Creativity l.v. Beethoven

Beethoven

Beethoven's childhood was shorter than that of his peers. Not only because worldly concerns burdened him early. In his very nature, not
an amazing thoughtfulness appeared early in the years. Ludwig liked to contemplate nature for a long time.
At the age of ten he is famous in his hometown Bonnet as a skilled organist and harpsichordist. Among music lovers, his amazing gift is famous.
improvisation. Along with adult musicians, Ludwig plays the violin in the Bonn Court Orchestra. He differs not in age strong
will, the ability to set a goal and achieve it. When his eccentric father forbade him to attend school, Ludwig firmly decided by his own work
complete your education. Therefore, the young Beethoven was attracted to Vienna, the city of the great musical traditions, the realm of music.
Mozart lives in Vienna. It was from him that Ludwig inherited in music the drama of sudden transitions from sorrow to happy, serene gaiety.
Listening to Ludwig's improvisations, Mozart felt the future of music in this brilliant young man. In Vienna, Beethoven is greedily pursuing his
musical education, Maestro Haydn gives him lessons musical composition. In his skill he reaches perfection. First three
Beethoven dedicates piano sonatas to Haydn, despite the difference in their views. Beethoven called his Eighth Piano Sonata “Big
pathetic”, which reflects the struggle of various feelings. In the first movement, the music seethes like an angry stream. The second part is melodious, it is calm
meditation. Beethoven wrote thirty-two piano sonatas. In them you can hear melodies that have grown from folk German and Slavic songs and
dancing.
In April 1800, at its first open concert Ludwig van Beethoven performs the First Symphony at the Vienna Theatre. True musicians
praise him for his skill, novelty and wealth of ideas. Sonata-fantasy, called "Moon" he dedicates to Giulietta Guicciardi, his student. However
it was at the height of his fame that Beethoven rapidly lost his hearing. Beethoven is going through a deep spiritual crisis, it seems to him that living deaf is a musician
impossible. However, having overcome deep despair with the strength of his spirit, the composer writes the Third Symphony "Heroic". Then written worldwide
famous “Kreutzer Sonata”, opera “Fidelio”, “Appassionata”.
Due to deafness, Beethoven no longer performs in concerts as a pianist and conductor. But deafness does not prevent him from creating music. His inner ear
damaged, In his imagination, he clearly imagines the music. The last, Ninth Symphony is Beethoven's musical testament. This is the song of freedom
a fiery call to posterity

SYMPHONY CREATIVITY

9 symphonies, 11 overtures.

1. VALUE. A new range of themes and images. Beethoven is the greatest symphonist. The appearance of each symphony marked the birth of a whole world for B. and was a generalization of a whole stage of creative quest.

· “After Beethoven, symphonic plans must be abandoned” (R. Schumann). “It is impossible to do anything new and significant in the field of symphony after Beethoven” (R. Wagner).

Symphonic creativity distinguishes new circle themes and images, born of the new content of art, the very personality of Beethoven. Events French Revolution had a strong influence on the formation of B.'s worldview. He developed republican (anti-monarchist) ideals, in which he kept faith all his life. The nature of B.'s creativity is to some extent formed zeitgeist. There has been a dramatic shift in public opinion on the purpose of art: appeal to a mass audience; unprecedented scale of ideas.

· At the forefront in the work of B. put forward heroic-epic civic theme, which refracted the passionate drama of the era, its upheavals and catastrophes. Man himself wins the right to freedom And joy. Images of struggle, collision and achievement of happiness.

Works: overtures "Egmont", "Coriolanus", "Leonore No. 3", symphonies Third (1802-1804), Fifth (1804-1808), Ninth (1815-1823).

In these works, a new heroic theme is embodied with individual characteristics. B. nurtured his symphonic concepts for a long time.

Continuity:

WITH J. Haydn: sonata-symphonic cycle - the basis of the architecture of the symphony. Symphonies No. 1-2 (1800-1802) embody the continuity of the principles of classicism, but there is already a lot of brass sounding here.

WITH Mozart principles of operatic dramaturgy.

· Man and Nature - Symphony No. 6 (1808).

Romantic Influences - Symphony No. 7 - Dance, 1812.

