The Sunday Musical Offering - Beethoven, Symphony 1 (First Movement)

I had a conversation this week with a good friend who teaches music and directs the orchestra at the High School here in Hudson. Roberto was telling me about the repertory that he had selected for his students and mentioned that the members of the orchestra would be playing the first movement of the Symphony No. 1 by Beethoven later in the year. As soon as he said those words I knew what the selection would be for the Sunday Musical Offering this week.

The First Symphony of Beethoven has always been a favorite of mine dating back to my conservatory days. Scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in C, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in C and F, 2 trumpets in C, timpani and strings, the First Symphony is indebted to Beethoven's predecessors, particularly his teacher Joseph Haydn in addition to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. That said, the characteristics that mark the piece as uniquely “Beethoven” are the frequent use of sforzandi and the prominent, more independent use of wind instruments.

The premiere of this symphony took place on April 2, 1800 at the K.K. Hoftheater nächst der Burg in Vienna. Oh, to have been in the hall that evening for the concert program consisted of his Septet and Piano Concerto No. 2, as well as a symphony by Mozart, and an aria and a duet from Haydn's oratorio The Creation. Can you imagine what that performance must have been like? In essence, the concert served to announce the composer’s talents to aristocrats of Vienna.

Here is the First Movement (Adagio molto, Allegro con brio) of the First Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven performed by Maestro Christian Thielemann and the members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Love One Another - Brian