Readings—

• J. Peter Burkholder, A History of Western Music
• Chapter 23—Classic Music in the Late Eighteenth Century, pp. 546-553
• Chapter 24—Revolution and Change, pp. 566-594
• J. Peter Burkholder, Norton Anthology of Western Music, Vol. 2 (NAWM)
• NAWM 118-20, pp. 272-331
• Forbes, Thayer’s Life of Beethoven, “Heiligenstadt Testament,” pp. 303-306 (RESERVE)
• Solomon, Beethoven, Ch. 15, “The Immortal Beloved,” pp. 158-189 (RESERVE)
• Robert Spaethling, Mozart’s Letters, Mozart’s Life (RESERVE)
• Mozart, Letters (RESERVE)
• Richard J. Wingell, Writing About Music, Ch. 6, “Other Kinds of Writing Projects,” the section on “Essay Examinations,” pp. 97-101 (RESERVE)

I. Mozart & Beethoven

Write a short essay that compares the personalities of Mozart and Beethoven. Read Burkholder’s Chapters 23 and 24 for background material, but base the essay primarily on letters by the two composers found in the RESERVE readings. To prepare, please read Maynard Solomon’s chapter on “The Immortal Beloved” (pp. 158-189 from his landmark biography) first. Solomon shows just how much one can learn from careful study of even a single letter. In his unusually perceptive, creative analysis, Solomon solved the riddle of “The Immortal Beloved” that had perplexed scholars for a century and a half. NOTE: Solomon’s article also serves as an excellent model for your final paper, demonstrating the thoroughness and creativity scholars bring to their study of primary sources.

For your written comparison of Mozart and Beethoven, start by reading any three letters by Mozart written during his years in Vienna (1781-1791), using either Mozart’s Letters or Spaethling’s Mozart’s Letters, Mozart’s Life (see Readings above). Then read one letter by Beethoven, his “Heiligenstadt Testament” from Thayer’s Life of Beethoven (RESERVE, pp. 303-306). Write three paragraphs that answer the following questions. You will do Paragraph One in the Blackboard Discussions module, but please hand in hard copy of Paragraphs Two and Three.

Paragraph One) Go to the Blackboard Discussions module and reply to my questions there. Identify the three 1781-1791 Mozart letters you chose (date? written by? written to?) and briefly summarize each one. What do these letters tell us about Mozart and his life in Vienna? How do your observations compare with other students replies?

Paragraph Two) The letter from Beethoven to his brothers was written shortly after a doctor’s diagnosis confirmed that he was losing his hearing. Read the “Heiligenstadt Testament” in Thayer’s Life of Beethoven (RESERVE, pp. 303-306). In one paragraph, describe Beethoven’s state of mind as expressed in this letter. What kind of man is Beethoven?

Paragraph Three) On the basis of these readings, what similarities and differences did you discover between Mozart and Beethoven? (Please draw your own conclusions based on what you read in the Mozart and Beethoven letters!)

II. Paper Preparation & Writing (W) Tag

Assemble a preliminary bibliography for any one (or all) of the paper topics you described in Encounter 1. If you have difficulty finding material on any topic, that might be a good reason to drop the topic (but not always!). Turn in a complete list (in MLA format) of all books and other sources that you found. (N.B.: A stack of printouts from a library catalog or database search is not a bibliography!) Click here for more information about the paper.

In preparation for the Unit 1 Exam, please read the section on “Essay Examinations” from Chapter 6 of Wingell’s Writing about Music (RESERVE, pp. 97-101). In this case, the audience is your instructor and the writing style, thought informal, should still be concise and informative (i.e., chock full of relevant facts and perceptive observations). This short excerpt from Wingell offers several valuable pointers on writing a good essay.

Listening Assignment 2

Beethoven

• Composer, title, and movement
• Genre—solo sonata? string quartet? symphony?
• Form—fugue? sonata form? other?
• Style—Early Beethoven, Middle Beethoven, or Late Beethoven (or Early Romantic for Encounter 3 examples)?
• Identify two style features (present in the excerpt) that are typical of the composer
• Style features describe how a specific composer uses elements of music (melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, color, instrumentation, form, etc.)
• For some excerpts, answer additional questions drawn from Study Questions below

Each cluster of works listed below is accompanied by a set of Study Questions. The Study Questions and recordings together will help you prepare for the Early Romanticism Quiz. They require no written report. Given the importance of sonata form in several of the examples below, please click here to consult the Classic Sonata Form Listening Guide from Encounter 1. As always, you really want to read the NAWM notes and follow the score for every work from NRAWM.

