Beethoven the europeanInternational Conference

Lucca, 27-29 March 2020

Centro Studi opera omnia Luigi BoCCherini

www.luigiboccherini.org

InternatIonal ConferenCe

Beethoven the european

Organized byCentro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini, Lucca

In collaboration withAd Parnassum. A Journal of Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Instrumental Music

Lucca, Complesso Monumentale di San Micheletto27-29 March 2020

Programme Committee:

Barry Cooper (University of Manchester)

roBerto IllIano (Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini)

WIllIam KInderman (University of California, Los Angeles)

malColm mIller (The Open University, UK)

fulvIa moraBIto (Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini)

massImIlIano sala (Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini)

ef

Keynote Speakers:

Barry Cooper (University of Manchester)

WIllIam KInderman (University of California, Los Angeles)

FRIDAY 27 MARCH

9.30-10.00 Welcome and Registration10.00-10.15 Opening• fulvIa moraBIto (Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini)• malColm mIller (The Open University, UK)

Room 1: 10.30-11.30 Keynote Speaker 1: • Barry Cooper (University of Manchester)

Performing Beethoven’s Vocal Music in the 21th Centuryef

11.30 Break Time

Room 1: 12.00-13.00 Keynote Speaker 2: • WIllIam KInderman (University of California, Los Angeles),

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as a Disputed Symbol of Community: From Thomas Mann’s «Doktor Faustus» to the Brexiteers of 2019

ef 13.00 Lunch

Room 1: 15.00-17.30 Relationship with France and England(Chair: Malcolm Miller, The Open University, UK)• frédérIC de la GrandvIlle (Université de Reims, CERHIC), «Qui êtes-vous, Monsieur

Beethowen?» Curiosità ed entusiasmo al Conservatorio di Parigi già nel 1804• temIna CadI sulumuna (The Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, Warsaw), Ludwig

van Beethoven and His Works in the French Press of the First Half of the 19th Century • davId HurWItz (Independent Scholar, Brooklyn, NY), Beethoven’s French Liturgical

Organ Music — No, Really• martIn KalteneCKer (Université de Paris 7), French Reception of Beethoven in the 1870s:

Heller, Gouvy, and Saint-Saëns• davId roWland (The Open University, UK), Further Light on Clementi’s 1807 Contract

with Beethoven

Room 2: 15.00-17.30 Reception across Europe: Italy and Spain (Chair: Roberto Illiano, Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini)• Benedetta saGlIettI (Independent Scholar, Turin), Le Sinfonie di Beethoven

all’Esposizione generale italiana di Torino del 1884 • luIGI Bellofatto (Independent Scholar, Milan), Le diverse edizioni delle musiche di

Beethoven stampate in Italia nel xix secolo

• CHIara sIntonI (Università di Pavia/Cremona – Università di Bologna), Ludwig van Beethoven and His Reception in Piano Methods of the First Half of the 19th Century

• maría enCIna CortIzo – ramón soBrIno (Universidad de Oviedo), Reception of Beethoven’s Symphonic Music in Spain during the Second Half of the 19th-Century

• José-IGnaCIo suárez (Universidad de Oviedo), Reception of Beethoven at the Beginning of the 20th Century in a Spanish Town: León, a Case Study

Room 1: 17.30-18.15: Book PresentationWIllIam KInderman, Beethoven: A Political Artist in Revolutionary Times, University of

Chicago Press, 2020

SATURDAY 28 MARCH

Room 1: 9.30-11.00 Politics and Ideology(Chair: William Kinderman, University of California, Los Angeles)• peter treGear – mICHael CHrIstoforIdIs (Melbourne Conservatorium of Music,

University of Melbourne), Beethoven, the Congress of Verona and the Concert of Europe in 1822/1823

• sanna IIttI (Independent Scholar, Helsinki), Patriotism and Islam in Beethoven’s «Die Ruinen von Athen», Op. 113, and «König Stephan», Op. 117

• BéatrICe CadrIn (Université de Montréal), The ‘Eroica’ Symphony: A Visiting Card with a Message

ef11.00 Break Time

11.30-13.00• marICa fIlomena Coppola (Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’), La mentalità della

Rivoluzione Francese nel Concerto per violino e orchestra Op. 61 di Ludwig van Beethoven• toBIas Hermans (Ghent University), Wandering Letters: Staging National Identity in

Beethoven’s Letters • davId B. dennIs (Loyola University Chicago), Beethoven’s 100th «Todestag» in 1927:

Ideological Battles over the Composer and his Music in Weimar Political Culture

Room 2: 9.30-11.00 Aesthetics and Stylistic Issues(Chair: Fulvia Morabito, Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini)• KIvIlCIm yIldIz (Istanbul Kültür Üniversity), Beethoven and Adorno: «Issues Surrounding

Adorno’s Methods of Describing Beethoven’s Late Style»

• lorenzo de donato (Università Statale di Milano), Heroism and Hereticism in Beethoven’s Aesthetics

• elIsa Grossato (Università di Verona), Presenza della cultura europea nella produzione beethoveniana

ef11.00 Break Time

11.30-13.00• anGelIKa motHs (Schola Cantorum Basiliensis / Universität Zürich), How the

Polonaise Became French• laura erel (Durham University), «From Today on I Will Take a New Path»: Real-time

Investigation of Beethoven’s Stylistic Transformation using Musical Puzzles• penG du (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL), The Whimsical Character

in Beethoven’s Piano Variations WoO 73

ef13.00 Lunch

Room 1: 15.00-16.30 Analyses (Chair: Barry Cooper, University of Manchester)• CHrIstIan speCK (Universität Koblenz-Landau), «Harmoniemusik» in the Dance

Movements of Beethoven’s Symphonies• ned KellenBerGer (Illinois College, Springfield), The Solo Part of Beethoven’s Violin

Concerto, Op. 61: A Reevaluation • BrIan Gaona (Independent Scholar, Naperville, IL), The Esoteric Background of the

String Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Opus 131

ef16.30 Break Time

17.00-18.30• malColm mIller (The Open University, UK), Beethoven’s Registral Structures and

Strategies of Transcendence in the Late Piano Sonatas• stefano menGozzI (University of Michigan), Beethoven’s Path to Moral Freedom: The

Representation of the Super-Sensuous in the ‘Pathétique’ Sonata• araBella pare (Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe), Beethoven as a Transnational

Composer: «Straßenmusik», «Verbunkos», and the Trio Op. 11 ‘Gassenhauer’

SUNDAY 29 MARCH

Room 1: 9.00-10.00 Dance (Chair: William Kinderman, University of California, Los Angeles)• eftyCHIa papanIKolaou (Bowling Green State University), Choreographing the Seventh

Symphony • stepHanIe sCHroedter (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg), Choreomusical

Translations – Beethoven in Dance

10.00-11.30Influence, Heritage and Myth • Imre KováCs (Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest), Bestowing the Beethovenian

Musical Heritage: Liszt. The «Weihekuss» Reconsidered• susan Cooper (Independent Scholar, Manchester), The Influence and Importance of

Horace for Beethoven and His Circle• luzIa aurora roCHa (CESEM /NOVA University, Lisbon), Beethoven in Private/

Public Art Collections – Enthusiasm, Hysteria and Fate of the ‘Beethoven Vase’

11.30-13.00 Beyond European Boundaries: America and Asia(Chair: Malcolm Miller, The Open University, UK)• alIson mInKus (Independent Scholar, Edmonton, AB, Canada), Revolutionary and

Master: Beethoven’s Reception and Reflection at the New York Philharmonic • marIta fornaro BordollI (Universidad de la República, Uruguay), Beethoven, Kleiber

and the Homeland Hero: Episodes of Their Reception in South America• maI KosHIKaKezaWa (Tokyo University of the Arts), Beethoven’s Piano Music in Japan

ef13.00 Lunch

Keynote Speakers

• Barry Cooper (University of Manchester) Performing Beethoven’s Vocal Music in the 21th CenturyBeethoven’s vocal music comprises a surprisingly large part of his output. Apart from

the Ninth Symphony there are two masses, a full-length opera, an oratorio, two singspiels, the Choral Fantasia, a few cantatas or short choral pieces, several multi-voice canons, about 70 songs, and no fewer than 179 folksong settings. Most of this output is rarely or never performed. This may be partly due to the common misconception, evident even in Beethoven’s day, that his vocal works are inferior to his instrumental ones. But these vocal works are neglected for a number of other reasons, which vary for different types of works. The singspiels, for example, are too ‘occasional’ to suit modern performance situations. The songs are all too easily overshadowed by Schubert’s. The folksong settings are regarded by Beethoven devotees as beneath him, while folksong enthusiasts regard them as too sophisticated. And the oratorio Christus am Oelberge seems to be generally dismissed, mainly by those who do not actually know it. When the works do receive performances, issues arise that require comment. How far should performers attempt to reproduce Beethoven’s intentions? Translations of verbal texts, though common in Beethoven’s day, are now generally avoided in performance. Transposition, however, is a major problem with the solo songs. Tone quality, too, is a thorny issue – in particular the use of continuous vibrato by solo singers. Ornament signs are routinely misunderstood by many performers, and Beethoven’s pedal marks in the songs and folksong settings are widely disregarded. Moreover, performers have long used editions that are less than wholly reliable, as shown by examples in An die ferne Geliebte and the two masses.

