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Thayer Biography of Beethoven Alexander Wheelock Thayer (1817 – 1897) was born in Massachusetts and died in Trieste, Italy. He was a journalist and professional librarian. A lover of music and scholarship, he was dismayed by the lack of an accurate biography of Beethoven, the musical giant who dominated the musical world at that time. ...

Beethoven’s concerto in Eb Major, Opus 73 “The Emperor” is, along with the Tchaikovsky Bb minor (the second most famous four notes in music) and the Grieg A minor concerto, among the most well-known and beloved piano concertos in the literature.  It’s a remarkable combination of power, exuberance, sensitivity, and virtuosity. It also has some ...

Fidelio was Beethoven’s only opera. This doesn’t mean that he wasn’t a lover of opera. He grew up with it in Bonn where was lucky enough to sneak into performances at the local opera house. He was a great fan of Italian opera and became a fan of what was kind of a rage, the ...

Fidelio is Beethoven’s only opera, however he wrote four different overtures for it. The numbering and titles of those overtures are somewhat confusing. Here’s why: The opera was premiered in 1805 under the title Leonore, Oder Der Triumph der ehelichen Liebe (“Leonore, or The Triumph of Married Love”). The overture for that performance is believed ...

Beethoven Trios Opus 70, No 1 in D Major the “Ghost” and No 2 in Eb Major Remember Blog #1? It featured Beethoven’s Opus 1 Piano Trios, a set of three. This medium (violin, cello, and piano) was very dear to Beethoven, having written seven of them during his Vienna years. There exists one or two others ...

Derived from Latin, Cantata is a piece to be sung. Sonata is a piece to be sounded or played. These terms reach far back to the second half of the 16th century with music by Giovanni Gabrieli, a figure who bridged the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The sonata flourished during the baroque period, especially in Italy with composers such ...

Beethoven’s Symphony No 6 in F Major Opus 68. What a dramatic difference between the opening of Beethoven’s fifth symphony and his sixth. The fifth so portentous and fiery and the sixth so serene and gentle. Many scholars say that he worked on the fifth from 1804 through 1808 and the sixth from 1807 through ...

The four most famous notes in the world! Thus begins Beethoven’s immortal Symphony No 5 in C minor Opus 67. Masterpiece after masterpiece has led up to this masterpiece and incredibly more of them follow, such was the fertility of Beethoven’s genius. I found a link included below of Leonard Bernstein’s 1954 Omnibus Theater lecture for ...

Beethoven Violin Concerto Op. 61 in D Major Vivaldi wrote 230. Tartini 135 JS Bach wrote 2, Nardini 4 Mozart 5 and Louis Spohr wrote 18. Beethoven only wrote one but what a violin concerto it is. Norwalk High School was a beautiful old Georgian building and it had the best auditorium in town, well, ...

Rasoumovsky String Quartets Opus 59 String Quartets: No 1 in F Major, No 2 in E minor, and No. 3 in C Major Count Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky (1752 – 1836) was the son of Kirill Razumovsky, the last Hetman of Zaporizhian Host, kind of a Grand Poobah, of Imperial Russia. Being born to the privileged class in ...