(Galatskaya, p.83-86)

2. FEATURES OF DRAMA.

· Symphony - drama(drama of ideas). The idea is tragic, heroic. The idea determines the development and movement of forces on different stages dramaturgy. It is based on conflict personality with reality, fate, fate. new type dramaturgy - conflict. Interaction of images - irreconcilable forces collide.

· A new type of symphonism - heroic and effective.

· Tonal-thematic connections between the parts of the whole and within the part.

SYMPHONY No. 5 in C MINOR

(1805-1808)

1. VALUE.

· Fifth symphony- the idea of ​​a heroically painful overcoming of an obstacle. Never before has music reached such intensity of struggle and has never depicted such sharp clashes between fatal inevitability and the courage to oppose it will. The symphony embodies one of main ideas Beethoven's creativity heroism of struggle and victory. The line of dramatic development here can be represented by the words:

"From darkness to light, through struggle to victory."

· Keynote Opening (FATE THEME). Leitmotiv (German leitmotiv - leading motive) is an operatic term. A theme or musical phrase that describes a character or situation and sounds when they are mentioned or appear on stage. A leitmotif is a repeated characteristic of a phenomenon, idea, or image. With the help of the "theme of fate" (the knock of fate), the prisoners of one of the Nazi prisons were knocking.

2. STAGES OF DRAMA. DRAMATURGY.

BEETHOVEN'S SYMPHONY

Beethoven's symphonies arose on the ground prepared by the entire course of the development of instrumental music in the 18th century, especially by his immediate predecessors, Haydn and Mozart. The sonata-symphonic cycle that finally took shape in their work, its reasonable slender constructions, turned out to be a solid foundation for the massive architecture of Beethoven's symphonies.

Beethoven's musical thinking is a complex synthesis of the most serious and advanced, born of the philosophical and aesthetic thought of his time, with the highest manifestation of national genius, imprinted in the broad traditions of centuries-old culture. A lot of artistic images Reality also prompted him - the revolutionary era (3, 5, 9 symphonies). Beethoven was especially worried about the problem of "the hero and the people." Beethoven's hero is inseparable from the people, and the problem of the hero develops into the problem of the individual and the people, man and humanity. It happens that a hero dies, but his death is crowned with a victory that brings happiness to liberated humanity. Along with the heroic themes, the theme of nature found the richest reflection (4, 6 symphonies, 15 sonatas, many slow parts of symphonies). In understanding and perception of nature, Beethoven is close to the ideas of J.-J. Rousseau. Nature for him is not a formidable, incomprehensible force opposing man; it is the source of life, from contact with which a person is morally cleansed, gains the will to work, and looks more boldly into the future. Beethoven penetrates deeply into the subtlest sphere of human feelings. But, revealing the world of the inner, emotional life of a person, Beethoven draws the same hero, strong, proud, courageous, who never becomes a victim of his passions, since his struggle for personal happiness is guided by the same thought of the philosopher.

Each of the nine symphonies is an exceptional work, the fruit of a long labor (for example, Beethoven worked on Symphony No. 9 for 10 years).

symphonies

In the first symphony C-dur the features of the new Beethoven style appear very modestly. According to Berlioz, "this is excellent music ... but ... not yet Beethoven." Noticeable forward movement in the second symphony D-dur . The confidently masculine tone, the dynamics of development, the energy reveal the image of Beethoven much brighter. But the real creative takeoff occurred in the Third Symphony. Beginning with the Third Symphony, the heroic theme inspires Beethoven to create the most outstanding symphonic works- Fifth Symphony, overtures, then this theme is revived with unattainable artistic perfection and scope in the Ninth Symphony. At the same time, Beethoven reveals other figurative spheres: the poetry of spring and youth in Symphony No. 4, the dynamics of life in the Seventh.

In the Third Symphony, according to Becker, Beethoven embodied "only the typical, eternal ... - willpower, the majesty of death, creative power - he combines and from this creates his poem about everything great, heroic, which in general can be inherent in man" [Paul Becker. Beethoven, T. II . Symphonies. M., 1915, p. 25.] The second part is the Funeral March, a musical heroic-epic picture unsurpassed in beauty.

