histmus blog

11/03/2011

Beethoven : biografia em português

. neste blog você poderá encontrar a referência de um bom livro sobre Beethoven em português: basta ir à página bibliografia em português

. . o artigo abaixo foi extraído da Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia em português

. . . este artigo está mais completo em inglês também publicado neste blog

 

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Origem: Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre.

Beethoven (AFI? [ˈluːt.vɪç fan ˈbeːt.hoːfən]Bonn, batizado em 17 de dezembro de 1770[1] — Viena26 de março de 1827) foi um compositor alemão, do período de transição entre o Classicismo (século XVIII) e oRomantismo (século XIX). É considerado um dos pilares da música ocidental, pelo incontestável desenvolvimento, tanto da linguagem, como do conteúdo musical demonstrado nas suas obras, permanecendo como um dos compositores mais respeitados e mais influentes de todos os tempos. “O resumo de sua obra é a liberdade,” observou o crítico alemão Paul Bekker (1882-1937), “a liberdade política, a liberdade artística do indivíduo, sua liberdade de escolha, de credo e a liberdade individual em todos os aspectos da vida”.

Biografia

Família

Beethoven foi batizado em 17 de Dezembro de 1770, tendo nascido presumivelmente no dia anterior, na Renânia do Norte (Alemanha). Sua família era de origem flamenga, cujo sobrenome significava horta de beterrabas e no qual a partícula van não indicava nobreza alguma.[2] Seu avô, Lodewijk van Beethoven – também chamado Luís na tradução -, de quem herdou o nome, nasceu na Antuérpia, em 1712, e emigrou para Bonn, onde foi maestro de capela do príncipe eleitor. Descendia de artistas, pintores e escultores, era músico e foi nomeado regente da Capela Arquiepiscopal na corte da cidade de Colónia. Na mesma capela, seu filho, o pai de Ludwig, era tenor e também leccionava. Foi dele que Beethoven recebeu as suas primeiras lições de música, o qual o pretendeu afirmar como menino prodígio ao piano, tal seria a facilidade demonstrada desde muito cedo para tal. Por isso o obrigava a estudar música todos os dias, durante muitas horas, desde os cinco anos de idade. No entanto, seu pai terminou consumido pelo álcool, pelo que a sua infância se manifestou como infeliz, por isso.

Sua mãe, Maria Magdalena Kewerich (17461787), era filha do chefe de cozinha do príncipe da RenâniaJohann Heinrich Keverich. Casou-se duas vezes. O primeiro marido foi Johann Leym (17331765). Tiveram apenas um filho,Johann Peter Anton, que nasceu e morreu em 1764. Depois da morte do marido, Magdalena, viúva, casou-se comJohann van Beethoven (17401792). Tiveram sete filhos: o primeiro, Ludwig Maria, que nasceu e morreu no ano de1769; o segundo Ludwig van Beethoven (17701827), o compositor, que morreu com 57 anos; o terceiro, Kaspar Anton Carl van Beethoven (17741815) que também tinha dotes para a música e que morreu com 41 anos; o quarto,Nicolaus Johann van Beethoven (17761848), que se tornou muito rico, graças à indústria farmacêutica, e que morreu com 72 anos; a quinta, Anna Maria, que nasceu e morreu em 1779; o sexto, Franz Georg (17811783), que morreu com dois anos de idade e a sétima, Maria Magdalena (17861787), que morreu com apenas um ano de idade. Portanto, Beethoven – que foi o terceiro filho da sua mãe e o segundo do seu pai – teve seis irmãos, quatro dos quais morreram na infância. Quanto aos irmãos vivos, Beethoven foi o primeiro, Kaspar foi o segundo e Nicolaus o terceiro.

Início de carreira

Ludwig nunca teve estudos muito aprofundados, mas sempre revelou um talento excepcional para a música. Com apenas oito anos de idade, foi confiado a Christian Gottlob Neefe (17481798), o melhor mestre de cravo da cidade,[3] que lhe deu uma formação musical sistemática, e lhe deu a conhecer os grandes mestres alemães da música. Numa carta publicada em 1780, pela mão de seu mestre, afirmava que seu discípulo, de dez anos, dominava todo o repertório de Johann Sebastian Bach, e que o apresentava como um segundo Mozart. Compôs as suas primeiras peças aos onze anos de idade, iniciando a sua carreira de compositor, de onde se destacam alguns Lieder. Os seus progressos foram de tal forma notáveis que, em 1784, já era organista-assistente da Capela Eleitoral, e pouco tempo depois, foi violoncelista na orquestra da corte e professor, assumindo já a chefia da família, devido à doença do pai – alcoolismo. Foi neste ano que conheceu um jovem Conde de Waldstein, a quem mais tarde dedicou algumas das suas obras, pela sua amizade. Este, percebendo o seu grande talento, enviou-o, em 1787, para Viena, a fim de ir estudar comJoseph Haydn. O Arquiduque de Áustria, Maximiliano, subsidiou então os seus estudos. No entanto, teve que regressar pouco tempo depois, assistindo à morte de sua mãe. A partir daí, Ludwig, com apenas dezessete anos de idade, teve que lutar contra dificuldades financeiras, já que seu pai tinha perdido o emprego, devido ao seu já elevado grau de alcoolismo.

Foi o regresso de Viena que o motivou a um curso de literatura. Foi aí que teve o seu primeiro contacto com Ideais da Revolução Francesa, com o Iluminismo e com um movimento literário românticoSturm und Drang – Tempestade e Ímpeto/Paixão;[4] dos quais, um dos seus melhores amigos, Friedrich Schiller, foi, juntamente com Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, dos líderes mais proeminentes deste movimento, que teria uma enorme influência em todos os setores culturais na Alemanha.

Viena

Em 1792, já com 21 anos de idade, muda-se para Viena onde, afora algumas viagens, permanecerá para o resto da vida. Foi imediatamente aceito como aluno por Joseph Haydn, o qual manteve o contacto à primeira estadia de Ludwig na cidade. Procura então complementar mais os seus estudos, o que o leva a ter aulas com Antonio Salieri, com Foerster e Albrechtsberger, que era maestro de capela na Catedral de Santo Estêvão. Tornou-se então um pianista virtuoso, cultivando admiradores, os quais muitos da aristocracia. Começou então a publicar as suas obras (17931795). O seu Opus 1 é uma colecção de 3 Trios para PianoViolino eVioloncelo. Afirmando uma sólida reputação como pianista, compôs suas primeiras obras-primas: as Três Sonatas para Piano Op.2 (17941795). Estas mostravam já a sua forte personalidade.

Surdez em Viena

Foi em Viena que lhe surgiram os primeiros sintomas da sua grande tragédia. Foi-lhe diagnosticado, por volta de 1796, tinha Ludwig os seus 26 anos de idade, a congestão dos centros auditivos internos, o que lhe transtornou bastante o espírito, levando-o a isolar-se e a grandes depressões.

Ó homens que me tendes em conta de rancoroso, insociável e misantropo, como vos enganais. Não conheceis as secretas razões que me forçam a parecer deste modo. Meu coração e meu ânimo sentiam-se desde a infância inclinados para o terno sentimento de carinho e sempre estive disposto a realizar generosas acções; porém considerai que, de seis anos a esta parte, vivo sujeito a triste enfermidade, agravada pela ignorância dos médicos.

— Ludwig van Beethoven, inTestamento de Heilingenstadt, a6 de Outubro de1802

Consultou vários médicos, inclusive o médico da corte de Viena. Fez curativos, realizou balneoterapia, usou cornetas acústicas, mudou de ares; mas os seus ouvidos permaneciam arrolhados. Desesperado, entrou em profunda crise depressiva e pensou em suicidar-se.

Devo viver como um exilado. Se me acerco de um grupo, sinto-me preso de uma pungente angústia, pelo receio que descubram meu triste estado. E assim vivi este meio ano em que passei no campo. Mas que humilhação quando ao meu lado alguém percebia o som longínquo de uma flauta e eu nada ouvia! Ou escutava o canto de um pastor e eu nada escutava! Esses incidentes levaram-me quase ao desespero e pouco faltou para que, por minhas próprias mãos, eu pusesse fim à minha existência. Só a arte me amparou!

— Ludwig van Beethoven, inTestamento de Heilingenstadt, a 6 de Outubro de1802

Embora tenha feito muitas tentativas para se tratar, durante os anos seguintes, a doença continuou a progredir e, aos 46 anos de idade (1816), estava praticamente surdo. Porém, ao contrário do que muitos pensam, Ludwig jamais perdeu a audição por completo, muito embora nos seus últimos anos de vida a tivesse perdido, condições que não o impediram de acompanhar uma apresentação musical ou de perceber nuances timbrísticas.

O génio

No entanto, o seu verdadeiro génio só foi realmente revisado com a publicação das suas Op. 7 e Op. 10, entre 1796 e1798: a sua Quarta Sonata para Piano em Mi Maior, e as suas Quinta em Dó MenorSexta em Fá MaiorSétima em Ré Maior Sonatas para Piano.

Em 2 de Abril de 1800, a sua Sinfonia nº1 em Dó maior, Op. 21 faz a sua estreia em Viena. Porém, no ano seguinte, confessa aos amigos que não está satisfeito com o que tinha composto até então, e que tinha decidido seguir um novo caminho. Em 1802, escreve o seu testamento, mais tarde revisto como Testamento de Heilingenstadt, por ter sido escrito na localidade austríaca de Heilingenstadt, então subúrbio de Viena, dirigido aos seus dois irmãos vivos: Kaspar Anton Carl van Beethoven (17741815) e Nicolaus Johann van Beethoven (17761848).

Finalmente, entre 18021804, começa a trilhar aquele novo caminho que ambiciona, com a apresentação de Sinfonia nº3 em Mi bemol Maior, Op.55, intitulada de Eróica. Uma obra sem precedentes na história da música sinfônica, considerada o início do período Romântico, na Música Erudita. Os anos seguintes à Eroica foram de extraordinária fertilidade criativa, e viram surgir numerosas obras-primas: a Sonata para Piano nº 21 em Dó maior, Op.53, intitulada de Waldstein, entre 18031804); a Sonata para Piano nº 23 em Fá menor, Op.57, intitulada de Appassionata, entre 18041805; oConcerto para Piano nº 4 em Sol Maior, Op.58, em 1806; os Três Quartetos de Cordas, Op.59, intitulados de Razumovsky, em 1806; a Sinfonia nº 4 em Si bemol Maior, Op.60, também em 1806; o Concerto para Violino em Ré Maior, Op.61, entre 18061807; a Sinfonia nº 5 em Dó Menor, Op.67, entre 1807 e1808; a Sinfonia nº 6 em Fá maior, Op.68, intitulada de Pastoral, também entre 18071808; a Ópera Fidelio, Op.72, cuja versão definitiva data de 1814; e oConcerto para Piano nº 5 em Mi bemol Maior, Op.73, intitulado de Imperador, em 1809.

Ludwig escreveu ainda uma Abertura, música destinada a ilustrar uma peça teatral, uma tragédia em cinco actos de GoetheEgmont. E muito se conta do encontro entre Johann Wolfgang von Goethe e Ludwig van Beethoven.

“Uma criatura completamente indomável.”

— ”’Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, sobre Ludwig van Beethoven’

Crise criativa

Depois de 1812, a surdez progressiva aliada à perda das esperanças matrimoniais e problemas com a custódia do sobrinho levaram-no a uma crise criativa, que faria com que durante esses anos ele escrevesse poucas obras importantes.

Neste espaço de tempo, escreve a Sinfonia nº 7 em Lá Maior, Op.92, entre 18111812, a Sinfonia nº 8 em Fá Maior, Op.93, em 1812, e o Quarteto em Fá Menor, Op.95, intitulado de Serioso, em 1810.

A partir de 1818, Ludwig, aparentemente recuperado, passou a compor mais lentamente, mas com um vigor renovado. Surgem então algumas de suas maiores obras: a Sonata nº 29 em Si bemol Maior, Op.106, intitulada de Hammerklavier, entre 18171818; a Sonata nº 30 em Mi Maior, Op.109 (1820); a Sonata nº 31 em Lá bemol Maior, Op.110 (18201821); a Sonata nº 32 em Dó Menor, Op.111(18201822); as Variações Diabelli, Op.120 (1819.1823), a Missa Solemnis, Op.123 (18181822).

Derradeiros anos

A culminância destes anos foi a Sinfonia nº 9 em Ré Menor, Op.125 (18221824), para muitos a sua maior obra-prima. Pela primeira vez é inserido um coral num movimento de uma sinfonia. O texto é uma adaptação do poema de Friedrich Schiller, “Ode à Alegria”, feita pelo próprio Ludwig van Beethoven.

Alegria bebem todos os seres
No seio da Natureza:
Todos os bons, todos os maus,
Seguem seu rastro de rosas.
Ela nos deu beijos e vinho e
Um amigo leal até à morte;
Deu força para a vida aos mais humildes
E ao querubim que se ergue diante de Deus!

— parte do verso da Ode à Alegria, de Friedrich Schiller, utilizado por Ludwig van Beethoven.

A obra de Beethoven refletiu em um avivamento cultural. Conforme o historiador Paul Johnson, “Existia uma nova fé e Beethoven era o seu profeta. Não foi por acidente que, aproximadamente na mesma época, as novas casas de espetáculo recebiam fachadas parecidas com as dos templos, exaltando assim o status moral e cultural da sinfonia e da música de câmara.”

Os anos finais de Ludwig foram dedicados quase exclusivamente à composição de Quartetos para Cordas. Foi nesse meio que ele produziu algumas de suas mais profundas e visionárias obras, como o Quarteto em Mi bemol Maior, Op.127 (18221825); o Quarteto em Si bemol Maior, Op.130 (18251826); oQuarteto em Dó sustenido Menor, Op.131 (1826); o Quarteto em Lá Menor, Op.132 (1825); a Grande Fuga, Op.133 (1825), que na época criou bastante indignação, pela sua realidade praticamente abstrata; e o Quarteto em Fá Maior, Op.135 (1826).

De 1816 até 1827, ano da sua morte, ainda conseguiu compor cerca de 44 obras musicais. Sua influência na história da música foi imensa. Ao morrer, a 26 de Março de 1827, estava a trabalhar numa nova sinfonia, assim como projectava escrever um Requiem. Ao contrário de Mozart, que foi enterrado anonimamente em uma vala comum (o que era o costume na época), 20.000 cidadãos vienenses enfileiraram-se nas ruas para o funeral de Beethoven, em 29 de março de 1827. Franz Schubert, que morreu no ano seguinte e foi enterrado ao lado de Beethoven, foi um dos portadores da tocha. Depois de uma missa de réquiem na igreja da Santíssima Trindade (Dreifaltigkeitskirche), Beethoven foi enterrado no cemitério Währing, a noroeste de Viena. Seus restos mortais foram exumados para estudo, em 1862, sendo transferidos em 1888 para o Cemitério Central de Viena.[5]

Há controvérsias sobre a causa da morte de Beethoven, sendo citados cirrose alcoólicasífilishepatite infecciosaenvenenamentosarcoidosedoença de Whipple.[6] [7] Amigos e visitantes, antes e após a sua morte haviam cortado cachos de seus cabelos, alguns dos quais foram preservadas e submetidos a análises adicionais, assim como fragmentos do crânio removido durante a exumação em 1862.[8] Algumas dessas análises têm levado a afirmações controversas de que Beethoven foi acidentalmente levado à morte por envenenamento devido a doses excessivas de chumbo à base de tratamentos administrados sob as instruções do seu médico.[9][10][11]

Vida artística, síntese

A sua vida artística poderá ser dividida – o que é tradicionalmente aceitado desde o estudo, publicado em 1854, de Wilhelm von Lenz – em três fases: a mudança para Viena, em 1792, quando alcança a fama de brilhantíssimo improvisador ao piano; por volta de 1794, se inicia a redução da sua acuidade auditiva, fato que o leva a pensar em suicídio; os últimos dez anos de sua vida, quando fica praticamente surdo, e passa a escrever obras de carácter maisabstrato.

