jander, owen, “beethoven’s ‘orpheus in hades’: the andante con moto of the fourth piano...

7/23/2019 Jander, Owen, Beethovens Orpheus in Hades: The Andante con moto of the Fourth Piano Concerto, 19th-Cent

1/19

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Beethoven's "Orpheus in Hades": The "Andante con moto" of the Fourth Piano ConcertoAuthor(s): Owen JanderSource: 19th-Century Music, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Spring, 1985), pp. 195-212Published by: University of California PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/746511Accessed: 25-08-2015 14:38 UTC

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2/19

Beethoven s

Orpheus

in

H a d e s :

h e

Andante c o n m o t o

o f t h e

F o u r t h

P i a n o

Concerto

OWEN

JANDER

For several decades

now

an

amusing

debate has

been

going

on

among

the

writers

of

record

jacket

notes as to whether the second move-

ment

of

Beethoven's Fourth Piano

Concerto

does

or

does

not involve

some association

with

the

Orpheus legend.

This

"debate"can

be

sum-

marized

in the

following

sentence,

in

which the

wording

is

mine:

"It was Liszt who

first

com-

pared

the slow movement of

Beethoven's

Fourth

Piano

Concerto

with

the

story

of

Orpheus taming

the wild

beasts with the

music

of his

lyre;

Beethoven,

of

course,

had no such

idea in mind."

This

sentence contains four errors.To

begin

with,

the link between this

movement and the

Orpheus legend

was not the

discovery

of

Liszt,'but of

Adolph

BernhardMarx.

(More

about this

in

due

course.)

This

attribution to

Liszt

results

from

the

following

statement in

Donald

To-

vey's

Essays

in

Musical

Analysis:

"If

I

am

not

mistaken,

it

was Liszt who

compared

the slow

movement of this concerto to

Orpheus

taming

the wild

beasts with

his

music."2

Although

To-

vey's guess

was

understandable,3

he

was

in

fact

correct

only

in

wondering

whether he

might

be

mistaken.

Nonetheless,

his

casual

remark has

been

repeated

so often that it

has evolved

into

canon.

The second common error included in my

synthesized

statement

above

is

calling

the

sec-

ond movement of the

Fourth Piano

Concerto a

"slow

movement."

True,

as this

Andante

con

moto

[N.B. ]

s

invariably

performed

n our time

Notes for this

article

appear

on

pp.

210-12.

19th-Century

Music

VIII/3

Spring1985).

@

by

the

Regents

of

the

University

of California.

195

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3/19

it comes across

as

a slow

movement-indeed,

sometimes

a

very, very

slow

movement.4

In

the

recorded

performance

of

Solti

and

Ashkenazy,

for

example,

one

gets

the

impression

that the

conductor

is

beating

the

eighth

note,

with the

metronome

marking

=

60.6

This

compares

quite

amazingly

with Carl

Czerny's tempo

marking

= 84.6

The

problem

with

Czerny's tempo

is

not that

it is

too

fast,

but that it is set

to the

sub-beat

rather

than the

main

beat,

the

quarter

note. The

practice

of

"feeling"

music

via the

sub-beat

of-

ten

induces

too-slow

tempi.

Not

only

is

Beethoven's

tempo marking very

clear-An-

dante

con

moto-his

meter is

equally

clear:

2.

If

the second

movement

of Beethoven's Fourth

Pi-

ano

Concerto

is

performed

at a

corrected

Czerny

tempo,

J=

42,

a

very

different

experience

transpires.

The

third error

in

my

made-up

sentence is

the comparison of this movement with

Orpheus

taming

the

wild

beasts

with

the music

of

his

lyre.

This error

again goes

back

to

Tovey,

who

had

in

mind the

preface

which

Liszt

pro-

vided

for

his

symphonic

poem

Orpheus.7

Liszt

composed

this work as

an introduction

to

a

per-

formance

of

Gluck's

Orfeo

ed Euridicehe con-

ducted at

Weimar

in

1854.8

Liszt

judiciously

de-

cided

not

to

anticipate

the

famous

Infernal

Scene

in

the

Gluck

opera,

in

which

Orpheus,

playing

his

lyre,

subdues

the

hostility

of the Fu-

ries of

the Underworld.

Rather,

Liszt

prepares

his audience

for the

operaby depicting,

in

more

general

and

philosophical

terms,

the universal

power

of music.

In

the

Andante con moto

of

Beethoven's

Fourth

Piano

Concerto, however,

the

program

I

shall

propose

is

not so

general;

n-

deed,

it

deals

very specifically

with

Orpheus

pleading

with the Furies

of the

Underworld.

If

some

writers

in

our

own time have dismissed

the

Orphic

program

with sarcastic

contempt,9

t

is

chiefly

because

they

have in

mind the

wrong

chapter

of

the

Orpheus legend.

But

the worst

error

n

my

synthesized

state-

ment

is the

very

declaration that in

composing

the Andante con moto of his op. 58, Beethoven

"of course" had

no

Orpheus

program

in mind. It

is

my

intention here to demonstrate

that the

constantly resurfacing

rumor about this

piece

of

music

is indeed

true-far truer than

any

of us

ever

imagined

before.

This

movement,

I

be-

lieve,

is Beethoven's most elaborate venture

into

the realm

of

program

music.

It

may

well be

the most

totally programmaticpiece

of music-

great

art

music-ever

composed.

EARLY

HINTS

Beethoven

himself

never

revealed that

his

Fourth Piano

Concerto

had

anything

to

do with

the

Orpheus

legend.10

One

recalls

especially

that remarkof

Czerny,

"Thereis no doubt that

in

many

of his most

beautiful

works Beethoven

was

inspired

by

similar visions or

pictures

from

his

reading

or from his own

lively imagination."

And

then there is that

teasing

footnote: "He

was

reluctant

to

speak

on this

matter,

except

on

a

few occasions

when he was in a

confiding

mood.""11

Unfortunately

both the

autograph

and the

workingsketches of the op. 58 aremissing. The

latter,

in

particular,

might

give

us some fasci-

nating insights

on

this matter.

One

precious glimpse

comes from

J.

F.

Reic-

hardt's

report

ofBeethoven's

performance

of the

work

at

its

public

premiere,

at

the Theater-an-

der-Wien,

22 December 1808: "A new concerto

for

pianoforte, terribly

difficult,

which

Beethoven

performed

astonishingly

well in the

fastest

possible

tempi.

The

Adagio,12

master-

piece

of beautiful sustained

melody,

he

actually

sang

on

his

instrument with

a

deep

melancholy

feeling

which awakened its

response

in

me."13

The first hint that this Andante con moto

might

be

programmatic

comes

again

from

Czerny's

On the

Proper Performance of

All

Beethoven's

Works

or

Piano:

In this

movement

(which,

ike the entire

concerto,

belongs

to

the finest

and most

poetical

of

Beethoven's

creations)

one cannot

help

thinking

of

an

antique tragic

scene,

and the

player

must

feel

with

what

intense,

pathetic

expression

his solo

is

per-

formed,

in order to

contrast

with the

powerful

and

austere orchestral

passages,

which

are,

as

it

were,

gradually

withdrawn.

All the means of cantabile

ex-

pression

in the

melody

and

harmony

must

be called

forth,and it is only during he shake that the powerof

tone

rises to the

highest degree,

n order o

die

away

again

to the

gentlest

lament. It must not

be

played

too

slow; though

the

pianist may

restrain

the time

rather

more than the orchestra.'4

196



4/19

It is

impossible

to know whether the

idea

of

"an

antique

tragic

scene"

is

an

invention

of

Czemy,

or whether this reflects some remark

he

had

picked

up

from the

composer

himself.