The idea of ​​heroic struggle in the Fifth Symphony is carried out even more consistently and directed. Like an opera leitmotif, the four-sound main theme runs through all parts of the work, transforming as the action develops and is perceived as a symbol of evil that tragically invades a person’s life. There is a great contrast between the drama of the first part and the slow-thoughtful flow of thought in the second.

Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral", 1810

The word "pastoral" refers to the peaceful and carefree life of shepherds and shepherdesses among herbs, flowers and fat flocks. Since antiquity, pastoral paintings, with their regularity and peace, have been an unshakable ideal for an educated European and continued to be so in Beethoven's time. “No one in the world can love the village like I do,” he admitted in his letters. - I can love a tree more than a person. Omnipotent! I am happy in the forests, I am happy in the forests, where every tree speaks of you.

The “pastoral” symphony is a landmark work, reminding that the real Beethoven is not at all a revolutionary fanatic, ready to give up everything human for the sake of struggle and victory, but a singer of freedom and happiness, in the heat of battle, not forgetting the goal for which sacrifices are made and accomplishments are made. For Beethoven, active-dramatic compositions and pastoral-idyllic ones are two sides, two faces of his Muse: action and reflection, struggle and contemplation constitute for him, as for any classic, an obligatory unity, symbolizing the balance and harmony of natural forces.

The "pastoral" symphony is subtitled "Memories of Rural Life". Therefore, echoes of village music sound quite natural in its first part: pipe tunes accompanying rural walks and dances of the villagers, lazily waddling melodies of bagpipes. However, the hand of Beethoven, the inexorable logician, is visible here as well. Both in the melodies themselves and in their continuation, similar features appear: recurrence, inertia and repetition dominate the presentation of themes, in small and large phases of their development. Nothing will recede without repeating itself several times; nothing will come to an unexpected or new result - everything will return to normal, join the lazy cycle of already familiar thoughts. Nothing will accept a plan imposed from outside, but will follow an established inertia: every motive is free to grow indefinitely or come to naught, dissolve, giving way to another similar motive.

Are not all natural processes so inertial and calmly measured, are not clouds floating in the sky uniformly and lazily, grass swaying, streams and rivers murmuring? natural life unlike the life of people, it does not reveal a clear purpose, and therefore it is devoid of tension. Here it is, a life-stay, a life free from desires and striving for what is desired.

As opposed to the prevailing tastes, Beethoven in the last creative years creates works of exceptional depth and grandeur.

Although the Ninth Symphony is far from last work Beethoven, it was she who was the composition that completed the ideological and artistic searches of the composer. The problems outlined in symphonies No. 3 and 5 here acquire a universal, universal character. The genre of the symphony itself has fundamentally changed. IN instrumental music Beethoven introduces word. This discovery of Beethoven was used more than once by composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Beethoven subordinates the usual principle of contrast to the idea of ​​continuous figurative development, hence the non-standard alternation of parts: first, two fast parts, where the drama of the symphony is concentrated, and the slow third part prepares the finale - the result of the most complex processes.

The Ninth Symphony is one of the most outstanding creations in the history of world musical culture. In terms of the grandeur of the idea, the breadth of the concept and the powerful dynamics of musical images, the Ninth Symphony surpasses everything created by Beethoven himself.

+MINIBONUS

BEETHOVEN'S PIANO SONATAS.

Late sonatas are notable for their great complexity. musical language, compositions. Beethoven deviates in many respects from the patterns of formation typical of the classical sonata; the attraction at that time to philosophical and contemplative images led to a passion for polyphonic forms.

VOCAL CREATIVITY. "TO THE DISTANT BELOVED". (1816?)

The first in a series of works of the last creative period There was a cycle of songs "KDV". Completely original in concept and composition, it was an early forerunner of the romantic vocal cycles of Schubert and Schumann.

The concept of "symphonism" is special, having no analogues in the theory of other arts. It denotes not just the presence of symphonies in the composer's work or the scale of this genre, but a special property of music. Symphonism is a special dynamism of the deployment of meaning and form, the content depth and relief of music, emancipated from the text, literary plot, characters and other semantic realities of opera and vocal genres. Music addressed to the listener for purposeful perception should carry a much larger and specific amount of artistic information than background music decorating social rituals. Such music was gradually formed in the depths of Western European culture and found its highest expression in the work of the Viennese classics, and the peak of its development - in the work of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827).