Em 1801, Beethoven afirma não estar satisfeito com o que compôs até então, decidindo tomar um “novo caminho”. Dois anos depois, em 1803, surge o grande fruto desse “novo caminho”: a sinfonia nº3 em Mi bemol Maior, apelidada de “Eroica“, cuja dedicatória a Napoleão Bonaparte foi retirada com alguma polémica. A sinfonia Eroica era duas vezes mais longa que qualquer sinfonia escrita até então.

Em 1808, surge a Sinfonia nº5 em Dó menor (sua tonalidade preferida), cujo famoso tema da abertura foi considerado por muitos como uma evidência da sua loucura.

Em 1814, na segunda fase, Beethoven já era reconhecido como o maior compositor do século.[carece de fontes]

Em 1824, surge a Sinfonia nº9 em Ré Menor. Pela primeira vez na história da música, é inserido um coral numa sinfonia, inserida a voz humana como exaltação dionisíaca da fraternidade universal, com o apelo à aliança entre as artes irmãs: a poesia e a música.

Beethoven começou a compor música como nunca antes se houvera ouvido. A partir de Beethoven a música nunca mais foi a mesma[carece de fontes]. As suas composições eram criadas sem a preocupação em respeitar regras que, até então, eram seguidas. Considerado um poeta-músico, foi o primeiro romântico apaixonado pelo lirismo dramático e pela liberdade de expressão. Foi sempre condicionado pelo equilíbrio, pelo amor à natureza e pelos grandes ideais humanitários[carece de fontes]. Inaugura, portanto, a tradição de compositor livre, que escreve música para si, sem estar vinculado a um príncipe ou a um nobre. Hoje em dia muitos críticos o consideram como o maior compositor do século XIX, a quem se deve a inauguração do período Romântico, enquanto que outros o distinguem como um dos poucos homens que merecem a adjetivação de “génio”.

Curiosidades

Seções de curiosidades são desencorajadas pelas políticas da Wikipédia.
Este artigo pode ser melhorado, integrando ao texto os itens relevantes e removendo os supérfluos ou impróprios.
  • Ludwig era canhoto[12] e devido à sua tez morena e cabelos muito negros, tratavam-no de “o espanhol”.
  • Dentre seus problemas de saúde, ficou com o rosto marcado pela varíola.
  • Otto Maria Carpeaux, na sua obra Uma Nova História da Música, afirma que Ludwig assistiu à primeira apresentação pública da sua 9ª Sinfonia, ao lado de Umlauf, que a regeu – como ficou registrado por Schindler e mais tarde por Grove -, mas abstraído na leitura da partitura, não pôde perceber que estava sendo ovacionado até que Umlauf, tocando no seu braço, voltou a sua atenção à sala, e então Beethoven inclinou-se diante do público que o aplaudia.
  • Hans von Bülow refere-se a Beethoven como um dos “três Bs da música” (os outros dois seriam BachBrahms), considerando as suas 32 sonatas para piano como o Novo Testamento da música.
  • Existem especulações históricas sobre um provável encontro entre Beethoven e Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, mas não existe nenhum facto histórico que possa comprovar esta hipótese.

 

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10/03/2011

Beethoven : biografia em inglês

. textos e links sobre Beethoven

. . neste blog você poderá encontrar a referência de um bom livro sobre Beethoven em português: basta ir à página bibliografia em português

. . . o artigo abaixo foi extraído da Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia em inglês

. . . . para quem não lê inglês, acesse a tradução pelo google

. . . . . este artigo em inglês está mais completo do que a versão em português também publicada neste blog


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Ludwig van Beethoven
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ludwig van Beethoven[1] (baptized 17 December 1770[2]–26 March 1827) was a German[3] composer and pianist. The crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.

Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, Beethoven moved to Vienna in his early 20s, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. His hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf.


Biography

Background and early life

Beethoven was the grandson of a musician of Flemish origin named Lodewijk van Beethoven (1712–73).[3] Beethoven was named after his grandfather, as Lodewijk is theDutch cognate of Ludwig. Beethoven’s grandfather was employed as a bass singer at the court of the Elector of Cologne, rising to become Kapellmeister (music director). He had one son, Johann van Beethoven (1740–1792), who worked as a tenor in the same musical establishment, also giving lessons on piano and violin to supplement his income.[3] Johann married Maria Magdalena Keverich in 1767; she was the daughter of Johann Heinrich Keverich, who had been the head chef at the court of the Archbishopric of Trier.[4]

Beethoven was born of this marriage in Bonn. There is no authentic record of his birthday; however, the registry of his baptism, in a Roman Catholic service at the Parish of St. Regius on 17 December, 1770, survives.[5] As children of that era were traditionally baptised the day after birth in the Catholic Rhine country, and it is known that Beethoven’s family and his teacherJohann Albrechtsberger celebrated his birthday on 16 December, most scholars accept 16 December, 1770 as Beethoven’s date of birth.[6][7] Of the seven children born to Johann van Beethoven, only the second-born, Ludwig, and two younger brothers survived infancy. Caspar Anton Carl was born on 8 April 1774, and Nikolaus Johann, the youngest, was born on 2 October 1776.[8]

Beethoven’s first music teacher was his father. Tradition has it that Johann van Beethoven was a harsh instructor, and that the child Beethoven, “made to stand at the keyboard, was often in tears.”[3] However, the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musiciansclaimed that no solid documentation supported this, and asserted that “speculation and myth-making have both been productive.”[3] Beethoven had other local teachers: the court organist Gilles van den Eeden (d. 1782), Tobias Friedrich Pfeiffer (a family friend, who taught Beethoven piano), and a relative, Franz Rovantini (violin and viola).[3] His musical talent manifested itself early. Johann, aware of Leopold Mozart‘s successes in this area (with son Wolfgang and daughter Nannerl), attempted to exploit his son as a child prodigy, claiming that Beethoven was six (he was seven) on the posters for Beethoven’s first public performance in March 1778.[9]

Some time after 1779, Beethoven began his studies with his most important teacher in Bonn, Christian Gottlob Neefe, who was appointed the Court’s Organist in that year.[10] Neefe taught Beethoven composition, and byMarch 1783 had helped him write his first published composition: a set of keyboard variations (WoO 63).[8] Beethoven soon began working with Neefe as assistant organist, first on an unpaid basis (1781), and then as paid employee (1784) of the court chapel conducted by the Kapellmeister Andrea Luchesi. His first three piano sonatas, named “Kurfürst” (“Elector”) for their dedication to the Elector Maximilian Frederick, were published in 1783. Maximilian Frederick, who died in 1784, not long after Beethoven’s appointment as assistant organist, had noticed Beethoven’s talent early, and had subsidised and encouraged the young man’s musical studies.[11]

Maximilian Frederick’s successor as the Elector of Bonn was Maximilian Franz, the youngest son of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and he brought notable changes to Bonn. Echoing changes made in Vienna by his brother Joseph, he introduced reforms based on Enlightenment philosophy, with increased support for education and the arts. The teenage Beethoven was almost certainly influenced by these changes. He may also have been influenced at this time by ideas prominent infreemasonry, as Neefe and others around Beethoven were members of the local chapter of the Order of the Illuminati.[12]

In March 1787 Beethoven traveled to Vienna (possibly at another’s expense) for the first time, apparently in the hope of studying with Mozart. The details of their relationship are uncertain, including whether or not they actually met.[13] After just two weeks there Beethoven learned that his mother was severely ill, and returned home. His mother died shortly thereafter, and the father lapsed deeper into alcoholism. As a result, Beethoven became responsible for the care of his two younger brothers, and he spent the next five years in Bonn.[14]

Beethoven was introduced to several people who became important in his life in these years. Franz Wegeler, a young medical student, introduced him to the von Breuning family (one of whose daughters Wegeler eventually married). Beethoven was often at the von Breuning household, where he was exposed to German and classical literature, and where he also taught piano to some of the children. The von Breuning family environment was also less stressful than his own, which was increasingly dominated by his father’s decline.[15] Beethoven came to the attention of Count Ferdinand von Waldstein, who became a lifelong friend and financial supporter.[16]

In 1789 Beethoven obtained a legal order by which half of his father’s salary was paid directly to him for support of the family.[17] He also contributed further to the family’s income by playing viola in the court orchestra. This familiarised Beethoven with a variety of operas, including three of Mozart‘s operas performed at court in this period. He also befriended Anton Reicha, a flautist and violinist of about his own age who was the conductor’s nephew.[18]

Establishing his career in Vienna

With the Elector’s help, Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792.[19] He was probably first introduced to Joseph Haydn in late 1790, when the latter was traveling to London and stopped in Bonn around Christmas time.[20] They met in Bonn on Haydn’s return trip from London to Vienna in July 1792, and it is likely that arrangements were made at that time for Beethoven to study with the old master.[21] In the intervening years, Beethoven composed a significant number of works (none were published at the time, and most are now listed as works without opus) that demonstrated his growing range and maturity. Musicologistsidentified a theme similar to those of his third symphony in a set of variations written in 1791.[22] Beethoven left Bonn for Vienna in November 1792, amid rumors of war spilling out of France, and learned shortly after his arrival that his father had died.[23][24] Count Waldstein in his farewell note to Beethoven wrote: “Through uninterrupted diligence you will receive Mozart’s spirit through Haydn’s hands.”[24] Beethoven responded to the widespread feeling that he was a successor to the recently deceased Mozart over the next few years by studying that master’s work and writing works with a distinctly Mozartean flavor.[25]

Beethoven did not immediately set out to establish himself as a composer, but rather devoted himself to study and performance. Working under Haydn’s direction,[26] he sought to master counterpoint. He also studied violin under Ignaz Schuppanzigh.[27] Early in this period, he also began receiving occasional instruction from Antonio Salieri, primarily in Italian vocal composition style; this relationship persisted until at least 1802, and possibly 1809.[28] With Haydn’s departure for England in 1794, Beethoven was expected by the Elector to return home. He chose instead to remain in Vienna, continuing his instruction in counterpoint with Johann Albrechtsberger and other teachers. Although his stipend from the Elector expired, a number of Viennese noblemen had already recognised his ability and offered him financial support, among them Prince Joseph Franz LobkowitzPrince Karl Lichnowsky, and Baron Gottfried van Swieten.[29]

By 1793, Beethoven established a reputation as an improviser in the salons of the nobility, often playing the preludes andfugues of J. S. Bach‘s Well-Tempered Clavier.[30] His friend Nikolaus Simrock had begun publishing his compositions; the first are believed to be a set of variations (WoO 66).[31] By 1793, he had established a reputation in Vienna as a piano virtuoso, but he apparently withheld works from publication so that their publication in 1795 would have greater impact.[29] Beethoven’s first public performance in Vienna was in March 1795, a concert in which he debuted a piano concerto. It is uncertain whether this was the First or Second. Documentary evidence is unclear, and both concertos were in a similar state of near-completion (neither was completed or published for several years).[32][33] Shortly after this performance, he arranged for the publication of the first of his compositions to which he assigned an opus number, the piano trios of Opus 1. These works were dedicated to his patron Prince Lichnowsky,[32] and were a financial success; Beethoven’s profits were nearly sufficient to cover his living expenses for a year.[34]

Musical maturity

Between 1798 and 1802 Beethoven tackled what he considered the pinnacles of composition: the string quartet and the symphony. With the composition of hisfirst six string quartets (Op. 18) between 1798 and 1800 (written on commission for, and dedicated to, Prince Lobkowitz), and their publication in 1801, along with premieres of the First and Second Symphonies in 1800 and 1802, Beethoven was justifiably considered one of the most important of a generation of young composers following Haydn and Mozart. He continued to write in other forms, turning out widely known piano sonatas like the “Pathétique” sonata (Op. 13), which Cooper describes as “surpass[ing] any of his previous compositions, in strength of character, depth of emotion, level of originality, and ingenuity of motivic and tonal manipulation.”[35] He also completed his Septet (Op. 20) in 1799, which was one of his most popular works during his lifetime.

For the premiere of his First Symphony, Beethoven hired the Burgtheater on 2 April 1800, and staged an extensive program of music, including works by Haydn and Mozart, as well as the Septet, the First Symphony, and one of his piano concertos (the latter three works all then unpublished). The concert, which the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung described as “the most interesting concert in a long time,” was not without difficulties; among other criticisms was that “the players did not bother to pay any attention to the soloist.”[36]

While Mozart and Haydn were undeniable influences (for example, Beethoven’s quintet for piano and winds is said to bear a strong resemblance to Mozart’s work for the same configuration, albeit with his own distinctive touches),[37] other composers like Muzio Clementi were also stylistic influences[citation needed]. Beethoven’s melodies, musical development, use of modulation and texture, and characterization of emotion all set him apart from his influences, and heightened the impact some of his early works made when they were first published.[38] By the end of 1800 Beethoven and his music were already much in demand from patrons and publishers.[39]

In May of 1799, Beethoven taught piano to the daughters of Hungarian Countess Anna Brunsvik. While this round of lessons lasted less than one month, Beethoven formed a relationship with the older daughter Josephine that has been the subject of speculation ever since. Shortly after these lessons, she married Count Josef Deym. Beethoven was a regular visitor at their house, teaching and playing at parties. While her marriage was by all accounts unhappy, the couple had four children, and her relationship with Beethoven did not intensify until after Deym died in 1804.[40]

Beethoven had few other students. From 1801 to 1805, he tutored Ferdinand Ries, who went on to become a composer and later wrote Beethoven remembered, a book about their encounters. The young Carl Czerny studied with Beethoven from 1801 to 1803. Czerny went on to become a renowned music teacher himself, instructing Franz Liszt, and gave the Vienna premiere of Beethoven’s fifth piano concerto (the “Emperor”) in 1812.[citation needed]}

Beethoven’s compositions between 1800 and 1802 were dominated by two works, although he continued to produce smaller works, including the Moonlight Sonata. In the spring of 1801 he completed The Creatures of Prometheus, a ballet. The work received numerous performances in 1801 and 1802, and Beethoven rushed to publish a piano arrangement to capitalise on its early popularity.[41] In the spring of 1802 he completed the Second Symphony, intended for performance at a concert that was ultimately canceled. The symphony received its premiere at a subscription concert in April 1803 at the Theater an der Wien, where Beethoven had been appointed composer in residence. In addition to the Second Symphony, the concert also featured the First Symphony, the Third Piano Concerto, and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives. While reviews were mixed, the concert was a financial success; Beethoven was able to charge three times the cost of a typical concert ticket.[42]

Beethoven’s business dealings with publishers also began to improve in 1802 when his brother Carl, who had previously assisted him more casually, began to assume a larger role in the management of his affairs. In addition to negotiating higher prices for recently composed works, Carl also began selling some of Beethoven’s earlier unpublished works, and encouraged Beethoven (against the latter’s preference) to also make arrangements and transcriptions of his more popular works for other instrument combinations. Beethoven acceded to these requests, as he could not prevent publishers from hiring others to do similar arrangements of his works.[43]

Loss of hearing

Around 1796, Beethoven began to lose his hearing.[44] He suffered a severe form of tinnitus, a “ringing” in his ears that made it hard for him to perceive and appreciate music; he also avoided conversation. The cause of Beethoven’s deafness is unknown, but it has variously been attributed to syphilislead poisoning,typhusauto-immune disorder (such as systemic lupus erythematosus), and even his habit of immersing his head in cold water to stay awake. The explanation, from the autopsy of the time, is that he had a “distended inner ear” which developed lesions over time. Because of the high levels of lead found in samples of Beethoven’s hair, that hypothesis has been extensively analyzed. While the likelihood of lead poisoning is very high, the deafness associated with it seldom takes the form that Beethoven exhibited.[citation needed]

As early as 1801, Beethoven wrote to friends describing his symptoms and the difficulties they caused in both professional and social settings (although it is likely some of his close friends were already aware of the problems).[45] Beethoven, on the advice of his doctor, lived in the small Austrian town of Heiligenstadt, just outside Vienna, from April to October 1802 in an attempt to come to terms with his condition. There he wrote his Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter to his brothers which records his thoughts of suicide due to his growing deafness and records his resolution to continue living for and through his art.[46] Over time, his hearing loss became profound: there is a well-attested story that, at the end of the premiere of his Ninth Symphony, he had to be turned around to see the tumultuous applause of the audience; hearing nothing, he wept.[47] Beethoven’s hearing loss did not prevent his composing music, but it made playing at concerts—a lucrative source of income—increasingly difficult. After a failed attempt in 1811 to perform his own Piano Concerto No. 5 (the “Emperor”), which was premiered by his student Carl Czerny, he never performed in public again.

