The Eroica Symphony (Beethoven)

Title: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Opus 55 (Sinfonia Eroica, Heroic Symphony) 

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven

Composed in early 1804

Theater-an-der-Wein in Vienna

First Public Premiere on 7 April 1805 at the Theater-an-der-Wien in Vienna

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Opus 55 (also Italian Sinfonia Eroica, Heroic Symphony) is a structurally rigorous composition of great emotional depth, which marked the beginning of the creative middle-period of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven began composing the third symphony soon after Symphony No. 2 in D major, Opus 36.

It is clear that the performance was not as well accepted or understood as the composer would have liked. Even Beethoven’s pupil Ferdinand Ries was misled by the false horn entry halfway through the first movement and was reprimanded for saying that the player had come in wrongly. (Denis Matthew). Harold Schonberg tells us that, Musical Vienna was divided on the merits of the Eroica. Some called it Beethovens masterpiece. Others said that the work merely illustrated a striving for originality that did not come off.

History

Beethoven Symphony No 3
Autograph cover page

Originally the work was to be titled the Bonaparte Symphony (New Groves), as a tribute to Napoleon Bonaparte, the French Consul who had begun to radically reform Europe after conducting sweeping military campaigns across the continent. In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself emperor, a move which angered Beethoven. As legend has it, the composer ripped through the title page and later renamed the symphony the Eroica because he refused to dedicate one of his pieces to the man he now considered a tyrant. Nevertheless, he still allowed the published manuscript to carry the inscription, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man, despite dedicating the work to Lobkowitz. This has led historians and biographers to speculate on Beethovens feelings towards Napoleon ever since.

Music

Instrumental

• two flutes
• two oboes
• two clarinets in B-flat
• two bassoons
• three horns (the 1st in E-flat, C, and F; the 2nd in E-flat and C; and the 3rd in E-flat)
• two trumpets in E-flat and C
• timpani in E-flat and B-flat (in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th movements) and in C and G (in the 2nd movement)
• I & II Violins
• Violas
• Cellos
• Double Basses

Form

Four movements:

1. Allegro con brio
2. Marcia funebre: Adagio assai in C minor
3. Scherzo: Allegro vivace
4. Finale: Allegro molto

Allegro con brio

The first movement, in 3/4 time, is in sonata form. The movement opens with two large E-flat major chords, played by the whole orchestra, thus firmly establishing the tonality of the movement. The first theme is introduced by the cellos, and, by the fifth bar of the melody, a chromatic note (C♯) is introduced, thus establishing the harmonic tension of the composition. The melody is finished by the first violins, with a syncopated series of Gs (which forms a tritone with C♯ of the cellos). After the first theme is played, by the various instruments, the movement transits to a calmer, second theme that leads to the development section.

Like the rest of the movement, the development is characterised by remarkable harmonic and rhythmic tension, from dissonant chords and long passages of syncopated rhythm. Most remarkable, Beethoven introduces a new theme in the development section, thus breaking with the tradition of classical composition – that the development section works only with existing material.

Thematically, the development section leads back to the recapitulation; notably, the horns appear to come in early with the tonic melody, while the strings continue playing the dominant chord; and concludes in a long coda that reintroduces the new theme first presented in the development section; the first movement is between 12 and 18 minutes long.

Marcia Funebre – Adagio assai

The second movement is a funeral march in C minor with a trio in C major, and comprises multiple fugatos. Musically, the thematic solemnity of the second movement lends it use as a funeral march proper; the movement is between 14 and 18 minutes long.

Allegro vivace

The third movement is a lively scherzo that features hunting calls from the three horns.

Allegro molto

The fourth movement is a set of variations on a theme, which Beethoven had used in earlier compositions; as the finale of the ballet The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43 (1801); then as the theme of the Variations and Fugue for Piano in E♭ major, Op. 35 (1802), also called the Eroica Variations.

Beethoven Symphony No3 (Full Movement) Video:

Beethoven Symphony No3 (Full Score) pdf file:
http://petrucci.mus.auth.gr/imglnks/usimg/a/a6/IMSLP52766-PMLP02581-Beethoven_Werke_Breitkopf_Serie_1_No_3_Op_55.pdf