Of course outstanding instrumental works Handel and especially Bach are filled with deep meaning, colossal energy of thought, which often allows us to talk about their philosophical nature. But we must not forget that the content of music depends on the depth of culture of the person who perceives it. And Beethoven was the one who taught composers of subsequent generations to create large-scale instrumental "dramas", "tragedies", "novels" and "poems". Without his sonatas and symphonies, concertos, variations, embodying the symphony of thinking, there would be not only the romantic symphony of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Strauss, Mahler, but also composers of the 20th century. - Shostakovich, Penderetsky, Schnittke, Kancheli.

Beethoven wrote in the new genres of classicism - sonatas for pianoforte, sonatas for pianoforte and violin, quartets, symphonies. Divertissements, cassations, serenades were not his genres, just as his life, which proceeded in close proximity to the aristocratic circles of Vienna, was not the life of a courtier. Democracy was the longed-for goal of the composer, who was deeply worried about his "low" origin. But he did not aspire to the title, as, for example, the Russian poet A. Fet, who all his life sought the nobility. Slogans of the French Revolution liberte, egalite, fraternite (freedom, equality, fraternity), which he personally welcomed, were deeply close and understandable to him. In his last, Ninth Symphony, he led the choir to the finale to the words of F. Schiller "Hug, millions." He no longer has such "materializations" of the content of the word in instrumental genres, but many sonatas and symphonies are imbued with a heroic, heroic-pathetic sound. Yes, in fact, this is the main figurative-content sphere of Beethoven's music, set off by images of a bright idyll, which often have a pastoral shade characteristic of the era. But even here, in the most lyrical fragments, one always feels inner strength, restrained willpower, readiness to fight.

Beethoven's music in our country, especially in the period of the USSR, was identified with a revolutionary impulse and even concrete pictures of social battles. In the second part of the Third Symphony - the famous funeral march - they heard the funeral of a hero who fell in the revolutionary struggle; about the sonata No. 23 "Arrazzyupaa" the words of admiration of V.I. Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution, as evidence of its social pathos. Whether this is so or not is not the question: musical content conventional and subject to socio-psychological dynamics. But the fact that Beethoven's music evokes unambiguously specific associations with the spiritual life of the acting and thinking person- definitely.

If it is so important to understand Mozart's music to imagine his theater, then musical themes Beethoven has a different "address": to decipher their meaning, one must know the language of opera-vein, the operas of Handel, Gluck and many of their contemporaries, who expressed typical affects with typified motifs-formulas. baroque era with her pathos, tragic lyrics, heroic recitation and idyllic grace, she developed semantic figures that, thanks to Beethoven, took on the form of a system of musical language, possessing originality and perfection for expressing images-ideas, and not characters and their "behaviors". Many of Beethoven's musical and speech figures later acquired the meaning of symbols: fate, retribution, death, sorrow, perfect dream, love delight. It is no coincidence that L. Tolstoy dedicated his story "The Kreutzer Sonata" to the Ninth Violin Sonata, from which I would like to quote significant words: "Is it possible to play this presto in the living room among low-cut ladies? 1 Play and then clap, and then eat ice cream and talk about the latest gossip These things can be played only under certain, important, significant circumstances, and when it is required to perform certain important actions corresponding to this music. To play and do what this music has set for. "

The concept of "symphonism" is also associated with that special auditory instrumental fantasy that strikes in Beethoven, who lost his hearing quite early and created many of his masterpieces with complete deafness. During his lifetime, the piano came into use, which was destined to become the main instrument in subsequent eras. musical culture. All composers, even those with a sophisticated timbre ear, will compose their works for the orchestra on it - they will compose at the piano, and then "instrument", i.e. write music for orchestral voices. Beethoven so foresaw the power of the future "orchestral" piano that his piano sonatas in conservatory practice are given to students as exercises for orchestration. Already striking is his early sonata No. 3 in C-dur, in the first part of which one gets the impression that this is the "clavier" of a piano concerto; in this regard, Sonata No. 21 (known under the name "Aurora") can be called (as R. Schumann one of his sonatas) "Concert without an orchestra". In general, the themes of Beethoven's sonatas are rarely "arias" or even "songs", they are distinguished by their principled orchestral nature.