One

thing

we do know:

Czemy

was on the

scene

in Vienna

during

those

years

when

Beethoven was

working

on

op.

58

(ca.

1804-

06)15 ndwhen he performedthe work-first at

the

Palais Lobkowitz in March

1807,

then at

the

Theater-an-der-Wien,

n

December

1808.16

MARX'S DISCOVERY

The scholar who first

began

to

bring

the

Orpheus

program

of

the

Fourth Piano Concerto

into focus was

Adolph

Bernhard

Marx-and

this

almost 125

years

ago-in

his

Ludwig

van

Beethoven,

Leben und

Schaffen.17

Marx was

also

the

author

of a book about

the

operas

of

Gluck. In his chapter on Orfeo ed Euridice he

remarks

that the

famous

Infernal Scene found

its

reflection

in

the music of

several other com-

posers, including

Beethoven.'8

In

his book on

Beethoven,

Marx

elaborates

on

this

point

in

considerable detail:

"Hardly

could two

poems

at

their

very

basis

have

a

closer relation to one

another than that Gluck

scene

and

this

Beethoven Andante. The

opposition

of a

single

person,

who has no

weapon

andno force

except

the

depth

of

his

feeling

and

the

irresistibility

of

his

plea, against

the assembled

force

of a

chorus,

who

deny

and resist

each

advancingstep,

who

shove

back-that

is

the

content

of

the one mu-

sical

poem

as

well

as the

other."'9

In the course of

his

subsequent

description

this

nineteenth-century

scholar's

prose

be-

comes

exceedingly

florid

and

subjective-an

ap-

proach

that tends to

sap

the confidence of the

twentieth-century

scholar.

If

one reads Marx's

prose sympathetically,

however,

one

can cull

from

it some

very

substantial

observations.

First,

he

recognizes

the

obvious

fact that

(at

least

in

the first

forty-six

measures

of

this

movement)

a

dialogue

is

present. Second,

one

partner in the dialogue is a string chorus, which

declaims in

loud,

angry

octaves.

Third,

the

other

partner

is the

solo

piano,

which

"raises

its

voice"

in a

manner

that

is

"gently pleading."

Fourth,

as the music

progresses,

the orchestral

part

asserts itself

in

"severe

denial,"

while the

piano

part

becomes

"only

more

pleading

and

fervent."

Fifth,

the

repeated

staccato exclama-

tions in

the orchestral

part

have an unmistak-

able

similarity

to

the

repeated

"No 's"

of

Gluck's

Chorus

of Furies.

Sixth,

ultimately

the

chorus

"melts

away

in

face of the

urgency

of the

Orphic song." In making the comparison be-

tween

the

Gluck

Infernal

Scene

and the

Beethoven

concerto

movement,

Marx

finds the

latter "more

energetic."

One

might

take

issue

with

this

appraisal,

but

certainly

the

Beethoven

is

more concise:

the

Gluck

lasts

about

twenty

minutes,

the Beethoven

only

about

four,

if

per-

formed

according

to

Beethoven's

time

signature

and

tempo

marking.

Marx's

discovery

is

both

perceptive

and accu-

rate

as

far as

it

goes;

but

it has

two

shortcom-

ings.

To

begin

with,

the

parallel

between the

Gluck

Infernal Scene

and

Beethoven's

Andante

con moto ceases at m. 46 of the latter piece-at

the

end of the

ten-measure-long

decrescendo

n

Gluck's

music,

setting

these lines

by

Calzabigi:

Ah,

quale ncognito

affetto lebile

dolce

a

sospendere

vien

l'implacabile

nostro uror?

Le

porte

tridano

su'neri cardini

e

il

passo

ascino

sicuro

e

libero

al

vincitor

(Ah,

what

unfamiliar,

weet emotion

causesour m-

placable

ury

to be

suspended?

he

gates

creakon

theirblack

hinges,

and eave the

passage

ecureand

free o thevictor )

But

what

happens

to

Orpheus

after

m.

46 in

Beethoven's music? Does the

composer

simply

abandon

the

mythological story,

and continue

with

music

of meditative

character hat is

only

vaguely

relevant? On the

contrary,

there is evi-

dence

that the

story

continues

right

to the

last

measure

of the movement.

This

brings

us to the second

shortcoming

of

Marx's

discovery.

In

dealing

with

the

Orphic

program

in the

Andante

con moto of

Beethoven's op. 58, he discusses only its debt to

Gluck.

The

Gluck

opera,

however,

is

but one

of

several sources

from which

Beethoven

seems

to

have drawn ideas and

inspiration

as

he com-

posed

his

Fourth

Piano

Concerto.

197



5/19

OVIDIN

VIENNA,

1791-1805

The

two chief

classical sources

of

the

Orpheus

legend

are

Virgil's Georgics,

book

IV,

lines

453-527;

and

Ovid's

Metamorphoses,

book

X,

lines

1-219,

and book

XI,

lines

1-84.

During

those

years

when Beethoven

was

work-

ing on his op. 58 the latter workwas experienc-

ing

a

peculiar surge

of

popular discovery

in

Vi-

enna-a

circumstance

of

major

importance

to

the

present

study.

By

the

year

1800

Ovid's

Metamorphoses

probably

took the

prize

as

the

most

frequently

published

book

in

the entire

history

of

print-

ing.20

The reason

was

simple:

the Metamor-

phoses

was the most

elaborate

and entertain-

ingly

written source

of

Classical

mythology;

and as

such

it

was

the

best-selling

textbook

of

all time. As often

as this

monumental work

had

been

published

elsewhere

in

Europe,

however--

a hundred times in London, another hundred

times

in the

French-publishing

cities

of

Europe,

and

several hundred

times in

Italy-Ovid's

Metamorphoses

was

not

printed

n

Vienna until

1791.

Censorship

caused this odd

state

of af-

fairs.

Vienna,

capital

of the

Holy

Roman Em-

pire,

was

notorious

for its

extremely

conserva-

tive and

suppressive

censorship,

which for

generations

was

in the hands

of a

commission

of

Jesuits

at the

University.21

To the

Jesuit

mind

Ovid,

author

of

the

Ars amatoria

and the Re-

media

amores,

was

the writer

of salacious

books;

thus all his

works were

banned.22

The breakthroughcame in 1791,duringaper-

iod

of

liberalization.23

n

that

year (the

year

be-

fore

Beethoven moved to

Vienna,

it is worth re-

calling)

a

society

founded for the

purpose

sponsored

publication

of a handsomethree-vol-

ume

edition

of Ovid in German translation.24

This

"Gesellschaft

edition" included 140 il-

lustrations

copied

from

a

sumptuous

Paris edi-

tion

of

Ovid

published

between 1767 and 1771

(see plate

3).

The

names of the members

of

the

Gesellschaft

are

listed

at

the

beginning

of the

first

volume,

including

over a

dozen

people

who

figure

in the

biography

of

Beethoven

(e.g.,

Franz

Joseph

von

Lobkowitz,

in whose

palace

the

Fourth Piano Concerto was

first

performed;

Jo-

sef

Sonnleithner,

the librettist of

Fidelio;

and

Cajetan

Giannatasio

del

Rio,

the schoolmaster

to whom Beethoven

entrusted the education

of

his

nephew).

