Week 46 – Bob’s Beethoven Blog

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 I was very young and struggling to earn enough money to continue my studies at music school. I gave music lessons, worked in a factory, and played in a few local orchestras in SW Connecticut. I’ll never forget at a New Haven Symphony rehearsal, seeing the viola part to Beethoven’s 9th ... READ MORE

Missa Solemnis by Thomas Wikman Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, opus 123, is a singular work, unmatched in its scope since Bach’s B minor mass. Scored for full orchestra of the time, plus chorus and a quartet of soloists, it represents an overwhelming challenge to all the performers, and perhaps most of all, the conductor. It’s hard ... READ MORE

The Diabelli Variations, Opus 120 We can wonder if it was just fun, or vanity in wanting to be associated with the best composers alive, or curiosity in seeing what would happen. Nonetheless, in 1819 Anton Diabelli (1781-1858) wrote a waltz theme described by many then and now as banal, cheap, trite, a mere trifling. ... READ MORE

Piano Sonatas  Beethoven considered his sonata in Bb opus 106, the “Hammerklavier” to be his finest. I love all of them but it too is my favorite. But then there are the three sonatas opus 109 in E Major, opus 110 in Ab Major, and opus 111 in c minor! With these masterpieces Beethoven leaves ... READ MORE

Opus 108: Twenty-Five Scottish Songs by Elizabeth Morrison Wait, twenty-five what? Bob’s Beethoven Blog has now taken us deep into the period we know as “late Beethoven.” Last week, Foley Schuler showed us Beethoven staring into the Abyss. Two weeks ago, Bob described the monumental Hammerklavier Sonata, opus 106, as one that “has long beguiled, challenged, ... READ MORE

Beethoven: A Commentary on a Master Guest Presenter ​Foley Schuler  I have asked our friend Foley Schuler, the afternoon host on Blue Lake Radio, to share with us his thoughts on the elements of anguish, pain, and despair as heard in Beethoven’s music.  Here is his generous essay. – Bob Swan Beethoven at the Abyss: Some Meditations in a ... READ MORE

The Hammerklavier In 1817 Thomas Broadwood, one of the sons of the John Broadwood & Sons piano company of London, met Beethoven in Vienna. He told him that he wanted to present him with one of his firm’s best instruments since Beethoven was the greatest musician/composer alive. This piano was grander in scale than what ... READ MORE

Beethoven Cello and Piano Sonatas Beethoven wrote five sonatas for piano and cello. They are: Opus 5 No 1 in F Major and No 2 in G minor both written in 1795; Opus 69 in A Major written in 1808; and Opus 102 No 1 in C Major and No 2 in D Major both ... READ MORE

Beethoven’s Letters by Elizabeth Morrison Of the many wonders to be found in Beethoven’s letters, the most amazing to me is the simple fact of their existence. Beethoven, our most cherished composer, whose music is now, in 2020,  keeping many of us alive, turns out to have dashed off notes–to friends, patrons, relatives, lovers and (above all) ... READ MORE

Books, Quotes, and More Anyone intrigued by the life of this great man should acquaint themselves with two wonderful books. Alexander Wheelock Thayer’s Life of Beethoven and Jan Swafford’s Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph. In these volumes, not only is there great insight into his music, but you also get a feeling through his daily life ... READ MORE