A large collection of Beethoven’s hearing aids such as a special ear horn can be viewed at the Beethoven House Museum in Bonn, Germany. Despite his obvious distress, Carl Czerny remarked that Beethoven could still hear speech and music normally until 1812.[48] By 1814 however, Beethoven was almost totally deaf, and when a group of visitors saw him play a loud arpeggio of thundering bass notes at his piano remarking, “Ist es nicht schön?” (Is it not beautiful?), they felt deep sympathy considering his courage and sense of humor (he lost the ability to hear higher frequencies first).[49]

As a result of Beethoven’s hearing loss, a unique historical record has been preserved: his conversation books. Used primarily in the last ten or so years of his life, his friends wrote in these books so that he could know what they were saying, and he then responded either orally or in the book. The books contain discussions about music and other matters, and give insights into his thinking; they are a source for investigation into how he felt his music should be performed, and also his perception of his relationship to art. 264 out of a total of 400 conversation books were destroyed (and others were altered) after Beethoven’s death by Anton Schindler, in an attempt to paint an idealised picture of the composer.[50]

Patronage

While Beethoven earned income from publication of his works and from public performances, he also depended on the generosity of patrons for income, for whom he gave private performances and copies of works they commissioned for an exclusive period prior to their publication. Some of his early patrons, including Prince Lobkowitz and Prince Lichnowsky, gave him annual stipends in addition to commissioning works and purchasing published works.[citation needed]

Perhaps Beethoven’s most important aristocratic patron was Archduke Rudolph, the youngest son of Emperor Leopold II, who in 1803 or 1804 began to study piano and composition with Beethoven. The cleric (Cardinal-Priest) and the composer became friends, and their meetings continued until 1824. Beethoven dedicated 14 compositions to Rudolph, including the Archduke Trio(1811) and his great Missa Solemnis (1823). Rudolph, in turn, dedicated one of his own compositions to Beethoven. The letters Beethoven wrote to Rudolph are today kept at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna.[citation needed]

In the Autumn of 1808, after having been rejected for a position at the royal theatre, Beethoven received an offer fromNapoleon‘s brother Jérôme Bonaparte, then king of Westphalia, for a well-paid position as Kapellmeister at the court in Cassel. To persuade him to stay in Vienna, the Archduke Rudolph, Prince Kinsky and Prince Lobkowitz, after receiving representations from the composer’s friends, pledged to pay Beethoven a pension of 4000 florins a year. Only Archduke Rudolph paid his share of the pension on the agreed date. Kinsky, immediately called to duty as an officer, did not contribute and soon died after falling from his horse. Lobkowitz stopped paying in September 1811. No successors came forward to continue the patronage, and Beethoven relied mostly on selling composition rights and a small pension after 1815. The effects of these financial arrangements were undermined to some extent by war with France, which caused significant inflation when the government printed money to fund its war efforts.[citation needed]

The Middle period

Beethoven’s return to Vienna from Heiligenstadt was marked by a change in musical style, now recognised as the start of his “Middle” or “Heroic” period. According to Carl Czerny, Beethoven said, “I am not satisfied with the work I have done so far. From now on I intend to take a new way.”[51] This “Heroic” phase was characterised by a large number of original works composed on a grand scale.[52] The first major work employing this new style was the Third Symphony in E flat, known as the “Eroica.” While other composers had written symphonies with implied programs, or stories, this work was longer and larger in scope than any previous symphony. When it premiered in early 1805 it received a mixed reception. Some listeners objected to its length or misunderstood its structure, while others viewed it as a masterpiece.[53]

Beethoven composed ambitious works throughout the Middle period, often heroic in tone, extending the musical language Beethoven had inherited from Haydn and Mozart. The Middle period work includes the Third through Eighth Symphonies, the string quartets 7–11, the “Waldstein” and “Appassionata” piano sonatas, Christ on the Mount of Olives, the opera Fidelio, theViolin Concerto and many other compositions. During this time Beethoven earned his living from publishing and performances of his work, and from his patrons. His position at the Theater an der Wien was terminated when the theater changed management in early 1804, and he was forced to move temporarily to the suburbs of Vienna with his friend Stephan von Breuning. This slowed work on Fidelio, his largest work to date, for a time. It was delayed again by the Austrian censor, and finally premiered in November 1805 to houses that were nearly empty because of the French occupation of the city. In addition to being a financial failure, this version of Fidelio was also a critical failure, and Beethoven began revising it.[54]

The Middle period string quartets are Op. 59 no 1Op 59 no 2Op 59 no 3 (The Razumowski quartets), Op. 74 (the Harp) andOp 95. Beethoven’s publisher said that the world was not ready for them. The slow movement of Op. 59 no 2 has been described as the closest Beethoven got to heaven. Beethoven said that the Op. 95 quartet was not suitable for public performance.

The work of the Middle period established Beethoven’s reputation as a master. In a review from 1810, he was enshrined by E. T. A. Hoffmann as one of the three great “Romantic” composers; Hoffman called Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony “one of the most important works of the age.” A particular trauma for Beethoven occurred during this period in May 1809, when the attacking forces of Napoleon bombarded Vienna. According to Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven, very worried that the noise would destroy what remained of his hearing, hid in the basement of his brother’s house, covering his ears with pillows.[55] He was composing the “Emperor” Concerto at the time.

Personal and family difficulties

Beethoven met Giulietta Guicciardi in about 1800 through the Brunsvik family. He mentions his love for her in a November 1801 letter to his boyhood friend, Franz Wegeler. Beethoven dedicated to Giulietta his Sonata No. 14, popularly known as the “Moonlight” Sonata. Marriage plans were thwarted by Giulietta’s father and perhaps Beethoven’s common lineage. In 1803 she married Count Wenzel Robert von Gallenberg (1783–1839), another amateur composer.[citation needed]

Beethoven’s relationship with Josephine Deym notably deepened after the death of her first husband in 1804. There is some evidence that Beethoven may have proposed to her, at least informally. While his feelings were apparently reciprocated, she turned him down, and their relationship effectively ended in 1807. She cited her “duty,” an apparent reference to the fact that she was born of nobility and he was a commoner.[56] It is also likely that he considered proposing (whether he actually did or not is unknown) to Therese Malfatti, the dedicatee of “Für Elise” in 1810; his common status may also have interfered with those plans.

In the spring of 1811 Beethoven became seriously ill, suffering headaches and high fever. On the advice of his doctor, he spent six weeks in the Bohemian spa town of Teplitz. The following winter, which was dominated by work on the Seventh symphony, he was again ill, and decided to spend the summer of 1812 at Teplitz. It is likely that he was at Teplitz when he wrote three love letters to an “Immortal Beloved.”[57] While the identity of the intended recipient is subject to ongoing debate, the most likely candidate, according to what is known about people’s movements and the contents of the letters, is Antonie Brentano, a married woman with whom he had begun a friendship in 1810.[58][59] Beethoven traveled to Karlsbad in late July, where he stayed in the same guesthouse as the Brentanos. After traveling with them for a time, he returned to Teplitz, where after another bout of gastric illness, he left for Linz to visit his brother Johann.[60]

Beethoven’s visit to his brother was an attempt to end the latter’s cohabitation with Therese Obermayer, a woman who already had an illegitimate child. He was unable to convince Johann to end the relationship, so he appealed to the local civic and religious authorities. The end result of Beethoven’s meddling was that Johann and Therese married on 9 November.[60]

In early 1813 Beethoven apparently went through a difficult emotional period, and his compositional output dropped. Historians have suggested a variety of causes, including his lack of romantic success. His personal appearance, which had generally been neat, degraded, as did his manners in public, especially when dining. Some of his (married) desired romantic partners had children (leading to assertions among historians of Beethoven’s possible paternity), and his brother Carl was seriously ill. Beethoven took care of his brother and his family, an expense that he claimed left him penniless. He was unable to obtain a date for a concert in the spring of 1813, which, if successful, would have provided him with significant funds.[citation needed]

Beethoven was finally motivated to begin significant composition again in June 1813, when news arrived of the defeat of one of Napoleon’s armies at Vitoria, Spain, by a coalition of forces under the Duke of Wellington. This news stimulated him to write the battle symphony known as Wellington’s Victory. It premiered on 8 December at a charity concert for victims of the war along with his Seventh Symphony. The work was a popular hit, likely because of its programmatic style that was entertaining and easy to understand. It received repeat performances at concerts Beethoven staged in January and February 1814. Beethoven’s renewed popularity led to demands for a revival of Fidelio, which, in its third revised version, was also well-received at its July opening. That summer he composed a piano sonata for the first time in five years (No. 27, Opus 90). This work was in a markedly more Romantic style than his earlier sonatas. He was also one of many composers who produced music in a patriotic vein to entertain the many heads of state and diplomats that came to the Congress of Vienna that began in November 1814. His output of songs included his only song cycle, “An die ferne Geliebte,” and the extraordinarily expressive, but almost incoherent, “An die Hoffnung” (Opus 94).[citation needed]

Custody struggle and illness

Between 1815 and 1817 Beethoven’s output dropped again. Beethoven attributed part of this to a lengthy illness (he called it an “inflammatory fever”) that afflicted him for more than a year, starting in October 1816.[61] Biographers have speculated on a variety of other reasons that also contributed to the decline, including the difficulties in the personal lives of his would-be paramours and the harsh censorship policies of the Austrian government. The illness and death of his brother Carl from consumption likely also played a role.

Carl had been ill for some time, and Beethoven spent a small fortune in 1815 on his care. When he finally died on 15 November 1815, Beethoven immediately became embroiled in a protracted legal dispute with Carl’s wife Johanna over custody of their son Karl, then nine years old. Beethoven, who considered Johanna an unfit parent because of her morals (she had an illegitimate child by a different father before marrying Carl, and had been convicted of theft) and financial management, had successfully applied to Carl to have himself named sole guardian of the boy. A late codicil to Carl’s will gave him and Johanna joint guardianship. While Beethoven was successful at having his nephew removed from her custody in February 1816, the case was not fully resolved until 1820, and he was frequently preoccupied by the demands of the litigation and seeing to Karl’s welfare, whom he first placed in a private school. The custody fight brought out the worst aspects of Beethoven’s character; in the lengthy court cases Beethoven stopped at nothing to ensure that he achieved this goal, interrupting his work for long periods.[citation needed]

The Austrian court system had one court for the nobility, the R&I Landrechte, and another for commoners, the Civil Court of the Magistrate. Beethoven disguised the fact that the Dutch “van” in his name did not denote nobility as does the German “von,”[62]and his case was tried in the Landrechte. Owing to his influence with the court, Beethoven felt assured of the favorable outcome of being awarded sole guardianship. While giving evidence to the Landrechte, however, Beethoven inadvertently[62] admitted that he was not nobly born. The case was transferred to the Magistracy on 18 December 1818, where he lost sole guardianship.

Beethoven appealed, and regained custody. Johanna’s appeal to the Emperor was not successful: the Emperor “washed his hands of the matter.” Beethoven stopped at nothing to blacken her name, as can be read in surviving court papers. During the years of custody that followed, Beethoven attempted to ensure that Karl lived to the highest moral standards. His overbearing manner and frequent interference in his nephew’s life apparently drove Karl to attempt suicide on 31 July 1826 by shooting himself in the head. He survived, and was brought to his mother’s house, where he recuperated. He and Beethoven reconciled, but Karl insisted on joining the army, and last saw Beethoven in early 1827.[citation needed]

The only major works Beethoven produced during this time were two cello sonatas, a piano sonata, and collections of folk song settings. He began sketches for the Ninth Symphony in 1817.[citation needed]

Late works

Beethoven began a renewed study of older music, including works by J. S. Bach and Handel, that were then being published in the first attempts at complete editions. He composed the Consecration of the House Overture, which was the first work to attempt to incorporate his new influences. A new style, now called his “late period,” emerged when he returned to the keyboard to compose his first piano sonatas in almost a decade. The works of the late period are commonly held to include the last five piano sonatas and the Diabelli Variations, the last two sonatas for cello and piano, the late quartets (see below), and two works for very large forces: the Missa Solemnis and the Ninth Symphony.[citation needed]

By early 1818 Beethoven’s health had improved, and his nephew moved in with him in January. On the downside, his hearing had deteriorated to the point that conversation became difficult, necessitating the use of conversation books. His household management had also improved somewhat; Nanette Streicher, who had assisted in his care during his illness, continued to provide some support, and he finally found a skilled cook.[63] His musical output in 1818 was still somewhat reduced, but included song collections and the Hammerklavier Sonata, as well as sketches for two symphonies that eventually coalesced into the epic Ninth. In 1819 he was again preoccupied by the legal processes around Karl, and began work on the Diabelli Variationsand the Missa Solemnis.[citation needed]

For the next few years he continued to work on the Missa, composing piano sonatas and bagatelles to satisfy the demands of publishers and the need for income, and completing the Diabelli Variations. He was ill again for an extended time in 1821, and completed the Missa in 1823, three years after its original due date. He also opened discussions with his publishers over the possibility of producing a complete edition of his work, an idea that was arguably not fully realised until 1971. Beethoven’s brother Johann began to take a hand in his business affairs around this time, much in the way Carl had earlier, locating older unpublished works to offer for publication and offering the Missa to multiple publishers with the goal of getting a higher price for it.[citation needed]

Two commissions in 1822 improved Beethoven’s financial prospects. The Philharmonic Society of London offered a commission for a symphony, and Prince Nikolay Golitsin of St. Petersburg offered to pay Beethoven’s price for three string quartets. The first of these spurred Beethoven to finish the Ninth Symphony, which premiered, along with the Missa Solemnis, on 7 May 1824, to great acclaim at the Kärntnertortheater. The Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung gushed, “inexhaustible genius had shown us a new world,” and Carl Czerny wrote that his symphony “breathes such a fresh, lively, indeed youthful spirit […] so much power, innovation, and beauty as ever [came] from the head of this original man, although he certainly sometimes led the old wigs to shake their heads.”[64] Unlike his earlier concerts, Beethoven made little money on this one, as the expenses of mounting it were significantly higher.[64]A second concert on 24 May, in which the producer guaranteed Beethoven a minimum fee, was poorly attended; nephew Karl noted that “many people have already gone into the country.”[65] It was Beethoven’s last public concert.[65]