It

is

clear that

Beethoven knew

many people

in Vienna who not

only

owned Ovid's

Meta-

morphoses,

but had

strong

convictions about

the value of this work. The

introduction of the

Gesellschaft

edition noted

that

German-speak-

ing areas of Europewere distinctly remiss in

their

attention to

Ovid,

and

expressed

the

hope

that

the

presentpublication

might

serve to cor-

rect

that

problem.

And it

did-at least

as

far

as

Vienna

was

con-

cerned. The

Gesellschaft edition was

printed

si-

multaneously

in an

inexpensive

version

(dis-

tributed

by

the

publisher

Joseph

Schalbacher);

and in the

next

fifteen

years-up

to the time

Beethoven

completed

his

op.

58-Ovid's Meta-

morphoses

was

published

in

Vienna,

in

various

editions,

six more

times.25

In

sum,

in a

city

where

this monument of world

literature

had so

long been banned, the Metamorphoseswas is-

sued

eight

times

in a brief

span

of fifteen

years.

It was in this cultural

climate that

Beethoven

composed

his Fourth Piano

Concerto.26

MUSICAL

MODELS

Marx's

recognition

of

the

parallel

between

the Andante con

moto

of

Beethoven's

op.

58

and

the

Infernal Scene

of

Gluck's

Orfeo

was

only

a

startingpoint.

At

least two other

contem-

poraneous operatic settings

of

the

Orpheus

myth

seem

to

have been

known

to

Beethoven

and to have influenced his approach o this un-

usual concerto

movement.27

(There

can be no

question,

incidentally,

that Beethoven knew

Gluck's

opera-he

owned

a

copy

of the

score.28

He was

probably

introduced to the

opera

as

early

as

1785,

when

it

was

performed

n

Bonn.29

It is even

possible

that Beethoven

played

harpsi-

chord or

viola in that

production.)

Another

Orpheus

und

Euridice

that

Beethoven

very likely

encountered

during

his

Bonn

years

was an

opera by

Johann

Gottlieb

Naumann. This

work,

first

performed

in Co-

penhagen

in

1786

with a Danish text

by

Dorothea

Biehl,

had

been

highly regarded by

C. F.

Cramer,

editor

of

the

Magazin

der

Musik.a30

Cramer translated the Danish text into German

and

published

it in his

Magazin

in

1786;3'

and

198



6/19

then

the

following

year

he

produced

a

piano-vo-

cal

score of the

Naumann,

which he

published

in Kiel. The

score includes

a

list of

subscribers

in

which one finds the

names of both

Christian

Gottlieb

Neefe,

Beethoven's

mentor

in

Bonn,

and Antonio

Salieri,

one of

Beethoven's teach-

ers in Vienna.

These publications are relevant to the

present study

on

two

counts.

First,

both the

li-

bretto and the

score

contain

a

lengthy

introduc-

tion

by

Cramer that

includes

German

transla-

tions of the

Virgil

and the

Ovid

versions

of

the

Orpheus

myth.

If

Beethoven

had

access to

ei-

ther of these

Cramer

publications,

then he

would have

had

access to

these

Classical texts

in translation

as

early

as

1786

or

1787.

Secondly,

although

the

Biehl-Naumann

ver-

sion is

closely

modeled on the

famous

opera

by

Calzabigi

and

Gluck-the

layout

of acts and

scenes

is

almost

identical-this

Danish

Orpheusintroducesvariousnew elements.

In the

Infernal

Scene,

the

encounter

between

Orpheus

and the

Furies,

there

is an

attempt

to

intensify

the

dialogue

found

in the

earlier

model.

In

the

Calzabigi-Gluck

score

Orpheus's

speech

is

repeatedly

interrupted

by

the cries of

"No "

from

the

chorus. These

cries

are

then re-

iterated: "No

No

No " In the

scene as a

whole,

however,

the music for

Orpheus

and the

music

for the

Chorus

of Furies

co-exist in

large

inde-

pendent

blocks. The

Biehl-Naumann

version

telescopes

the

dialogue

by

shortening

the

speeches

from

each

side,

thus

bringing

the

thoughts

into more

intense

interaction. Here

are the

texts of

Orpheus's

principal

speech

as it

occurs

in the

two libretti.

(In both,

the

text for

chorus

is

italicized and

placed

in

parentheses.)

CALZABIGI--GLUCK

Deh,

placatevi

con me

Furie

(No ),

arve

(No ),

Ombre

degnose

No )

Vi

renda

almen

pietose

il mio

barbaro

dolor

(No

No

No )

Deh,

placatevi,

placatevi

con me

Furie

(No ),

arve

(No ),

Ombre

sdegnose

(No )

Vi

renda

almen pietose

il

mio barbarodolor.

Furie

(No ),

larve

(No )

Om

-

(No )

-

bre

sdegnose (No )

Vi

renda

almen

pietose

il mio barbaro

dolor,

il mio barbaro

dolor,

il mio

barbarodolor.

BIEHL-NAUMANN

Leisern

Lautes seufzt

die

Klage

Ach, erbarmt,

erbarmteuch

mein

Dieses

Leiden,

meines

Wehmut,

Schmelz' in Mitleid eurenZorn

(Nein

Nein

Weg

von

hier

Fleuch,

fleuch,

Sterblicher )

Von des Lichtes

goldnem

Strande

Fiihrt

herab mich meine

Quaal,

Ach,

erbarmt,

erbarmt

euch

mein

(Nein )

Dieses

Leiden,

meine

Wehmuth,

Schmelz' in Mitleid eurenZorn

(Nein

Fleuch,

Sterblicher )

Ach,

erbarmt

Ach,

erbarmt

Erbarmt uch

mein

(Nein

Nein )

Erbarmt

Erbarmt uch

mein

(Fleuch

Fleuch )

Ach, erbarmt Erbarmt uch mein

What

occurs

musically

in the

Naumann

score can be observed

in

plate

1. This

intensi-

fication

of the

dialogue

between

Orpheus

and

the

Furies is

distinctly

similar to

what occurs in

Beethoven's

Andante

con moto

at mm.

26-38.

Nothing

in

the Gluck score

is

quite

like

this;

Beethoven

thus

probably

took

this detail

from

Naumann.

KANNE'S

ORPHEUS

The

Orpheusopera

that

has the most

intrigu-

ing

relationships

to

Beethoven's Fourth

Piano

Concerto,

however,

is a version

that was

pre-

miered in Vienna

itself,

at the

Hoftheater,

in

November

1807,

only

eight

months

after the

first

performance

of

the

concerto. The

libretto

and

score of

Orpheus,

eine

grosse

Oper

in

zwey

Aufziigen

were both

prepared

by

the same

man,

Friedrich

August

Kanne

(avery

early

nstance

of

the

Wagner

phenomenon).

Kannewas

himself

something

of a

phenomenon.

Educated n

theol-

ogy

and

philosophy,

he

was an

exceedingly

learned

man. He was

a

linguist,

historian,

aes-

thetician, and journalist-and he was also a

fairly

prolific,

and not

unsuccessful,

com-

poser.32

Kanne and

Beethoven

became close

friends

over

the

years.

Kanne was

among

the

few

people

199



7/19

whom Beethoven

addressed

with

"Du." His

best-known role in

the world

of

scholarship

was

as a

journalist-champion

of

Beethoven's

music,

especially

during

the

1820s.33

WarrenKirken-

dale has advanced

the

plausible

suggestion

that

Kanne

was

probably

the "learned

specialist"

who assisted Beethoven in

the

many

liturgical

and theological problems involved in the com-

position

of the Missa

solemnis.34

(Kanne

him-

self

composed

a "Missa

solemnis,"

and

also

wrote

a

history

of

the

Mass,

which,

alas,

has not

survived.)

