For the final blog entry (due on Tuesday, January 28 at 5
pm), each student should write between 250-750 words, addressing the following
points:
- What have you learned about Beethoven and his symphonies over the course of the project?
- What elements of the project did you find especially effective?
- What improvements might you suggest for the next iteration of the project?
Please make sure to submit this entry by 5 pm on Tuesday, January 28.
I really enjoyed our project on the Beethoven symphonies. Over the course of the project, I feel I have a better notion of who Beethoven was as a person. I now have some specific ideas of how his compositional style and outlook changed over his life, beyond any cliché of his “three periods.” Of course, we discussed the characteristics of each and the motivations behind his transformations. We also talked about the historical and social background of each symphony, and theoretically analyzed the symphonies with this in mind. I feel, through the course, I was able to construct a narrative of Beethoven’s life just from his symphonies. Essentially, their composition spans most of his life.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the whole course, but there were two highlights: I especially enjoyed learning about Beethoven’s connection with the Enlightenment philosophy and the French Revolution, through his Eroica symphony, and I also enjoyed learning about Beethoven’s life in his late period (as we learned in today’s discussion). The compositional characteristics in his late period (such as using recitatives, fugues and counterpoint in sonata forms, and exaggerating specific emotions) reflect how he was feeling as his health was declining, his hearing was further decreasing, and even his popularity was waning. The latter ties back into the Revolution; in 1815, Napoleon was defeated, which led to the establishment of controlling governments that prevented revolutions and free thinking, and police outlawed political talk in public. As a result, the arts became a source of escapism and entertainment for the middle-class and the popular traits of art were simplicity and frivolity. This was around the time that all of Vienna started going crazy for Rossini, while Beethoven became less popular even with the aristocracy, including Prince Metternich of Austria. However, in Beethoven’s later period, during which the originality and depth of musical thought surpassed his previous work, he regained some of his popularity with the Ninth Symphony.
I think the course was overall very effective in exploring Beethoven’s symphonies and elaborating on their performance practice. With my improved knowledge of his time and his life, I feel I am informed about the principles of interpretation of his music. I am not a conductor yet, perhaps one day, but as a pianist I will definitely use my knowledge to interpret Beethoven’s sonatas.
In my opinion, the next iteration of the project could improve just because many of the professors, while pointing out the extraordinary elements of Beethoven’s symphonies in relation to Haydn and Mozart, somehow ended up reducing the work of Haydn and Mozart. In my mind, they made Haydn and Mozart seem banal and conservative. It’s certainly true that Beethoven built on a lot of compositional ideas from Haydn and Mozart and took them to new heights, but Haydn and Mozart were great innovators who had their watershed moments in music history.
I’ve learned so much about Beethoven through this project. His nine symphonies are, of course, the part I studied and dug into the most. These brilliant lectures given by different professors help me cleared up, logicalized and detailed my vague impression toward these symphonies. For the most recent example, the ninth symphony, I only knew that Beethoven made a big success on this piece, and the contemporaries loved it. However, it is after the lecture that I realized the facts of how complicated the historical background was involved, and how crucial this symphony meant to Beethoven during that time. As Prof. McGuire mentioned, the falling of aristocrats and the rising of the middle class changed the performing form of music a lot. Instead of large concerts, people from the middle class were more preferring to play the delicate and beautiful music in their own house. Rossini’s style became the popular ones: funnier, lighter, even a little bit frivolous. People simplified the ornamented melodies and sang them in their little salon. It was some kind of like a throwback toward Mozart’s time. Beethoven, as a Republican who has been watched by the government and also dealing with his personal issues, was no longer in the mainstream as he was before. At that specific point of timing, Beethoven needed a master-piece to regain the public's attention, as long as fighting with his deafness and illness. These are all the factors that are eventually composed and reflected in the ninth symphony. A similar situation also applied to the other symphonies, especially the third and the fifth which I commented in the previous blog.
ReplyDeleteBesides the discussions focus on the symphony itself, the classes that are engaged with Beethoven’s other works and ideas have also shown me a brand-new vision of studying Beethoven which I seldom learned before due to the limitation of my instrument concentration. The conducting class from Prof. Jimenez helped me to better interpret the score of a symphony. Frankly, in the very first listening sections, I have difficulties in catching up with the score since I haven’t been playing in an orchestra either systematically learning how to read this. Prof. Jimenez’s specific analysis and interpretation of Beethoven’s typical markings led me to find a way to catch a whole idea of music structure --- macro perspective --- while following up to each instrument's scores ---micro perspective. I also enjoyed a lot in the choral fantasy lecture and the string quartets' performance. These two classes enhanced my knowledge of Beethoven’s musical style and evolving history.
One thing that is especially effective for me is this project helps me to organize all the fragments of music history and music theory I’ve taken before, that all these theoretical analyzation and pop quiz history facts have combined perfectly to make the figure of “Beethoven” no longer an ethereal concept, but more practical and accessible. In the discussion section, we can use a PAC at the end of one section in one movement to indicate the feeling that Beethoven would like to express in his work due to the on-going specific historical event that influenced his attitude a lot. For me, it feels like all the information I learned in the past two years has linked together, which is amazing.