Beethoven then turned to writing the string quartets for Golitsin. This series of quartets, known as the “Late Quartets,” went far beyond what either musicians or audiences were ready for at that time. One musician commented that “we know there is something there, but we do not know what it is.” Composer Louis Spohr called them “indecipherable, uncorrected horrors,” though that opinion has changed considerably from the time of their first bewildered reception. They continued (and continue) to inspire musicians and composers, from Richard Wagner to Béla Bartók, for their unique forms and ideas. Of the late quartets, Beethoven’s favorite was the Fourteenth Quartet, op. 131 in C# minor[citation needed], upon hearing which Schubert is said to have remarked, “After this, what is left for us to write?”[citation needed]

Beethoven wrote the last quartets amidst failing health. In April 1825 he was bedridden, and remained ill for about a month. The illness—or more precisely, his recovery from it—is remembered for having given rise to the deeply felt slow movement of the Fifteenth Quartet, which Beethoven called “Holy song of thanks (‘Heiliger dankgesang’) to the divinity, from one made well.” He went on to complete the (misnumbered) ThirteenthFourteenth, and Sixteenth Quartets. The last work completed by Beethoven was the substitute final movement of the Thirteenth Quartet, deemed necessary to replace the difficult Große Fuge. Shortly thereafter, in December 1826, illness struck again, with episodes of vomiting and diarrhea that nearly ended his life.[citation needed]

Illness and death

Main article: Death of Beethoven

Beethoven was bedridden for most of his remaining months, and many friends came to visit. He died on Monday, 26 March 1827, during a thunderstorm. His friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner, who was present at the time, claimed that there was a peal of thunder at the moment of death. Anautopsy revealed significant liver damage, which may have been due to heavy alcohol consumption.[66]

Beethoven’s funeral procession on 29 March 1827 was attended by an estimated 20,000 Viennese citizens. Franz Schubert, who died the following year and was buried next to Beethoven, was one of the torchbearers. Unlike Mozart, who was buried anonymously in a communal grave (the custom at the time), Beethoven was buried in a dedicated grave in theWähring cemetery, north-west of Vienna, after a requiem mass at the church of the Holy Trinity (Dreifaltigkeitskirche). His remains were exhumed for study in 1862, and moved in 1888 to Vienna’s Zentralfriedhof.[66]

There is dispute about the cause of Beethoven’s death; alcoholic cirrhosissyphilisinfectious hepatitislead poisoningsarcoidosis and Whipple’s disease have all been proposed.[67] Friends and visitors before and after his death clipped locks of his hair, some of which have been preserved and subjected to additional analysis, as have skull fragments removed during the 1862 exhumation.[68] Some of these analyses have led to controversial assertions that Beethoven was accidentally poisoned to death by excessive doses of lead-based treatments administered under instruction from his doctor.[69][70][71]

Character

Beethoven’s personal life was troubled by his encroaching deafness and irritability brought on by chronic abdominal pain (beginning in his twenties) which led him to contemplate suicide (documented in his Heiligenstadt Testament). Beethoven was often irascible and may have suffered from bipolar disorder.[72][73]Nevertheless, he had a close and devoted circle of friends all his life, thought to have been attracted by his strength of personality. Toward the end of his life, Beethoven’s friends competed in their efforts to help him cope with his incapacities.[74]

Sources show Beethoven’s disdain for authority, and for social rank. He stopped performing at the piano if the audience chatted amongst themselves, or afforded him less than their full attention. At soirées, he refused to perform if suddenly called upon to do so. Eventually, after many confrontations, the Archduke Rudolph decreed that the usual rules of court etiquette did not apply to Beethoven.[74]

Religious views

Beethoven was attracted to the ideals of the Enlightenment. In 1804, when Napoleon’s imperial ambitions became clear, Beethoven took hold of the title-page of his Third Symphony and scratched the name Bonaparte out so violently that he made a hole in the paper. He later changed the work’s title to “Sinfonia Eroica, composta per festeggiare il sovvenire d’un grand’uom” (“Heroic Symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man”), and he rededicated it to his patron, Prince Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz, at whose palace it was first performed.[citation needed]

The fourth movement of his Ninth Symphony features an elaborate choral setting of Schiller’s Ode An die Freude (“Ode to Joy”), an optimistic hymn championing the brotherhood of humanity.[citation needed]

Scholars disagree about Beethoven’s religious beliefs, and about the role they played in his work. It has been asserted, but not proven, that Beethoven was aFreemason.[75]

Music

Beethoven is acknowledged as one of the giants of classical music; occasionally he is referred to as one of the “three Bs” (along with Bach and Brahms) who epitomise that tradition. He was also a pivotal figure in the transition from the 18th century musicalclassicism to 19th century romanticism, and his influence on subsequent generations of composers was profound.[74]

Overview

Beethoven composed in several musical genres, and for a variety of instrument combinations. His works for symphony orchestra include nine symphonies (the Ninth Symphony includes a chorus), and about a dozen pieces of “occasional” music. He wrote seven concerti for one or more soloists and orchestra, as well as four shorter works that include soloists accompanied by orchestra. His only opera is Fidelio; other vocal works with orchestral accompaniment include two masses and a number of shorter works.[citation needed]

His large body of compositions for piano includes 32 piano sonatas and numerous shorter pieces, including arrangements of some of his other works. Works with piano accompaniment include 10 violin sonatas, 5 cello sonatas, and a sonata for French horn, as well as numerous lieder.[citation needed]

Beethoven also wrote a significant quantity of chamber music. In addition to 16 string quartets, he wrote five works for string quintet, seven for piano trio, five for string trio, and more than a dozen works for various combinations of wind instruments.[citation needed]

The three periods

Beethoven’s compositional career is usually divided into Early, Middle, and Late periods.[74] In this scheme, his early period is taken to last until about 1802, the middle period from about 1803 to about 1814, and the late period from about 1815.[citation needed]

In his Early period, Beethoven’s work was strongly influenced by his predecessors Haydn and Mozart. He also explored new directions and gradually expanded the scope and ambition of his work. Some important pieces from the Early period are the first and second symphonies, the set of six string quartets Opus 18, the first two piano concertos, and the first dozen or so piano sonatas, including the famous Pathétique sonata, Op. 13.[citation needed]

His Middle (Heroic) period began shortly after Beethoven’s personal crisis brought on by his recognition of encroaching deafness. It includes large-scale works that express heroism and struggle. Middle-period works include six symphonies (Nos. 3–8), the last three piano concertos, the Triple Concerto and violin concerto, five string quartets (Nos. 7–11), several piano sonatas (including the MoonlightWaldstein and Appassionata sonatas), the Kreutzer violin sonata and Beethoven’s only operaFidelio.[citation needed]

Beethoven’s Late period began around 1815. Works from this period are characterised by their intellectual depth, their formal innovations, and their intense, highly personal expression. The String Quartet, Op. 131 has seven linked movements, and the Ninth Symphony adds choral forces to the orchestra in the last movement.[74] Other compositions from this period include the Missa Solemnis, the last five string quartets (including the massive Große Fuge) and the last five piano sonatas.[citation needed]

Beethoven on screen

Eroica is a 1949 Austrian film depicting life and works of Beethoven (Ewald Balser), which also entered into the 1949 Cannes Film Festival.[76] The film is directed by Walter Kolm-Veltée, produced by Guido Bagier with Walter Kolm-Veltée and written by Walter Kolm-Veltée with Franz Tassié.[77]

In 1962, Walt Disney produced a made-for-television and extremely fictionalised life of Beethoven titled The Magnificent Rebel. The film was given a two-part premiere on the Walt Disney anthology television series and released to theatres in Europe. It starred Karlheinz Böhm as Beethoven.[citation needed]

In 1994film about Beethoven (Gary Oldman) titled Immortal Beloved was written and directed by Bernard Rose. The story follows Beethoven’s secretary and first biographerAnton Schindler (portrayed by Jeroen Krabbé), as he attempts to ascertain the true identity of the Unsterbliche Geliebte (Immortal Beloved) addressed in three letters found in the late composer’s private papers. Schindler journeys throughout the Austrian Empire, interviewing women who might be potential candidates, as well as through Beethoven’s own tumultuous life. Filming took place in the Czech cities of Prague and Kromeriz and the Zentralfriedhofin Vienna, Austria, between 23 May and 29 July 1994.[citation needed]

In 2003 a made-for-television BBC/Opus Arte film Eroica was released, with Ian Hart as Beethoven and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantiqueconducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner performing the Eroica Symphony in its entirety. The subject of the film is the first performance of the Eroica Symphony in 1804 at the palace of Prince Lobkowitz (played by Jack Davenport).[78] In a 2005 three-part BBC miniseries, Beethoven was played by Paul Rhys.[79]

A movie titled Copying Beethoven was released in 2006, starring Ed Harris as Beethoven. This film was a fictionalised account of Beethoven’s last days, and his struggle to produce his Ninth Symphony before he died.[citation needed]

Memorials

The Beethoven Monument, Bonn was unveiled in August 1845, in honour of his 75th anniversary. It was the first statue of a composer created in Germany, and the music festival that accompanied the unveiling was the impetus for the very hasty construction of the original Beethovenhalle in Bonn (it was designed and built within less than a month, on the urging of Franz Liszt). A statue to Mozart had been unveiled in SalzburgAustria in 1842. Vienna did not honour Beethoven with a statue until 1880.[80]

See also

Book: Ludwig van Beethoven
Wikipedia Books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

References

  1. ^ German pronunciation: [ˈluːtvɪç fan ˈbeːt.hoːfən]listen)English: /ˈlʊdvɪɡ væn ˈbeɪt.hoʊvən/
  2. ^ Beethoven was baptised on 17 December. His date of birth was often, in the past, given as 16 December, however this is not known with certainty; his family celebrated his birthday on that date, but there is no documentary evidence that his birth was actually on 16 December.
  3. a b c d e f Grove Online, section 1
  4. ^ Thayer, Vol 1, p. 49
  5. ^ Thorne, J. O. & Collocott, T.C., ed (1986). Chambers Biographical DictionaryEdinburgh: W & R Chambers Ltd. p. 114.ISBN 0550180222.
  6. ^ Thayer, Vol 1, p. 53
  7. ^ This is discussed in depth inSolomon, chapter 1.
  8. a b Stanley, p. 7
  9. ^ Thayer, Vol 1, p. 59
  10. ^ Thayer, Vol 1, p. 67
  11. ^ Thayer, Vol 1, pp. 71–74
  12. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 15
  13. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 23
  14. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 24
  15. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 16
  16. ^ Thayer, Vol 1, p. 102
  17. ^ Thayer, Vol 1, p. 104
  18. ^ Thayer, Vol 1, pp. 105–109
  19. ^ Thayer, Vol 1, p. 124
  20. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 35
  21. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 41
  22. ^ Cooper (2008), pp. 35–41
  23. ^ Thayer, Vol 1, p. 148
  24. a b Cooper (2008), p. 42
  25. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 43
  26. ^ Grove Online, section 3
  27. ^ Cooper (2008), pp. 47,54
  28. ^ Thayer, Vol 1, p. 161
  29. a b Cooper (2008), p. 53
  30. ^ Cross (1953), p. 59
  31. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 46
  32. a b Cooper (2008), p. 59
  33. ^ Lockwood (2005), p. 144
  34. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 56
  35. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 82
  36. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 90
  37. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 66
  38. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 58
  39. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 97
  40. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 80
  41. ^ Cooper (2008), pp. 98–103
  42. ^ Cooper (2008), pp. 112–127
  43. ^ Cooper (2008), pp. 112–115
  44. ^ Grove Online, section 5
  45. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 108
  46. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 120
  47. ^ White, Felix (1 April 1927). “Some Tributes to Beethoven in English Verse”. The Musical Times 68 (1010).
  48. ^ Ealy, George Thomas (Spring 1994). “Of Ear Trumpets and a Resonance Plate: Early Hearing Aids and Beethoven’s Hearing Perception”19th-Century Music 17(3): 262–273.doi:10.1525/ncm.1994.17.3.02a00050.
  49. ^ Solomon (2001)[page needed]
  50. ^ Clive, p. 239
  51. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 131
  52. ^ ‘Beethoven’s Heroic Phase’, The Musical Times, CX (1969), pp. 139-41
  53. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 148
  54. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 150
  55. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 185
  56. ^ Cooper (2008), pp. 146,168
  57. ^ Beethoven’s Immortal Beloved Letters
  58. ^ Oakley Beahrs, Virginia: The Immortal Beloved Riddle Reconsidered, Musical Times, Vol. 129, No. 1740 (Feb., 1988), pp. 64-70
  59. ^ Cooper (2008), pp. 194, 208–210. Cooper cites Solomon among other sources, and provides compelling evidence that it was neither Josephine Deym nor Marie Erdödy.
  60. a b Cooper (2008), p. 212
  61. ^ Cooper (2008), p. 254
  62. a b On 18 December 1818, The Landrechte, the Austrian court for the nobility, handed over the whole matter of guardianship to the Stadtmagistrat, the court for commoners ” It …. appears from the statement of Ludwig van Beethoven, as the accompanying copy of the court minutes of 11 December of this year shows, that he is unable to prove nobility: hence the matter of guardianship is transferred to an honorable magistrate” Landrechte of the Magisterial tribunal.
  63. ^ Cooper (2008), p 260
  64. a b Cooper (2008), p. 317
  65. a b Cooper (2008), p. 318
  66. a b Cooper (2008), p. 349
  67. ^ Mai, F.M. (1 October 2006). “Beethoven’s terminal illness and death”. J R Coll Physicians Edinb. 36(3): 258–263. PMID 17214130.
  68. ^ Meredith, William (Spring & Summer 2005). “The History of Beethoven’s Skull Fragments”.The Beethoven Journal 20 (1 & 2): 2–3. Retrieved 27 March 2009.[dead link]
  69. ^ Jahn, George (28 August 2007).“Pathologist: Doctor Killed Beethoven”. The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 December 2008.
  70. ^ Eisinger, Josef (1 January 2008). “The lead in Beethoven’s hair”.Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry 90: 1–5.
  71. ^ Lorenz, Michael (Winter 2007). “Commentary on Wawruch’s Report: Biographies of Andreas Wawruch and Johann Seibert, Schindler’s Responses to Wawruch’s Report, and Beethoven’s Medical Condition and Alcohol Consumption”. The Beethoven Journal (San Jose: The Ira Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies) 22 (2): 92–100.
  72. ^ Beethoven bipolar?http://www.gazette.uottawa.ca/article_e_1529.html
  73. ^ Cold Case in Vienna: Who Killed Beethoven? — CBS News
  74. a b c d e Grove Online
  75. ^ Ludwig van Beethoven — Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon
  76. ^ “Festival de Cannes: Eroica”.festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  77. ^ Eroica at the Internet Movie Database
  78. ^ Eroica at the Internet Movie Database
  79. ^ Beethoven at the Internet Movie Database
  80. ^ Alessandra Comini, The Changing Image of Beethoven: A Study in Mythmaking