Everyone knows Beethoven's instrumental works, although there are not so many of them: 9 symphonies, 32 piano sonatas, 5 piano concertos, 1 violin concerto, 1 triple (for piano, violin and cello), 10 sonatas for piano and violin, 5 - for piano and cello, 16 quartets. All of them have been performed many times and are still being performed today. Contemporary interpretations of Beethoven represent a cultural phenomenon that is interesting to study.

​ Beethoven's contribution to world culture determined primarily by his symphonic works. He was the greatest symphonist, and it was in symphonic music most fully embodied both his worldview and the main artistic principles. The path of Beethoven as a symphonist covered almost a quarter of a century (1800 - 1824), but his influence extended to the entire 19th and even in many respects to the 20th century. In the 19th century, every symphonic composer had to decide for himself whether he would continue one of the lines of Beethoven's symphonism or try to create something fundamentally different. One way or another, but without Beethoven, the symphonic music of the 19th century would have been completely different. Beethoven has 9 symphonies, (10 remained in sketches). Compared to 104 by Haydn or 41 by Mozart, this is not much, but each of them is an event. The conditions under which they were composed and performed were radically different from those under Haydn and Mozart. For Beethoven, a symphony is a genre, firstly, a purely public one, performed mainly in large halls; Beethoven intended his symphonies to be performed in open academy concerts (they usually took place either before Christmas or during Lent, when stage performances were banned in theaters). performances), a fairly solid orchestra by the standards of that time; and secondly, the genre is ideologically very significant, which does not allow writing such compositions at once in series of 6 pieces. Therefore, Beethoven's symphonies, as a rule, are much larger than even Mozart's (except for the 1st and 8th) and are fundamentally individual in concept. Each symphony gives only decision both figurative and dramatic. True, in the sequence of Beethoven's symphonies, certain patterns are found that have long been noticed by musicians. So, odd symphonies are more explosive, heroic or dramatic (except for the 1st), and even symphonies are more “peaceful”, genre-domestic (most of all - 4th, 6th and 8th). This can be explained by the fact that Beethoven often conceived symphonies in pairs and even wrote them simultaneously or immediately after each other (5 and 6 even “swapped” numbers at the premiere; 7 and 8 followed in a row). Any symphonic work by Beethoven is the fruit of a long, sometimes many years of work: the Heroic was created within a year and a half, Beethoven began the Fifth in 1805 and finished in 1808, and work on the Ninth Symphony lasted almost ten years. It should be added that most of the symphonies, from the Third to the Eighth, not to mention the Ninth, fall on the heyday and the highest rise of Beethoven's creativity. In the First Symphony in C major, the features of Beethoven's new style still appear very timidly and modestly. According to Berlioz, the First Symphony is "excellently written music, but it is not yet Beethoven." There is a noticeable movement forward in the Second Symphony in D major, which appeared in 1802. The confidently masculine tone, the impetuosity of the dynamics, all its progressive energy reveal much more clearly the face of the creator of future triumphantly heroic creations, but a genuine creative takeoff, occurred in the Third Symphony. Having passed through the labyrinth of spiritual searches, Beethoven found his heroic-epic theme in the Third Symphony. For the first time in art, with such a depth of generalization, the passionate drama of the era, its upheavals and catastrophes, was refracted. The man himself is also shown, winning the right to freedom, love and joy. Beginning with the Third Symphony, the heroic theme inspires Beethoven to create the most outstanding symphonic works - the Fifth Symphony, the Egmont, Coriolanus, Leonore overtures. Already at the end of his life, this theme is revived with unattainable artistic perfection and scope in the Ninth Symphony. Simultaneously raises Beethoven in symphonic music and other layers. The poetry of spring and youth, the joy of life, its eternal movement - this is the complex of poetic images of the Fourth Symphony in B flat major. The Sixth (Pastoral) Symphony is devoted to the theme of nature. In the “incomprehensibly excellent”, according to Glinka, Seventh Symphony in E major, life phenomena appear in generalized dance images; the dynamics of life, its miraculous beauty is hidden behind the bright sparkle of changing rhythmic figures, behind unexpected turns dance moves. Even the deepest sadness of the famous Allegretto is not able to extinguish the sparkling of the dance, to moderate the fiery temperament of the dance of the parts surrounding the Allegretto. Next to the mighty frescoes of the Seventh is the subtle and elegant chamber painting of the Eighth Symphony in F major. The main features of Beethoven's symphonic method. 1. Showing the image in the unity of opposite elements fighting each other. Beethoven's themes are often built on contrasting motifs that form an internal unity. Hence their internal conflict, which serves as a prerequisite for a tense further development. 2. 2. The huge role of the derivative contrast. Derivative contrast is such a principle of development, in which a new contrasting motif or theme is the result of the transformation of the previous material. The new grows out of the old, which turns into its own opposite. For example main topic Symphony 5 in 1 movement, then in the third movement it is slightly transformed “you can play it”, and in the 4 movement of the symphony it sounds like a memory from both 1 movement and 3. 3. 