Scoring: 2 flutes | 2 oboes | 2 clarinets | 2 bassoons 3 horns | 2 trumpets Strings Timpani FIRST MOVEMENT: Allegro con brio FORM: Sonata form KEY: E flat major Listen to this movement (RealAudio file) LIVE PERFORMANCE: The Queensland Youth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by John Curro The movement opens with two strong introductory chords before the cellos introduce the principal subject (Ex. 1).  Ex. 1 The violins then enter with repeated high notes, clouding the harmony and resolving to the second subject brought upon by the clarinets and oboes.  Ex. 2 The long development section introduces an entirely new melodic passage (Ex. 3) as the audience is put into suspense, awaiting the recapitulation of the principal subject.  Ex. 3 The horns bring out the tonic key over soft dominant chords. The principal subject is restated and the harmony once again is clouded. This resolves into a completely different direction and the two keys that follow are in complete contradiction to the tonic (Ex. 4):  Ex. 4 The main key then returns and the music builds to a huge climax which ends the movement. SECOND MOVEMENT: Marcia Funebre FORM: Rondo form KEY: C minor Listen to this movement (RealAudio file) LIVE PERFORMANCE: The Queensland Youth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by John Curro This movement portrays a funeral march, its length resulting from a long principal subject consisting of two sections. Both involve the wind echoing the strings, the first ending in a new key. A series of afterthoughts extend the length of this theme to almost the size of a whole movement. The movement is in rondo form. The first episode contrasts with the principle subject and is a trio in the major key. It expresses consolation and victory, but soon returns to the gloomy principal subject. The dignified second episode is a double fugue building to a climax and ending solemnly in the dominant key (Ex. 5):  Ex. 5 The final part portrays hints of consolidation, but eventually dies away to the principal subject. THIRD MOVEMENT: Scherzo - Allegro vivace FORM: Ternary form KEY: E flat major This was Beethoven's first attempt at replacing the minuet with a scherzo large enough to fit in with the rest a symphony. The characteristics of the scherzo are unmistakable and the only deails that need to be mentioned is the quiet opening suddenly moves into a fortissimo, the poetic trio of horns and the sinister drumbeats of the coda. FOURTH MOVEMENT: Finale - Allegro molto FORM: Synthesis of sonata, rondo, variations KEY: E flat major The introduction to this movement begins in a distant key that is later 'corrected' in an abrupt manner. The principal subject consists of a simple melody with a string bass - one of the most common bass lines - echoed by the wind. The next section has a slightly comic feel to it, until the brilliant main theme enters (Ex. 6):  Ex. 6 The movement now proceeds onto a fugue, with the subject played by the bass. This works up to a climax and moves into a double variation of the tune in a different key. Here, the orchestra repeats the flute's part into a dance-rhythm and after introducing new features (such as the inversion of the subject) the fugue ends with a grand climax. The original bass finally ended with the last fugue. The tune then slowly enters with variations, the bass later taking on this tune in a huge fortissimo variation. The coda is one of the greatest Beethoven ever wrote, ending the symphony triumphantly. |