Sources

Further reading

  • Albrecht, Theodore, and Elaine Schwensen, “More Than Just Peanuts: Evidence for December 16 as Beethoven’s birthday.” The Beethoven Newsletter 3 (1988): 49, 60–63.
  • Bohle, Bruce, and Robert Sabin. The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians.London: J.M.Dent & Sons LTD, 1975. ISBN 0-460-04235-1.
  • Davies, Peter J. The Character of a Genius: Beethoven in Perspective. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002. ISBN 0-313-31913-8.
  • Davies, Peter J. Beethoven in Person: His Deafness, Illnesses, and Death. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001. ISBN 0-313-31587-6.
  • DeNora, Tia. “Beethoven and the Construction of Genius: Musical Politics in Vienna, 1792–1803.” Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995. ISBN 0-520-21158-8.
  • Geck, Martin. Beethoven. Translated by Anthea Bell. London: Haus, 2003. ISBN 1-904341-03-9 (h), ISBN 1-904341-00-4 (p).
  • Hatten, Robert S (1994). Musical Meaning in Beethoven. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-32742-3.
  • Kornyei, Alexius. Beethoven in Martonvasar. Verlag, 1960. OCLC Number: 27056305
  • Kropfinger, Klaus. Beethoven. Verlage Bärenreiter/Metzler, 2001. ISBN 3-7618-1621-9.
  • Martin, Russell. Beethoven’s Hair. New York: Broadway Books, 2000. ISBN 978-0-7679-0350-9
  • Meredith, William (2005). “The History of Beethoven’s Skull Fragments”. The Beethoven Journal 20: 3–46.
  • Morris, EdmundBeethoven: The Universal Composer. New York: Atlas Books / HarperCollins, 2005. ISBN 0-06-075974-7.
  • Rosen, CharlesThe Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. (Expanded ed.) New York: W. W. Norton, 1998. ISBN 0-393-04020-8 (hc); ISBN 0-393-31712-9 (pb).
  • Solomon, Maynard. Late Beethoven: Music, Thought, Imagination. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. ISBN 0-520-23746-3.
  • Thayer, A. W., rev and ed. Elliot Forbes. Thayer’s Life of Beethoven. (2 vols.) Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09103-X
  • Sullivan, J. W. N.Beethoven: His Spiritual Development New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927

External links

  • Beethoven-Haus Bonn. Official website of Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, Germany. Links to extensive studio and digital archive, library holdings, the Beethoven-Haus Museum (including “internet exhibitions” and “virtual visits”), theBeethoven-Archiv research center, and information on Beethoven publications of interest to the specialist and general reader. Extensive collection of Beethoven’s compositions and written documents, with sound samples and a digital reconstruction of his last house in Vienna.
  • The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven StudiesThe Beethoven Gateway (San José State University)

Digitised, scanned material (books, sheetmusic)

Sheetmusic (scores)

Historical recordings

General reference

Specific topics

 

• • • • •

26/12/2010

Toque de classe na música brasileira

. artigo publicado em 25.12.2010

. . autor : Gilberto Mendes

. . . fonte : jornal O Estado de São Paulo

* * *

GILBERTO MENDES – O Estado de S.Paulo

Já escrevi sobre a surpresa que tive ao ouvir no cinema a bela inglesinha, que é Keira Knightly, numa cena no metrô de Londres, sob pesado bombardeio alemão durante a guerra, cantando deliciosamente o tema musical de Ódio no Coração, composto por Alfred Newman. Uma das músicas de minha vida! E agora minha querida amiga Tereza Vasquez me traz de presente um DVD com exatamente essa paradisíaca história dos mares do sul, comoção de minha juventude.

Oceânica, devoradora, uma história que me seduziu de maneira incomum: fiquei literalmente apaixonado pela Gene Tierney naquele papel de uma adorável nativa de olhos claros, cor do céu. Coisas que só pode entender gente ligada ao mar, a Conrad, Somerset Maughan, como somos eu, a amiga Tereza e um inesquecível companheiro de andanças musicais que já partiu para sua derradeira viagem. Sim, estou falando do compositor José Antonio Almeida Prado, nascido em Santos, “porto mítico, cidade de forte vanguardismo cosmopolita, que iria definir seu futuro universalismo estético”, conforme bem explica o escritor Flávio Amoreira. Onde ele viveu por um largo tempo, no feérico, trepidante Gonzaga, do saudoso Parque Balneário Hotel, e também do aristocrático solar da sua família, “paulistas de 400 anos”, renomados exportadores de café.

E um dia, quem me pergunta se poderia levar à minha casa certo jovem compositor que gostaria muito de conversar comigo? Sempre Tereza, no seu eterno elan de costurar ligações culturais. Já o conhecia de vista, e de nome, como um dos mais promissores alunos de Camargo Guarnieri. Nossa intimidade foi imediata, o que acontece com velhos marinheiros, apesar de eu ser vinte anos mais velho. Como ainda bem observa Flávio Amoreira, “unía-nos o sentimento atlântico do mundo, que nos torna brasileiros da costa, abertos a experimentos que nos chegam como exotismos flutuantes.”

Mar, belo mar selvagem de nossas praias solitárias, escreveu Vicente de Carvalho em uma de suas canções praieiras. Era o que nos irmanava, desde o começo de nossa amizade. Mas havia uma pedra em nosso caminho, diria outro poeta. Almeida Prado queria apresentar uma obra sua no Festival Música Nova. Expliquei pacientemente que teríamos o maior prazer, mas ele precisaria mudar a linha estética que vinha seguindo. A ansiedade sua era tal que ele mudou, rapidamente, compondo uma peça para violino e piano já dentro da linguagem musical que caracterizava nosso festival. Uma ruptura fatal que iria mudar fundamentalmente o que ele iria compor dali para a frente.

Muito gentilmente, Almeida Prado gostava de dizer que estudou comigo. Não é verdade, ele não precisava disso. Eu é que deveria ter estudado com ele, já que, na verdade, estudei pouco música, comecei tarde. Ainda componho de ouvido, muitas vezes. O que eu fiz foi colocar todos os meus livros, revistas e partituras à disposição dele. Além de conversarmos muito sobre música, o que muitas vezes funciona como verdadeiras aulas. E neste caso, eu também aprendi muito com ele.

Grande conversador, era delicioso seu humor, suas provocações, a finura com que compreendia a natureza musical de seus amigos. Tanto ele como eu tínhamos muita atração pelas citações, pelo kitsch musical cinematográfico. Uma vez ele me deu de presente um LP com as músicas do filme Rapsódia, grande sucesso de público, insistindo para que eu fizesse uma sonata para piano e violino citando, como temas, as obras tocadas no filme pelos dois intérpretes que disputavam o amor de Elizabeth Taylor, um deles Vitório Gassman. Achava que fazia o meu gênero. Fiquei devendo.

Como colegas, iríamos nos encontrar algumas vezes em festivais de música no exterior. Não me esqueço daquela viagem muito louca de Madri a Toledo, num velho carro encrencado do saudoso compositor português Jorge Peixinho. Depois eu ainda me encontraria com Almeida Prado em Paris, só para algumas caminhadas pelo Boulevard Saint-Germain des Près e un café crème avec croissant no Les deux magots. Num restaurante em Colônia, Alemanha, lembro-me bem da sua ansiedade, recém casado, para conseguir falar pelo telefone com sua admirável esposa, a mãe futura de suas igualmente admiráveis filhas.

Só nos resta agora olhar para cima, como experientes comandantes, e através das “Cartas Celestes” de nosso saudoso amigo, descobrir por sobre quais ondas sonoras ele vai navegando, vai temperando, à espera dos amigos …

GILBERTO MENDES É COMPOSITOR, CRIADOR DO FESTIVAL MÚSICA NOVA E AUTOR DE, ENTRE OUTRAS OBRAS, UMA ODISSEIA MUSICAL (EDUSP)

08/09/2010

Deutsche Welle : Berg : Concerto para violino

. publicado na Deutsche Welle

. . em : 01.05.2009

Alban Berg (1885-1935) compôs o Concerto para violino em seu último ano de vida e o dedicou “à memória de um anjo”, referindo-se a Manon Gropius, filha do arquiteto Walter Gropius e Alma Mahler. Trata-se possivelmente de sua obra mais popular, após a ópera Wozzeck.

Nele, o austríaco alia a avançada técnica dodecafônica, de seu mestre Arnold Schoenberg, à expressividade romântica e a um grande virtuosismo instrumental. Na tentativa de descrever a personalidade da homenageada, a obra inclui diversas citações, como ritmos de dança, uma melodia popular da Caríntia ou, ao final, o coral Es ist genug (Basta! Leva meu espírito, Senhor), de J.S. Bach.

Os dois movimentos são: Andante – Allegro; O violinista Christian Tetzlaff é o solista desta gravação ao vivo, ao lado da Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester.

01/09/2010

Artigo : Ensaio de orquestra

. artigo sobre o Ensaio da Orquestra Filarmônica de Berlim no festival de Salzburg, Áustria

* * *

Ensaio de orquestra

Estado acompanhou com exclusividade trabalho do maestro Simon Rattle com a Filarmônica de Berlim

31 de agosto de 2010 | 0h 00

João Luiz Sampaio / SALZBURG – O Estado de S.Paulo

Caos sonoro sobre o palco da Grande Sala do Festival na manhã de domingo. Pouco antes das dez horas, instrumentos são afinados, músicos conversam, riem alto, arrastam cadeiras. Não dão muita atenção ao inspetor que, na frente da orquestra, chega para avisar que o ensaio não contará com a solista, a soprano Karitta Mattila e, que portanto, apenas as demais peças serão repassadas. Mais barulho, brincadeiras, partituras sendo procuradas nas mochilas. Até que do canto do palco surge a figura discreta, de roupa toda preta, em contraste com a longa cabeleira branca. Partituras na mão, sobe no pódio. Feito o silêncio, anuncia, suavemente: “Schoenberg, por favor.”

A orquestra é a Filarmônica de Berlim e a figura à sua frente, o maestro inglês Simon Rattle, diretor do grupo, para muitos o melhor conjunto sinfônico do mundo, rivalizado apenas pelos filarmônicos de Viena. Encarregados do concerto de encerramento desta edição do festival, tocariam naquela noite um programa ambicioso: além das Quatro Últimas Canções de Strauss, três pilares da música do século 20: as Seis Pecas para Orquestra, de Schoenberg; as Cinco Pecas para Orquestra, de Alban Berg; e as Três Pecas para Orquestra, de Anton Webern.

Se há uma genealogia da música contemporânea, no topo da árvore, diz Rattle, devem estar estas peças, escritas antes dos anos 20. Ainda hoje soam revolucionárias. E Rattle, em um misto de alemão e inglês, pede à orquestra que esteja atenta a detalhes. “Mais vibrato nas cordas, especialmente vocês, violoncelos”, diz. Puxa o spalla de lado e corrige a articulação das cordas. “Ta, ta, ta, ra, ta, ta, ta. Se não for assim, vocês não vão dar conta de acompanhar os metais, simples assim. Eles são o modelo aqui.” Rattle parece trabalhar em especial a arquitetura sonora. Corrige os sopros, batendo com a batuta na estante. “Um, dois, três. Precisão aqui é fundamental, marquem as notas. Evitem essa diminuição de andamentos, senão cada um vai chegar no final em momentos diferentes. A essência está aqui.” Volta às cordas. “O desafio, para vocês, é justamente o contrário. O esboço de melodia aqui não pode estar tão evidente. Apenas insinuem uma atmosfera etérea. Como ondas – o movimento é perceptível, mas o que leva a ele não precisa ser mostrado.”

Silêncio ensurdecedor. Mais interessante que ver Rattle construindo a interpretação, passagem a passagem (“ensaio bom e difícil”, comenta um músico depois), é perceber a reação da orquestra a suas orientações. Na obra de Alban Berg, encasqueta com o andamento em determinada passagem. “De novo”, pede simplesmente. “Vocês sabem.” E o som que surge em seguida articula toda a orquestra em um todo orgânico, brilhante. Sim, eles sabem. E como.

Chegamos então à peça de Anton Webern, seis rápidos movimentos que mobilizam um enorme efetivo orquestral. A percussão explode em um caos sonoro… uma, duas, três vezes. Rattle interrompe a orquestra calmamente. Há um caminho a ser construído aqui, diz. “Esqueçam a música por um instante. E se perguntem: para que serve a pausa que vem logo em seguida? Ele fala baixo, não desvia o rosto um só instante da centena de instrumentistas da filarmônica. “Atenção à dinâmica. O que exatamente estamos construindo aqui? Não é música, é silêncio. Mais um estouro da percussão. “Ainda não. A questão é a seguinte. Depois da música, vem o silêncio. Mas este silêncio precisa ser ensurdecedor. Barulhento.” Rattle termina o ensaio assim, regendo o silêncio. “Obrigado”, diz; cumprimenta o spalla. E deixa o palco rapidamente.

INTERVALO

Shakespeare musical

Depois de intensa negociação,

o diretor artístico da edição do ano que vem do Festival,

Markus Hinterhäuser, fechou com o maestro Riccardo Muti a ópera que ele vai apresentar em Salzburg no ano que vem: será o Macbeth de Verdi.

Hinterhäuser garante que vai aproveitar o gancho para apresentar pela cidade outras obras musicais inspiradas na peça de Shakespeare.

Disco novo

A violinista americana Hillary Hahn aproveitou a passagem por Salzburg, onde tocou com a Sinfônica Jovem Gustav Mahler o concerto de Brahms, para apresentar seu novo disco, com o concerto para violino e orquestra de Tchaikovski, que chega às lojas no próximo mês.

Realeza do canto

Foi um italiano que se destacou no concerto da Orquestra Real de Amsterdã: o veterano baixo Ferruccio Furlanetto, que interpretou as Canções de Dança e Morte do russo Mussorgsky.

fonte :

O Estado de São Paulo

30/08/2010

Schoenberg : biografia e links

. textos e links sobre Schoenberg

. . sobre Schoenberg, em português, um bom livro é:  Segunda Escola Vienense, citado neste blog na página bibliografia em português

. . . o artigo abaixo foi extraído da Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia em inglês

. . . . para quem não lê inglês, acesse a tradução pelo google

. . . . . ou leia o artigo da wikipedia em português, muito resumido

* * *

Arnold Schoenberg (pronounced [ˈaːʁnɔlt ˈʃøːnbɛʁk]) (13 September 1874 – 13 July 1951) was an Austrian and later American composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School. He used the spelling Schönberg until after his move to the United States in 1934 (Steinberg 1995, 463), “in deference to American practice” (Foss 1951, 401), though one writer claims he made the change a year earlier (Ross 2007, 45).

Schoenberg’s approach, both in terms of harmony and development, is among the major landmarks of 20th century musical thought; at least three generations of composers in the European and American traditions have consciously extended his thinking or, in some cases, passionately reacted against it. During the rise of the Nazi party in Austria, his music was labeled, alongside jazz, as degenerate art.

Schoenberg was widely known early in his career for his success in simultaneously extending the traditionally opposed German Romantic traditions of both Brahms and Wagner. Later, his name would come to personify pioneering innovations in atonality that would become the most polemical feature of 20th-century art music. In the 1920s, Schoenberg developed the twelve-tone technique, a widely influential compositional method of manipulating an ordered series of all twelve notes in the chromatic scale. He also coined the term developing variation, and was the first modern composer to embrace ways of developing motifs without resorting to the dominance of a centralized melodic idea.

