Early Beethoven... From Provincial Pianist to Vienna Celebrity

The Music

The Words

Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the ‘Classical For Everyone’ Podcast… five hundred years of incredible music. My name is Peter Cudlipp and… If you enjoy any music at all then I’m convinced you can enjoy classical music. All you need are ears. No expertise is necessary. If you’ve ever been curious about classical music… or explored it for a while once upon a time… or just quietly wondered what all the fuss was about… then this is the podcast is for you.

And because there’s a lot of music out there each episode has something of a theme. And for today it is… is all music by Ludwig van Beethoven. But rather than a random ‘greatest hits’ playlist I’ve selected music from early on in his career as a composer. But don’t for a moment think that this is not amazing music. Perhaps it shows the influence of his education and the prevailing musical styles more than his later more individual works but that is in some way a part of the charm of the music. You can hear the young man who was positioned by patrons and critics as Mozart’s successor and whose teacher was Josef Haydn.

But I’ll let the music make the case. Here is the opening of his first piano concerto from primarily 1795 when Beethoven was 25. It about 8 minutes long. In this performance Leon Fleischer is the pianist and George Szell conducts the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra.

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That was Leon Fleischer playing the piano and George Szell conducting the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra with the opening of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 1^st Piano Concerto from 1795.

So a very brief bit of biography… Beethoven arrived in Vienna in late 1792 as a 22-year-old from the town of Bonn. Now Bonn was not exactly a backwater but it paled by comparison with Vienna which… especially after the impact of the French Revolution on Paris.. was the cultural centre of Europe.  Beethoven came to Vienna to study with Josef Haydn who was at the time undeniably Europe's most celebrated living composer. Beethoven also quickly established himself in Viennese aristocratic circles, securing patronage from nobles who recognized his extraordinary talent both as a virtuoso pianist and as a composer of startling originality. By 1795, Beethoven had already made a significant impression in Vienna with his revolutionary piano playing, particularly his improvisation skills, which left audiences astonished. His early published compositions, including the three Piano Trios and three Piano Sonatas (dedicated to Haydn), demonstrated his command of existing musical forms while hinting at a more forceful, dramatic musical personality. And by 1798 Beethoven was ready to tackle the String Quartet… music for two violins, a viola and a cello…. And considering the extraordinary success both Haydn and Mozart had with that form… there must have been a certain amount of trepidation. Though Beethoven would come over the course of his life to write string quartets that are regarded as pretty much the pinnacle of that form. Even today.

As we are looking at early Beethoven,  here is just the first section of his first String Quartet from 1798. Here it is performed by the Goldner String Quartet. It is about nine minutes long.

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That was the Goldner String Quartet with the first section of Beethoven’s first string quartet.

Now today Beethoven is probably best known for two of the nine symphonies he wrote… the 9^th symphony or ‘choral symphony’ where he added a choir and soloists for the final section for which he set Friedrich Schiller’s poem ‘An Die Freude’ or ‘Ode To Joy’ to music… and his 5^th symphony… famous for its opening four notes.

But I am going to play you his very first Symphony from 1800. Again Beethoven was moving into territory ‘owned’ if you will by Mozart and Haydn and historians suggest that this is why Beethoven waited until the ripe old age of 29 before he wrote his first symphony. But like all the works I am playing today… even though they are from what people think of as Beethoven’s early period… this first symphony is anything but immature.

Here is the opening performed by the orchestra Anima Eterna Bruge conducted by Jos van Immerseel. It is about 9 minutes long.

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That was Ludwig van Beethoven’s 1^st Symphony from 1800. It was performed by the orchestra Anima Eterna Bruge conducted by Jos van Immerseel.

I hope you are enjoying this little survey of music composed by Beethoven in the early part of his career.

At almost the same time he was writing his first symphony… at the end of the 1790s… he wrote what has become known as his Septet… a work for seven instruments in six parts. The best guess as to its origins (and I’m interpolating a bunch of conflicting sources) is that Beethoven wrote it speculatively but at the same time quite specifically. At this early stage of his career he wanted exposure in the highest circles of patronage… and that was the Court. To that end he dedicated the work to the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa.

