15.2 - Beethoven and the Romantic Genius

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Del curso dictado por Yale University

Introduction to Classical Music

1447 calificaciones

Yale University

Introduction to Classical Music

1447 calificaciones

Using a simple and enjoyable teaching style, this course introduces the novice listener to the wonders of classical music, from Bach fugues to Mozart symphonies to Puccini operas.

De la lección

The Bridge From Classical to Romantic

If you could put a soundtrack to the French Revolution, it would surely contain music from Beethoven's "Heroic" period, during which, he “brought sound to symphonies.” We’ll see how Beethoven’s incorporation of new instruments, as well as, his creation of a large orchestra, made his symphonies much louder and "sonically vivid" than those of his predecessors. The point of focus here will be a comparison of the music of Beethoven's "Heroic" period, represented by his Symphony No. 5, with that of his "Late" period, epitomized by his famous Ode to Joy. We'll also consider Beethoven the man, as revealed through primary source accounts of his life at that time. They paint a picture of a disheveled, wild-looking Beethoven, who lived among filth and clutter and was consumed by his work. The ultimate question: in what ways might his life of isolation and his hearing disability affected the nature (style) of the great music he created?As we bid aufwiedersehen to Beethoven, we move on to full-blown musical Romanticism. Romantic music, and indeed all romantic art, was known for its idealistic views on love and nature. Occurring roughly from 1820 to 1900, musical Romanticism saw an evolution of musical style as well as a change of venue (place) for musical performance. In addition to the aristocracy and their royal palaces, a strong middle class arose in Europe during this period. With the music of the ever-lyrical Franz Schubert, we'll step into the parlor of an upper-middle class home, to experience his domestic chamber music and songs. We’ll finish off the module by asking the question: How do we use musical sound to communicate? A look at program music (instrumental music that uses musical gestures to tell a story) will help us figure this out. After a quick auditory review of the workings of program music (we'll follow Vivaldi on a spring day), we'll watch Hector Berlioz go to hell. More accurately, we’ll follow the sequence of musical gestures he employs to re-create a fantastical tale of pursuit, destruction, damnation. Having learned our lesson, we’ll end with a little fun as we try to match themes extracted from various symphonies to the mental images that the composer had in mind. Do you speak the language of program music fluently? Join us and find out!

15.1 - Mozart and Beethoven Compared8:51

15.2 - Beethoven and the Romantic Genius6:38

15.3 - Beethoven's Early Years7:30

15.4 - Growing Deafness and Disability6:17

15.5 - The "Moonlight" Sonata22:51

Conoce a los instructores

Craig Wright
Henry L & Lucy G Moses Professor of Music
Department of Music

[MUSIC]

This image of the disheveled, disorganized,

oblivious to the world around him Beethoven, the isolated genius,

was a concept created during the 19th century.

The classical period in music spans the 18th and 19th centuries,

and Beethoven spans the classical and romantic eras.

During the first decades of the 19th century,

the very notion of the genius as we think of him or her today comes into being.

Isolated, misunderstood, struggling, suffering for his art.

No artist or creator better represented or

personified this development then Beethoven.

Here is contemporary image of Beethoven composing imaginary or not.

But it doesn't seem to be a happy process.

On the contrary, it's wild and chaotic at least compared to the image

of the creating artist of the preceding century.

Namely, Beethoven's teacher, Haydn.

Here's Haydn, neat and tidy, working at a keyboard.

[MUSIC]

And so on.

And here's the image of Beethoven.

[MUSIC]

Again, I exaggerate, but this image of the spontaneous, disorganized Beethoven,

the notion of the wild creator crying in the wilderness, raging with and

against nature, well, that's part of the growing Romantic aesthetic.

As we see here in this very large canvas by the English painter John Martin.

The image of the isolated, struggling artist, poet, or

composer became a stereotype.

One fostered by Beethoven himself.

Now here is Beethoven as poet, Beethoven the bard.

Beethoven struggling against the forces of nature and against fate.

There was also, as we'll see in our next session, a tendency to

think of Beethoven as an unstable personality, a real oddball.

Part of this was occasion by an unsympathetic public

dealing with disability, Beethoven's growing deafness.

Here on the screen is an account of Beethoven during the performance of his

Ninth Symphony.

Beethoven is called a madman.

When Beethoven himself conducted, he stood in front of a conductor's stand and

threw himself back and forth like a madman.

At one point he stretched to his full height, then next he crouched down to

the floor and he flailed about with his hands and feet.

Well this notion of the slightly deranged but brilliant genius

arrives during the early 19th and

into the 20th century when it was created by figures

such as Mary Shelly as you can see here with Frankenstein and Victor Hugo with

the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Gaston Leroux with the Phantom of the Opera.

Well in many ways, it all began with Beethoven.

And here's an image of Beethoven as he looked at age 48.

Again, Beethoven somewhat tidied up here.

And look now, the genius of the 20th century.

Well it comes to resemble Beethoven.

Einstein aping Beethoven if you will.

Young Beethoven, as the years went by,

helped create this image of Beethoven the archetype of genius.

Indeed Beethoven himself promoted it,

this notion that we still have with us today of the artist as genius.

As we'll see from the following quotes embedded in a couple of slides here.

So this is one about how the artist suffers for his art.

Quote, the undersigned Beethoven, and this is Beethoven talking.

The undersigned Beethoven has been concerned not merely

with earning his daily bread, but rather, with his art.

With the ennoblement of taste, and the impulse of his genius, in order

to rise to greater heights searching for the ideal and for perfection.

Consequently he has had to sacrifice

his material gains to his music to his art to his muse.

The artist, again, who is something above the common herd,

who's cut from a cloth different from others, Beethoven certainly

held himself in very high esteem here in 1798 at the age of 28.

Nobody's had ever heard of Beethoven at this time.

He compares himself already to the famous von and

the equally famous Frederick Handel.

No lack of self confidence there.

1803 he refuses to play for the King of Prussia, a year or

two later he refused an invitation to play for the empress in Vienna.

He sent her a note back saying I'm busy today but I might stop by tomorrow.

1804, he says to Prince Carl Lichnowsky,

Prince, what you are you are by accident of birth.

What I am I am through myself.

There have been and still will be thousands of princes.

There's only one Beethoven.

But Beethoven didn't realize, I think, that he owed his talents and

his accomplishments to natural gifts.

Just like the Prince, to genetics.

Beethoven came from a long line of musicians.

He was just as much a product of his birth as was Prince Lichnowsky.

Beethoven was born with absolute pitch and exceptional musical memory.

He was a child prodigy in Bonn, Germany.

So let's go visit now Beethoven in Bonn in his youth.

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