• William Kinderman (University of California, Los Angeles) Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as a Disputed Symbol of Community: From Thomas Mann’s «Doktor Faustus» to the Brexiteers of 2019Perhaps no other musical work has assumed so much prominence as an affirmative

cultural symbol as the choral finale of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. This ‘effigy of the ideal’ has played a role in diverse political contexts, from protests against the dictatorship in Chile in 1973 to those in Beijing in 1989, while the fall of the Berlin Wall was marked by performance of the symphony with the word ‘Freude’ replaced by ‘Freiheit’, ‘joy’ by ‘freedom’. Critique of this affirmative symbol has a long history as well, with one landmark being Adrian Leverkühn’s revocation of the Ninth in his culminating work, a despairing cantata on The Lamentation of Faust as described in Thomas Mann’s novel from 1947. More recently, certain performances juxtaposed Beethoven’s utopian choral finale with Arnold Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw. This presentation weighs the continuing worldwide cultural role of Beethoven’s most celebrated Schillerian ‘effigy of the ideal’ in his final symphony.

Contributors

Relationship with France and England• FrédériC de la Grandville (Université de Reims, CERHIC), «Qui êtes-vous,

Monsieur Beethowen?» Curiosità ed entusiasmo al Conservatorio di Parigi già nel 1804La musica di Beethoven fu conosciuta molto presto al Conservatorio di Parigi, sin

dagli anni 1800-1810. In seguito, la musicologia si concentrerà sulla Parigi del 1828, anno della nascita della Société des Concerts du Conservatoire; ma in realtà questa Società ha ampiamente beneficiato dell’esperienza acquisita durante i trent’anni precedenti. In tale contesto si pone il problema del ruolo strategico del violinista e direttore d’orchestra François Antoine Habeneck. Per indagare questo filone, possiamo seguire due piste: quella del pianoforte, con il Metodo del Conservatorio di Jean Louis Adam (1804), e quella degli Exercices des élèves, concerti degli allievi organizzati a partire dal 1802. Nella dinamica di una nascente pedagogia del pianoforte, verso il 1800, il Metodo del Conservatorio è intriso dei repertori passati e presenti. In tale contesto, perché scegliere la musica di Beethoven non ancora trentenne e così lontano dall’aura di successo che conoscerà in seguito? La comunicazione cercherà di illustrare tale precoce ricezione. Un altro ambito in cui esplorare l’‘uso pedagogico’ della musica in seno a un’istituzione musicale è rappresentato dal repertorio sinfonico scelto per l’orchestra giovanile. La maggior parte della programmazione è vocale (arie, terzetti e quartetti d’opera, cori di musica sacra e profana), ma la parte strumentale (sinfonie concertanti, concerti) non è certo trascurabile. In materia di sinfonie, accanto alla straodinaria ammirazione per quelle di Haydn, si apprezzano quelle di Mozart e si dedica uno spazio crescente a quelle di Beethoven (Opp. 21, 55 e 67), pubblicate tra il 1800 e il 1807. Ebbene, questa musica è conosciuta a Parigi e suonata dagli allievi del Conservatorio in una decina di concerti compresi tra febbraio 1807 e luglio 1814. A cosa si deve questa scelta? Quali sono i presupposti della precoce ricezione di musica considerata difficile? E che impatto avrà negli anni a venire? Le fonti di questa ricerca si trovono essenzialmente nella collezione dell’archivio del Conservatorio di Parigi, A.N.F. (AJ37 85, AJ37 86 AJ37 87), e in un decina di altri registri d’archivio della stessa collezione.

• temina Cadi Sulumuna (The Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, Warsaw), Ludwig van Beethoven and His Works in the French Press of the First Half of the 19th Century

The aim of the present paper is to evaluate the musicological studies on Beethoven and his works as seen by the Frenchmen of the first half of the 19th century in the French press of that period. It consists of four parts. In the first, the emphasis is placed on the figure of Beethoven himself, through considering the French articles devoted to his personality and life, especially those in which pertinent letters written by Beethoven or his contemporaries and relevant documents were cited. The second part is devoted to writings of the French journalists and music critics describing and judging the way Beethoven was treated by his compatriots during his lifetime and after his death. The third part focuses on Beethoven’s compositions, with five main issues (extensively raised by the French press in the early 19th century) being

examined: – How did the French music critics analyze Beethoven’s works? In what way did they try to explain the underlying ideas of Beethoven’s compositions? – Why, in France, were some of Beethoven’s works performed less frequently or not at all? And who, in the opinion of the then French journalists and music critics, was to blame for this? – What was the initial attitude of French composers, conductors, instrumentalists and music publishers to Beethoven’s works? In what ways did their attitude evolve? – What was the initial attitude of the French audience towards Beethoven’s works and how did it evolve? – What were the then French performers’ peculiarities in the execution of Beethoven’s works and how were they seen by French music critics? The last part of the paper is devoted to French figures of the musical milieu as well as French societies, institutions and cities that – in the eyes of the then French journalists and music critics – stood out for popularizing Beethoven’s music in that period.

• david hurWitz (Independent Scholar, Brooklyn, NY), Beethoven’s French Liturgical Organ Music — No, Really

In the mid 1860s celebrated French organist Edouard Batiste (1820-1875), a professor at the Conservatoire who presided over the organ at the church of St. Eustache, published twelve Beethoven transcriptions for liturgical use in five collections designated as his Opp. 30-33 and 35. These included organ arrangements of the slow movements of all nine symphonies, variously designated as «Offertoire», «Communion», «Élévation» and «Grande Sortie», a march from the incidental music to The Ruins of Athens, a fragment from the finale of the Fifth Symphony, and a «Grande Offertoire» on a theme from the ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata. The use of secular music as a source of entertainment, if not spiritual enlightenment, in connection with Catholic worship in France was nothing new, but the selection of repertoire here certainly was. In choosing to transcribe these particular works, and in dedicating Opp. 31-33 (the symphonic slow movement transcriptions) to the Beethoven-admiring composer, author and critic François-Joseph Fétis – whose disdain for what he regarded as the debased habits of French organists was well known – Batiste clearly sought to raise the standard of the music heard at Mass while acknowledging the existing tradition of borrowing themes of (sometimes very) secular origin. At the same time, these carefully chosen extracts brought Beethoven’s music to a new and diverse audience that might never have the opportunity to hear it in concert. They represent both a final flowing of the ‘Beethoven cult’ in France, and the beginning of the view of the German composer as a ‘universal’ figure of such importance as to earn him a place in European popular culture. As if this weren’t enough, Batiste’s detailed notes on registration and the adaptation of orchestral timbre to the large, new organs of his day provide helpful clues about contemporary performance practice in Beethoven and other symphonic music, evidence which is available from no other source in such a comprehensive way. This essay examines Batiste’s transcriptions in light of all of these factors, placing them in their historical context and exploring the cultural and aesthetic phenomena that they represent.

• martin KalteneCKer (Université de Paris 7), French Reception of Beethoven in the 1870s: Heller, Gouvy, and Saint-Saëns

The history of Beethoven’s reception in 19th-century France has mainly drawn on the influence of his music on composers such as Berlioz or Onslow, and on the statistics of

performances. This history must include moreover the activities of circles of amateurs dedicated to a Hausmusik including Beethoven’s chamber music. These activities are more difficult to trace, and one must rely in this case on private documents such as letters or diaries. In this paper I choose three works referring to Beethoven during the 1870s: Stephen Heller’s 33 Variations on a Theme of Beethoven Op. 130 (1871), Théodore Gouvy’s String Quintet in G-major Op. 55 (1872), and Camille Saint-Saëns’ Variations sur un thème de Beethoven for two pianos Op. 35 (1874). These composers expressed their views in their letters, unpublished in the case of Gouvy, who offers interesting insights in the circles of Parisian ‘Beethovenians’ during the 1860s and 70s. Analyzing how Beethovenian techniques and gestures are applied (or not) to Beethovenian materials in the three scores, I try to show how they not only pertain to a dialogue between composers – showing more or less ‘anxiety of influence’ – but also fit into a discourse about ‘musique sérieuse’, combining aesthetic ideas of the 18th century (such as ‘clarity’, or ‘grâce’) with the admiration for the Classical style. Saint-Saëns’ attempt to come to terms with Beethoven shows how, in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian war, Beethoven begins to be ‘universal’ and not exclusively ‘sérieux’ or ‘German’.

