Beethoven 3rd Symphony (2/5); 1st-2nd movements; Bernstein

Ludwig van Beethoven
Leonard Bernstein
New York Philharmonic

In his late twenties, Beethoven started to hear buzzing and ringing sounds in his ears. A few years later in 1802, he wrote a distressed letter in a town near Vienna that was addressed to his brothers (yet it remained in his own possession until his death at age 57). The note discussed Beethoven's deteriorating hearing (he eventually went deaf), how it made him feel lonely and anxious around others, and it laid out a will such that his siblings would inherit his wealth when he died.

However, he also wrote in it, "I would have ended my life—it was only my art that held me back." Historians later dubbed this letter, the Heiligenstadt Testament, after the town in which it was written.

This triumph over personal adversity happened concurrently with a significant change in Beethoven's musical style. The works composed after his emotional breakdown in 1802 radiated a new boldness and intrepidity, which often broke the formal rules of the Classical era in music. In fact, the first musical ideas for his Third Symphony—which was completed in 1804—were jotted down merely a few weeks after the Heiligenstadt Testament. Putting these ideas into perspective, it is no wonder why Beethoven's Third Symphony is sometimes deemed a nexus between the Classical and Romantic musical periods.

The Third Symphony's nickname is Eroica, which is Italian for "heroic." Originally, Beethoven planned to call the work, Bonaparte, after Napoleon Bonaparte. But once he learned that Napoleon proclaimed himself the emperor of France, he crossed out the dedication and wrote on the title page, "Heroic Symphony composed to celebrate the memory of a great man."

There are a lot of syncopations (stresses at unexpected times) and dissonances (unstable tone combinations), and wider pitch (highness or lowness of sounds) ranges and dynamics (loudness or softness in sounds) and heavier uses of accents (emphases on notes), to name a few deviations from the Classical era's typical way of writing a symphony.

***The 2nd movement begins at 6:56***

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Allegro
• con
• brio
• Marcia
• funebre
• Adagio
• assai
• Nathaniel
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• Soloist
• Three
• Third
• Eroica
• Napoleon
• Bonaparte

[marianoarenaza]

2 PEOPLES ARE NOT PEOPLES

[lindzyIsAwesome]

@klpillow23 most people that age listen to gaga crap, the few that don't are the only ones that appreciate true art

[bobbybob188]

@lindzyIsAwesome Thank you :)

[renato45222]

@mahlerite. Chi si fa chiamare così dovrebbe amare, oltre alle letture mahleriane di Lenny, del quale è evidente che sei giustamente estimatrice/estimatore, quelle letteralmente sublimi di Karajan: la Quarta, la Quinta, la Sesta, la Nona.

[gigeorge17371]

@koyunbaba73 Humanity is made up of individuals. Some achieve greatness, some don't. Some achieve evil, some don't. Humanity is capable of greatness just as Individuals are capable of evil. Humanity is what ended Auschwitz, a creation of one mans evil, surely? Beethoven wrote the Eroica symphony over a series of years. Possibly as long as it took Humanity to prevail over the evils of the second world war.

Now shut up and listen.

[Hobitman62]

Oh, my ancestor....

[SatchmoSings]

@koyunbaba73 Wow! You made a great point!

Do you mind if I steal it and quote it at people?

[koyunbaba73]

@thenamesfrancisco I'll miss your intellect, but I'll get over it.

[thenamesfrancisco]

@koyunbaba73 are you serious?! at what point did i say beethoven was "humanity"? you expect me to TELL YOU something positive humanity has achieved because you can't think of anything yourself? Or is it that you refuse to think of one because then your whole argument would be invalid? whatever the case there is no further point in arguing with you because I can tell you are too stubborn to see things any other way than your own.

[koyunbaba73]

@thenamesfrancisco You are mistaken. Beethoven was an individual, not humanity. Individuals have achieved great things. Humanity unfortunately is the negative sum of its parts. Tell me something that humanity has achieved.

[thenamesfrancisco]

You focus on the negative aspects of humanity to prove your point, completely ignoring the acheivements humankind has persevered to reach. This world can be heaven or hell its up to you to decide. Open your eyes!!!

[koyunbaba73]

@thenamesfrancisco Tell me, which is the most magnificent aspect of humanity, Auschwitz or Gulags? Humanity is a cesspool, however individuals may be magnificent. But your comment astonishes me for another reason: that you suggest my opinion is negative, or that it will handicap me. On the contrary, it is precisely because I know of the tragic nature of humanity, that I look for what works in creating good societies, and what makes men better men. You're living a lie, a dream of your making.