DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 10, 2020)
The Ninth Symphony can be compared with Brahms' “Four Serious Songs”, in that each of them has four movements (or songs), which represent a series of advancing hypotheses. Brahms composed his work as his lifelong friend and collaborator, Clara Schumann, was dying.
“The Four Serious Songs” examines the question of our mortality, and our immortality. If we don't wish to come the end of our lives, and wonder what it was really all about, then we have to ask what is it that gives our lives meaning, that lives on after we are gone? The first song tries to find the difference between man and the animals in an existential way. It fails. The second song, in effect, says, "Don't just think about yourself. Look at all the suffering in the world, and think about the future." The third song is a reflection on death, and it leads to the breakthrough in the fourth song, a setting of First Corinthians 13. The work ends with "And now abideth Faith, Hope, and Love, but Love is the greatest of them all." It's beautiful, but if presented alone, it would not have the power it does as a higher hypothesis, in the working out, over four movements, the solution to a problem. The same is true of the Ninth Symphony.
The first movement of the symphony presents us with an epic struggle of Promethean proportions. The second introduces playfulness and fun. The third is sublimely beautiful. And in the fourth, Beethoven reveals to us the discovery of joy as the divine spark of creativity. The Ninth Symphony is completely coherent with Brahms' discovery of agape, the highest form of love, as "the greatest of them all." The fourth movement is powerful enough to stand alone, but, like the Brahms, it is much more effective when we hear it as the culmination of the entire work.
Though Beethoven composes double fugues throughout, there are no fugal sections in the third movement. it has something most rare—a double Theme and Variations. Whereas a double fugue has two themes or subjects, say A and B, developing together; a double variations has alternating A and B themes.
Today we do something unusual and post 2 different performances. One is by Furtwangler, who took the movement slowly enough that the running 16th notes that develop later would still sing beautifully. The other is a good modern performance Christian Thieleman, which has the advantage that you may see the orchestra play, and follow the score, with the current measure highlighted. To avoid confusion (we hope), we will identify the changes in the Furtwangler, as usual, by the time in the video. In the Theileman, we will give the measure, score indications, and the time. Please feel free to follow either, or both.
After a short introduction, theme A, in Bb major, begins at:
Furtwangler 0:32
Thieleman Measure 3. 0:29 - marked Adagio Molto e Cantabile (very slow and singing).
After this long theme is completed, the music changes key, to D major, and to a faster, walking tempo. Theme B is then played:
Furtwangler 03:17
Thieleman measure 35-marked Andante moderato 02:49
Next we return to Theme A, and we hear the first variation on it. The melody is now florid, like a good singer.
Furtwangler 04:58
Thieleman: Measure 43-marked Tempo 1 04:17
Next, we return to theme B, and hear the first variation on it, in the key of G. The strings begin to be played pizzicato (plucked):
Furtwangler 07:45
Thieleman Measure 65-marked Andante 06:40
Then, we come to another variation on theme A, but it is different. It is in Eb, and the Pizzicato continues. Are the two themes now beginning to change each other: What are we actually hearing?
Furtwangler 09:17
Thieleman Measure 83-marked Adagio 07:57
After modulating to the improbable key of Cb major(!), the pizzicati lead us back to Bb major, and a time signature of 12/8. This should be a variation on theme B, but it is clearly theme A. The first violins sing in running 16th notes, and Furtwangler's slower tempo allows them to soar!
Furtwangler 10:46
Thieleman Measure 99-marked Lo Stesso Tempo 09:32
All of a sudden, a loud intervention occurs, that may remind us of something, but otherwise seems hard to account for.
Furtwangler 13:36
Thieleman Last beat of measure 120 11:50
The theme then just picks up where it left off, until a 2nd such interjection comes along. It is even more powerful, and ends differently
Furtwangler 14:50
Thieleman 13:05
Theme A then returns (with aspects of theme B, and plays sublimely to the end of the movement.
We will leave discussion of these interjections 'till tomorrow, when we examine recurring motives throughout the symphony.