Schoenberg was also a painter, an important music theorist, and an influential teacher of composition; his students included Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Hanns Eisler, and later John Cage, Lou Harrison, Earl Kim, and many other prominent musicians. Many of Schoenberg’s practices, including the formalization of compositional method, and his habit of openly inviting audiences to think analytically, are echoed in avant-garde musical thought throughout the 20th century. His often polemical views of music history and aesthetics were crucial to many of the 20th century’s significant musicologists and critics, including Theodor Adorno, Charles Rosen, and Carl Dahlhaus.

Schoenberg’s archival legacy is collected at the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna.

Biography

Arnold Schoenberg was born into a lower middle class Jewish family in the Leopoldstadt district (in earlier times a Jewish ghetto) of Vienna, at “Obere Donaustraße 5”. Although his mother Pauline, a native of Prague, was a piano teacher (his father Samuel, a native of Bratislava, was a shopkeeper), Arnold was largely self-taught, taking only counterpoint lessons with the composer Alexander von Zemlinsky, who was to become his first brother-in-law (Beaumont 2000, 87). In his twenties, he lived by orchestrating operettas while composing works such as the string sextet Verklärte Nacht (“Transfigured Night”) in 1899. He later made an orchestral version of this, which has come to be one of his most popular pieces. Both Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler recognized Schoenberg’s significance as a composer; Strauss when he encountered Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, and Mahler after hearing several of Schoenberg’s early works. Strauss turned to a more conservative idiom in his own work after 1909 and at that point dismissed Schoenberg, but Mahler adopted Schoenberg as a protégé and continued to support him even after Schoenberg’s style reached a point which Mahler could no longer understand, and Mahler worried about who would look after him after his death. Schoenberg, who had initially despised and mocked Mahler’s music, was converted by the “thunderbolt” of Mahler’s Third Symphony, which he considered a work of genius, and afterwards “even spoke of Mahler as a saint” (Stuckenschmidt 1977, 103; Schoenberg 1975, 136). In 1898 he converted to Lutheranism. He would remain Lutheran until 1933.

The summer of 1908, during which his wife Mathilde left him for several months for a young Austrian painter, Richard Gerstl (who committed suicide after her return to her husband and children), marked a distinct change in Schoenberg’s work. It was during the absence of his wife that he composed “You lean against a silver-willow” (German: Du lehnest wider eine Silberweide), the thirteenth song in the cycle Das Buch der Hängenden Gärten, Op. 15, based on the collection of the same name by the German mystical poet Stefan George; this was the first composition without any reference at all to a key (Stuckenschmidt 1977, 96). Also in this year he completed one of his most revolutionary compositions, the String Quartet No. 2, whose first two movements, though chromatic in color, use traditional key signatures, yet whose final two movements, also settings of George, weaken the links with traditional tonality daringly (though both movements end on tonic chords, and the work is not yet fully non-tonal) and, breaking with previous string-quartet practice, incorporate a soprano vocal line.

During the summer of 1910, Schoenberg wrote his Harmonielehre (Theory of Harmony, Schoenberg 1922), which to this day remains one of the most influential music-theory books. From about 1911 Schönberg belonged to a circle of artists and intellectuals that included Lene Schneider-Kainer, Franz Werfel, Herwarth Walden and the latter’s wife, Else Lasker-Schüler.

Another of his most important works from this atonal or pantonal period is the highly influential Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21, of 1912, a novel cycle of expressionist songs set to a German translation of poems by the Belgian-French poet Albert Giraud. Utilizing the technique of Sprechstimme, or melodramatically spoken recitation, the work pairs a female vocalist with a small ensemble of 5 musicians. The ensemble, which is now commonly referred to as the Pierrot ensemble, consists of flute (doubling on piccolo), clarinet (doubling on bass clarinet), violin (doubling on viola), violoncello, speaker, and piano.

World War I brought a crisis in his development. Military service disrupted his life. He was never able to work uninterrupted or over a period of time, and as a result he left many unfinished works and undeveloped “beginnings”. So, at the age of 42 he found himself in the army. On one occasion, a superior officer demanded to know if he was “this notorious Schoenberg, then”; Schoenberg replied: “Beg to report, sir, yes. Nobody wanted to be, someone had to be, so I let it be me” (Schoenberg 1975, 104) (according to Norman Lebrecht (2001), this is a reference to Schoenberg’s apparent “destiny” as the “Emancipator of Dissonance”).

Later, Schoenberg was to develop the most influential version of the dodecaphonic (also known as twelve-tone) method of composition, which in French and English was given the alternative name serialism by René Leibowitz and Humphrey Searle in 1947. This technique was taken up by many of his students, who constituted the so-called Second Viennese School. They included Anton Webern, Alban Berg and Hanns Eisler, all of whom were profoundly influenced by Schoenberg. He published a number of books, ranging from his famous Harmonielehre (Theory of Harmony) to Fundamentals of Musical Composition (Schoenberg 1967), many of which are still in print and still used by musicians and developing composers.

Schoenberg viewed his development as a natural progression and he did not deprecate his earlier works when he ventured into serialism. In 1923 he wrote to the Swiss philanthropist Werner Reinhart: “For the present, it matters more to me if people understand my older works … They are the natural forerunners of my later works, and only those who understand and comprehend these will be able to gain an understanding of the later works that goes beyond a fashionable bare minimum. I do not attach so much importance to being a musical bogey-man as to being a natural continuer of properly-understood good old tradition!” (Stein 1987, 100; quoted in Strimple 2005, 22)

Following the 1924 death of composer Ferruccio Busoni, who had served as Director of a Master Class in Composition at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin, Schoenberg was appointed to this post the next year, but because of health reasons was unable to take up his post until 1926. Among his notable students during this period were the composers Roberto Gerhard, Nikos Skalkottas, and Josef Rufer. Schoenberg continued in his post until the election of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in 1933, when he was dismissed and forced into exile. He emigrated to Paris, where he is said to have acquired or formally reclaimed membership in the Jewish religion (Anon. 2002), and then to the United States. His first teaching position in the United States was at the Malkin Conservatory in Boston. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he taught at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles, both of which later named a music building on their respective campuses Schoenberg Hall (UCLA Department of Music [2008]; University of Southern California Thornton School of Music [2008]). He settled in Brentwood Park, where he befriended fellow composer (and tennis partner) George Gershwin and began teaching at University of California, Los Angeles, where he resided for the rest of his life. Composers Leonard Rosenman and George Tremblay studied with Schoenberg at this time.

During this final period he composed several notable works, including the difficult Violin Concerto, Op. 36 (1934/36), the Kol Nidre, Op. 39, for chorus and orchestra (1938), the Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, Op. 41 (1942), the haunting Piano Concerto, Op. 42 (1942), and his memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, A Survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46 (1947). He was unable to complete his opera Moses und Aron (1932/33), which was one of the first works of its genre to be written completely using dodecaphonic composition. In 1941, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. During this period, his notable students included John Cage, Lou Harrison, and H. Owen Reed.

Schoenberg experienced triskaidekaphobia (the fear of the number 13), which possibly began in 1908 with the composition of the thirteenth song of the song cycle Das Buch der Hängenden Gärten Op. 15 (Stuckenschmidt 1977, 96). Moses und Aron was originally spelled Moses und Aaron, but when he realised this contained 13 letters, he changed it. His superstitious nature may have triggered his death. According to friend Katia Mann, he feared he would die during a year that was a multiple of 13 (quoted in Lebrecht 1985, 294). He so dreaded his sixty-fifth birthday in 1939 that a friend asked the composer and astrologer Dane Rudhyar to prepare Schoenberg’s horoscope. Rudhyar did this and told Schoenberg that the year was dangerous, but not fatal. But in 1950, on his seventy-sixth birthday, an astrologer wrote Schoenberg a note warning him that the year was a critical one: 7 + 6 = 13 (Nuria Schoenberg-Nono, quoted in Lebrecht 1985, 295). This stunned and depressed the composer, for up to that point he had only been wary of multiples of 13 and never considered adding the digits of his age. On Friday, 13 July 1951, Schoenberg stayed in bed—sick, anxious and depressed. In a letter to Schoenberg’s sister Ottilie, dated 4 August 1951, his wife, Gertrud, reported “About a quarter to twelve I looked at the clock and said to myself: another quarter of an hour and then the worst is over. Then the doctor called me. Arnold’s throat rattled twice, his heart gave a powerful beat and that was the end” (Stuckenschmidt 1977, 521). Gertrud Schoenberg reported the next day in a telegram to her sister-in-law Ottilie that Arnold died at 11:45pm (Stuckenschmidt 1977, 520).

Music

Works and ideas

Schoenberg’s significant compositions in the repertory of modern art music extend over a period of more than 50 years. Traditionally they are divided into three periods though this division is arguably arbitrary as the music in each of these periods is considerably varied. The idea that his twelve-tone period “represents a stylistically unified body of works is simply not supported by the musical evidence” (Haimo 1990, 4), and important musical characteristics—especially those related to motivic development—transcend these boundaries completely. The first of these periods, 1894–1907, is identified in the legacy of the high-Romantic composers of the late nineteenth century, as well as with “expressionist” movements in poetry and art. The second, 1908–1922, is typified by the abandonment of key centers, a move often described (though not by Schoenberg) as “free atonality”. The third, from 1923 onward, commences with Schoenberg’s invention of dodecaphonic, or “twelve-tone” compositional method. Schoenberg’s most well-known students Hans Eisler, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern, followed Schoenberg faithfully through each of these intellectual and aesthetic transitions, though not without considerable experimentation and variety of approach.

Beginning with songs and string quartets written around the turn of the century, Schoenberg’s concerns as a composer positioned him uniquely among his peers, in that his procedures exhibited characteristics of both Brahms and Wagner, who for most contemporary listeners, were considered polar opposites, representing mutually exclusive directions in the legacy of German music. Schoenberg’s Six Songs, Op. 3 (1899–1903), for example, exhibit a conservative clarity of tonality organization typical of Brahms and Mahler, reflecting an interest in balanced phrases and an undisturbed hierarchy of key relationships. However, the songs also explore unusually bold incidental chromaticism, and seem to aspire to a Wagnerian “representational” approach to motivic identity. The synthesis of these approaches reaches an apex in his Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 (1899), a programmatic work for string sextet that develops several distinctive “leitmotif”-like themes, each one eclipsing and subordinating the last. The only motivic elements that persist throughout the work are those that are perpetually dissolved, varied, and re-combined, in a technique, identified primarily in Brahms’s music, that Schoenberg called “developing variation”. Schoenberg’s procedures in the work are organized in two ways simultaneously; at once suggesting a Wagnerian narrative of motivic ideas, as well as a Brahmsian approach to motivic development and tonal cohesion.

Schoenberg’s music from 1908 onward experiments in a variety of ways with the absence of traditional keys or tonal centers. His first explicitly atonal piece was the second string quartet, Op. 10, with soprano. The last movement of this piece has no key signature, marking Schoenberg’s formal divorce from diatonic harmonies. Other important works of the era include his song cycle Das Buch der Hängenden Gärten, Op. 15 (1908–1909), his Five Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16 (1909), the disturbing Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 (1912), as well as his dramatic Erwartung, Op. 17 (1909). The urgency of musical constructions lacking in tonal centers, or traditional dissonance-consonance relationships, however, can be traced as far back as his Kammersymphonie, Op. 9 (1906), a work remarkable for its tonal development of whole-tone and quartal harmony, and its initiation of dynamic and unusual ensemble relationships, involving dramatic interruption and unpredictable instrumental allegiances; many of these features would typify the timbre-oriented chamber music aesthetic of the coming century.

In the early 1920s he worked at evolving a means of order which would enable his musical texture to become simpler and clearer, and this resulted in the “method of composing with twelve tones which are related only with one another” (Schoenberg 1984, 218), in which the twelve pitches of the octave (unrealized compositionally) are regarded as equal, and no one note or tonality is given the emphasis it occupied in classical harmony. He regarded it as the equivalent in music of Albert Einstein’s discoveries in physics, and Schoenberg announced it characteristically, during a walk with his friend Josef Rufer, when he said “I have made a discovery which will ensure the supremacy of German music for the next hundred years” (Stuckenschmidt 1977, 277). A number of works in this period include the Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31 (1928) piano pieces, opp. 33a & b (1931), and the Piano Concerto, Op. 42 (1942). Contrary to his reputation for strictness, Schoenberg’s use of the technique varied widely according to the demands of each individual composition. Thus the structure of his unfinished opera Moses und Aron is very much unlike that of his Fantasy for Violin and Piano, Op. 47 (1949).

Ten features of Schoenberg’s mature twelve-tone practice are characteristic, interdependent, and interactive (Haimo 1990, 41):

Hexachordal inversional combinatoriality

Aggregates

Linear set presentation

Partitioning

Isomorphic partitioning

Invariants

Hexachordal levels

Harmony, “consistent with and derived from the properties of the referential set”

Metre, established through “pitch-relational characteristics”

Multidimensional set presentations

Controversies and polemics

Understanding of Schoenberg’s twelve-tone work has been difficult to achieve owing in part to the “truly revolutionary nature” of his new system, misinformation disseminated by some early writers about the system’s “rules” and “exceptions” which bear “little relation to the most significant features of Schoenberg’s music”, the composer’s secretiveness, and the widespread unavailability of his sketches and manuscripts until the late 1970s. During his life he was “subjected to a range of criticism and abuse that is shocking even in hindsight” (Haimo 1990, 2–3).

After some understandable early difficulties, Schoenberg began to win public acceptance, with works such as the tone poem Pelleas und Melisande at a Berlin performance in 1907, and, especially, at the Vienna première of the Gurre-Lieder on 13 February 1913, which received an ovation that lasted a quarter of an hour and culminated with Schoenberg being presented with a laurel crown (Rosen 1996, 4; Stuckenschmidt 1977, 184). Much of his work, however, was not well received. His Chamber Symphony No. 1 in E major Op. 9, premièred unremarkably in 1907; when it was played again, however, in a 31 March 1913 concert which also included works by Alban Berg, Anton Webern and Alexander von Zemlinsky, thunderous applause contended with hisses and laughter during Webern’s Six Pieces, Op. 6; though Zemlinsky’s Four Maeterlinck Songs calmed the audience somewhat (according to a contemporary newspaper report), after Schoenberg’s Op. 9 “one could hear the shrill sound of door keys among the violent clapping, and in the second gallery the first fight of the evening began.” Later in the concert, during a performance of the Altenberg Lieder by Berg, fighting broke out after Schoenberg himself interrupted the performance to threaten removal by the police of any troublemakers (Stuckenschmidt 1977, 185). Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, which were to have concluded the concert, had to be canceled after a police officer was called in (Rosen 1996, 5). After this, Schoenberg’s music made a break from tonality.

The deteriorating relation between contemporary composers and the public led him to found the Society for Private Musical Performances (Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen in German) in Vienna in 1918. His aim was grandiose but scarcely selfish; he sought to provide a forum in which modern musical compositions could be carefully prepared and rehearsed, and properly performed under conditions protected from the dictates of fashion and pressures of commerce. From its inception through 1921, when it ended because of economic reasons, the Society presented 353 performances to paid members, sometimes at the rate of one per week, and during the first year and a half, Schoenberg did not allow any of his own works to be performed (Rosen 1975, 65). Instead, audiences at the Society’s concerts heard difficult contemporary compositions by Scriabin, Debussy, Mahler, Webern, Berg, Reger, and other leading figures of early 20th-century music (Rosen 1996, 66).