• david roWland (The Open University, UK), Further Light on Clementi’s 1807 Contract with Beethoven

In 1807 Beethoven and Clementi signed a contract in which it was agreed that several of Beethoven’s works would be published in London by Clementi & Co. The contract was the fruit of three years of negotiations between Beethoven, Breitkopf & Härtel and Clementi. But the scope of the contract must have been a disappointment to Clementi, since even before negotiations began in 1804 he had held ambitions to obtain far more manuscripts from Beethoven than the eight works listed in it. And in the weeks or months after the contract was signed Clementi must have secured the rights of more music by Beethoven, since a dozen of his works were published in London within six months of Clementi’s return to England in 1810, a figure that does not include three of the works agreed for publication in 1807. Although the 1807 contract is a significant document, there is evidence that it was drawn up quickly, without the help of lawyers, and that it represents a limited part of the negotiations that took place between Beethoven and Clementi in the years of the latter’s continental travels. This paper will re-evaluate the contract in the light of contemporary correspondence in order to illuminate further the relationship between the two musicians as well as Clementi’s prominent role in the early reception of Beethoven’s works in the United Kingdom.

Reception across Europe: Italy and Spain • Benedetta SaGlietti (Independent Scholar, Turin), Le Sinfonie di Beethoven

all’Esposizione generale italiana di Torino del 1884 La prima Esposizione generale italiana, tenutasi a Torino nel 1884, fu una delle più

ambiziose kermesse nazionali. Organizzata con precisione certosina e con un ingente stanziamento economico, presentava al pubblico i più disparati prodotti dell’ingegno umano, tra i quali anche la musica aveva il suo ruolo. Grazie ai lavori di Guido Pannain, di Giorgio Pestelli e di Aaron S. Allen, quest’ultimo focalizzato sulla recezione fino al 1860, è noto che a Torino, nella prima metà dell’Ottocento, l’iniziale diffusione della musica beethoveniana si

deve alle cure di Giovanni Battista Polledro (primo violino della Cappella Regia di Carlo Felice e poi direttore dell’Orchestra del Teatro Regio) e, in seguito, ai convegni musicali di Antonio Marchisio. Solo con l’istituzione dei Concerti Popolari (1872), lentamente, i movimenti delle Sinfonie beethoveniane si faranno largo tra i programmi. L’entrata trionfale di Beethoven nelle orecchie dei torinesi avvenne in modo definitivo solo nel 1884. Fine della presente ricerca è indagare come furono organizzati questi concerti e che ruolo ebbero nell’economia generale dell’Esposizione e quale sensazione fece l’ascolto pressoché completo delle Sinfonie di Beethoven nel Paese del melodramma. Inoltre: dove si tennero le esecuzioni? Chi fu chiamato a dirigere queste composizioni? Com’erano strutturati i programmi dei concerti? Quanti complessi presero parte a un’impresa che si profilava come estremamente ambiziosa per quel tempo? E, infine, in quale modo ne parlò la critica musicale coeva? Grazie alle fonti d’epoca (da asciutte, ma puntuali, critiche musicali a interi reportage mai oggetto di rilettura critica moderna) e a un ricco apparato iconografico, è possibile ricostruire l’intera emozionante stagione in cui Beethoven, l’europeo, divenne finalmente patrimonio dei torinesi e degli italiani.

• luiGi BelloFatto (Independent Scholar, Milan), The Different Editions of Beethoven’s Music Printed in Italy in the 19th Century

The years between the 1810s and 1830s mark the true beginning of the history of Beethoven’s reception in Italy: Milan was, along with Florence, one of the most active Italian centers, where Giovanni Ricordi and Giuseppe Lorenzi played an important role in publishing Beethoven works. In 1813, La Scala presented Salvatore Viganò’s ballet Prometeo, which included excerpts of Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43, some of which Ricordi published in piano arrangement later that year, making it the first known Italian edition of Beethoven’s music. Many other Beethoven excerpts were included in ballets of Viganò and Gioja, such as La Vestale, Didone, Gli Ussiti, La Vendetta di Venere, and Il Conte Essex, all performed at the Teatro alla Scala; most of them were then published in piano arrangements by Ricordi during the years 1815-1819, although the composer was not always acknowledged. Several early editions of Beethoven music were published in Italy, including an arrangement of Op. 101 for piano and violin published by Ricordi in 1820 as well as other small, easy compositions. During the years 1817-1820, Lorenzi in Florence published almost 20 works by Beethoven, including piano and violin sonatas, and trios. Ricordi published Beethoven’s Op. 85, Christ on the Mount of Olives, following its composition and premiere in Vienna in 1803, and its initial publication in Leipzig in 1811. In 1825 this became the first foreign edition of this work. Several published librettos of this oratorio confirm that it was widely performed. Italian biographical essays on Beethoven appear mostly in brief form during the 1830s-1840s. In 1855, Canti published a translation of Beethoven Studien (Beethoven Studies) where the prefatory material included a biography by Seyfried. The first Italian biography was written by Leopoldo Mastrigli and published in 1886.

• Chiara Sintoni (Università di Pavia/Cremona – Università di Bologna), Ludwig van Beethoven and His Reception in Piano Methods of the First Half of the 19th Century

Piano methods written between 18th and 19th century are documents which have a recognized historical and artistic value and an important place in the knowledge of the historical

development of the piano. The theoretical works – for instance by Jan Ladislav Dussek, Muzio Clementi, Louis Adam, Francesco Pollini, Johann Baptist Cramer, Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Friedrich Kalkbrenner, to mention only some of the most important authors – could initially be published simultaneously in several languages and countries and soon afterwards translated or republished in expanded editions, so that they can be considered as a sort of ‘works in progress’ about piano technique, organology, and piano performance. However, at a deeper look, they can also give an important contribution to our understanding of the reception of different composers of the time. Indeed, as far as Beethoven is concerned, piano methods represent evidence of the importance assigned to the composer in many fields. Just a few examples: a) Beethoven’s compositions are mentioned, quoted and analysed because of their recognized artistic and didactic value; b) Beethoven is considered by his contemporaries as one of the most authoritative figure of the piano ‘schools’ of the 18th and 19th century, among Clementi, Dussek, Cramer, Mozart, and so on, and c) Beethoven is considered the most representative figure of the so-called ‘romantic piano school’; d) Beethoven is considered to play an active role in cultural discussion of the time, as far as piano construction is concerned. In conclusion, moving from the analysis of the piano methods in their different languages and editions, the paper will demonstrate that these works are not only evidence of the relationships between composers, editors, piano constructors, pianists and the contemporary social and cultural changes but also an exceptional document about the reception of Beethoven in the artistic context in which he lived as a pianist and as one of the most important composers of all time.

• maría enCina Cortizo – ramón SoBrino (Universidad de Oviedo), Reception of Beethoven’s Symphonic Music in Spain during the Second Half of the 19th-Century

In this paper, we’ll propose to analyse the process of reception of Beethoven’s Symphonic music in Spain during the second half of the 19th century through three different aspects: 1) The presence of Beethoven as composer of Symphonic music in the hemerographic Spanish literature like newspapers and musical magazines before the arrival of his symphonic repertoire. 2) The performances of Beethoven’s Symphonic music in Madrid, between 1850 and 1901 by three orchestras: Sociedad Artístico-Musical de Socorros Mutuos, Sociedad de Conciertos de Madrid and Unión Artístico-Musical. The analysis of the concert seasons of these orchestras will allow the reconstruction of the process of arrival and reception of Beethoven’s symphonic music in Spain. 3) The critical reception of Beethoven’s Symphonic music by the journalist devoted to music criticism in the Spanish contemporary press. At the same time, we’ll reflect on the points of view of the composer and conductor Tomás Bretón about the Beethoven Symphonic Music during the compositional process of his Second Symphony, written during his musical training stay in Vienna, in 1883.

• JoSé-iGnaCio Suárez (Universidad de Oviedo), Reception of Beethoven at the Beginning of the 20th Century in a Spanish Town: León, a Case Study

León is a small city sited in the northwest of Spain. Its Philharmonic Society (1907) was born with the task of bringing classical music and outstanding performers within the reach of the Leon citizenry. It shared many characteristics with other analogous Spanish societies, so to

achieve its aim it became a founder member of the Union of Philharmonic Societies. The many advantageous conditions obtained from that alliance made it possible for the town to gain access to a large part of the classical-romantic repertoire, in which Beethoven played the most important role. Outstanding among the important groups who performed Beethoven’s works were the Madrid Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Enrique Fernández-Arbós, who played Beethoven’s main works. Moreover, some European prominent chamber ensembles were several times in Leon playing Beethoven, such as the Rosé Quartet (five times in a few years), the Chaigneaux Trio, the Sevcik Quintet, the Crickboom Trio, the London Quartet, the Zimmer Quartet or the Leipzig Gewandhaus Quartet. Likewise, personalities or soloists as prominent as Manuel de Falla, Harold Bauer, Arthur Rubinstein, Charles van Isterdael, Andrés Segovia, Joseph Szigeti, José Iturbi and Alfredo Casella were also performers of Beethoven’s works in the León Philharmonic Society. In my paper, I consider the functions of the Society, its distinctiveness compared with other similar Spanish organizations and, above all, the effect produced by Beethoven on the audience and on the music critics, who did not hesitate in esteeming him as the foremost composer in the history of music.

