven's self-consciousness-he addressed parts of t~e l~tter to humamty at large and preserved it among his papers for the rest of hIS hfe-suggests that he regarded himself, in 1802and the years that £01- lowe,d, as a musica? hero: a man who was overcoming partial deafness to produce mUSICof extraordinary power, expressivity, and originality.

THE SINFONIA EROICA

One of the first and greatest fruits of Beethoven's newfound strength in the face of adversity was a symphony that he originally planned to dedicate to orto name after Napoleon, whom he admired as the only leader capable ofpreserving the achievements of the French Revolution. He later abandoned those plans, ashis friend Ferdinand Ries recalled:

In this symphony Beethoven had Buonaparte inhis mind, but as he was when he was First Consul. Beethoven esteemed him greatly at the time and likened him to the greatest Roman consuls. I as well as several of his more intimate friends saw a copy of the score lying upon his table with the word "Buonaparte" at the extreme top of the title page.. .Iwas the first to bring him the intelligence that Buonaparte had proclaimed himself emperor, whereupon he flew into arage and cried out: "Is he then, too, nothing more than an ordinary human being? Now he, too, wili trample on all the rights of man and indulge only his ambi- tion. He will exalt himself above all others, become a tyrant!" Beethoven went to the table, took hold of the title page by the top, tore it in two and threw it on

the floor.

Even in his disillusionment about Napoleon, Beethoven continued to iden- tify the Third Symphony with heroism. The full title, when it was published in 1806, was Sinfonia eroica, composta per festeggiare it sovvenire di uu gran Uomo (Heroic Symphony, Composed to Celebrate the Memory of a Great Man). Many writers have suggested possible identincations of the' "great man." Napoleon, even though he was no longer the hero that he had been during t~e .l~st years ofthe French Republic? Beethoven's former patron Archduke Maxlmlhan, who

•

266 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN VIENNA IN THE NAPOLEONIC ERA

died in 1801?Prometheus, the mythological hero who brought fire to humanity? Beethoven himself? The musicologist Lewis Lockwood is probably right: "The 'hero' of the Ero~ca is not a single figure but a composite of heroes of different types and different situations." The symphony's very first moments may depict the hero in prayer. Two mea-

sures of Eb major harmony introduce atheme played by the cellos, which suggest by their baritonal register the presence ofamale protagonist or narrator (Ex. 17.4). This opening may have reminded Viennese listeners of an aria they must have known by heart. In Guide mes pas. 0providence (Guide my steps, oh Providence), Mikeli's humanitarian credo in Cherubini's Les deux joumees, the vocal part is preceded by two measures ofrepeated Eb-major chords,forte (Ex. 17.5).Byintro- ducing his cellomelody in acontext that resembles the beginning ofGuide mes pas, Beethoven may have hoped his audience would associate the symphony's heroism with Mikell, whose words, in turn, invite us to hear the symphony's opening mea- sures as asupplication bythe composer himself:

Guide mes pas, ()providence D'mon plan seconde le succes.

Guide my steps, oh Providence; favor my plan's success.

Aprayer was perhaps appropriate for acomposer embarking on awork as vast and original as Beethoven's Eroica: a symphony unprecedented in size and com- plexity, posing new challenges for performers and audience alike. The sympho- ny is in the four movements standardized by Haydn, but with ascherzo replacing the minuet. The first movement alone, in sonata form, exceeds in length all but afeweighteenth-century symphonies. In composing a long and complex funeral march within a symphony that he originally planned for Napoleon, Beethoven may have appropriated the musical rhetoric of French Revolutionary music (see Anthology 28). Republican festivals, political rallies, and funerals gave composers such as Francois-joseph Gossec (see Chapter 6) and Cherubini opportunities to demonstrate their commitment to the revolutionary cause by

Example 17.4:Ludwig van Beethoven, Sinfonia eroica, movement 1,mm. 1-6

[====: Full orchestra Strings

• BEETHOVEN'S HEROIC STYLE

Example 17.5: Luigi Cherubini, Les deux]"OUf' . G'. . neea, ana: uide mes p' o Providence, mm. 1-10 s,

267

Allegro MikeIi

Gui - de pas, 6 p"

Full orchestra Strings

: - - deo co, d'mon plan se CO" - de le sue ces

'0 , I~ , ,J I---,

" F ~ 1·___ ~ >-I$IV~~ ~

: I. T -r"

+ Oboe, bassoon, horns

composing grandiose, patriotic works, often requiring vast numbers of per- formers. The Hymne etmarche funebre (Hymn and Funeral March) that Cherubini wrote in memory of General Hoche, who had crushed the monarchist uprising in the Vendee, is among several similar works that might have inspired Beethoven. The .scherzo is a celebration of energy and speed. The horn fanfares in the trio probably allude, like those in Philidor's aria D'un cerf dix core and Haydn's cho- rus Hart das laute GetOn, to the masculine joy and excitement of the hunt. The finale is a set of variations on a theme from Beethoven's own ballet score Die Geschopfe des Prometheus (The Creatures ofPrometheus, 1802). Butst.rtingfrom scratch, as it were, Beethoven began by presenting just the theme's bass line (Ex. 17.6a), which, in retrospect, we can hear as an adumbration of the first

movement's opening theme (Ex.17.6b).