I enjoyed this project a lot. The only suggestion I would like to give for the next iteration is there could be more lectures, more expanding discussions and more specific studies in detail. In this project, each professor picked up a symphony they’d love to share, which is wonderful since we could learn from different points of view to study in these symphonies. However, some professors would prefer to talk about the historical and aesthetic aspects of the symphonies, while the other professors went right through the scores to talk about the theory parts. I feel like both of these aspects are worth discussing, and it will be so great if we could have double-length lecture times based on the current schedule, and study on the symphonies in both historical and theoretical parts.
DeleteI learned so much from this class. Although I had already taken Music of the Romantic Era, where I had learned some general things about Beethoven and his symphonies, regarding his general aesthetics and musical/philosophical concerns, learning about his symphonies in depth has provided me with a deeper understanding of Beethoven as a composer and the symphony as a genre. I have a deeper understanding of the context in which Beethoven was composing, coming out of the Classical Era as a student of Haydn, and the circumstances that lead to Beethoven composing the way he did, like Eroica in the context of Napoleon and the French Revolution in the Age of Enlightenment, or the police state in Vienna and the Ninth, for example. I feel I have a deeper understanding of Beethoven as a person, and how that affected the way he composed. Because of the way we studied the symphonies of Beethoven, I also have a deeper understanding of Classical Era symphony norms, and how Beethoven challenged those norms, and changed the ways symphonies would be composed in the future, whether it be his manipulation of normal sonata form, a “normal” four movement symphony layout, or new harmonic manipulation.
ReplyDeleteIt was especially effective to have a variety of perspectives on the symphonies. Each professor offered their own unique and interesting perspective, which allowed me to learn from a variety of viewpoints, getting a fuller view of Beethoven as a composer and person in the early nineteenth century. I got something unique from each professor that I feel I can carry over to my study of all the other symphonies. For example, I feel as though Professor O’Leary’s lecture gave me a unique perspective on Eroica, the framework of which I can now use to study another one of Beethoven’s symphonies, or other symphonies, or other musical works in general; and the same thing goes for all of the other Professors and their lectures. The low-stress blog posts are also very effective. They force you to think critically about what you learned in class, and then write it down and offer your perspectives to your classmates.
The only suggestion I would make for a future iteration of this project would be a more focused study. Some lectures, while interesting and entertaining, felt like a respite from our other studies, without contributing all that much to our studies of Beethoven in particular. I think the lectures that weren’t strict theory or history were really great, but at times they felt too unrelated to our study of the symphonies, and could’ve been geared more towards that. The other things are very interesting to learn about, but there is limited time to study this symphonies as it is. That being said, I’m very open to additional lecture time.
I’d love to be a part of a winter term project like this next year. Being in this class felt like an ideal area of study for my development as a musician, executed almost perfectly. I’d be happy to attend any similar class, but next year is the perfect time to celebrate the 161st birthday of Gustav Mahler...
I still remember the first day I walked into Bibbins 223 to begin this Beethoven WT project. At the time, all I knew about Beethoven I knew from snippets of his music being played in old cartoons and movies, and couldn't even differentiate Beethoven from the other cultural touchstones of classical music Mozart and Bach. I remembered a little on how to read music from playing trombone in middle school but had a total dearth of knowledge on the actual musical vocabulary used to discuss music. I really was jumping into the pool at the deep end, as it were.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I made the decision to take a step out of my comfort zone this WT because I don't think I would have ever had another opportunity to become familiar with Beethoven's work and the context he composed in. It was fascinating hearing about Napoleonic-era Vienna with the steady decline of noble power and prestige accompanied by a rising middle class with a thirst for music, albeit largely for the music of Rossini. Beethoven's rebuke of his former patron with the phrase "There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven," is even more powerful today as he has become a figure of all time in a way none of the nobles who once held so much power over him could dream of.
I came into this project with the goal of understanding what exactly made Beethoven so special. With Beethoven still the most popular composer as measured by performances per year, this is clearly a prescient question. I'm happy to report that now I do understand why so many people, both in his time and in all times, have been so captivated by his music and types of stories he tells with his music. Eroica is my favorite of the symphonies, I love the drama and bombast of the piece. That it was written with Napoleon in mind just makes it more interesting to listen to.
I really enjoyed the lectures on both the historical context of the works, as well as those that described the reactions of his contemporaries such as Wagner. As I'm not a Con student, these were the parts of the course that were most easily understood by me. I hesitate to offer any "improvements" for the course, considering I'm certainly not the type of person this course as designed for. All the same, I enjoyed listening to Beethoven and listening to the many professionals who were brought in to discuss this most monumental of musical figures. I look forward to attending the performances of his symphonies in the Spring.