Politics and Ideology• peter treGear – miChael ChriStoForidiS (Melbourne Conservatorium of

Music, University of Melbourne), Beethoven, the Congress of Verona and the Concert of Europe in 1822/1823

Ludwig van Beethoven is commonly associated with the concerts organised as part of the Congress of Vienna (1814/1815) because of the music he composed for them (Gioachino Rossini is associated with the Congress of Verona in late 1822 for similar reasons). In Beethoven’s case his seemingly muted engagement with the issues raised at the latter Congress has been taken as one sign of his growing detachment from political activism in his later years, and the politics of Beethoven’s ‘late style’ more generally. This paper will argue, however, that the composer’s actions have to be viewed within the frame of increasing Austrian censorship, particularly in Vienna, after the Karlsbad decrees of 1819. In the weeks leading up to the Congress of Verona, Vienna had been abuzz with the revolutionary political situation in Southern Europe, most notably in relation to the uprisings in Greece, Spain and Italy, and the possible implications of these uprisings as a trigger for constitutional rule in the rest of Europe (especially in Austria and the German-speaking world). Evidence for Beethoven’s own support of the Greek War of Independence and Spain’s Liberal Triennium in the early 1820s can be found in his pointed adaptation and performance of earlier works, such as his music for Kotzebue’s Die Ruinen von Athen, which became Die Weihe des Hauses, and also his attempts further to reshape the work, and the 1822 restaging of Fidelio. Close reading of the reviews of these performances can help us shine some light through the gloom of censorship on not only Beethoven’s but also the wider Viennese public’s engagement with the political situation that the Congress of Verona was seeking to address, and how that might in turn have impacted the major work that Beethoven was composing at that time, his Ninth Symphony.

• Sanna iitti (Independent Scholar, Helsinki), Patriotism and Islam in Beethoven’s «Die Ruinen von Athen», Op. 113, and «König Stephan», Op. 117

My paper examines perceptions of patriotism and Islam in Ludwig van Beethoven’s incidental music for August von Kotzebue’s festival plays Die Ruinen von Athen and König Stephan,

oder Ungarns erster Wohltäter. I shall reveal that in Die Ruinen von Athen, Muslims’ religious practice is juxtaposed with the advancement of the ideal of art religion. Beethoven’s suite equalled philosophical discussion about the arts’ purpose, according to my contention. Aside from the fight against the Ottomans, the establishment of Christian religion is a central concern of König Stephan, oder Ungarns erster Wohltäter. Beethoven’s composition presents allusions to the baroque’s ecclesiastic music. His version of Hungarian music (all’Ongarese) is characteristically feminine as he narrates Gisela’s arrival to her wedding with Stephen. This lyrical number (No. 4) must have invited thought about Hungary’s political stance as Austria’s subordinated region. Beethoven’s incidental music aimed at enhancing the Hungarian people’s loyalty to Austria’s Emperor Francis I. Ottomans are portrayed as crude conquerors disrespectful of Occidental values in both Opp. 113 and 117. Both opuses imply Islam’s perilousness as a spirituality, whose manifestation harmed Western societies.

• BéatriCe Cadrin (Université de Montréal), The ‘Eroica’ Symphony: A Visiting Card with a Message

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the whole European sociopolitical landscape resonates with the upheavals of the French Revolution and its aftermath. Feeling threatened and wanting to quench the possibility of similar events in the German Holy Roman Empire, Emperor Franz II has sought to restrict the individual freedoms of his subjects and to forbid meetings of secret societies such as freemasonic lodges with his Kriminalpatent of 1795. Conversely, the number of adepts of the Aufklärung are growing among the aristocracy, adhering to values of increased individual freedom, religious tolerance and better opportunities for all. Such is the context in Vienna while Beethoven is composing his Third Symphony in 1803-1804. At the same time, feeling stifled by the conservative atmosphere in the imperial capital, the composer is elaborating plans to move to Paris. Solomon (1977) hypothesized that Beethoven perceived the work as his visiting card, a showcase of his composing abilities. Taking an approach akin to the political and ideological readings of certain passages from J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos developed by Marissen (1995), Dreyfus (1996) and McClary (1987), and benefitting from the lights of a Caplinian analysis, this presentation explores certain particularities of the symphony through the lens of an intended demonstration for the benefit of French ears. The elements thus brought forth point to the conclusion that, at the heart of this demonstration, the composer included ideological references, alluding to the motto of ‘liberté, égalité, fraternité’ adopted by the Revolutionaries, each element incorporated in a separate movement. The approach compiled from these elements offers a unified theory to explain aspects that have otherwise been considered separately, such as the presence of the funeral march and the use in the fourth movement of a theme recurring in other works from the same creative period.

• mariCa Filomena Coppola (Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’), La mentalità della Rivoluzione Francese nel Concerto per violino e orchestra Op. 61 di Ludwig van Beethoven

Durante l’epoca della Rivoluzione francese nelle piazze risuonavano le marce, i canti patriottici e gli inni eseguiti dalle orchestre militari, costituite da strumenti a fiato e percussione.

Le musiche di François-Joseph Gossec (1734-1829), direttore artistico dell’École de musique de la Garde nationale fondata nel 1792, ne sono un esempio. Il Concerto per violino e orchestra Op. 61 di Ludwig van Beethoven, composto nel 1806, si colloca nello stesso clima storico-culturale europeo delle musiche della Rivoluzione. In quegli anni lo stile dominante del concerto per violino era quello francese, dove l’espressione del solista prevaleva nei confronti dell’orchestra, come dimostrano le opere dei grandi maestri di scuola d’arco tra cui Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755-1824), Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766-1831) e Pierre Baillot (1771-1842). Ma l’Op. 61 di Beethoven si distacca parzialmente da questo modello, in quanto la voce del solista ha ruolo di primus inter pares : ciò rifletterebbe i tratti principali della mentalità europea a cavallo tra xvIII e xIx secolo. Nel Concerto fondamentale importanza è assegnata alle sezioni orchestrali dei fiati e delle percussioni, evocando indirettamente il ‘sound’ della Rivoluzione. Beethoven e Gossec, per quanto compositori di carattere e funzione differente, possono essere considerati esempi paralleli sullo stesso piano della storia culturale. Dal punto di vista filosofico, il motore della Rivoluzione va ricercato nel pensiero di autori come Montesquieu, Diderot e Rosseau, secondo cui l’individuo si rende partecipe di una volontà generale, finalizzata alla creazione di un corpo sociale unico, ‘morale e collettivo’. Il testo del Concerto per violino Op. 61 si dimostra a tutti gli effetti un documento storico-musicale della mentalità della sua epoca.

• toBiaS hermanS (Ghent University), Wandering Letters: Staging National Identity in Beethoven’s Letters

The move from Bonn to Vienna in 1792 constituted one of Beethoven’s last feats of international mobility. Beethoven extensively commented on the joys and hardships as a foreign national in his letters, making them the main source for us to explore his notions of national identity. With more than two thousand letters to his name, Beethoven was an incredible ‘Vielschreiber’. More than with other composers, his written documents have fixed his image for posterity. The recent editions of Beethoven’s letters and diaries have so far mainly given rise to studies about the composer’s aesthetic thought and social network. Still, the letters are hardly being studied as primary sources, although they offer a fascinating new understanding of Beethoven’s strategies of self-staging. This paper will therefore shed new light on Beethoven as a letter writer. Drawing on recent debates regarding ethos, performative identity and self-fashioning in literary studies, I will investigate how Beethoven stages a national identity. To that aim, I will raise the question how Beethoven uses his letters not only as a means of communication, but even more so as a medium of pragmatics. Closer textual analysis reveals that the letters exhibit a highly dynamic understanding of national belonging: Beethoven mounts textual configurations of a German, Austrian, yes even Flemish identity to serve distinct purposes and work to his advantage. Furthermore, as his health deteriorates, Beethoven increasingly uses the letters as virtual projections of his persona abroad. His inability to undertake ‘Kunstreisen’ (as he calls it in a letter to Goethe) throughout Europa prompts Beethoven to conceive of his epistles as wandering letters, intriguing instances of narrative personifications. As a result, this paper draws attention to fundamental writing strategies in Beethoven’s writings and wishes to contribute to a broadening of perspectives in Beethoven research.