How

early

in

their

acquaintance

Kanne

and

Beethoven

became

good

friends,

and

how

soon

they might

have

developed

a vital

exchange

of

ideas,

we do not know. We

do

know that

they

were introduced

to

one

another

in December

1804,

as

is

reported

in a

letter from

Georg

Au-

gust Griesinger

to

Breitkopf

und

Hirtel,

for

whom

he served

as an

agent:

Kanne

rom

Delitzsch s nowhere.

I

have ed him

to

Haydn,

Beethoven,

ndothers.He

appears

o have

no

small

opinion

of his own

talent,

nor doeshe

doubt

thathewill

havesuccess

herewith

that alent.

Given

the

competition

mong

he

trulygreat

masters

here,

however,

hat

will

not

be so

easy. Haydn,

Mozart,

Vogler,

Beethoven,

Salieri

are

all native here.

One

must

not

just

equal

these

to

gain recognition,

ne

must

surpass

hem.3as

One

thing

Beethoven

and

Kanne

enjoyed

in

common

during

these middle

years

of the

first

decade

was the

friendship

and

patronage

of

Prince

Lobkowitz,

in whose

palace

Kanne was

frequentlyaguest.36As earlyas 1807Lobkowitz

had

become a member of the

company

of

vice-

directors

of the

Royal

Imperial

Court Theater

(i.e.,

the

Hoftheater);

andit is

probably hrough

Lobkowitz's

influence that

Kanne

obtained the

commission to

compose

his

Orpheus

for that

theater.37

At

that

time,

of

course,

it

was in the

so-called

"Eroica-Saal" f the

Palais Lobkowitz

that Beethoven's

Fourth Piano

Concerto

was

first

performed.

We cannot

know what

communication oc-

curred between Beethoven

and

Kanne

on

the

subject

of

Orpheus.

(Their

mutual

patron,

one

of the

sponsors

of the 1791 Gesellschaft

edition,

was

certainly

interested in

Ovid.)

That there

was some communication

between them

on

this

subject

seems

clear,

as we shall

observe

in

a

moment.

We do know that

during

1804

Beethoven

was

deeply

involved in

the

problem

of

finding

a libretto

that

would

satisfy

his

aspi-

rations as an

opera

composer.

He must

surely

have been

intrigued

by

the ideas of

another

composer

who

himself

was the author

of

his

own libretto.

And

the libretto

of

Kanne's

Orpheus

is

cer-

tainly fascinating. One observes immediately

its

differences

fromthe familiar

model of

Calza-

bigi

and

Gluck.

Frimmel

speaks

of

Kanne as

be-

ing

"highly

gifted,

and in

regard

to

indepen-

dence and

originality

of

spirit,

very

much like

Beethoven."38

There is

no

better

evidence

of

Kanne's

originality

than

this

libretto.

For

example,

it

is unified

by

repeated

refer-

ences to

the theme

of the

power

of

song.

No

fewer

than thirteen

pages

mention

"die

Macht

der

T6ne,"

"deiner

T6ne

Zauberkraft,"

"die

Kunst der

T6ne,"

"geheimnisvolle

T6ne,"

etc.39

The

opera

concludes

with a

chorus

that is

an en-

comium to the powerof music.

Whereas the

Calzabigi-Gluck Orfeo

s struc-

tured in three

acts,

Kanne

designs

his

libretto in

two

(as

he

declares on the

title

page).

In

Calza-

bigi

the two

parts

of

the

Orpheus-in-Hades

epi-

sode-Orpheus's

encounter

with

the Furies and

his

breaking

of the

vow--are

placed

at

the

be-

ginnings

of acts

II and III.

Kanne

sharpens

he fo-

cus on

these

two

moments of the

drama

by

plac-

ing

them at the ends

of his

two

acts.

Kanne's

originality

is

particularly

evident at

these

two

places

in

his

libretto. His

act

I

finale is

a

fast-moving

affair,

like

the

stretta at

the cli-

max of an opera-buffainale. Itconcludes with a

burst

of

spectacle.

The Furies

thrust

their

flam-

ing

torches toward

Orpheus--but

he,

protected

by

the music of

his

lyre,

strides

through

this

wall of

fire

and

arrives

at the

portal

to

Hades in

triumph.

One detects the

ghost

of

Calzabigi

n the text

of

the

act

I finale.

In

general

Kanne

has

taken

the

expansive

and artificial

speeches

of the

Italian

librettist,

put

them on

high heat,

and

reduced

them to their

very

essence.

For

example,

when

Calzabigi's

Furies

spy

the

approach

of

Orpheus

they enquire

in

lofty language:

Chi

mai

dell'Erebo

Fra

e

caligini

Sull'orme

d'Ercole

E di Piritbo

Conduceil

pi6?40

200



8/19

Nei

A s e t s C h o r . N e l

Orpheus.

-L

H a r m

S i e

m i n

H a r m S i t -

N e t i M 0

a e n g t e t a

J E - t e

f a b

M i c h

Q u a d l

b a m t o r

b a r m t

e a c h

w i s s

i s s

f e s

L e i d e n

NeiO

Net.

C h o r .

or h.Cho

*Orph.

dog

med-li

den

-

dea

Nei, nei,

borther- ra See

min

Harm

eeemin farm

og

Sie-

veet

Nei,bort

bortherfr

Mit-keid

nres

Za s/Neni fleuch,Starkli

cAr

eak,sr

-

aban*;

aekser.Larmt,rbarmteah

ein

Neit,

eg,

wegp

h

erI

*

Cher orpk.............................orp...

4~dogm1- deat. de. Net

.

k fee*

at se

........h

ott,

bart,

mate

dog

mos .

6are~erarm

ac

mit

Nis,

is

or-

baest

er6aret

dsk

ain

leshi

ew~tasher

barstar-are4t-

0

Plate

1:

Biehl-Naumann,

Orpheus

und

Euridice,

piano-vocal

score

(Kiel,

17



9/19

(Unter

btm

ffa"rflten

Zonnet llfiren

bit

ttf'tn

tinj

unb

man

ff-t

be

ingang

in

bit

Unttrrot,

4Uretb

met

*trt

earotn

mit

,[(amtaneU

bStivorttten.)

0

re

tj~en

te c

ce t.

Orpbens NOtbb6r

ter

6

eiter,

?rpbe

U6.

24

$anbte

frob

bet

ed?-edendbabd

Etb0

r.

a[ etoermgot

O

bier

n

noe'n

lb

o

r.

-ltmmdr6ffnet

ft

bi'd

tbor.:

S

o

I

tri9t mt finetr

Q)ta

40[ baWte

lautt or

arfusl (atbor

*or,

SU

O

u be

.

Sumnr

a

nfinet

i

btes

t4to

Plate 2: Friedrich

August

Kanne, Orpheus,

ibretto

(Vienna,

1807),

act

I

finale.

libretto (Vienna, 1807), act

I finale.

(Who

can this

be,

who from

Erebus,

hrough

he

murkiness,

n the

paths

of Hercules nd

Pirithous,

i-

rects

his

footsteps?)

Kanne

takes

these

five

lines,

strips

them of all

Classical

allusion,

and

boils them

down

to a sin-

gle

line

of

seven

monosyllables:

Ha Wer

wagt

es

hierzu

nah'n?