Listening List

Beethoven—First period (1792-1802)

A) Beethoven Piano Sonatas CD—Blackboard RESERVE

• Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13, “Pathétique” (Piano Sonata)
• mvmt. i: Grave - Allegro di molto e con brio (see NAWM 118 for 1st movement score)
• Alternate Recording:VIDEO 784.183 B415b—Barenboim on Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas Live from Berlin DVD set—Disc 3, Concert 2

Study Questions on A:

• 1. Which specific features of Beethoven’s first style period can you hear in this piano sonata?
• 2. Use the NAWM analytical chart for this movement to guide you as you listen for features of sonata form in this movement.
• 3. In typical late Classical examples of sonata-form 1st movements (NAWM 112 - Haydn Symphony 92, for instance), ideas from the slow introduction never reappear later in the movement. Where and why does Beethoven do differently in this movement? What other unusual features do you notice in Beethoven’s handling of sonata form here? What about the key of the second theme?

Beethoven—Second period (1802-1814)

B) NAWM 119—Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major (Eroica), Op. 55 (Symphony)

• mvmt. i: Allegro con brio—CD8, tracks 36-51
• Alternate Recording:VIDEO 748.2184 B415—The Beethoven Symphonies DVD set, Vol. 1

Study Questions on B:

• 4. Beethoven called this symphony Eroica, or heroic. What aspects of this symphony would you call heroic? What other features of Beethoven’s second style period can you hear in this symphony?
• 5. Before you listen to the first movement, read through the “weirdness” in the NAWM notes immediately following the score. Label your score using the themes and measure numbers discussed on the first two pages of the NAWM notes. In further discussion of this movement and Beethoven’s sketch materials, however, Burkholder points out that some aspects of the form are debatable. For instance, where exactly does the transition (bridge) begin and end, and where does the second theme begin? About halfway through the NAWM notes, he spells out some alternate interpretations, one with a really long transition and the other with a long cluster of themes that make up Theme 2. What’s your opinion on the theme issue? Can you follow a long movement like this? How do you listen to this movement? What do you think of the “symphony as drama” concept? Can you view the main theme as a protagonist? Does that help with the weirdness?

Beethoven—Third period (1815-1827)

C) Ludwig van Beethoven, Beethoven the Revolutionary: Symphony No. 9 CD—RESERVE MCD B415/125g

• Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (Choral), Op. 125
• mvmt. iv: Presto—“O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!”—Allegro assai—tracks 4-5
• Alternate Recording: Blackboard Assignments module—Encounter Listening—Encounter 2—Beethoven’s Ninth
• Alternate Recording:VIDEO 748.2184 B415—The Beethoven Symphonies DVD set, Vol. 1
• “Drop-the-laser-beam” on Early Romanticism Quiz!

D) NAWM 120—Ludwig van Beethoven, String Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131

• mvmt. i: Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo—CD8, tracks 52-53
• mvmt. ii: Allegro molto vivace—CD8, tracks 54-61
• Alternate Recording:VIDEO 780.92 A326 v.1—Beethoven Quartets DVD set, Vol. 1

Study Questions on C-D:

• 6. One possible interpretation of the form of the Finale from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony can be found on pp. 592-593 of your textbook (the bullet points). How do you read this movement? Do you agree with Burkholder? Can you give a name to the form of this movement? Why or why not? Can you separate this work from Beethoven himself? Do you think it addresses universal issues of humanity? Did Beethoven succeed in his mission to “strive toward the inaccessible goal toward which art and nature have set us”? (1797 letter) Please refer to specific aspects of the music for your answer.
• 7. Which features of Beethoven’s third style period can you hear in C and D? Introspection? Variation? Imitation? Other?
• 8. How does the Finale of Beethoven’s 9th differ from earlier symphonies by Beethoven and others? What makes the Ninth so different? Why does Beethoven make these changes?
• 9. These two string quartet movements (D) come from a seven-movement string quartet by Beethoven. Note that the first movement is not in sonata form—it’s a fugue! Is it easy to follow the fugue? Does it fit your concept of what a fugue should sound like? Does the music seem intellectually or emotionally constructed?
• 10. Finally in the second movement we get a fast sonata-form (or sonata-rondo) movement. Can you easily follow the sonata form here? Why or why not? Does the NAWM chart help? What is the overall mood of this movement? Dramatic? Playful? Is this typical or not?

Extra Credit Listening—

• VIDEO 784.183 B415b—Barenboim on Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas Live from Berlin
• VIDEO 780.92 A326 v.1—Beethoven Quartets, Vol. 1 [ABQ, Vol. 1] (Alban Berg Quartet)
• VIDEO 748.2184 B415—The Beethoven Symphonies (Abbado)
• MCD B415/90—Beethoven, The Late Piano Sonatas (Brendel)
• MCD B415/51—The Young Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 8 and 14, etc. (Kipnis)
• MCD B415/21g—Beethoven, Complete Symphonies (Gardiner)
• MCD B415/125g—Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 (Gardiner)
• MCD B415/62—Beethoven, Overtures (Harnoncourt)
• MCD B415/105m—Beethoven, Variations & Bagatelles (Mustonen)
• MCD 415/127—Beethoven, The Late String Quartets (Tokyo String Quartet)