• david B. denniS (Loyola University Chicago), Beethoven’s 100th «Todestag» in 1927: Ideological Battles over the Composer and his Music in Weimar Political Culture

The 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth is occurring at a time when European countries coexist in an atmosphere of relative cooperation in comparison to the violent conflicts of the preceding century. As a result, this Conference is able to consider the ways Beethoven has been perceived as a ‘European’ icon. However, this has not always been the case, because from Beethoven’s own lifetime until the end of the Cold War in 1990, to use the words of one observer, «Every political party, every confession counted him as one of their own; all of them fought tooth and nail to demonstrate that he belonged exclusively to their circle». Particularly in Germany, political leaders long interpreted Beethoven’s biography and compositions in ways that justified the ideologies they promoted and the actions they undertook. This process ranged across the political spectrum and included efforts to demonstrate that Beethoven was everything from a card-carrying communist to a fellow traveller of fascism. This paper will present the specific terms by which these battles raged over Beethoven’s political ‘meaning’ by concentrating on a most volatile stage in the 1927 observances of the 100th anniversary of his death. In the records of the centenary Todestag that took place during the Weimar Republic, we can see how ideologues projected their views onto Beethoven’s life and music, hoping to persuade others to interpret them similarly. All of these, including interpretations fashioned by the Communist and the Socialist Parties on the left, the German Democratic and Center Parties in the middle, the German Peoples’ and the German National Peoples’ Parties on the right, and the volkish and National Socialist parties on the extreme right, contained claims to the ‘precious legacy’ of Beethoven’s life and music. Reflecting upon the ideological strife that took place during the commemorations of the 100th death-day will contextualize the observations of Beethoven’s 250th birthday. This presentation will enable comparative appreciation for our present phase of interpreting Beethoven as a symbol of European and even global humanism while reminding or even warning that this is a historically contingent moment in Beethoven reception history that should be cherished.

Aesthetics and Stylistic Issues• KivilCim yildiz (Istanbul Kültür Üniversity), Beethoven and Adorno: «Issues

Surrounding Adorno’s Methods of Describing Beethoven’s Late Style»There are many complex issues concerning Adorno’s analysis of Beethoven’s late style

which present difficulties to understand. Adorno combines his analysis of Beethoven’s late style with his dialectic process of late-bourgeois philosophy. This paper will attempt to focus upon the problematic aspects of Adorno’s way of describing Beethoven’s late style. It will cover the analysis of some technical issues in the B-flat Major Quartet Op. 130, one of the late Beethoven quartets, and it will also examine to what extent this quartet can be regarded as consistent with Adorno’s negative dialectic process. Adorno examines the historical conditions of society; he uses musical analysis as a medium for reaching his philosophical conclusions. These conclusions appear interdisciplinary in character. He applies the terminology of philosophy, sociology and music in his discourses. In particular, it can be understood that he sees these technical languages, especially the language of music, as keywords in his philosophical viewpoint. Adorno describes his philosophical approaches in Beethoven’s personality, because for him Beethoven witnessed

two historical oppositions: on the one hand, the formulation of bourgeois self-confidence is the most important event in history and Beethoven represented this movement in his second period style. On the other hand, during Beethoven’s lifetime the bourgeois period experienced an important crisis and this crisis influenced Beethoven’s music. There was a serious problem within society and there are traces of this destructive aspect. The most important point for Adorno lies in Beethoven’s unconventional attitude. It is crucial to question how Beethoven represents an attitude against tradition in his late style. He does not admit the formal boundaries and he reveals his subjective power, as did Napoleon in his demonstration of his individual power against bourgeois society.

• lorenzo de donato (Università Statale di Milano), Heroism and Hereticism in Beethoven’s Aesthetics

The relationship of Ludwig van Beethoven within the context of Europe – and more generally an international one – poses the problem of the relationship of a genius in the history of musical composition with the topology of his audience. The word topology here is meant not only in the physical space but also the theoretical and philosophical spaces that his music is able to reach. Additionally, the word audience means not only the listeners but all those who have had the opportunity to deal in different aspects with Beethoven’s oeuvre. This topic also poses a problem that can be analysed from a sociological point of view on Music, referring here at the connections between musical art and the concept of Nation, as it has been theorized and criticized, among others, by Theodor W. Adorno. Keeping in mind the aesthetical-musicological perspective of Adorno, the idea of Beethoven’s internationality can be read as — similar to a middle path between Aesthetics and Sociology — his powerful artistic ability to summarize Particularity into Universality and therefore being capable to reach a wide public without borders. Is this possible, as Adorno thinks, because the spirit of Beethoven’s music and as a consequence of German music in general is Humanism, a cosmopolitan and supranational characteristic of the arts? And, more generally, is it because Beethoven’s music is able to translate the Finite into the Infinite? This would be one of the contrasted conclusions of the Philosophy of Music of Beethoven conceived by Adorno: interpreting the creative and compositional processes of Beethoven as similar to the dialectical and systematical approach of the philosophy of Hegel, considered the Idealistic philosopher for whom aspiration for the System is maximum (and whose influence was very strong on Adorno himself). Can Beethoven’s music be interpreted as a synthesis of Tradition and Betrayal in light of these reflections? In this vision, Tradition would be the heroic, epic, dramatic fury of his music, based on certain canons of proto-romantic Aesthetics. Betrayal would be its Hegelian elevation to a supranational, over-historical, universal system, able to reach the mind and the emotions of any kind of public in any historical moment.

• eliSa GroSSato (Università di Verona), Presenza della cultura europea nella produzione beethoveniana

L’afflato europeista di Beethoven è il risultato di un crogiuolo di aspetti: storici, culturali, letterari, filosofici, musicali e umani. Nel mio intervento limiterò l’indagine alle due matrici dell’europeismo beethoveniano che ritengo più significative cioè alla sfera culturale e a quella

musicale. In primo luogo vorrei mettere in luce quale rilievo acquisiscano in senso europeista le letture e le frequentazioni letterarie del compositore renano. Esse comprendevano oltre agli autori di area tedesca (come Klopstok, Wieland, Schiller, Goethe) anche scrittori del mondo classico come Omero, Euripide e Plutarco, Rousseau, i canti di Ossian, il teatro shakespeariano. In una lettera all’editore Breitkopf & Härtel del 1809 emerge l’atteggiamento del nostro nei riguardi della cultura letteraria da qualunque epoca o paese ella provenga e l’importanza che la penetrazione di tali testi rappresenta per l’artista. Certamente queste letture non modificarono il carattere del maestro di Bonn per sua natura difficile, indisciplinato e provato dalle sofferenze esistenziali, carattere che, comunque, sta alla base della sua grandezza compositiva. Tuttavia in certi casi tali testi diventano fonte di ispirazione per alcune composizioni: si pensi ad esempio all’esaltazione della mitologia classica nel balletto Le creature di Prometeo, all’Ouverture Coriolano (per il dramma di Collin), interamente dominata dalla contrapposizione agonismo eroico-tragico pathos, alle streghe shakespeariane nel visionario Largo assai del Trio Op. 70 n. 1, ‘degli spettri’. Ritengo però che l’europeismo beethoveniano (quello per intenderci, della Nona Sinfonia, della Missa solemnis o della Canzona di ringraziamento in modo lidio dal Quartetto Op. 132) vada anche ricercato in un ambito più strettamente musicale, cioè nell’apertura verso linguaggi diversi dai modelli del classicismo viennese, in modo particolare nella riscoperta del modalismo palestriniano o degli antichi modi greci. Operando così, Beethoven raggiunge uno stile che parla un linguaggio universale e al tempo stesso moderno, anticipatore, per alcuni versi, del Novecento.

• anGeliKa mothS (Schola Cantorum Basiliensis / Universität Zürich), How the Polonaise Became French

It nearly might be considered ironical that Beethoven dedicated his only Polonaise for piano (Op. 89) to the Russian Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna in the very year of the Congress of Vienna when Poland was reduced to the so-called ‘Congress Poland’ and became mostly Russian. Was he aware of this irony? Was this even a provocation on purpose or just an ingratiation to a potential financier to-be? The fact is that in the very year 1814 a young Polish violinist visited Vienna who for sure heard about Beethoven’s Polonaise as he became the composer and performer of the most virtuosic Rondos alla polacca: Karol Lipiński (1790-1861) – the today nearly unknown adversary of Paganini and Kapellmeister in L’viv – who also published the, at the time well-known, collection of polish songs, showing how much polacca is actually in the Polonaise. My presentation will raise the question as to how far Lipiński’s approaches can reach idiomatic levels, withstand theoretical investigations and to what extent he accepted the Polonaise (‘invented’ for instance by Beethoven) as becoming a ‘European’ genre rather than a national symbol. Especially in the Polonaises mélancholiques by Franz Xaver Mozart (1791-1844), which spent most of his life in Galicia, the influence of Beethoven’s Op. 89, who became a kind of ‘standard’, might have been less than – for instance – on Frédéric Chopin. And Beethoven might be considered therefore as an ‘interpreter’ from Polish to French.