(Hah

Whodares

pproach

his

place?)

As a result of this

incisive

approach

he entire

text of the first-act finale of Kanne's Orpheus

fits onto

a

single page

of

a

printed

libretto

(see

plate 2).

One is

amazed

to discover that

the one-

line

speeches

on this

page

(the

opening

lines,

in

particular)

can be

placed

under

the

opening

phrases

of

the Andante

con moto of Beet-

hoven's

concerto,

and

they

seem

to be

saying

exactly

what the music is

saying."4

The

orderof

speeches

is

reversed

(Orpheus speaks

first in

Kanne,

the

Furies in

Beethoven--on

the model

of

Gluck's

Infernal

Scene);

but the

message

is

the same.

STER

Q

UE

FRAGORSTA

GNIS A

UDITUS

AVERNIS"

Kanne's

act

II

finale is

equally interesting,

and,

for the

purposes

of

this

present

Beethoven

study, equally

relevant. This finale

(as

ex-

plained

earlier)

deals with the

episode

in the

Orpheus

story

where the hero

breaks

his

vow,

turns

around to look at

Euridice,

and loses her a

second time.

Kanne

fills this scene with

great

theatrical

suspense

by

means of the elaborate

expansion

of a

single

line that is found in

Virgil's

account

of this

episode:

"In that mo-

ment

all

his

toil

was spent.

The

ruthless ty-

rant's

pact

was

broken. And

three times

a

crash-

ing

noise was heard in the

swamps

of

Avernis."

In Latin:

"Terque fragor stagnis

auditus

Avernis."

2

This

imagery

of the three

crashes

(presum-

ably

three strokes of

lightning

and

thunder)

s

so

vivid that even

in

situations where artistswere

depicting

this scene-and

basing

their

concep-

tion

on the narrative of

Ovid-they

would bor-

row

these

three

dramatic crashes from the ac-

count

of

Virgil.

A

good example

is found in

the

illustration of this scene that

appeared

n the

1791 Gesellschaft edition of Ovid's Metamor-

phoses (see plate 3).

Although

this

depicts

Ovid's

Orpheus story,

there are

three

unnatural

but dramatic shafts

of

light

in

the

sky,

clearly

the artist's

representation

of

Virgil's

ine.43

The

setting

for the act II

finale

of

Kanne's

Orpheus

is

"a

forest

region

with

the

rocky por-

tal to Hades

in the

background."

Three

charac-

ters

(plus

a

chorus)

are

on

stage:

Abrastos,

the fa-

ther of

Euridice;

Echion,

the

High

Priest of

Apollo;

and

Chares,

a

friend of

Orpheus.

They

are

discussing

their

concern for

Orpheus

and

Euridice. The first rumble of thunder is heard.

Echion says:

Hold on

A

battle of the

elements

Suddenly

arises.

Threatening

storms

Inform

me that the

dark

mystery

Will

soon be resolved before our

eyes.

202



10/19

MR,

1??i

rl_ rz

too

1z

ii

:::

::~nlr~g~l.Z"I? xo

q.:~i'~s?????

A01

o

m

.

B40

:Air

Plate 3:

Orpheus

and

Euridice,

from the

Vienna

Gesellschaft

edition of

Ovid's

Metamorphoses

(1791).

By

permission

of the

Houghton Library,

Harvard

University.

The thunder increases. ("Der Donner wird

stdirker.")

The

chorus exclaims:

Hah The

wrath

of

the

elements

Threatens

mightily.

Storm

and

night

Ragelike a flood of the sea.

Strokes of

lightning

Are

pursued

by

thunder,

Mountain

and

valley

Tremble

dreadfully.

O

Zeus,

assist

us

in

your

mercy

Protect us in

this

night

of

terror

203



11/19

Whereupon

the

lightning

and

thunder

break

forth with

maximum

violence. At

this

moment

Orpheus

and

Euridice

suddenly

appear

at the

entrance

of the

cavern of

Hades.

Euridice

cries

out

"We

are saved "

Orpheus--a

moment too

soon--turns

around to

look at

Euridice ...

and

instantly

she

vanishes.

("Orpheus

sieht

sich

nach ihr urn; in diesem Augenblick verschwin-

det

sie.")

There is in

this

scene

not a

hint

of

resem-

blanceto the

treatment

by

Calzabigi

and

Gluck.

Kanne's focus is all

on

theatrical

and

visual

sus-

pense.

There

is no

pleading Euridice,

leading

us

to

wonder

whether or

not

Orpheus

will

break

his

vow.

Kanne

has

taken

that

one line

from

Virgil

and

exploited

it

for all

of its

theatrical

po-

tential.44

How

does

this relate

to

the

situation

in

Beethoven?

The reader

can

find

the

answer

to

this

question by

referring

to

mm.

55-60 of

the

Andante

con

moto

of

op.

58

(pp.

208-09 of

this

article).

In

order to

appreciate

fully

the

originality

and

ingenuity

of

Beethoven's

treatment

of

Virgil's

three

crashes,

however,

a

few

remarks are

in

or-

der

on the

subject

of the

piano

for

which

Beethoven

composed

his

Fourth

Piano

Concerto.

THE

VIENNESE

SIX-OCTAVE

FORTEPIANO

In

truth,

no

study

of

the

innovative

qualities

and the

poetic

content of

Beethoven's

Fourth

Pi-

ano

Concerto can be

pursued

without

a

keen

awareness of

the new

piano

for

which this

work

was

composed:

the

Viennese

six-octave forte-

piano.

At no

point

in the

entire

history

of

the

pi-

ano

was the new

instrument of

the

moment so

innovative in

structure,

or so

poetic

in

its

tonal

resources.

On

the

classical

five-octave instru-

ment Beethoven

had been

using

up

to the

time

he

began

sketching

op.

58,45

this

concerto

would

not

only

have

been

unplayable;

it

would

have

been--quite literally-inconceivable.

The

conception

of the Fourth

Piano

Concerto,

the

vision

of

that

work,

was to

a

very

important

de-

gree

begotten by

the new

resources of

the Vien-

nese six-octave fortepiano.

How

different was

this

instrument?46

Range.

The

Classical five-octave

fortepiano

had the

typical

range

FF-f"',

the

same

range

of

most

eight-

eenth-century harpsichords.

Whereas the

six-octave

range

of

contemporaneous

English

pianos

was

CC-

c"",

on the Viennese

six-octave

pianos

the

twelve

new notes are all

at the

top:

FF-f

.....

This new

range

at the

top

of the

keyboardwas,

practically

and

aes-

thetically

speaking,

New

Space

n

Western

music.

Stringing.

Whereas

most five-octave

fortepianos

had

been

double-strung,47

he

typical

six-octave

instru-

ment was from

top

to bottom

triple-strung.

A

double-

strungfive-octave instrument will have 122 strings,

a

triple-strung

six-octave instrument

219

strings.

And

these latter instruments

were

normally

fitted

out with wire

of heavier

gauge.

Weight.

The

resulting

increase

of tension within

the

frame

of the new instrument

required

much

heavier

construction

throughout.

A

typical

five-octave

forte-

piano

weighs

about 155

pounds;

a six-octave

Vien-

nese

fortepiano

weighs

at least twice as

much--and

this

change

occurs in Vienna

virtually

overnight.

Dynamic

range.

The limit of the

dynamic

range

found in the

repertoire

or the five-octave

instrument

is

pp

to

ff.

