Page 161 - (DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

ROMANTIC 1810–1920 159

See also: Haydn’s String Quartet in C major, Op. 54 122–125 ■ “Eroica” Symphony 138–141 ■ Brahms’s Symphony
No. 1 188–189 ■ Pierrot lunaire 240–245 ■ Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony 274–279

worthy of a concerto, while Op. 74, Variations on a theme in the fourth movement
known as the “Harp” quartet, has
movements in both the heroic and Violin 1 Violin 1
classical moods.

The late period
Between 1813–1816, Beethoven
experienced major emotional Violin 2 Violin 2
upheavals, from financial troubles
to the struggle to gain custody Violins Cello
of his nephew. These years saw
a decline in his production, with The theme is In the second
first played in a
variation, the
those works Beethoven did produce dialogue between tempo is faster,
showing him to be struggling to the first and and the melody
develop his style further. However, second violins. alternates between
In the first
he emerged from these years of variation, the the high phrases
of the first
refinement with unparalleled ability theme is played violin and the
to imagine melodies, forms, and by the lowest low phrases in
three instruments.
harmonies that would serve him the cello.
well during his late period.
Beethoven’s indifference to Subsequent variations share the developing
contemporary social conventions theme between the different instruments, in
varying time signatures.
and his passionate belief in his
own ideas created a unique set
of circumstances that would lead forms in concerti, symphonies, 14 minutes to less than one minute,
to the composition of his five late sonatas, and chamber works, he totaling around 40 minutes and
quartets. He was determined to was ready to experiment further. performed without a break, are in
push the boundaries of composition Opus 131 (1826) is the most an unconventional sequence that
to new limits; having successfully unorthodox of Beethoven’s five late at the time seemed unlikely to
extended the length and developed quartets, all written in 1825–1826. succeed as a major work.
the structure of the conventional Its seven movements, ranging from Conventional quartets follow a
four-movement formula: they begin
Music as self-expression with an allegro in sonata form, in
the tonic key; they slow down in
The cultural and literary world and placed a high value on the second movement; they employ
of Germany and the small states personal freedom and heroic a minuet and trio as the third
that surrounded it at the time resistance to oppressors. It movement; and they end in rondo
of Beethoven’s birth were advocated a synthesis of form. In Op. 131, however, the first
strongly influenced by the Sturm Romantic, Classical, and movement—a sombre, extended
und Drang (Storm and Stress) Enlightenment ideas. fugue (a piece in which a melody is
movement. Led by the poet and Like literature and art, the strictly imitated by the other
philosopher Johann Gottfried musical world began to reflect voices)—is followed by a very short
von Herder, it was expounded these ideals, giving them dance in the second movement.
by writers and artists, such as expression in symphonies and The third movement (just 11
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe vocal music, with Beethoven measures) concludes with a florid
and Friedrich Schiller. The himself later setting Schiller’s solo harking back to an earlier
movement emphasized national poem An die Freude (“Ode to
identities, language, and arts, Joy”) in his Ninth Symphony. musical period, while the fourth
presents a powerful theme and ❯❯

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