• laura erel (Durham University), «From Today on I Will Take a New Path»: Real-time Investigation of Beethoven’s Stylistic Transformation using Musical Puzzles

The story behind Beethoven’s ‘new path’ is well-known, but is it truly perceived as unique among other Viennese styles of the time? If so, just how unorthodox was Beethoven

among his contemporaries? Can listeners recognise Beethoven’s idiosyncratic style as being different from Haydn and Mozart? It is of course impossible to investigate this question in a culturally authentic manner. I propose instead to recruit first- and third-year undergraduates at Durham University, UK, as well as individuals aged between 18 and 30 who have never received formal theoretical training, to participate in a set of puzzle experiments modelled after Granot and Jacoby’s experiments (2011 & 2012), which are currently the most influential examples of cognitive investigation into Classical sonata semantics. Participants are tasked to recover three sonata movements which have been segmented intra-thematically according to Form-functional principles (Caplin, 2001). The pieces used are the first movements from: Beethoven’s Op. 31 no. 1; Mozart’s K. 283; and Haydn’s Hob. xvI no. 22. I hypothesise that understanding of Classical syntax is largely Mozartean, with Beethoven and Haydn perceived as deviating from the ‘norms’. There is the possibility, however, that participants perceive Beethoven and Haydn differently – the extent to which they are understood to be unusual, and how they come to be seen as such, are two issues which this research may be able to unpack. Findings from this study will examine the cognitive reality of Beethoven’s stylistic evolution from a 21st-century perspective, as well as the extent to which the ‘new path’ is perceived to be different from other Viennese music of the time, thereby enabling a better comparative understanding of the composer’s style and legacy.

• penG du (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL), The Whimsical Character in Beethoven’s Piano Variations WoO 73

In 1799, Beethoven wrote Ten Variations on the duet La stessa, la stessissima from Salieri’s Falstaff, ossia Le tre burle, which is a drama giocoso in two acts based on William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. The duet depicts the moment when Mrs. Slender and Mrs. Ford discover that Falstaff delivered them both love letters with identical content. In contrast to popular convention, Beethoven did not adopt the thematic material of the duet itself as the theme, rather, he used the orchestral prelude of the duet as the subject of these variations. In other words, he responded to this duet with his own understanding of Shakespeare’s jokes. In addition, he varies rhythmic figures in each variation in order to diversify the portrayal of humor. For instance, he employs a continuously syncopated rhythm for the entire third variation, which creates clownish dissonances that uncannily portray the buffoonery of Falstaff in this opera – almost evocative of his imbalanced and nervous steps as he creeps toward the two wealthy ladies of his interest. There are contrapuntal jokes and parodistic musical treatments in the sixth variation: the soft and eerie grace note figure is transferred into a long trill in the second half of the measure with the rinforzando, and the imbalanced dynamics exhibit the typical stage behavior of a harlequin. The last variation resembles an ensemble finale, which is a common trope in opera of the time. As it progresses, each of the five voices engage in dialogue, with each voice given varied fragments of the folk dance treatment of the theme. The momentum is broken by a twenty-five measure recitative. Commonly in opera, this would be a transition to a cabaletta or aria; however, Beethoven returns to the folk dance theme once again, comically surprising audiences otherwise expecting the transition.

Analyses • ChriStian SpeCK (Universität Koblenz-Landau), «Harmoniemusik» in the

Dance Movements of Beethoven’s SymphoniesBeethoven’s chamber music with wind instruments and mixed instrumentation falls

largely within his oeuvre until about 1800, and is characterized by a variety of different forms and instrumentations. One moment that unites Beethoven’s various works for wind instruments – or at least most of them – and clearly distinguishes them from his later string chamber music or symphonies, is their proximity to entertaining ‘society music’. The virtuosity of the parts of a number of these early works indicates that they were written in an environment of professional music-making, as Beethoven found in the Bonn Hofkapelle, but later especially in Vienna. In 1782 Emperor Joseph II founded a wind octet, the so-called ‘Imperial Harmony’, as a new medium of representation for the court. The preference of the imperial court in Vienna for harmony music and the popularity of wind music in the private and public spheres of Viennese society are essentially part of the historical context in which the young Beethoven moved with his chamber music with wind instruments. Against this and the historical background of the fact that in the course of development in the last two decades of the 18th century in Vienna the boundaries between private and public performances of chamber music became blurred, the question of the relationship between social function and musical genre also arises. In this context it might be worthwhile to take a look at Beethoven’s symphonic oeuvre. For here, in some cases, a special trait can be observed: the idiom of chamber music with wind instruments in dance movements, or more precisely in the trios of dance movements of Beethoven’s symphonies. It is a phenomenon that shapes the traditional aesthetic of contrast in the trio in a certain way. One could refer to this phenomenon as a critical remark in an early report about the premiere of the first symphony Op. 21, printed anonymously in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung : «only too many wind instruments were used, so that it was more Harmonie than whole orchestral music». The lecture aims to shed light on the idiom of chamber music with wind instruments in the trios of Beethoven’s symphonies, and, on the basis of this context, to offer a suitable analytical approach to certain questions of work comprehension.

• ned KellenBerGer (Illinois College, Springfield), The Solo Part of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, Op. 61: A Reevaluation

It is not widely recognized that the familiar final version of the solo part of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto Op. 61 may not stem entirely from the composer. This uncertainty shifts attention toward earlier versions preserved in the composer’s hand in the autograph manuscript. With the absence of confirmation that Beethoven assembled the final version himself, a reevaluation of the different versions of the solo violin part is justified. The concerto was composed in six weeks under pressure of the premiere deadline. Some difficult passages were omitted before the premiere, and it is possible the lack of preparation time for the soloist (Franz Clement) and the orchestra forced these practical removals. Beethoven was not satisfied with the premiere performance; later revisions of the solo violin part seemed to respond to shortcomings in this performance. Among the sources for Beethoven’s Op. 61 are three versions of the solo violin part. Two of these versions are found in the autograph manuscript,

now held in a collection in Vienna in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. The first version was used for the premiere on 23 December 1806; the second is a revision from May and June of 1807. The third version is found in the first published edition from Vienna dating from January 1809. Startling departures from the standard text of the violin part can be based on these sources, such as a virtuosic solo presence at the recapitulation of the first movement. No single version presents itself as the definitive authoritative version of the solo violin part. A synthetic approach to the different violin solo revisions seems justified.

• Brian Gaona (Independent Scholar, Naperville, IL), The Esoteric Background of the String Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Opus 131

Traditional Beethoven scholarship places his Op. 131 String Quartet in a lofty position replete with commentary from a multitude of perspectives. Written at the summit of the composer’s mastery, it draws not only on his technical skill and refined aesthetic sensibilities, but also on a surprisingly rich heritage of esoteric tradition. This background is not merely speculative, but consists of tangible connections readily demonstrable in the composer’s biography. It begins with his first major teacher in Bonn, Neefe, who was not only a Freemason but also in a leadership capacity in the Illuminati, and continues in his subsequent connections in his professional life in Vienna, and is reflected in his study of non-Western sources. The Op. 131 quartet commands much scholarly attention, and was highly regarded by Beethoven himself. My focus explores the connections between esoteric Near-Eastern thought, with which Beethoven at that point was involved, and some distinct ways in which the quartet is structured and how this reflects his cultural/philosophical studies. The sense of non-linear temporality can emerge through such connections as the opening fugue and end of the finale of Op. 131. These links can be associated with Beethoven’s developing concepts of eternity as noted in his Tagebuch in entries numbered 44, 61, 93, and 94d, in Maynard Solomon’s edition. This study acknowledges Birgit Lodes’s study of the esoteric aesthetics of the opening movement of the Quartet Op. 127, and applies that approach to the large-scale continuous design of Op. 131. Robert Berwin’s concept of the Urphänomen is helpful in elucidating Beethoven’s temporal structures; William Kinderman’s explanations of self-referential narrative are also relevant to my argument, which brings together Beethoven’s documented exploration of esoteric thought with specific musical contexts and techniques in Op. 131.

• malColm miller (The Open University, UK), Beethoven’s Registral Structures and Strategies of Transcendence in the Late Piano Sonatas

The particular European culture of the development of the Classical and early Romantic piano is the context which gave rise to Beethoven’s visionary universalism, expressed most notably in his late works. Throughout his career, Beethoven’s piano oeuvre evidences a desire both to accommodate and yet transcend the range of pianos of his time, both those in his possession, including those from Vienna, Budapest, Paris and London, and those in use across Europe as a whole. Beethoven’s use of register as a significant structural parameter is intimately connected with the instruments of his time, yet it is possible to interpret it, especially in the late works, as a symbolic expression of his ‘Blick nach oben’ (upward gaze), his striving for spiritual

truth in the face of mundane, yet necessarily human needs. That tension between the earthly and spiritual finds its expression in a famous letter to Beethoven’s friend Zelter in 1823 about subscriptions to the recently completed Missa solemnis. As William Kinderman has shown, that contrast is metaphorically translated in that work through the use of referential high sonorities as in the Credo and Benedictus, a procedure also evident in instrumental music such as the String Quartet Op. 127. My paper investigates the parameter of register in the late piano sonatas, notably Opp. 106, 109, 110 and 111, focusing on the tension and connection between extreme high and low registers. I explore how their large-scale structural deployment creates linear coherence and narratives which interweave with complex tonal structures. The analysis asks to what extent Beethoven’s musical language transcends the materiality of the European context to articulate the universal aesthetics of his visionary late period.