3. Continuity of development and qualitative changes images. The development of topics begins literally from the very beginning of their presentation. So, in the 5th symphony in the 1st part there is not a single bar of the actual exposition (with the exception of the “epigraph” - the very first bars). Already during the main part, the initial motif is strikingly transformed - it is perceived both as a “fatal element” (the motive of fate) and as a symbol of heroic resistance, that is, the beginning opposing fate. The theme of the main part of the "Heroic" symphony is also extremely dynamic, which is also immediately given in the process of rapid development. That is why, despite the laconicism of Beethoven's themes, the parties of sonata forms are very developed. Starting in the exposition, the development process covers not only the development, but also the reprise and the code, which turns, as it were, into a second development. That is, there is a kind of through development that is typical for Beethoven's symphonism. 4. 4. A qualitatively new unity of the sonata-symphony cycle, in comparison with the cycles of Haydn and Mozart. The symphony becomes an "instrumental drama", where each part is a necessary link in a single musical and dramatic "action". The culmination of this "drama" is the finale. The brightest example of Beethoven's instrumental drama is the "Heroic" symphony, all parts of which are connected common line development, directed to a grandiose picture of the national triumph in the final. Speaking of Beethoven's symphonies, one should emphasize his orchestral innovation. Of the innovations: the actual formation of the copper group. Although the trumpets are still played and recorded together with the timpani, functionally they and the horns are beginning to be treated as a single group. They are joined by trombones, which were not in symphony orchestra Haydn and Mozart. Trombones play in the finale of the 5th symphony (3 trombones), in the thunderstorm scene in the 6th (here there are only 2 of them), and also in some parts of the 9th (in the scherzo and in the prayer episode of the finale, as well as in the coda). the compaction of the "middle tier" makes it necessary to increase the vertical from above and below. Above appears the piccolo flute (in all the cases indicated, except for the prayer episode in the finale of the 9th), and below - the contrabassoon (in the finales of the 5th and 9th symphonies). But in any case, there are always two flutes and bassoons in a Beethoven orchestra. Continuing the traditions of Haydn's London Symphonies and Mozart's late symphonies, Beethoven enhances the independence and virtuosity of the parts of almost all instruments, including the trumpet (the famous offstage solo in the Leonore overtures No. 2 and No. 3) and the timpani. He often has really 5 parts of strings (double basses are separated from cellos), and sometimes more (divizi playing). All woodwinds, including the bassoon, as well as horns (in chorus, as in the scherzo trio of the 3rd symphony, or separately) can solo, performing very bright material. Features of the musical language. Melodica. The fundamental principle of his melody is in trumpet signals and fanfares, in invocative oratorical exclamations and march turns. Movement along the sounds of the triad is often used (the main part of the Heroic Symphony; the theme of the finale of the 5th symphony, the main part of the first part of the 9th symphony). But this is not even a feature of Beethoven; it was just Beethoven in particular before him. Beethoven's caesuras are punctuation marks in speech. Beethoven's fermata are pauses after pathetic questions. Beethoven's musical themes often consist of contrasting elements. The contrasting structure of themes is also found in Beethoven's predecessors (especially Mozart), but in Beethoven this is already becoming a pattern. the contrast within the theme develops into a conflict between the main and secondary parties. The metrorhythm carries a charge of masculinity, will, and activity. Marching rhythms are extremely common. Dance rhythms (in the pictures of folk fun - the finale of the 7th symphony, the finale of the Aurora sonata, when, after long suffering and struggle, a moment of triumph and joy comes. As for Harmony, the laconic use of non-chord sounds is used) - a contrasting and dramatic interpretation of the harmonic sequence (connection with the principle of conflict dramaturgy). Sharp, bold modulations in distant keys. As for the forms, Beethoven is the creator of the form of free variations (final piano sonata No. 30, variations on a theme by Diabelli, movements 3 and 4 of the 9th symphony). Also, variations are widely used in the symphony cycle, for example, the 5th symphony, in the 7th symphony, the 2nd part, the theme does not change there, only the orchestration changes. he is credited with introducing the variational form into large form. Evolution symphonic creativity Beethoven. 1 symphony. Here Beethoven conducts a dialogue with tradition, for example, traditionally one should start a symphony by showing the tonic, and in 1 the symphony begins with showing the sub-dominant, which causes criticism from critics, it was the same with the 5th symphony because of the E-flat major, which is given a special meaning in development , which eventually leads to the tonic. Also in Symphony 1, a strange minuet attracts attention, but in fact it is like a scherzo. The 2nd symphony is of course more traditional. This is the so-called test of the pen, and here Beethoven appears most clearly as a Viennese classic, because here the lines of succession of the Viennese classical school are most obvious. Further, starting from the 3rd symphony, Beethoven, so to speak, becomes himself, this is primarily due to the fact that he found his heroic-dramatic theme, at the same time, on the other hand, already from the 3rd symphony, he finds his own type of symphonic cycle, namely, if the classical type of symphonic the cycle is built according to the type of arch dramaturgy, that is, when 1 4 parts form a frame or arch of the entire symphony, the Beethoven type involves transferring the center of gravity only to the finale of the symphony, and everything is directed towards it, and in order to make this aspiration brighter and more logical, you can swap parts , parts 2 and 3, it is unnecessary to draw a final conclusion in part 1, as an example, the end of the 3rd symphony in particular is the finale.