Even in the

very

first

piece

that

Beethoven

composed

for the six-octave

piano,

however-the

Appassionata

Sonata-the first movement con-

cludes with

a

dramatic

decrescendo

from

ff

to

ppp,

the first

triple-piano

he ever

specified

in

his music

for

the

piano.

And in the coda

of the third

movement

Beethoven has

a climax marked

fff

(similarly,

the

first

triple-forte

found in his

keyboardmusic).

The

una corda

pedal.

The six-octave

Viennese

forte-

piano,

triple-strung throughout,

is an

instrument

that can

produce

a

true,

absolutelyperceivable,

shift

from una

corda,

to due

corde,

to tre corde.

The

una

corda

on such an instrument

is

hauntingly

beautiful

and

evocative.48 To shift the action

from the

una-

corda

position

to the full tre-corde

position

produces

only

a

slight

increase

in

volume;

what

is

exciting

is

the unfolding of the timbre of the instrument.(In he

world of

organ

music,

this is rather

ike

opening

the

swell-box shades

on an

open-shallot

French

trom-

pette,

and then

closing

the shades

again.)

The

change

is

subtle,

but

hair-raising.

There is no other

passage

in the

literature

where

the

shifting pedal

is used

so

dramatically

as in

the

Andante

con

moto

of the

Fourth

Piano

Concerto,

where

it

depicts

Orpheus

breaking

his

vow,

and

turn-

ing

around

to look at

Euridice.

The

damper pedal.

On the

five-octave

fortepiano

he

damper

rail is raised

by

a knee

lever;

and with

the

dampers

raised

the instrument

produces

an

amaz-

ingly harp-like

tone. This was

not a

standard

tech-

nique for the control of tone or for the creation of a

legato line;

it was

distinctly

a

special

effect.

On

the

six-octave

Viennese

fortepiano,however,

the

damper

rail is now

controlled

by

the

far-more-convenient

damperpedal.

As a result of

this

mechanical innova-

tion,

and the fact that the less

transparent

one of

the

heavier instrument

somehow invites the

use of the

204



12/19

raised

damper

ail,

he

undamped

rpeggio uddenly

assumes

great

mportance

s a hallmark

f

musical

style.

The FourthPianoConcerto s

permeated

ith

this

new sound.

ndeed,

roma

technical

tandpoint,

the

undamped

rpeggio

s the touchstoneof the

po-

etic character f this

impressively

Romantic

work.

The tonal resources of the

Viennese six-oc-

tave piano manifest themselves in the Andante

con moto

especially

in three

ways.

To

begin

with,

there is

Beethoven's instruction that the

piano part

should be

played

una

corda

through-

out.49

Secondly,

there

is

that

amazing

moment,

discussed

above,

when

Beethoven

departs

from

that instruction and

requires

that the

piano

action be shifted to

play

the full

three

strings

of

each note.

(Since

the

first

of

these effects cannot

be

produced by

a

twentieth-century piano,

obvi-

ously

the second effect is

impossible

as

well.)

The

third

magical

use of the

resources of

the

contemporaneous piano

occurs at mm.

47-48,

49-50, and 51, where, for the first time in the

piece

Beethoven

indicates that

the

damper

pedal

should be

depressed (and,

of

course,

the

damper

rail

lifted).

This

effect occurs at

the end

of that

ten-measure-long

decrescendowhich

de-

picts

the Furies

yielding

to

the

song

of

Orpheus.

When

I

have

played

this

movement for

friends,

using

my

own

six-octave Viennese for-

tepiano,50

I

have

known

them-just

at m.

47-

to

gasp.

The

passage

reminds me of

that

line in

Gray's Elegy:

"Or waked to

ecstacy

the

living

lyre."

These measures

involve a

conscious evo-

cation of the sound of the

harp.And

why?

At this

point

in the

story

Euridice

has

been

yielded

over to

Orpheus,

who

guides

his wife

through

the

hazardous

gloom

of the

Underworld with

the

protective

music of

his

lyre.51

MUSICAL FORM:

PROGRAM

FORM

Any

readerwho has

made a

close

study

of

the

second

movement

of

this

concerto

is

aware that

to

try

to relate this

work to

any

of

the

recurring

forms of slow movements of

Classical

concer-

tos is futile. My own conviction is that any at-

tempt

to

analyze

the form of

this

movement

without constant

reference to

its

Orphic pro-

gram

is

equally

futile.

The most

intelligent

and

sensitive

essay along

these lines is

that

by

Klaus

Karner,

who starts out

by

discussing

Marx's

Gluck-Orpheus

discovery,

but then dismisses

that idea

and

goes

about

analyzing

this

compo-

sition

with

a determined

avoidance of

any

refer-

ence

to

poetic

content or

program.52

In

my opinion,

to

analyze

this work without

program

misses the

point

of

the

form. I divide

the

movement

into five sections-five

musical

sections and five programmaticsections.

I:

mm. 1-38.

Orpheus

ddresseshe hostileFuries f

the

Underworld.

Based on

Gluck, Kanne,

and

Naumann,

going

back to

Virgil

and Ovid. A

dialogue

between

he orchestra

nd he

piano,

with

phrases

f

ever

shorter

engths.

II:mm.38-47.The Furies rewon over

by

the

Orphic

song.

Based

on

Gluck,

going

back

to

Virgil

and Ovid.

This

section

s

one

protracted

ecrescendo.

III:

mm. 47-55.

Orpheus,

ow

playing

is

lyre,

guides

Euridice

through

the

gloom

of the

Underworld.

Based

on

Virgil

and

Ovid,

and

reflecting

the tradi-

tion that Orpheus's yre has protectivemagic. Piano

solo,

with four

pizzicato

chords n the

strings

o em-

phasize

he

harp

magery

f the

piano

arpeggios.

IV:

mm.

55-64.

Orpheus

breakshis vow

and looks

back at Euridice. Based

directly

on

Virgil

and Ovid.

For

olo

piano.

V:

mm.

64-72. Euridice

alls back nto the

darkness

and

is reclaimed

by

the Furiesof the

Underworld.

Based

directly

on

Virgil

and Ovid. The orchestrare-

enters,

with material

recalling

he

opening

of the

movement.

These

five

musical-programmatic

sections

are,

asIview

it,

incontrovertible. Less

klipp

und

klar is the

specific

detail

within these sections.

Here we must of

necessity

enter the realm of

speculation.

The

following program

is

speculative.

In the

several

years

that

I

have been

pondering

this

matter

I

have entertained more than one inter-

pretation

for various

"moments" in

this

pro-

gram.53

Whereas

I

strongly

suspect

that in this

movement Beethoven set out to

create a

piece

of

music that would

be,

in

every

phrase

and

every

gesture, totally programmatic,

it

is essential

that we recognize that, lacking the composer's

own definitive

explanation,

we cannot

presume

to have

unveiled Beethoven's

plan.

With that

important

caveat, however,

I

present

the

pro-

gram

on the

following pages

for the

reader's

con-

sideration.

205



13/19

PROGRAM

Andante

con moto

[

=

42]

Strings

f

sempre taccato

...,

..

. ..

;

I

T

IL

M~IO

i

.

0.

i

i

l

FURIES:

a

Wer

wagt

es hier

zu

nah'n

(Ha

Who

dares

approach

this

place )

(Kanne,

act

I,

sc.

xiii,

line

2)

6

.