Also, the unusual scoring of the Septet… for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, and double bass was likely determined by the availability of skilled court musicians. This combination was not entirely unprecedented - it builds on the tradition of wind serenades and divertimenti that were popular in Viennese court circles, but adds strings to create a richer, more varied texture. And if my cobbled together origin story is correct then Beethoven succeeded in his aim and the work was premiered at the Royal Imperial Court Theatre in Vienna on April 2, 1800. It was an almost instant hit and became so ubiquitous that in later years apparently Beethoven lamented ever having written it. But I for one am very glad he did.

Here is just the opening section. It is about ten minutes long and is performed here by the Walter Boeykens Ensemble. Beethoven’s Septet.

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That was the Walter Boeykens Ensemble performing the opening section of Beethoven’s Septet.

My name is Peter Cudlipp and you have been listening to the ‘Classical for Everyone’ Podcast. I have a couple more pieces coming up but before I get to them I want to give you 60 seconds of information that I hope you find useful… If you would like to listen to past episodes, of which there are more than twenty or get details of the music I’ve played please head to the website classicalforeveryone.net. That address again is classicalforeveryone.net

And on the individual episode pages of the website there are links to Spotify playlists with the full versions of most of the music played in each of the episodes. I hope you have enjoyed this episode of ‘Classical For Everyone’. If you want to make sure you don’t miss the shows as they are released then please Subscribe or Follow wherever you get your podcasts. That would also mean the search algorithms will smile more benignly on the show and it might reach a few more people. For that I would be very grateful. And if you want to get in touch then you can email… info@classicalforeveryone.net.

Alright, to finish this all early Beethoven episode I have a piece that, to be fair, in its style, really spans what musicologists call Beethoven’s early period and his middle period but as these are somewhat arbitrary divisions I don’t think we need to be too bound by them. And it is I think one of the most amazing pieces of piano music ever written. So… any excuse…

What is the piece? It is his Piano Sonata No. 8 from 1798 called the "Pathétique” Here is a little AI blurb about it from my friend Claude…

Dedicated to his patron Prince Karl von Lichnowsky, the "Pathétique" sonata became one of Beethoven's earliest popular successes and remains among his most performed piano works. The title "Grande Sonate Pathétique" was Beethoven's own choice, unusual for the time, and requires understanding in its late 18th-century context— At that time "pathétique" referred not to sadness or self-pity as modern usage might suggest, but rather to a work's ability to arouse intense emotions and move the listener profoundly. Its publishing success was immediate, with multiple editions appearing throughout Europe, and its distinctive slow movement became so popular that it circulated separately in numerous arrangements, introducing Beethoven's music to a much wider audience than the typical sonata. Here is the first section performed by the Romanian pianist Radu Lupu. It’s funny with multiple versions of the same piece of music. I honestly find that my affections for one over another vary quite radically. But maybe that is just an excuse to have more CDs. But for now, this is my favourite… the afore-mentioned Radu Lupu with the opening of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 8^thPiano Concerto… the Pathetique. It is about 10 minutes long.

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That was the pianist Radu Lupu playing the opening of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 8^th Piano Concerto… known as ‘the Pathetique’

Thanks for your time and I look forward to playing you some more incredible music on the next ‘Classical For Everyone’.

This podcast is made with Audacity Software for editing, Wikipedia for Research, Claude for Artificial Intelligence and Apple, Sennheiser, Sony, Rode and Logitech for hardware… The music played is licensed through AMCOS / APRA. Classical For Everyone is a production of Mending Wall Studios and began life on Radio 2BBB in Bellingen NSW, Australia thanks to the late, great Mr Jeffrey Sanders. The producers do not receive any gifts or support of any kind from any organisation or individual mentioned in the show. But, never say never.

And if you have listened to the credits… here is a little bonus for you… This is the second section from Beethoven’s 1^st piano trio… that is music for piano, violin and cello. The piano trio had evolved from keyboard trios generally featuring harpsichords, but with the rise to prominence of the piano it became a musical form all of its own and has persisted to this day. For Beethoven it was amongst the first music he was able to get published… which was (and I suspect remains) an important income stream for any composer trying to survive.

The pianist is Willhelm Kempf, the violinist is Henryk Szerying and the cellist is Piere Fournier. The second section of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 1^st Piano Trio from 1795.

Thanks again for listening.