Beethoven's 7th Symphony First, a little history on why this piece is different than Beethoven's other Symphonies. After Beethoven's marathon concert of December 1808, which included the first performances of his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, the city of Vienna was not to hear a new Beethoven symphony for some five years. The long awaited Seventh was completed about May of 1812. The Seventh can be seen as Beethoven's atypical use of the wind instruments as a self contained group in the orchestra, rather than as the amplifier of an essentially string-dominated texture or as a collection of soloists dependent upon string accompaniment. The special treatment of the wind plays as important role in the shaping of the work, although Beethoven's orchestra here is the same size as that of his first two symphonies, he is able to expand his material by setting large instrumental groups against each other. In the Vivace itself, which is in sonata form, the normal roles of string and wind a!
lds and unbuilds to make way for the Presto movement.
titions of the principal section's main motif (F-A-F) but also to support the long dominant pedal point in the trio, thus imparting the same distinctive orchestral sound to both sections of the movement. This second piece of the symphony is concluded leading into the presto. The movements themselves. The first, Poco Sostenuto - Vivace, movement is characterized by a clarinet style, just in the mellowness of the winds. In the slow introduction to the first movement, the opposition of full orchestra and wind band is emphasized by each group's having its own theme - and in a different key - so that there is a strong hint of sonata structure even before the main part of the movement begins. The piece remains very mellow throughout the first 6 minutes. There are sudden phrase-concluding outbursts by the symphony, but still in the clarinet volumetric style. When going on towar
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