The Sixth, Pastoral Symphony (F-dur, op. 68, 1808) occupies a special place in Beethoven's work. It was from this symphony that the representatives of romantic program symphonism largely repelled. An enthusiastic admirer of the Sixth Symphony was Berlioz.

The theme of nature receives a wide philosophical embodiment in the music of Beethoven, one of the greatest poets of nature. In the Sixth Symphony, these images acquired the most complete expression, for the very theme of the symphony is nature and pictures of rural life. Nature for Beethoven is not only an object for creating picturesque paintings. She was for him the expression of a comprehensive, life-giving principle. It was in communion with nature that Beethoven found those hours of pure joy that he longed for. Statements from Beethoven's diaries and letters speak of his enthusiastic pantheistic attitude towards nature (see pp. II31-133). More than once we meet in Beethoven's notes statements that his ideal is "free", that is, natural nature.

The theme of nature is connected in Beethoven's work with another theme in which he expresses himself as a follower of Rousseau - this is simple poetry, natural life in communion with nature, the spiritual purity of the peasant. In the notes to the sketches of the Pastoral, Beethoven several times points to "memories of life in the countryside" as the main motive for the content of the symphony. This idea is preserved in the full title of the symphony on title page manuscripts (see below).

The Rousseau idea of ​​the Pastoral Symphony connects Beethoven with Haydn (oratorio The Four Seasons). But in Beethoven, that patina of patriarchy, which is observed in Haydn, disappears. He interprets the theme of nature and rural life as one of the variants of his main theme of the “free man” - This makes him related to the “stormers”, who, following Rousseau, saw in nature a liberating beginning, opposed it to the world of violence, coercion.