Solo*

inolto antabile

-..

i ' "

me

"

imT -

,",

ORPHEUS:

ch wandle froh

die

Schreckensbahn.

(I

tread his

path

of

terrors

gladly.)

(line

1)

Strings

f

s

pemire

tacca

o

I/

"

-..-,

,

,.

FURIES:Ha

Verwegner

geh

zurUck

(line 4)

(Hah

Trespasser,

go

back )

19

Sl

1olto

es.ressio

-

i

..F-H

ORPHEUS:

ch suche meines Lebens

Gliick. (line 3)

(I

seek

the

joy

of

my

life.)

*Beethoven'sannotation:

"Wiihrend

es

ganzen

Andantes

hat

der

Klavierspieler

ununterbrochen die

Verschiebung

(una

corda)

anzuwenden,

das Zeichen

'Ped.'

bezieht

sich

ausserdem

auf den zeitweisen Gebrauchdes

gew6hnlichen

Pedalzuges."

During

he entire

Andante

the

pianist

should

employ

the

shifting pedal

[una corda]

uninterruptedly;

he

symbol

"Ped."

refers o the occasional use of the

customary

pedal.)

206



14/19

26

Solo

"

z

=

0Strings

I

emirest

I

cat

scll/

Mgf

i

.

.=-

of s-

,

i

= F

M"

"

PI-IT=1 -

_

I

I

=4 ,-

,

--ILm

1 1

11I

ll:-:"

'

.

-

.

"'

,

l

-'

.,

.J

J I J

)

.

"

I.:I.

I.

F%

1

.+

A'

i.

A'-

.

.

.

FURIES:

Du

betiubst

nicht

unser

Ohr.

ORPHEUS:

Er6ffnet

mir

das dunkle

Thor.

FURIES: Nimmer

6ffnet

sich

diess

Thor.

ORPHEUS:

Ihr Saiten

rauscht im

hellen

Chor.

(lines

6-9)

(You

do not deceive

us.

Open

to

me the dark

portal.

Never will

this

portalopen.

You,

strings,

resonate

in

clear

chorus.)

Solo

pp

pp

SIr'n-gs--T

"

i

d"d

,

,

=f

-

=-

Strings

f

wi

-a"

FURIES:

uriick

Zuriick

Zurick

(Kanne,

ine

13)

(Go

back

Go

back

Go

back

Have

pity

Have

pity )

ORPHEUS:

rbarmt euch

Erbarmt

euch

(Naumann)

38

43

Stri

4Mgs

R

Mbs

I1

-

-1.

S

A

-

-=z2

~

3F

Og

'kPP

Drawn-out

decrescendo,cf.

Gluck,

"Ah

quale

incog-

nito

affetto ..."

and

"Le

porte

stridano

..."

(see

p.

197).

("Ah,

what

unfamiliar

sweet

emotion

causes

our

implacable

fury

to be

suspended?",

"The

gates

creak

on their black

hinges,

and

they

leave

the

pas-

sage

secure

and free

to the

victor ")

207



15/19

Solo

.

...

I

I

*F

l~j,

...., I

Strings

pizz.

, .....

Piz

,

Orpheus,playing

his

lyre,

leads

Euridice

hrough

the

gloom

of

the

Underworld

my

own

gloss

of

Virgil

and

Ovid).

52

ifl,

rR

I

R

a

- ,

"""

~

~

-

..

.

.

"

-"

,--- -

-

--.

L

, der::so.

Orpheus

s

concernedforhis

wife,

out of

longing

and

fear

("aus

Sehnsucht,

und

aus

Furcht":

1791 transla-

tion of

Ovid).

due

e

poi

tre corde

55

a

3

corde

cresc.

in'al

/

ft

-

?

Cum

subita

incautum dementia

cepit

amantem

...

restitit,

Eurydicenque

uam

iam

luce sub

ipsa,

immemor

heu

victusque

animi

respexit.

(Virgil,

488-91)

(A

sudden

frenzy

seized

Orpheus,

unwary

n

his

love

.... He stopped, and on the very verge of light, un-

mindful,

alas and

vanquished

in

purpose,

he

looked

back

on

Euridice,

now his

own.)

56

a

3

corde

--------

S6

6

6

6

6

A

d'

rB-I

t

1

Ibiomnis

effusus labor

atque

immitis

ruptatyranni

foedera,

terque

fragor stagnis

auditus

Avernis.

Illa

'quis

et me'

inquit

'miseram et

te

perdidit,

Orpheu,

quis

tantus

furor?'

(Virgil,

492-95)

(In

that moment all his toil was

spent;

the

ruthless

tyrant's pact

was broken. And three

times a

crash

was heard in the

swamps

of

Avernis.

She

cried,

"What

madness,

Orpheus,

what

dreadfulmadness

has ruined

my

unhappy

self and

thee?")

208



16/19

60

due.

oi

una orda

Solo

dimrnizn

a

al

Et

protinus

illa

relapsa

est.

(Ovid,57)

(And

nstantly

she

slippedback.)

j

j

Et

ex

oculis

subito,

ceu fumus in

auras

commixtus tenuis ...

(Virgil,

499-500)

(Andstraightaway

rom his

sight,

like

smoke

mingling

with thin

air

...)

62

a

tempo

0 L

:-

Lax*.

fugit

diversa

..

(Virgil,

500)

(.

.. she

vanished

afar.)

arco

S t r i n p

s

a r c o

En

iterum

crudelia

retro

fata vocant

conditque

natantia

lumina

somnus.

(Virgil,95-96)

(Lo,

again

the

cruel

fates

call

me

back,

and

sleep

veils

my

swimming

eyes.)

70

Strings

LY?

-q

i i

...

revolutaque

rursus

eodem

est.

(Ovid,63)

(...

and

she

fell

back to

the

place

whence she

had

come.)

69

(Le-

be-

wohl )

Supremumque

vale'

quod

iam

vix auribus

lle

acciperet

dixit

...

(Ovid,2-63)

(She

spoke

one

last

"farewell,"

which

scarcely

reached

his

ears.)

Solo

k

3

S.,,.

,,

Bracchiaque

ntendens

prendique

et

prendere

certans

nil nisi cedentes

infelix

arripit

auras.

(Ovid,

58-59)

(And

he stretched out

his

arms,

eager

to

clasp

her or

to feel her

clasp. Unhappy one,

he

claspednothing

but

the

yielding

air.)

209



17/19

CONCLUSION

To the reader who reacts to

the

above

pro-

gram

with

enthusiastic

acceptance

I

can

only

repeat

my

earlier caveat. All of the

above

may

be

nothing

more than an

amazing array

of coinci-

dences. Since Beethoven himself never

pro-

vided the authoritative key for this piece, the

solid

evidence

which

the

scholarly

mind re-

quires

will

probably

never be

forthcoming.

Any

decision,

therefore,

regarding

he

presence

of a

program

in the

second movement of

Beethoven's Fourth

Piano

Concerto

must,

in a

sense,

remain

a decision for the

individual

lis-

tener. As

Czerny

reports,

"[Beethoven]

knew

that music is

not

always

so

freely

felt

by

the

hearerswhen a

definitely

expressed

object

has

already

fettered their

imagination."154

The scholar who reactsto the

above

program

with cautious

disbelief, however,

should con-

sider the following. In the past 175yearsmuch

has

changed

in

music. Our concert

halls are

big-

ger.55

We use

larger

orchestras.

The

instruments

of our time are

specifically

designed

to

project

in

large

spaces.