• SteFano menGozzi (University of Michigan), Beethoven’s Path to Moral Freedom: The Representation of the Super-Sensuous in the ‘Pathétique’ Sonata

In his essay On the Pathetic, Schiller argued that «The ultimate end of art is the representation of the super-sensuous, and tragic art in particular effects this thereby, that it makes sensuous our moral independence of the laws of nature in a state of emotion». Building on William Kinderman’s suggestion that Op. 13 may have been inspired by Schiller’s essay, this paper reinterprets the narrative unfolding of the sonata as the gradual affirmation of moral freedom out of an initial state of confinement within the prison of sensuous nature — a trajectory that also celebrates the redeeming force of universal reason (by which moral freedom is attained) and the overcoming of the particularized and fragmentary understanding of reality responsible for the tragic condition of man. But is it possible to isolate a ‘super-sensuous’ narrative layer in Op. 13? Attempting to answer this question, this contribution identifies a network of integrated 4-note motives (C – B-flat – A-flat – G and F – E-flat – D – C in various guises and registers) that often span across the individual musical sections of each movement of the sonata, as if to highlight the inner links between seemingly unrelated parts. Key to this reading is the repeat of the Grave after the Allegro exposition: when restated, the descending third E-flat – D – C in the LH of m. 1, following the F-natural of 132, anticipates the consequent phrase of the Allegro theme (F – E-flat – D – C in the RH at 15-17, while the LH composes out the C – F-sharp – G motion of m. 1). Thus, by stating motives across sections, the sonata leads its listeners to rationally perceive far-reaching connections in (musical) reality and to transcend the fragmentary and the particular, offering a compelling representation of «our moral independence of the laws of nature».

• araBella pare (Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe), Beethoven as a Transnational Composer: «Straßenmusik», «Verbunkos», and the Trio Op. 11 ‘Gassenhauer’

The unusual and at times humorous elements which led to Beethoven’s Op. 11 receiving the name ‘Gassenhauer’ are intimately associated with the theme of the third movement. The popularity of the aria ‘Pria ch’io l’impegno’, itself an international conglomerate as a dramma giocoso with an Italian libretto composed by Joseph Weigl, himself born in Eisenstadt (then a part of Hungary) in 1766, led Beethoven to use it as the basis for a set of variations. In addition

to its derivation from an Italian opera composed by an Austro-Hungarian for a Viennese public, the cosmopolitan nature of the trio is strongly inflected by the Verbunkos tradition of the recruiting music current in the Austro-Hungarian Empire during this period. However, neither the Italianate influences of Weigl’s aria, nor the Hungarianisms of the received Verbunkos music were conceived as ‘authentic’ transpositions of a national or nationally-characterised music into a new context. In the Trio Op. 11, Beethoven approaches these recognisably differentiated musical idioms as a highly stylised and pan-European ‘internationalism’. Through a musical contextualisation which places the extremes of their expressive modes at the heart of each of the three movements of the trio, he reveals striking confluences in the musical rhetoric of his two most prominent inspirations. The fruitful dialectic of two ‘popular’ European styles is in itself a testament to the cultural dominance of Vienna as cosmopolitan, transnational city at the end of the eighteenth century. A further, aesthetically defined, cross-cultural pollination occurs in Beethoven’s continuation of the integration of ‘Straßenmusik’, with which both Weigl’s aria and the Verbunkos were associated, into the genre of ‘Kunstmusik’, further removing the inspirational subjects from their nationally-rooted origins and incorporating them into a wider cosmopolitanism. The aim of this paper is to examine the intersection of these culturally-inflected elements and their effects upon the form and expressive content of the Trio Op. 11. In doing so, it becomes necessary to trace their origins and discuss the metamorphoses they undergo in the course of becoming integrated into a single composition in which the two stylised ‘national’ elements nonetheless retain a recognisable and highly-coloured individual presence.

Dance • eFtyChia papaniKolaou (Bowling Green State University), Choreographing the

Seventh Symphony Richard Wagner famously described Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony as the «apotheosis

of the dance», although it is doubtful he could have foreseen the plethora of choreographic adaptations that this composition inspired. As early as 1904, Isadora Duncan set a series of dances to movements of the Seventh. In 1938, Léonide Massine premiered his choreography of the Seventh with the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo, and Twyla Tharp choreographed the work for the New York City Ballet in 2000. All three renditions differ significantly, thus appropriately reflecting their diverse geneses, cultural contexts, and the respective choreographers’ aesthetic and artistic outlooks. What all three ballets share, however, is a collective condemnation by audiences and critics alike. A lesser-known choreographic rendering of the Seventh is that created by German choreographer Uwe Scholz, the former director of the Leipzig Ballet. In 1991 Scholz choreographed Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony for the Stuttgart Ballet. Scholz was also responsible for the production’s costumes, and based the ballet’s backdrop set on a painting of the Unfurled series by American abstractionist Morris Louis. The result is visually stunning in its fluid, understated quality. The music’s vitality, which Maynard Solomon described as quintessentially ‘Dionysian’, is appropriately aligned with Scholz’s celebratory and effervescent choreographic conception. Unlike the other three choreographic renderings of the Seventh Symphony, Scholz’s work has had numerous performances in Europe and around the world, to

considerable critical acclaim. Using video excerpts of Scholz’s Siebente Symphonie with the Stuttgart Ballet, my main aim will be to propose and address modes by which Scholz’s choreography pairs symphonic music with ballet movement. A short comparative analysis of the four works, with emphasis on Scholz, will demonstrate that this one instance of transfer from one artistic medium to the other reveals a great deal about the shift in Beethoven reception in the past hundred years.

• Stephanie SChroedter (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg), Choreomusical Translations – Beethoven in Dance

With regard to the approaching Beethoven anniversary, it seems appropriate to bring also the rather unknown sides of this composer into focus, such as his contributions to dance and ballet. Apart from his music for balls, a masquerade and a ballet composition it is also revealing to look at choreographies based on his concert compositions. Examples for this artistic procedure, which has meanwhile become a common practice, were created already shortly after his death. After a brief outline of tendencies that developed within this context I will demonstrate on the basis of two choreographies set to Beethoven’s Grand Fugue Op. 133, by Maguy Marin (2001) and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker (2012), how differently such processes can turn out in detail. In my analysis I will combine methods of choreomusical research that were developed by Stephanie Jordan (2000, 2007, 2015) with considerations about musical translation processes, in order to clarify the relationship between music and movement. Is it actually possible that these two art forms, music and dance, despite their respective materiality and mediality, can achieve the congruence which choreographers or rather the audience often strive for (e.g. by the help of contrapunctual techniques)? And, what exactly would that mean? Finally, why could it be helpful in this context to describe music as motion (although not visible, it is audible), which can suggest and stimulate inner (emotional) as well as outer (physical) movements? In this respect, I will refer to musicological premises based on musical multimedia research, music psychology and cognitive sciences. Against this backdrop, using visualizations or rather illustrations in order to bring music and dance together seems to be an obvious procedure. Nonetheless, this process is highly metaphorical and falls back on cross-modal analogy, as I will explain in my paper.

Influence, Heritage and Myth • imre KováCS (Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest), Bestowing the

Beethovenian Musical Heritage: Liszt. The «Weihekuss» ReconsideredIn line with the call for papers of the conference the presentation is looking at the

question why Beethoven, one of Europe’s most respected cultural heroes, became a role model to so many composers in the 19th century. My starting point will be two events that happened almost simultaneously. Music historian Ludwig Nohl, a fan of Liszt’s, wrote in his book entitled Beethoven, Liszt, Wagner and published in 1874: «It has been established in music history that after the symphony by Beethoven […] only Liszt’s works – called by him symphonic poems – further laid this foundation, and accomplished the new act that led to a new creation and intellectually free forms». Liszt celebrated his 50-year artistic jubilee shortly before the publication of the above book, on the occasion of which a lithographed commemorative leaf was printed and

published in Hungary. One of its representations shows Beethoven embracing the prodigy pianist at a concert in Vienna in 1823, at Liszt’s first concert, which is indicated by a caption in the picture. But contemporary sources never confirmed that Beethoven was present at this particular concert. According to Liszt’s biographies, the bestowing of the Beethovenian musical heritage to him culminated in the consecrating kiss, the Weihekuss. However, if we want to dig deep, we may want to see what the real context of the Weihekuss was. I would like to further the issue by raising an aspect that has not yet been studied: are there any other, similar forms of bestowing musical heritage in the period, analogous to the Weihekuss? I believe the Weihekuss is in line with these examples; we are witnessing the phenomenon of artistic legitimation that is part of individual mythology.

