1804 – Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (Eb major) Flashcards

1
Q

1st Movement
1804 – Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (Eb major)

A
  • Sonata form hugely expanded and made much more dramatic.
  • Beethoven takes a simple arpeggio theme but manages to give it a heroic, weighty feel through both its orchestral presentation and the dramatic journey undergone in the symphony.
  • After diatonic opening, unexpected C# in bar 8.
  • A horn comes in a few bars before the recapitulation, trying to play the main theme in the tonic against the dominant harmonies (caused one of the first listeners to think the horn had made a mistake).
  • Everything in this movement is larger and more dramatic then earlier symphonies.
  • In the development there is a moment of extraordinary violence. Neapolitan 6th + major 7th + full orchestra tutti.
  • Coda much more extended and is written almost as a second development.
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2
Q

2nd Movement
1804 – Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (Eb major)

A
  • Very slow and sombre funeral march, (very different in tone to the Andante movements more typical of Haydn and Mozart 2nd movements).
  • In extended ternary form with considerable development along the way.
  • Dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, but he was still alive in 1804.
    Why include a funeral march in an heroic symphony?
  • The subject of heroism will inevitably encompass the concept of a heroic death. Beethoven would’ve been familiar with the patriotic cantatas often written by French composers to commemorate the deaths of important military figures. One of the sections in such a cantata was devoted to a funeral march, usually characterised by a drumbeat that imitates that of a funeral cortege. Beethoven imitated this familiar gesture in the double bass part at the beginning.
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3
Q

3rd Movement
1804 – Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (Eb major)

A
  • Fast and aggressive Scherzo (picked up from Haydn’s innovation in the Surprise symphony).
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