These modern

instruments have

a heavier

timbre,

which tends to make

slower

tempi

more reasonable and

acceptable.

And,

as

regardsgeneral

attitudes toward

pro-

gram

music,

the

pendulum

is forever

swinging.

Beethoven is said to have

remarked,

in

1823,

that

audiences were

no

longer

so

poetically

sen-

sitive as

they

had been a

few

decades

earlier.56

Our

end-of-the-twentieth-century experience

with

the

Andante

con

moto of

Beethoven's

Fourth

Piano Concerto-it

must be

granted-is

a

very

different

experience

from that

which

J.

F.

Reichardt described in

1808: "a

masterpiece

of

beautiful sustained

melody,

which

he

actually

sang

on

his

instrument,

which

awakened its re-

sponse

in

me,"

and

which

Czerny

likened to

"anantique tragicscene."

But the straws of

change

are n

the wind

these

days.

In the

years

ahead,

quitepredictably,

here

will

be

performances

of the

concerto which will

change

our

perception: they

will

occur in

smaller,

more intimate

performing spaces;

the

piano

will

be a six-octave

Viennese

instrument

(or

an excellent

replica

thereof)

able to commu-

nicate the

original

poetic

characterof

this

piece;

the

string players

will

use

instruments

of

appro-

priate

character

(with

gut strings,

lighter

bows,

etc.);

there

will

be

fewer

of

these

instruments;'7

the

piece

will be

performed

n

2,

not

4;

the

tempo

will be Andante con moto, not Lento or Largo;

and all of the

musicians involved

will be

seek-

ing

to

communicate

the

often-told

story

of

Orpheus,

overcoming

the

hostility

of

the

Furies of the

Underworld

with the

Power of

Song, regaining

his beloved

Euridice,

but then

breaking

his

vow and

losing

his wife a

second

time.

When we hear

this work

performed

in this

manner we shall be

better

qualified

to

judge

the

credibility

of a

program

here.

Only by

ridding

ourselves

of our

habits of

anachronistic

per-

formance will we be in a

position

to

perceive

this work

as it was

originally created,

t

to

grasp

ts

original poetic

content.

%

NOTES

1In

all

the references

to Beethoven in the

complete

writings

and

the

published

correspondence

of

Liszt,

I have

yet

to find

this remark

o which the

music

journalists

so often allude.

2Essays

n Musical

Analysis,

vol. III:

Concertos

(London,

1936), p.

80ff.

3Liszt

wrotea

symphonic oem Orpheus 1854)

orwhich

he

provided

n

ntroductory

ssay.

He knew

Gluck's

Orfeo

ed Euridice

ndwrote an

essay

about hat work

(Gesam-

melte Schriftenvon FranzLiszt [Leipzig,1910],IV,23-31).

Liszt

performed

Beethoven's

Fourth

Piano

Concerto,

andar-

ranged

t for two

pianos.

4Neal

Zaslaw,

in "Mozart's

Tempo Conventions,"

Interna-

tional

Musicological

Society

CongressReport

11

(Copenha-

gen,

1972),

720-33,

remarks,

"Evidence

exists that

the

slow

Andante

originated

only

in the

nineteenth

century" p.

722).

SLondon

CS

6856,

recorded n

1973.

6Czerny,

On the

Proper

Performance

of

All

Beethoven's

Works

or

the Piano

(London,

n.d.);

facs.

edn.,

ed. Paul

Ba-

dura-Skoda

Vienna,

1970),

p.

110.

7FranzLiszts

Musikalische

Werke

Leipzig,

1908),

I,

2

(Sym-

phonische

Dichtungen

No.

4);

with an

English

translation.

sSee

fn.

3.

9E.g.,

Abraham

Veinus,

The

Concerto

(New

York,

1945),

p.

138: "The

reader s asked to

believe,

if

it

gives

him

any

plea-

sure,

that the slow

movement of the fourth

Beethoven

piano

concertodepicts Orpheus amingthe wild beasts.However,

this was not

Beethoven's idea. The

interpretation

eems

to

have startedwith Liszt."

101

am

persuaded, ncidentally,

that the

op.

58 is

a

cyclic

work and that it

should

eventually

be

recognized

as

Beethoven's

"Orpheus"

Concerto.

The

present

article,

of

course,

deals

only

with the

second

movement.

"Czerny,

p.

60

fn.

12By

he end of the

eighteenth

century

t

became

customary

210



18/19

to use

"Adagio"

oosely

in reference

to

second movements

of

symphonies

and

concertos,

regardless

of the

actual

tempo

markings.

SeeDavid Fallows's

article

"Adagio"

n

The New

Grove

Dictionary

of

Music and Musicians

(London,

1980),

vol.

1,

pp.

88-89.

'3Source

Readings

n

Music

History,

ed.

Oliver

Strunk

New

York,

1950),

p.

738.

14Czerny, .

110.

'5Kurt

Dorfmiiller,

Beitrilge

zur

Beethoven-Bibliographie

(Munich, 1978),p.

315

(regarding

he

genesis

of

op. 58).

'6Regarding

Czerny's activity

in Vienna

during

hese

years,

see

Alice Mitchell's

article

on

Czerny

in The New

Grove,

vol.

5,

pp.

138-41.

'7Berlin,

1859.

Although

this work was

published

in Ger-

many

a

total

of seven times

prior

to

World

War

I,

it was

never

translated.

'8Gluck

und die

Oper (Berlin,1863),

I,

297ff.

19Ludwig

van

Beethoven,

Leben und

Schaffen

(Leipzig,

1902;

1st

edn.,

1859),

II, 77ff.

20Since

or

many generations

throughout

Catholic

Europe

t

was forbidden

to

publish

the

Bible

in

vernacular

transla-

tions,

it

was

only

in

the nineteenth

century

that

the Bible

became the world's most

frequently

published

book.

21Anton

Mayer,

Wiens

Buchdrucker-Geschichte,

1482-

1882

(Vienna, 1887), II,

109-16.

22Elsewhere

n

Catholic

Europe

Ovid'sworkswere banned

for use

in

schools,

but

allowed

for

privatereading;

hus

theywere

frequently

published.

In

Vienna, however,

the atti-

tudes

of

the censors were

unusually

severe.

23This

liberalization

is

described

by

Frank

T.

Brechka,

Gerhard

van Swieten and His

World,

1700-1772

(The

Hague,

1970),

p.

124ff.

24This

1791 German transl.

is not based

directly

on Ovid.

Rather

it

is

a transl.

of

an

expurgated

Frenchversion

(first

pub. Amsterdam, 1732,

and

used

again

in the Paris edn. of

1767-71), by

the Abbe

Antoine

Banier

1673-1741),

a

Jesuit.

25A

German

transl.

by AugustRode, 1794;

a

German

ransl.

by

J.

H.

Voss, 1799;

the

original

Latin

text,

pub.byJ.

V. De-

gen,

1803;

a

satirical

version in

doggerel

verse

by

Gottlieb

Milller, 1804-07;

the Latin

text,

ed.

by

Fr.

X.

Schonberger,

1805;

that same edited

text,

with a

simultaneous

transl.,

also

in 1805.

26Thebest indication of the

Viennese

Ovid

rage

in

these

years

is

the

Miillersatire,

which was

published

n

a series

of

small volumes between 1804 and 1807. The volumes con-

taining

the

Orpheus story

(books

X

and XI

of

Ovid)

wereis

jander, owen, “beethoven’s ‘orpheus in hades’: the andante con moto of the fourth piano...

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