Beethoven's musical style - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Ludwig van Beethoven is universally viewed as one of the most influential figures in the history of classical music. Since his lifetime, when he was . He has been the subject of numerous biographies and monographs, and his music was the driving force behind the development of Schenkerian analysis. He is widely considered as among the most important composers, and along with Bach and Mozart, his music is the most frequently recorded. The works of his early period brought the Classical form to its highest expressive level, expanding in formal, structural, and harmonic terms the musical idiom developed by predecessors such as Mozart and Haydn. The works of his middle and late periods were even more forward- looking, appropriately being categorized in and contributing to the musical language and thinking of the Romantic era, directly inspiring other Romantic composers such as Fr. Lenz proposed that Beethoven's creative output be marked by three periods of distinct stylistic personality and he identified specific compositions as milestones for each period. In Lenz's work, the first period opens with Beethoven's Trio set, Opus 1 and culminates with the performances in 1. Septet. The second period spans the period from the publication of his Moonlight Sonata to the Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. The last period covers Beethoven's mature works to his death in 1. Although later scholars have called into question such a simplistic categorisation, the periodisation is still widely used. Extensive subsequent analytical consideration of Lenz's thesis has resulted in a slight revision of his original dates and broad consensus regarding Beethoven's three periods is as follows: a formative period that extends to 1. Generally, each period demonstrates characteristic stylistic evolutions in Beethoven's musical language and preoccupations as well as important developments in the composer's personal life. The Beethoven violin sonatas : history, criticism. Robert Anderson FASCINATING SUGGESTIONS. Violin Sonatas History, Criticism, Performance. The Beethoven violin sonatas history, criticism. His works from this period can be subdivided into two, based on the composer's residence. First, various juvenalia, written when the adolescent Beethoven was in residence in Bonn and heavily indebted to the works of contemporaries, especially Mozart and his teacher, Christian Gottlob Neefe. Amazon.com: The Beethoven Violin Sonatas: History, Criticism, Performance. This item: The Beethoven Violin Sonatas: History, Criticism, Performance by Lewis. These early efforts can be seen in a set of three piano sonatas and piano quartets (Wo. O 3. 6) that Beethoven wrote before 1. The Quartets, for instance, are each specifically modelled after three Violin sonatas Mozart published in 1. K 2. 96, 3. 79 and 3. Beethoven would later draw upon this familiarity in the composition of several of his own Violin Sonatas.
Some forty compositions from this period are extant, including ten early works written by the young adolescent Beethoven when he was being promoted as a child prodigy performer and published as a result of the efforts of his teacher. It has been suggested that Beethoven largely abandoned composition between 1. Some of this music was later published by Beethoven, or incorporated into later works. As such, they provide an important foundation for judging the later evolution of his style. In general, Beethoven's earliest compositions show his struggles to master the prevailing classical style, both in structural and idiomatic terms. Several works, including two he later published, show the incipient signs of his later individual style: twelve Lieder, several of which he published in 1. Opus 5. 2, his Wind Octet, later published as Opus 1. Variations, including one (Wo. O 4. 0) for violin and piano on Mozart's aria Se vuol ballare (later reworked in Vienna). Although these works largely conform to the formal conventions of the classical style, including a strict observance of form and, in the variations, the decorative filigree associated with the genre, they also show early signs of Beethoven's later tendency to more substantive treatment of thematic material. In 1. 79. 0, Beethoven was commissioned to write a funeral cantata (Wo. O 8. 7) on the death of the Austro- Hungarian Emperor, Joseph II, the first of his extant compositions written in C minor. A number of concert arias also date to this period including . Scholars generally regard these early efforts as bland and uninspired and have concluded that his first efforts at writing in the classical sonata style (with the exception of his Wind Octet) were poorly conceived. Gustav Nottebohm, for example, wrote of Beethoven's Dressler Variations (Wo. O 6. 3), . They are figural variations of the simplest kind. Gustav Mahler modified the orchestration of some of Beethoven's music. Needless to say, these efforts remain controversial. Above all, his works distinguish themselves from those of any prior composer through his creation of large, extended architectonic structures characterized by the extensive development of musical material, themes, and motifs, usually by means of . Although Haydn's later works often showed a greater fluidity between distant keys, Beethoven's innovation was the ability to rapidly establish a solidity in juxtaposing different keys and unexpected notes to join them. This expanded harmonic realm creates a sense of a vast musical and experiential space through which the music moves, and the development of musical material creates a sense of unfolding drama in this space. Beethoven helped to further unify the different movements in multi- movement works with the invention of the 'germ motive'. The germ motive, or 'germinal motif,' as it is sometimes called, is a motive that is used to create motives and themes throughout a whole work, without making it obvious that such a thing is being done. Thus, all the themes in a piece can be tied back to a single motive in the work. An early and famous example of this is his sonata 'Pathetique', where all of the subjects used in the first movement originate from a germinal idea derived from its opening bar. Similarly, the opening bars of his Eighth Symphony are used to derive motives to be used throughout the whole symphony. This device lends unity to a work or even a group of works (as some motives Beethoven used not only in one work, but in many works) without repeating material exactly or turning to canonic devices. In his Fifth Symphony Beethoven used the four- note motif (drawn from a late Haydn symphony) throughout the whole movement in different juxtapositions, marking the first important occurrence of cyclic form and giving a sense of a totally internal conflict to the piece. Bernstein attributed this to Beethoven's ever- increasing deafness, which presumably rendered him incapable of judging how much louder than another a given instrument might be playing at certain moments. Archived from the original on 2. May 2. 00. 9. Retrieved 9 July 2. Gustav Nottebohm, 'Beethovens Studien' (Leipzig & Winterthur), 1. Beethovens. ISBN 9. The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. London: Faber & Faber. Solomon, Maynard (1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Drabkin, William (2. In Lockwood, Lewis; Kroll, Mark. The Beethoven Violin Sonatas: History, Criticism, Performance. Champaign: University of Illinois Press. Kerman, Joseph; Alan Tyson. Retrieved 7 September 2. Lockwood, Lewis (2. Beethoven's Symphonies: An Artistic Vision. ISBN 9. 78- 0- 3.
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