Triumph and tragedy: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink. The audience loved this 2009 concert at the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
(00:00) Introduction
(00:35) I. Poco sostenuto – Vivace
(14:46) II. Allegretto
(22:46) III. Presto
(32:08) IV. Allegro con brio
Ask a person on the street what their favorite Beethoven symphony is, and they’ll likely say the Fifth, or the Ninth. But ask a classical musician, and a surprising number of times you'll hear: The Seventh. "Here every impetuosity, every longing and ranting of the heart becomes a blissful exuberance of joy." Those effusive words came from the pen of composer Richard Wagner, when he was describing the Symphony No. 7 in A Major, opus 92 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827).
Composed between 1811 and 1812, Beethoven's Seventh provoked very different reactions from the beginning – it seems to have touched everyone deeply. The main themes in Beethoven's 7th Symphony are triumph and tragedy – the tragedy having to do with the second movement, a sort of funeral procession. It was so well loved at its very first performance that the audience called for it to be repeated. This movement is marked "Allegretto," which can be translated as "slightly fast." But for a funeral march? Certainly, the first listeners must have perceived it as such. The premiere performance of Beethoven's Seventh was at a benefit concert in Vienna for wounded soldiers and their families in December 1813. It came only two months after the Battle of Nations near Leipzig. The German name is "Völkerschlacht" (Slaughter of the Peoples), one of the most catastrophic wartime events in human history. It also marked liberation from Napoleon's forces. The sad, beautiful quality of the second movement makes it very different from the other three movements of Beethoven's Seventh. Endlessly mournful, but also uplifting, it is still played at funerals today.
But the dense juxtaposition of dignified funeral marches and movements full of exuberant joy in Beethoven's Seventh also caused alienation and even rejection among the composer's contemporaries. "He's ripe for the madhouse!" wrote composer Carl Maria von Weber. Weber had just heard a performance of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony with its rollicking fourth movement. It can be amusing to read how the first listeners reacted to a composition that is today a classic. Weber wasn't the only critical voice. Clara Schumann's father, Friedrich Wieck, thought that "this symphony – particularly the first and the last movements – could only have been written in a state of inebriation."
Fast-forward from then to now: Need a little lift? Then listen to the finale to Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A Major, opus 92, marked "Allegro con brio" (fast, with verve). The tempestuous interpretation by Bernard Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam was met with thundering applause and enthusiastic calls for an encore.
© AVRO
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