BEETHOVEN'S NOBLE PATRONS

Beethoven's brother Carl, who served as the composer's agent, explained how Beethoven's instrumental works were commissioned, made available in man- uscript, and finally published. "These pieces were mostly commissioned by

268 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN VIENNA IN THE NAPOLEONIC ERA

Example 17.6: Ludwig van Beethoven, Stnfoma eroica

(a) Movement 4-. mm. 12-15 Allegro malta pizz.

noli IIG Ie'". p j , p

I J j I

(b) Movement 1,mm. 3-6 Allegro can brio

="~I:t~;~~~,~ill§J§16aI~~I"!I .. ·F- tt==

music lovers, and with the following agreement: he who wants a piece pays a specified sum for its exclusive possession for a half or awhole year, or even lon- ger, and binds himself not to give the manuscript to anybody; after this period the author is free to do as he wishes with the piece." Carl did not mention one important part of the transactions: Beethoven was expected to dedicate a pub- lished work to the person who commissioned it. Thus in 1799he received 400 Gulden from Prince Joseph Lobkowitz for the Opus 18'string quartets, of which the prince probably enjoyed exclusive ownership until they were published in 1801in an edition dedicated to him. Prince Lobkowitz was one of Beethoven's most steadfast and generous pa-

trons. Awealthy member ofthe Bohemian nobility, he spent money on music so lavishly that he eventually brought his family to financial ruin. Not only was he involved in the origins ofBeethoven's first set ofquartets, but he also organized, in 1804, the first performance of the Eroica Symphony in his palace in Vienna. In early 1809 Lobkowitz joined two of Beethoven's other patrons in agreeing

to give the composer an annual stipend of 4,000 Gulden for the rest of his life. or until he received an appointment that brought him the same income. In ex- change, Beethoven agreed only to live in Vienna or another city in the Austrian Empire. and to obtain the consent of his patrons before traveling elsewhere. With this agreement. as close as Beethoven could get to aMacArthur Foundation "genius" grant, he received a comfortable income while remaining free to do as he liked in everything connected with his work as a musician. The stark dif- ferences between these stipulations and those to which Haydn agreed when he signed a contract with Prince Esterhazy in 1761(see Chapter 10) reflect the in- creasingly elevated and independent status enjoyed by professional composers in the nineteenth century. Soon after Beethoven started to receive payments under the contract. he

composed and dedicated to Lobkowitz the String Quartet in E~ Major, Op, 74 (later nicknamed Harp). All the string quartets he had written earlier in his

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career had been conceived and published as sets of' hi' ,. SIX or tree. n wrItmg a smgle quartet and dedicating it to a patron partly res ibl f h '. ponst e or t e annuity he had Just begun to enjoy, Beethoven mayhavebeen expressing his gratitude. Another nobleman for whom Beethoven wrote quartets (and it should be

note,d that Beethoven followed Mozart and Haydn in dedicating his quartets ex- elusively to men) was Count Andrey Kyrillovich Razumovsky,the Russian am- bassador to the court ofVienna (successor to Mozart's patron Prince Colitsin). A rich and profligate patron of the arts, Razumovsky was particularly fond of string quartets, and he played an important role in the evolution ofboth the genre and the ensemble that played it.Heparticipated (asaviolinist) in perfor- mances of quartets, thus perpetuating the eighteenth-century tradition ofin- formal, amateur performance, but he also sponsored oneofthe first permanent, professional string quartets. Although Razumovsky commissioned the three quartets by Beethoventhat

bear his name before he took over the sponsorship ofthe professional ensem- ble, the commission and the sponsorship are closely related. The quartets that Beethoven wrote for Razumovsky, revolutionary in their complexity and diffi- culty, demand intensive rehearsal byexpert players-unlike the amateur musi- cians for whom Haydn and Mozart wrote many of their quartets (see Chapter 14). Razumovsky's decision to engage such players testifies to the seriousness with which he took the genre; this seriousness is reflected in the quartets that

Beethoven composed for him.

BEETHOVEN'S HEROIC STYLE

THE QUARTET.IN C MAJOR, OP, 59, NO, 3

Written mostly in 1806, the three quartets of Opus 59mark anew epoch in the development of the genre. Beethoven brought to the "Razumovsky"Quartets the inventiveness and energy, the new challenges for both players and listeners, with which he had redefined the sympbony in the Eroica. These superbly craft- ed pieces together constitute a composite work-a trilogy-in which Beethoven raised the string quartet to the same levelofartistic prestige asthe sympho~y. One of the elements that tie these quartets together is their use of Russian

melodies, in tribute to the dedicatee. Beethoven called attention to two of the , " '''Th' ",the opening melody ofthefmale

melodies with the inscription erne russe . - of Op. 59, No, I, and the middle section ("Maggiore") of the Scberzo of Op. 59, No.2. What might be a third Russian tune-at least it has an mtensely RussIan flavor-s-is the principal theme ofthe slowmovement ofOp.59,No.3. This third quartet, in C major, consists of the expect~d four mo.verne.nts,

with two fast movements in the tonic framing aslower one III the l:el.atlVeml~or

d d lik 'ABAform More innovative wasBeethovens Idea-whlch

an a anee I e one In . . he was to develop further in the Fifth Symphony-of connecting the third and