• SuSan Cooper (Independent Scholar, Manchester), The Influence and Importance of Horace for Beethoven and His Circle

According to Anton Schindler Beethoven knew Horace’s Ars poetica, memorising whole sections. Notwithstanding Schindler’s unreliability, his claim, now ignored, concerning one of the most seminal works on poetic and artistic composition is supported by compelling evidence. This paper scrutinises Beethoven’s likely knowledge of the Ars poetica and Horace’s wider oeuvre, and redresses the unjust neglect surrounding Horace’s influence and significance for Beethoven studies (the only modern references to Beethoven and Horace being brief tangential, sometimes misleading, comments in the field of Beethoven reception). Horace was one of ancient Rome’s greatest poets, and a perennially preeminent aesthetic instructor (for music as well as poetry). Discussion covers his general importance in Beethoven’s age, citing translations, imitations, references, assessments and aesthetic debate from writers familiar to Beethoven. Abundant references to Horace from Beethoven’s circle, many previously unidentified, appear in letters, the Conversation Books, and reminiscences from friends (Peters, Bernard, Holz, Wegeler, Weissenbach, etc.); all presuppose Beethoven’s clear engagement and contextual understanding. Previously unnoticed translations of two of Horace’s Odes by Carl Bernard are discussed for their significance to his close friend Beethoven. Many indications by Beethoven himself, in compositions, letters, etc., betoken both familiarity with Horace and observing his advice. Beethoven’s enthusiasm for Karl Wilhelm Ramler, a leading German imitator and translator of Horace, is highlighted, using Conversation Book entries and letters, particularly one to Bettina Brentano. An overlooked indicator – one noted by Fanny Giannatasio del Rio – of Beethoven’s understanding of classical writers, particularly Horace, appears in his reference to «eine Chimäre». Allusions to the Chimaera within wider classical literature are compared with Horace’s treatment, thus re-evaluating the likely implications in Beethoven’s comment and its elucidation of his relationships with women. Finally, it is discussed how much Beethoven read Horace in Latin, how much in translation, and what he would have memorised

• luzia aurora roCha (CESEM /NOVA University, Lisbon), Beethoven in Private/Public Art Collections – Enthusiasm, Hysteria and Fate of the ‘Beethoven Vase’

José de Mascarenhas Relvas (1858-1929) was an important politician, art collector and a amateur musician (violinist). An historic Republican, it was he who proclaimed the Republic

from the balcony of Lisbon City Hall. He was the owner of a private art collection (nowadays, a public museum), with more than 8,000 objects, some related to his favourite composer, Beethoven. In 1895 he commissioned the ‘Beethoven Vase’ from the Portuguese ceramist, and his close friend, Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (1846-1905). The single piece of glazed clay 2.30 meters high, of rocaille inspiration, was the result of Bordalo Pinheiro’s enthusiasm. Unfortunately, José Relvas thought that the object was too large and commissioned a smaller copy, finished in 1902. Since there was no buyer in Portugal willing to pay the large sum of money for the fabulous and giant vase, Bordalo Pinheiro left for Brazil in 1899, taking it with him in his luggage for a faience exhibition in Rio de Janeiro, being raffled off. Since the lucky number was not purchased, he offered the vase to King D. Carlos. Both vases – the original, in Brazil, and the smaller version, in Portugal – are a perfect hymn to Beethoven, depicting symbols related to music and to the composer. It is the aim of this paper to decode the encrypted/symbolic language depicted by Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, to analyse the enthusiasm and hysteria around this art piece. Finally, I consider some aspect of José Relva’s private commission, the rejection (and terrible fate) of the original piece, and the new role of these objects, nowadays exhibited at a public museum.

Beyond European Boundaries: America and Asia• aliSon minKuS (Independent Scholar, Edmonton, AB, Canada), Revolutionary

and Master: Beethoven’s Reception and Reflection at the New York Philharmonic Over 600 audience members filled New York’s Apollo Rooms on 7 December 1842 for

the inaugural concert of the Philharmonic Society of New York. Opening with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 (1808), it was a glorious beginning to what would become an enduring relationship between orchestra and composer. Beethoven’s particular character must have been inspirational for a Philharmonic founded on pluck and potential, channeled by a musician-led cooperative, and supported by an entrepreneurial spirit, business royalty, and raucous, market-driven environment. However, Beethoven’s universality was also soon reflected in Philharmonic programming; his works were a constant in all seasons and frequent choice for key celebrations. Beethoven was an apt master for an orchestra that – according to critic James Huneker in 1917 – was dedicated to the ‘cultivation and performance of instrumental music’. From the outset, it embraced the particular and the universal, the contemporary and the canonical. In marking 250 years, how does ‘Beethoven the European’ converse with ‘Beethoven the Master’ as he and his creations are transported, translated, and transformed in varying contexts and times? I examine one such relationship that developed between Beethoven and the New York Philharmonic, from its inception to the turn of the 20th century. Supported by a coterie of actors from conductors to critics, I draw from an institutional work perspective – i.e., while the institution surely impacts the individual, the converse is also invariably true, and I offer the «institutional core» as animating force for individual and institutional action. Archival sources not only reveal Beethoven’s power – i.e., how his works were received at the Philharmonic – but also the Philharmonic’s power – i.e., how Beethoven was reflected to audiences in New York and beyond. The intermingling of these two actions, I argue, created a powerful, sustaining force for both composer and orchestra.

• marita Fornaro Bordolli (Universidad de la República, Uruguay), Beethoven, Kleiber and the Homeland Hero: Episodes of Their Reception in South America

The pro-European vocation of Uruguay, a country that reached independency (1830) developing strategies to make its indigenous population disappear, and ignoring its small percentage of population of African origin, is a critical identity trait during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. As one of the manifestations of this idealization in the country, academic musical life has closely followed the interpretative, compositional and pedagogical canons proposed by the admired culture. In this context, this paper explores some aspects of Beethoven’s reception from programs and brochures, press releases and iconography. The analysis focuses on two fundamental milestones: the complete cycle of his symphonies performed by the OSSODRE, the Symphony Orchestra of the ‘Official Radio-Electric Broadcasting Service’, with Eric Kleiber as conductor (1939), and its repetition 80 years later, in 2019. The SODRE, its Orchestra and this Cycle have been part of a kind of Adamic time in the history of Uruguayan music. As witnesses, there remain, among other documents, the articles of the newspapers, in such a high number that it makes them unique in the history of Uruguayan music criticism. These critic pieces sometimes insist on pointing out a religious character in Beethoven’s talent, in Kleiber’s ability to understand this talent, and in the event itself, which has acquired a ritual character. In some pieces, they develop a romantic style, more typical of the previous century. In 2019, the SODRE celebrated the event with a new cycle. Contemporary criticism, although meager in comparison, also provides jewels for the researcher, as the correlation between Beethoven and José Artigas, the homeland hero of Uruguay. Through the analysis of the press about the composer, about Kleiber as his privileged interpreter, and about the current OSSODRE, I will establish the aspects that make the Beethovenian cult in Uruguay an expression of that desired – and always frustrated – European belonging.

• mai KoShiKaKezaWa (Tokyo University of the Arts), Beethoven’s Piano Music in Japan

Beethoven is currently one of the most popular composers in Japan and his works are often played and heard. During Beethoven’s lifetime, Japan still had restricted cultural interaction with foreign countries. Therefore, the introduction of Beethoven’s music into Japan began after the Meiji Restoration (1854), a period when the Japanese government supported and organised the establishment of the music culture that had originated in Europe. So, why did Beethoven’s music come to play a significant cultural role in Japan? This paper will examine the Japanese reception of Beethoven’s music, particularly his piano works, up until the early 20th century. In recent years, systematic research has been conducted regarding various types of music cultures after the introduction of Western music into Japan. Previous research has pointed out that, in the first stage of the reception, Beethoven was especially regarded as ‘the composer of the Moonlight Sonata’. However, the previous research has not addressed the following questions in detail: how and by whom was Beethoven’s Piano music performed and heard during the initial period after introduction into Japan? This paper will focus on three perspectives: (1) concert performances, (2) publications of sheet music and (3) recordings on 78 rpm discs. It was the

Tokyo School of Music (now Tokyo University of the Arts) that played a central role in the reception of Western music, therefore the concert programs provide significant information. The audience attending those concerts was restricted, but the repertoire of the Tokyo School of Music concerts strongly influenced the content of the sheet music and recordings on 78 rpm discs sold in Japan. All the research indicates that the reception of Beethoven in Japan is strongly connected with the social and cultural conditions in Japan at that time.

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Conference Venues

A: Train Station (Piazzale B. Ricasoli)B: Conference «Beethoven the European» (via San Micheletto, 3)C: Bus Station (Piazzale G. Verdi)D: Piccolo Hotel Puccini (Via di Poggio, 9)E: Hotel Rex (Piazzale B. Ricasoli, 19)F: Hotel Ilaria (Via del Fosso, 26)

A

C B

D F

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Centro Studi opera omnia Luigi BoCCherini

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