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Fourth

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Wycliff Ndua
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23 views2 pages

Fourth

class work notes

Uploaded by

Wycliff Ndua
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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or “tragic” were being liberally used by music critics to

characterize different keys, as if the mere designation of


a key by name endowed it with emotional powers. This
trend was undoubtedly a result of the tremendous emotional
impact that Beethoven’s nine symphonies had on
nineteenth- century audiences. Each one of these works
was already considerably longer than a Haydn or Mozart
symphony, employed a larger orchestra, and had a unique
character that made it stand apart from the others. This
left an indelible mark on listeners, who soon began to
associate each symphony with the key in which it was
written.
It has been said that Beethoven’s symphonies can
be divided into two groups: the odd- numbered symphonies
have a heroic, dramatic character, while the evennumbered
are more lighthearted. His Third Symphony,
the Eroica, first performed to the public in Vienna in
1805 and dedicated to Napoleon (reportedly Beethoven
later tore up the dedication when learning of the dictatorial
powers the emperor had assumed), is regarded as the
first major work of the Romantic era of classical music.
With its bold, daring opening movement, followed by a
somber funeral march and a vigorous scherzo in which
three horns display dramatic dissonances and abrupt
rhythmic changes, the Eroica and its key of E- flat major
became the icon of heroism on a grand scale. As if wishing
to contrast this heroism with a more relaxed work,
Beethoven’s fourth symphony is a cheerful composition
in the key of B- flat major, so this key would become associated
with liveliness and gaiety. When in 1841 Robert
Schumann (1810–1856) composed his First Symphony,
the Spring, he wrote it, to quote one music critic, in the
“bright key of B- flat major,” as if the key itself—a mere
musical frame of reference—had assumed a sensual
quality of its own.

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