Schoenberg’s serial technique of composition with twelve notes became one of the most central and polemical issues among American and European musicians during the mid- to late-twentieth century. Beginning in the 1940s and continuing to the present day, composers such as Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luigi Nono and Milton Babbitt have extended Schoenberg’s legacy in increasingly radical directions. The major cities in the USA (e.g. Los Angeles, NYC, Boston) have also been hosts for historically significant performances of Schoenberg’s music, with advocates such as Babbitt in NYC and the Franco-American conductor-pianist, Jacques-Louis Monod; including the influence of Schoenberg’s own pupils, who have taught at major American schools (e.g. Leonard Stein at USC, UCLA and CalArts; Richard Hoffmann at Oberlin; Patricia Carpenter at Columbia; and Leon Kirchner and Earl Kim at Harvard). Others include performers associated with Schoenberg, who have had a profound influence upon contemporary music performance practice in the USA (e.g. Louis Krasner, Eugene Lehner and Rudolf Kolisch at the New England Conservatory of Music; Eduard Steuermann and Felix Galimir at the Juilliard School). In Europe, the work of Hans Keller, Luigi Rognoni, and René Leibowitz has had a measurable influence in spreading Schoenberg’s musical legacy outside of Germany and Austria.

Schoenberg was not fond of Igor Stravinsky, and in 1926 wrote a poem titled “Der neue Klassizismus” (in which he derogates Neoclassicism and obliquely refers to Stravinsky as “Der kleine Modernsky”), which he used as text for the third of his Drei Satiren, Op. 28 (H. C. Schonberg 1970, 503).

Quotations

Richard Strauss on Schoenberg, written by Schoenberg himself: “Dear Sir, I regret that I am unable to accept your invitation to write something for Richard Strauss’s fiftieth birthday. In a letter to Frau Mahler (in connection with Mahler Memorial Fund) Herr Strauss wrote about me as follows: “The only person who can help poor Schoenberg now is a psychiatrist …”. “I think he’d do better to shovel snow instead of scribbling on music-paper…”. (Schoenberg – letter to an unknown correspondent, Berlin, April 22, 1914) (Schoenberg 1964,[page needed]), in the German original: Mahler: “Dem armen Schönberg kann heute nur der Irrenarzt helfen. Ich glaube, er täte besser Schnee zu schaufeln, als Notenpapier zu bekritzeln.”[contradiction]

“Non, ce n’est pas de la musique… c’est du laboratoire” (Maurice Ravel) (Mahler 1960,[page needed]).

Extramusical interests

Schoenberg was also a painter of considerable ability, whose pictures were considered good enough to exhibit alongside those of Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky (Stuckenschmidt 1977, 142). He was also interested in Hopalong Cassidy films, which Paul Buhle and David Wagner (2002, v–vii) attribute to the films’ left-wing screenwriters—a rather odd claim in light of Schoenberg’s statement that he was a “bourgeois” turned monarchist (Stuckenschmidt 1977, 551–52).

Works

Complete list of compositions with opus numbers

2 Gesänge [2 Songs] for baritone, Op. 1 (1898)

4 Lieder [4 Songs], Op. 2 (1899)

6 Lieder [6 Songs], Op. 3 (1899/1903)

Verklärte Nacht [Transfigured night], Op. 4 (1899)

Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5 (1902/03)

8 Lieder [8 Songs] for soprano, Op. 6 (1903/05)

String Quartet no. 1, D minor, Op. 7 (1904/05)

6 Lieder [6 Songs] with orchestra, Op. 8 (1903/05)

Kammersymphonie [Chamber symphony] no. 1, E major, Op. 9 (1906)

String Quartet no. 2, F-sharp minor (with Soprano), Op. 10 (1907/08)

Drei Klavierstücke, Op. 11 (1909)

2 Balladen [2 Ballads], Op. 12 (1906)

Friede auf Erden [Peace on earth], Op. 13 (1907)

2 Lieder [2 Songs], Op. 14 (1907/08)

15 Gedichte aus Das Buch der hängenden Gärten [15 Poems from The book of the hanging gardens] by Stefan George, Op. 15 (1908/09)

Fünf Orchesterstücke [5 Pieces for Orchestra], Op. 16 (1909)

Erwartung [Expectation], monodrama in one act, [for soprano and orchestra], Op. 17 (1909)

Die glückliche Hand [The lucky hand], drama with music, for voices and orchestra, Op. 18 (1910/13)

Sechs Kleine Klavierstücke [6 Little piano pieces], Op. 19 (1911)

Herzgewächse [Foliage of the heart] for Soprano, Op. 20 (1911)

Pierrot lunaire, Op. 21 (1912)

4 Lieder [4 Songs] for Voice and Orchestra, Op. 22 (1913/16)

5 Stücke [5 Pieces] for Piano, Op. 23 (1920/23)

Serenade, Op. 24 (1920/23)

Suite for Piano, Op. 25 (1921/23)

Wind Quintet, Op. 26 (1924)

4 Stücke [4 Pieces], Op. 27 (1925)

3 Satiren [3 Satires], Op. 28 (1925/26)

Suite, Op. 29 (1925)

String Quartet no. 3, Op. 30 (1927)

Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31 (1926/28)

Von heute auf morgen [From today to tomorrow] opera in one act, Op. 32 (1928)

2 Stücke [2 Pieces] for Piano, Op. 33a (1928) & 33b (1931)

Begleitmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene [Accompanying music to a film scene], Op. 34 (1930)

6 Stücke [6 Pieces] for Male Chorus, Op. 35 (1930)

Violin Concerto, Op. 36 (1934/36)

String Quartet No. 4, Op. 37 (1936)

Kammersymphonie [Chamber symphony] no. 2, E-flat minor, Op. 38 (1906/39)

Kol nidre for Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 39 (1938)

Variations on a recitative for Organ, Op. 40 (1941)

Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte for Voice, Piano and String Quartet, Op. 41 (1942)

Piano Concerto, Op. 42 (1942)

Theme and variations for Band, Op. 43a (1943)

Theme and variations for Orchestra, Op. 43b (1943)

Prelude to Genesis Suite for Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 44 (1945)

String Trio, Op. 45 (1946)

A Survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46 (1947)

Phantasy for Violin and Piano, Op. 47 (1949)

3 Songs, Op. 48 (1933)

3 Folksongs, Op. 49 (1948)

Dreimal tausend Jahre [Three times a thousand years], Op. 50a (1949)

Psalm 130 “De profundis”, Op. 50b (1950)

Modern psalm, Op. 50c (1950, unfinished)

[edit]Works by genre

Operas

Erwartung [Expectation], monodrama for soprano and orchestra, Op. 17 (1909)

Die glückliche Hand [The Lucky Hand], drama with music, for voices and orchestra, Op. 18 (1910–13)

Von heute auf morgen [From Today to Tomorrow], opera in one act, Op. 32 (1928–29)

Moses und Aron [Moses and Aaron], opera in three acts (1930–32, unfinished)

Orchestral

Fünf Orchesterstücke [5 Pieces for Orchestra], Op. 16 (1909)

Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31 (1926/28)

Suite, G major, for string orchestra (1934)

Theme and Variations, Op. 43b (1943)

Concertante

Cello Concerto “after Monn’s Concerto in D major for harpsichord” (1932/33)

Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra, “freely adapted from Handel’s Concerto grosso in B-flat major, Op. 6, no. 7” (1933)

Violin Concerto, Op. 36 (1934/36)

Piano Concerto, Op. 42 (1942)

Vocal/Choral Orchestral

6 Lieder [6 Songs] with orchestra, Op. 8 (1903/05)

Gurre-Lieder [Songs of Gurre] (1901/11)

4 Lieder [4 Songs] for Voice and Orchestra, Op. 22 (1913/16)

Kol nidre for Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 39 (1938)

Prelude to “Genesis” for Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 44 (1945)

A Survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46 (1947)

Band

Theme and Variations, Op. 43a (1943)

Chamber

String Quartet

Presto, in C major for String Quartet (1894(?))

String Quartet, in D major (1897)

Scherzo, in F major, and Trio in a minor for String Quartet, rejected from D major String Quartet (1897)

String Quartet No. 1, D minor, Op. 7 (1904/05)

String Quartet No. 2, F-sharp minor (with Soprano), Op. 10 (1907/08)

String Quartet No. 3, Op. 30 (1927)

String Quartet No. 4, Op. 37 (1936)

untitled work in D minor for Violin and Piano (unknown year)

Verklärte Nacht [Transfigured night] (string sextet), Op. 4 (1899)

Ein Stelldichein [A rendezvous] for Mixed Quintet (1905), fragment

Kammersymphonie [Chamber Symphony] No. 1, E major, Op. 9 (1906)

Die eiserne Brigade [The iron brigade] for Piano Quintet (1916)

Serenade, for seven players, Op. 24 (1920/23)

Weihnachtsmusik [Christmas music] for two Violins, Cello, Harmonium, and Piano (1921)

Wind Quintet, Op. 26 (1924)

Suite for Three clarinets (E-flat, B-flat, and Bass), Violin, Viola, Violoncello and Piano, Op. 29 (1925) (with ossia flute and bassoon parts substituting for E-flat and Bass clarinet)

Sonata for Violin and Piano (1927) (a 43-bar fragment)

Kammersymphonie [Chamber symphony] no. 2, E-flat minor, Op. 38 (1906/39)

Fanfare on motifs of Die Gurre-Lieder (11 Brass instruments and Percussion) (1945)

String Trio, Op. 45 (1946)

Phantasy for Violin and Piano, Op. 47 (1949)

Keyboard

Drei Klavierstücke [3 Pieces] (1894)

6 Stücke [6 Pieces] for 4 hands (1896)

Scherzo (Gesamtausgabe fragment 1) (ca. 1894)

Leicht, mit einiger Unruhe [Lightly with some restlessness], C-sharp minor (Gesamtausgabe fragment 2) (ca. 1900)

Langsam [Slowly], A-flat major (Gesamtausgabe fragment 3) (1900/01)

Wenig bewegt, sehr zart [Calmly, very gentle], B-flat major (Gesamtausgabe fragment 4) (1905/06)

2 Stücke [2 Pieces] (Gesamtausgabe fragments 5a & 5b) (1909)

Drei Klavierstücke, Op. 11 (1909)

Stück [Piece] (Gesamtausgabe fragment 6) (1909)

Stück [Piece] (Gesamtausgabe fragment 7) (1909)

Stück [Piece] (Gesamtausgabe fragment 8) (ca. 1910)

Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19 (1911)

Mäßig, aber sehr ausdrucksvoll [Measured, but very expressive] (Gesamtausgabe fragment 9) (March 1918)

Langsam [Slowly] (Gesamtausgabe fragment 10) (Summer 1920)

Stück [Piece] (Gesamtausgabe fragment 11) (Summer 1920)

Fünf Klavierstücke, Op. 23 (1923)

Langsame Halbe [Slow half-notes], B (Gesamtausgabe fragment 12) (1925)

Suite, Op. 25 (1925)

Klavierstück, Op. 33a (1929)

Klavierstück, Op. 33b (1931)

Quarter note = mm. 80 (Gesamtausgabe fragment 13) (February 1931)

Sehr rasch; Adagio [Very fast; Slowly] (Gesamtausgabe fragment 14) (July 1931)

Andante (Gesamtausgabe fragment 15) (10 October 1931)

Piece (Gesamtausgabe fragment 16) (after October 1933)

Moderato (Gesamtausgabe fragment 17) (April 1934?)

Organ Sonata (fragments) (1941)

Choral

Ei, du Lütte [Oh, you little one] (late 1890s)

Friede auf Erden [Peace on earth], Op. 13 (1907)

Die Jakobsleiter [Jacob’s ladder] (1917/22, unfinished)

3 Satiren [3 Satires], Op. 28 (1925/26)

3 Volksliedsätze [3 Folksong movements] (1929)

6 Stücke [6 Pieces] for Male Chorus, Op. 35 (1930)

3 Folksongs, Op. 49 (1948)

Dreimal tausend Jahre [Three times a thousand years], Op. 50a (1949)

Psalm 130 “De profundis”, Op. 50b (1950)

Modern psalm, Op. 50c (1950, unfinished)

Songs

Gedenken (Es steht sein Bild noch immer da) [Remembrance (His picture is still there)] (1893/1903?)

In hellen Träumen hab’ ich dich oft geschaut [In vivid dreams so oft you appeared to me] (1893)

12 erste Lieder [12 First songs] (1893/96)

Ein Schilflied (Drüben geht die Sonne scheiden) [A bulrush song (Yonder is the sun departing)] (1893)

Warum bist du aufgewacht [Why have you awakened] (1893/94)

Waldesnacht, du wunderkühle [Forest night, so wondrous cool] (1894/96)

Ecloge (Duftreich ist die Erde) [Eclogue (Fragrant is the earth)] (1896/97)

Mädchenfrühling (Aprilwind, alle Knospen) [Maiden’s spring (April wind, all abud)] (1897)

Mädchenlied (Sang ein Bettlerpärlein am Schenkentor) [Maiden’s song (A pair of beggars sang at the giving gate)] (1897/1900)

Mailied (Zwischen Weizen und Korn) [May song (Between wheat and grain)]

Nicht doch! (Mädel, lass das Stricken) [But no! (Girl, stop knitting)] (1897)

2 Gesänge [2 Songs] for baritone, Op. 1 (1898)

4 Lieder [4 Songs], Op. 2 (1899)

6 Lieder [6 Songs], Op. 3 (1899/1903)

Die Beiden (Sie trug den Becher in der Hand) [The two (She carried the goblet in her hand)] (1899)

Mannesbangen (Du musst nicht meinen) [Men’s worries (You should not…)] (1899)

Gruss in die Ferne (Dunkelnd über den See) [Hail from afar (Darkened over the sea)] (August 1900)

8 Brettllieder [8 Cabaret songs] (1901)

Deinem Blick mich zu bequemen [To submit to your sweet glance] (1903)

8 Lieder [8 Songs] for soprano, Op. 6 (1903/05)

2 Balladen [2 Ballads], Op. 12 (1906)

2 Lieder [2 Songs], Op. 14 (1907/08)

15 Gedichte aus Das Buch der hängenden Gärten [15 Poems from The book of the hanging gardens] by Stefan George, Op. 15 (1908/09)

Am Strande [At the seashore] (1909)

Herzgewächse [Foliage of the heart] for High Soprano (with harp, celesta & harmonium) Op. 20 (1911)

Pierrot lunaire, Op. 21 (1912) (reciter with 5 instruments)

Petrarch-Sonnet from Serenade, Op. 24 (1920/23) (bass with 7 instruments)

4 Deutsche Volkslieder [4 German folksongs] (1929)

Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte for Voice, Piano and String Quartet, Op. 41 (1942)

3 Songs, Op. 48 (1933)

Canons

O daß der Sinnen doch so viele sind! [Oh, the senses are too numerous!] (Bärenreiter I) (April? 1905) (4 voices)

Wenn der schwer Gedrückte klagt [When the sore oppressed complains] (Bärenreiter II) (April? 1905) (4 voices)

Wer mit der Welt laufen will [He who wants to run with the world] (for David Bach) (Bärenreiter XXI) (March 1926; July 1934) (3 voices)

Canon (Bärenreiter IV) (April 1926) (4 voices)

Von meinen Steinen [From my stones] (for Erwin Stein) (Bärenreiter V) (December 1926) (4 voices)