Over the course of this project, my understanding of Beethoven has changed and expanded dramatically. I learned about Beethoven’s life, the context in which he lived, his music, and how he impacted the musical world forever. One of the overarching parts of my new knowledge of Beethoven is the details of his three main periods. In the Early period, Beethoven stuck to Classical norms and displays the influence of Mozart and his teacher, Haydn. We spent a lot of time on Beethoven’s Middle/Heroic period, exemplified by Symphony nos. 3 and 5, during which time Beethoven began experimenting and leaving 18th century constructions of form, composing works of monumental lengths and differing proportions, and including narrative trajectories in his compositions that featured epic contrasts in dynamics and keys. Finally, we discussed the Late Period, exemplified by pieces like the string quartet op. 133 and the 9th symphony. We learned that in his late period, Beethoven pointed to extremes, representing specific emotions, and seemed to gravitate toward meditative qualities of sound.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, a big part of what I learned in this project was the foundation of Enlightenment-era thought in which Beethoven was immersed when he began composing his nine symphonies. I found that this gave an interesting perspective on the music of the time. I also saw how Beethoven’s change in popularity and sentiment among contemporaries impacted the music he produced and how it was performed. Since his life, Beethoven has consistently received much study and thought from the Western musical community. The symbolism of his life and his music has been influential in political history and shapes much of our conservatory lives today.
I think the most effective element of the project was the variety! With so many guest lecturers, it was exciting and extremely interesting to see how each faculty member approached their subject differently…the perspectives were numerous and all effective individually. What resulted was a wide-scope understanding of Beethoven’s symphonies and a larger curiosity about the many aspects of his life.
There are a couple small improvements I might suggest for the project, ignoring their feasibility. I would have preferred a larger blog-post style writing assignment at the end of each week in contrast to having an assignment every day. I think it would help us tie the ideas together better. Also, it would have been nice to take a more chronological approach to Beethoven’s life, but I understand the scheduling nightmares involved!
This winter term project helped me review and strengthen ways of studying music. Formal and harmonic analysis, historical performance practices, extra-musical historical context, philosophical context, and a biography of the composer can all help illuminate a given work. I have 9 scores to study (cheap ones I can make a mess of), a number of Beethoven biographies to procure and read, and a lot to think about.
ReplyDeleteI am definitely guilty of thinking of German composers (well, really only Beethoven and Bach) as plain old composers rather than as German ones, as if German music were plain yogurt and music by composers from other nationalities were distinguished by different added fruits. I am going to think about this issue a lot - certainly at least every time I listen to music or think of a composer! German music is not universal - it doesn’t get to drop the adjective - just by virtue of being such an establishing force (I want to look into that idea - to what extent was German music “first” to do certain musical things?) I also want to read about how different composers and their music are tied to their nationalities in our consciousness.
I really loved spending 3+ weeks studying a single genre by a single composer. (It just so happened that it was my favorite genre and my favorite composer.) I thought the slight diversions into string quartets and the choral fantasy helped enrich and inform our look at the symphonies. I would only change two small things: I would have liked to look at the symphonies in chronological order. I also wish most of the lectures had been longer - going to 3:15 instead of just 2:45.
-Maggie
I have learned a great deal about the Beethoven symphonies over the course of this class! To begin with the obvious, this class gave me a reason to listen to some of his symphonies that I hadn’t heard before, which I’m grateful for. One of the most interesting things that this class opened my eyes to is how oddly Beethoven’s symphonies line up chronologically. Symphonies No. 4 and 8 are played much less often than Symphonies No. 3, 5, 7, and 9, and are often only talked in reference to the symphonies around them. I think several of the guest lecturers provided interesting thoughts on why they thought this was, but the thing I spend the most time thinking about now, and will certainly carry with me away from this class, is the thought that every symphony is not necessarily better than the one that came before– if there’s one thing that I learned from this class, it’s that Beethoven’s symphonies are all very different from each other, but they all have their place.
ReplyDeleteI really liked hearing professors with a wide range of specialties and areas of expertise talk about what they were most interested in, relating to Beethoven symphonies. This course was so much more than a general overview of all of the Beethoven symphonies, and I’m glad to have gotten such a range of perspectives and interests from the guest lecturers. I’m also glad that I got a chance to experience professors who I haven’t taken a class with before, and may not get the opportunity to take a class with later.
I enjoyed the class on string quartets, historical performance, and conducting Beethoven’s symphonies, but I think I would have liked to spend more time learning about different aspects of the symphonies themselves. I feel like in some lectures, previous information got repeated; I think this project was certainly cumulative, but it can be tricky to not repeat information when the classes all have different lecturers. I also think that, for the shorter symphonies, it would have been helpful to use the full morning session to listen to the symphony and also talk about more general information on the symphony. This especially goes for lectures that were most specifically on just one movement of the symphony or focused on something very specific.
In the future, I would love to see this same project format done with the symphonies of Gustav Mahler.