In the Pastoral Symphony, Beethoven turned to the plot, which has been encountered more than once in music. Among the program works of the past, many are devoted to images of nature. But Beethoven solves the principle of programming in music in a new way. From naive illustrativeness, he moves on to the poetic spiritualized embodiment of nature. Beethoven expressed his view on programming with the words: "More expression of feeling than painting." The author gave such a forewarning and program in the manuscript of the symphony.

However, one should not think that Beethoven here abandoned the pictorial, pictorial possibilities of the musical language. Beethoven's sixth symphony is an example of the fusion of expressive and pictorial principles. Her images are deep in mood, poetic, inspired by a great inner feeling, imbued with a generalizing philosophical thought and at the same time picturesque.

The theme of the symphony is characteristic. Beethoven here refers to folk melodies (although he very rarely quoted genuine folk melodies): in the Sixth Symphony, researchers find Slavic folk origins. In particular, B. Bartok, a great connoisseur folk music various countries, writes that the main part of the first part of the Pastoral is a Croatian children's song. Other researchers (Becker, Schönewolf) also point to the Croatian melody from the collection of D.K. Kukhach "Songs of the South Slavs", which was the prototype of the main part of the I part of the Pastoral:

The appearance of the Pastoral Symphony is characterized by a wide implementation of folk music genres - Lendler (the extreme sections of the scherzo), song (in the finale). Song origins are also visible in the scherzo trio - Nottebohm gives Beethoven's sketch of the song "The Happiness of Friendship" ("Glück der Freundschaft, op. 88), which was later used in the symphony:

The picturesque thematic nature of the Sixth Symphony is manifested in the wide involvement of ornamental elements - gruppetto various kinds, figurations, long grace notes, arpeggios; This type of melody, along with the folk song, is the basis of the thematics of the Sixth Symphony. This is especially noticeable in the slow part. Its main part grows out of the gruppetto (Beethoven said that he captured the tune of the oriole here).

Attention to the coloristic side is clearly manifested in harmonic language symphonies. Attention is drawn to the tertian comparisons of tonalities in the development sections. They play an important role both in the development of movement I (B-dur - D-dur; G-dur - E-dur), and in the development of Andante ("Scene by the stream"), which is a colorful ornamental variation on the theme of the main part. There is a lot of bright picturesqueness in the music of movements III, IV and V. Thus, none of the parts leaves the plan of program picture music, while retaining the entire depth of the poetic idea of ​​the symphony.

The orchestra of the Sixth Symphony is distinguished by an abundance of solo wind instruments (clarinet, flute, horn). In Scene by the Stream (Andante), Beethoven uses the richness of string instruments in a new way. He uses divisi and mutes in the part of the cellos, reproducing the "murmur of the stream" (author's note in the manuscript). Such techniques of orchestral writing are typical of later times. In connection with them, one can speak of Beethoven's anticipation of the features of a romantic orchestra.

The dramaturgy of the symphony as a whole is very different from the dramaturgy of the heroic symphonies. In sonata forms (parts I, II, V), contrasts and edges between sections are smoothed out. “There are no conflicts or struggles here. Smooth transitions from one thought to another are characteristic. This is especially pronounced in Part II: the side part continues the main one, entering against the same background against which the main part sounded:

Becker writes in this connection about the technique of "stringing melodies". The abundance of thematism, the dominance of the melodic principle is indeed the most characteristic feature of the style of the Pastoral Symphony.

These features of the Sixth Symphony are also manifested in the method of developing themes - the leading role belongs to variation. In movement II and in the finale, Beethoven introduces the variation sections into sonata form (development in "Scene by the Stream", main part in the finale). This combination of sonata and variation would become one of the fundamental principles in Schubert's lyrical symphonism.

The logic of the cycle of the Pastoral Symphony, having the typical classical contrasts, is determined, however, by the program (hence its five-part structure and the absence of caesuras between III, IV and V parts). Its cycle is not characterized by such an effective and consistent development as in the heroic symphonies, where the first part is the focus of the conflict, and the finale is its resolution. In the succession of parts, factors of the program-picture order play an important role, although they are subordinate to the generalized idea of ​​the unity of man with nature.