Arnold Schönberg beglückwünschst herzlichst Concert Gebouw [Arnold Schoenberg congratulates the Concert Gebouw affectionately] (Bärenreiter VI) (March 1928) (5 voices)

Mirror canon with two free middle voices, A major (Bärenreiter VIII) (April 1931) (4 voices)

Jedem geht es so [No man can escape] (for Carl Engel) (Bärenreiter XIII) (April 1933; text 1943) (3 voices)

Mir auch ist es so ergangen [I, too, was not better off] (for Carl Engel) (Bärenreiter XIV) (April 1933; text 1943) (3 voices)

Perpetual canon, A minor (Bärenreiter XV) (1933) (4 voices)

Mirror canon, A minor (Bärenreiter XVI) (1933) (4 voices)

Es ist zu dumm [It is too dumb] (for Rudolph Ganz) (Bärenreiter XXII) (September 1934) (4 voices)

Man mag über Schönberg denken, wie man will [One might think about Schoenberg any way one wants to] (for Charlotte Dieterle) (Bärenreiter XXIII) (1935) (4 voices)

Double canon (Bärenreiter XXV) (1938) (4 voices)

Mr. Saunders I owe you thanks (for Richard Drake Saunders) (Bärenreiter XXVI) (December 1939) (4 voices)

I am almost sure, when your nurse will change your diapers (for Artur Rodzinsky on the birth of his son Richard) (Bärenreiter XXVIII) (March 1945) (4 voices)

Canon for Thomas Mann on his 70th birthday (Bärenreiter XXIX) (June 1945) (2 violins, viola, violoncello)

Gravitationszentrum eigenen Sonnensystems [You are the center of gravity of your own solar system] (Bärenreiter XXX) (August 1949) (4 voices)

Transcriptions and arrangements

Bach: Chorale prelude Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele [Deck thyself, oh dear soul], BWV 654 (arr. 1922: orchestra)

Bach: Chorale prelude Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist [Come, God, Creator, Holy ghost], BWV 631 (arr. 1922: orchestra)

Bach: Prelude and fugue in E-flat major “St Anne”, BWV 552 (arr. 1928: orchestra)

Brahms: Piano quartet in G minor, Op. 25 (arr. 1937: orchestra)

Busoni: Berceuse élégiaque, Op. 42 (arr. 1920: flute, clarinet, string quintet, piano, harmonium)

Denza: Funiculì, Funiculà (arr. 1921: voice, clarinet, mandolin, guitar, violin, viola, violoncello)

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde [The Song of the Earth] (arr. Arnold Schoenberg & Anton Webern, 1921; completed by Rainer Riehn, 1983: soprano, flute & piccolo, oboe & English horn, clarinet, bassoon & contrabassoon, horn, harmonium, piano, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, double bass)

Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen [Songs of a Wayfarer] (arr. Arnold Schoenberg, 1920: voice, flute, clarinet, harmonium, piano, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, double bass, percussion)

Monn: Concerto for cello in G minor, transcribed and adapted from Monn’s Concerto for harpsichord (1932/33)

Reger: Eine romantische Suite [A Romantic Suite], Op. 125 (arr. Arnold Schoenberg & Rudolf Kolisch, 1919/1920: flute, clarinet, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, harmonium for 4 hands, piano for 4 hands)

Schubert: Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern Incidental music, D. 797 (arr. Arnold Schoenberg, 1903?: piano for 4 hands)

Schubert: Ständchen [Serenade], D. 889 (arr. Arnold Schoenberg (1921) (voice, clarinet, bassoon, mandolin, guitar, 2 violins, viola, violoncello))

Sioly: Weil i a alter Drahrer bin [For I’m a real old gadabout] (arr. 1921: clarinet, mandolin, guitar, violin, viola, violoncello)

Johann Strauss II: Kaiser-Walzer [Emperor Waltz], Op. 437 (arr. 1925: flute, clarinet, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, piano)

Johann Strauss II: Rosen aus dem Süden [Roses from the South], Op. 388 (arr. 1921: harmonium, piano, 2 violins, viola, violoncello)

Johann Strauss II: Lagunenwalzer [Lagoon Waltz], Op. 411 (arr. 1921: harmonium, piano, 2 violins, viola, violoncello)

Quotations

“My music is not modern, it is merely badly played.”

“My works are 12-tone compositions, not 12-tone compositions” (Stuckenschmidt 1977, 349).

“I was never revolutionary. The only revolutionary in our time was Strauss!” (Schoenberg 1975, 137)

See also

Arnold Schönberg Prize

References

Adorno, Theodor. 1967. Prisms, translated from the German by Samuel and Shierry Weber London: Spearman; Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Anon. 2002. “Arnold Schönberg and His God”. Vienna: Arnold Schönberg Center.(Accessed 1 December 2008)

Beaumont, Antony. 2000. Zemlinsky. London: Faber. ISBN 057116983X Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801438035.

Buhle, Pal, and David Wagner. 2002. Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story Behind America’s Favorite Movies. New York: The New Press. ISBN 1565848195

Greissle-Schönberg, Arnold, and Nancy Bogen. [n.d.] Arnold Schönberg’s European Family (e-book). The Lark Ascending, Inc. (Accessed 2 May 2010)

Foss, Hubert. 1951. “Schoenberg, 1874–1951” Musical Times 92, no. 1 (September): 401–403.

Haimo, Ethan. 1990. Schoenberg’s Serial Odyssey: The Evolution of his Twelve-Tone Method, 1914–1928. Oxford [England]: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-3152-60-6.

Lebrecht, Norman. 1985. The Book of Musical Anecdotes. New York: Simon and Schuster; London: Sphere Books. ISBN 0029187109

Lebrecht, Norman. 2001. “Why We’re Still Afraid of Schoenberg”. The Lebrecht Weekly (July 8).

Mahler, Alma. 1960. Mein Leben, with a foreword by Willy Haas. Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer.

Rosen, Charles. 1975. Arnold Schoenberg. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 0670133167 (pbk) ISBN 0670019860 (cloth). Reprinted 1996, with a new preface. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226726436

Ross, Alex. 2007. And the Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, ISBN 9780374249397

Schonberg, Harold C. 1970. The Lives of the Great Composers. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0393021467 (Revised ed., New York: W. W. Norton, 1980. ISBN 0393013022 Third ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. ISBN 0393038572)

Schoenberg, Arnold. 1922. Harmonielehre, third edition. Vienna: Universal Edition. (Originally published 1911). Translation by Roy E. Carter, based on the third edition, as Theory of Harmony. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1978. ISBN 0-520-04945-4.

Schoenberg, Arnold. 1959. Structural Functions of Harmony. Translated by Leonard Stein. London: Williams and Norgate Revised edition, New York, London: W. W. Norton and Company 1969. ISBN 0-393-00478-3.

Schoenberg, Arnold. 1964. Arnold Schoenberg Letters, selected and edited by Erwin Stein, translated from the original German by Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser. London: Faber. Paperback reprint, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. ISBN 9780520060098.

Schoenberg, Arnold. 1967. Fundamentals of Musical Composition. Edited by Gerald Strang, with an introduction by Leonard Stein. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Reprinted 1985, London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0571092764

Schoenberg, Arnold. 1975. Style and Idea: Selected Writings of Arnold Schoenberg. Edited by Leonard Stein, with translations by Leo Black. New York: St. Martins Press; London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-520-05294-3. Expanded from the 1950 Philosophical Library (New York) publication edited by Dika Newlin. The volume carries the note “Several of the essays…were originally written in German (translated by Dika Newlin)” in both editions.

Schoenberg, Arnold. 1984. Style and Idea: Selected Writings, translated by Leo Black. Berkeley: California University Press.

Steinberg, Michael. 1995. The Symphony: A Listener’s Guide. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506177-2 (cloth) ISBN 0-19-512665-3 (pbk)

Strimple, Nick. 2005. Choral Music in the Twentieth Century. Portland, Oregon & Cambridge, UK: Amadeus. ISBN 1574671227

Stuckenschmidt, Hans Heinz. 1977. Schoenberg: His Life, World and Work. Translated from the German by Humphrey Searle. New York: Schirmer Books.

UCLA Department of Music. [2008]. “Facilities and Maintenance”. (Accessed 1 December 2008)

University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. [2008]. “Performance Halls and Studios”. (Accessed 1 December 2008)

Worldspace Radio. 2007. Maestro “Concert Hall Presentation”. 13 July 2007; Featured piece.[citation needed]

Further reading

Auner, Joseph. 1993. A Schoenberg Reader. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09540-6.

Brand, Julianne, Christopher Hailey, and Donald Harris (editors). 1987. The Berg-Schoenberg Correspondence: Selected Letters. New York, London: W. W. Norton and Company. ISBN 0-393-01919-5.

Byron, Avior. 2006. ‘The Test Pressings of Schoenberg Conducting Pierrot lunaire: Sprechstimme Reconsidered’, Music Theory Online, Volume 12, Number 1, February 2006. http://www.societymusictheory.org/mto/issues/mto.06.12.1/mto.06.12.1.byron_frames.html

Hyde, Martha M. 1982. Schoenberg’s Twelve-Tone Harmony: The Suite Op. 29 and the Compositional Sketches. Studies in Musicology, series edited by George Buelow. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press. ISBN 0-8357-1512-4 [Described as a “prominent study” by Haimo (1990,[page needed]).]

Schoenberg, Arnold. 1964. Preliminary Exercises in Counterpoint. Edited with a foreword by Leonard Stein. New York, St. Martin’s Press. Reprinted, Los Angeles: Belmont Music Publishers 2003.

Schoenberg, Arnold. 1979. Die Grundlagen der musikalischen Komposition. Ins Deutsche übertragen von Rudolf Kolisch; hrsg. von Rudolf Stephan. Vienna: Universal Edition (German translation of Fundamentals of Musical Composition).

Shawn, Allen. 2002. Arnold Schoenberg’s Journey. New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-10590-1.

Weiss, Adolph. 1932. “The Lyceum of Schonberg”, Modern Music 9, no. 3 (March-April): 99-107.

Recordings by Schoenberg

recordings at archive.org

Video and audio as part of musicology studies

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

links

. Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna

. . Belmont Music – The Works of Arnold Schoenberg

. . . List of Links (compiled by Schoenberg’s grandson Randol)

. . . . Arnold Schoenberg at Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music

. . . . . Free scores by Arnold Schoenberg in the International Music Score Library Project

. . . . . . (French) A biography of Arnold Schoenberg, from IRCAM’s website.

. . . . . . . Excerpts from sound archives of Schoenberg’s works.

. . . . . . . . The Test Pressings of Schoenberg Conducting Pierrot lunaire: Sprechstimme Reconsidered

ouça Schoenberg em mp3

Recording Phantasy, Op. 47 – Helen Kim, violin; Adam Bowles, piano Luna Nova New Music Ensemble

. . Recording Chamber Symphony, Op. 9 (1906) Webern transcription (1922–23) Luna Nova New Music Ensemble

videos

Video explaining the 12-note, atonal musical system

. . Schoenberg – Three Piano Pieces, No. 1 (com partitura)

. . . Schönberg, Suite op 25, Präludium

25/02/2010

Festival de Viena celebra 125 anos do compositor Alban Berg

. fonte : Deutsche Welle

CULTURA | 09.02.2010

Festival de Viena celebra 125 anos do compositor Alban Berg

Em 9 de fevereiro de 1885, nascia Alban Berg, que viria revolucionar – junto com Schönberg e Webern – a composição musical no século 20. O Wiener Festwochen deste ano é dedicado a este expoente do dodecafonismo.

Entre os nazistas, a música de Alban Berg era considerada “arte degenerada”. Apesar de o compositor austríaco ter morrido em 1935, dois anos após a ascensão de Hitler ao poder, suas obras foram proibidas no Terceiro Reich, bem como as de seu mestre e amigo Arnold Schönberg.

Hoje, a primeira ópera de Berg, Wozzeck, é considerada um marco da história da música e uma das obras musicais mais significativas do século 20. Ele é celebrado como grande renovador da música, ocupando um espaço garantido entre os grandes mestres da vanguarda moderna.

Junto com Schönberg e Anton Webern, ele formou a chamada Segunda Escola de Viena, um movimento de compositores na virada de século que revolucionou a forma de compor.

Adotado por Schönberg

Albano Maria Johannes Berg nasceu em 9 de fevereiro de 1885, em Viena, mais como filho da literatura do que da música. Aos 15 anos, ele começou a compor como autodidata, apesar de jamais ter tido uma formação musical.

Em 1904, o talento do jovem Berg chamou a atenção do compositor Arnold Schönberg, mentor da música dodecafônica. Este, dez anos mais velho que Berg, reconheceu nas composições do jovem “um calor esfuziante de sentimentos” e o aceitou – junto com Anton von Webern – como aluno particular.

A influência do amigo paternal marcou Berg profundamente. Ele estudou seis anos com Schönberg. A amizade de ambos, no entanto, duraria a vida inteira.

Wozzeck: mundo em desintegração

A ópera Wozzeck, em três atos, foi composta em 1914, após Berg ter visto o fragmento dramático de Georg Büchner, Woyzeck, em Viena. Esse drama mostra o destino de um homem que se torna assassino de sua amante e, ao mesmo tempo, vítima. “Não é apenas o destino dessa pobre pessoa atormentada e usada por todo mundo que me é tão próximo; o que me atrai também é a atmosfera inusitada de cada cena”, escreveu Berg na época.

O compositor reconhecia na peça “a catástrofe exemplar do homem decadente em um mundo em plena desintegração”, segundo assinala o programa do Wiener Festwochen 2010, o festival vienense que na edição deste ano é dedicado ao gênio musical Alban Berg.

A repercussão da obra foi “como um grito de revolta e desespero”. Estreada em 1925, Wozzeck é a primeira ópera em composição integralmente atonal.

Lulu: obra inacabada sobre a beleza feminina

Outra obra-prima de Berg é a ópera Lulu, baseada na tragédia de duas partes de Frank Wedekind Erdgeist (O Gnomo) e Die Büchse der Pandora (A Caixa de Pandora). Nessa obra, ele se utiliza do sistema de composição atonal composto de 12 sons, criando a primeira ópera dodecafônica da história da música.

Com essa tragédia em torno da decadência de uma mulher de extrema beleza, Berg se remete a figuras femininas lendárias, de Isolda a Salomé, e às fantasias eróticas masculinas do fin de siècle.

No entanto, Lulu não chegou a ser composta até o fim. Alban Berg morreu antes de finalizá-la, no Natal de 1935, vítima de septicemia. A obra foi encerrada por Friedrich Cerha.

Concerto para Violino: “recordação de um anjo”

Famoso também é seu Concerto para Violino, de 1935. Nesse trabalho feito sob encomenda, Berg fez uma homenagem a Manon Gropius, filha de Alma Mahler-Werfel e do arquiteto Walter Gropius, falecida aos 18 anos em decorrência de paralisia infantil. Esse concerto, com o subtítulo “Recordação de um anjo”, é considerado até hoje uma perfeita síntese de tradição e dodecafonismo.

“Assim como naquela época, hoje a linguagem e a estética musicais de Alban Berg continuam tendo grande atualidade”, consta do programa do Wiener Festwochen, a ser realizado de 14 de maio a 20 de junho próximo na capital austríaca.

Durante esse festival, que marca o 125º aniversário e os 75 anos da morte de Alban Berg, serão executadas as principais obras do compositor, bem como composições de seus mestres, contemporâneos e discípulos.

SL/dpa/ap

Revisão: Roselaine Wandscheer