Beethoven & Rural Idylls

[Amalie]

According to Robert Haven Schaufler,

Beethoven derived immense enjoyment from naively bad music, and he often went with zest to the Sign of The Three Ravens, a tavern on the outskirts of Vienna.
There an orchestra of seven wholly unsophisticated peasants held forth. They were quite unconscious of their privilege in being the first to introduce Beethoven to the unadulterated Austrian Folk-music.
The Master made friends with these humble colleagues ... more than once he composed dances for them, adapting the easy notes with laughing sympathy to the curious habits of these children of nature.
~ The man who freed music.

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Beethoven made a conscious effort to explore the roots of pastoral music by attending Folk-music gathering in the Austrian Countryside. ( Symphony No.6 refers).
What a scene it must have made with Beethoven moving easily among these rustic folk absorbing the rythms and structures of the melodies, and also passing on to these musical cousins his own brilliant improvisations and harmonies.

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by Amalie:

According to Robert Haven Schaufler,

Beethoven derived immense enjoyment from naively bad music, and he often went with zest to the Sign of The Three Ravens, a tavern on the outskirts of Vienna.
There an orchestra of seven wholly unsophisticated peasants held forth. They were quite unconscious of their privilege in being the first to introduce Beethoven to the unadulterated Austrian Folk-music.
The Master made friends with these humble colleagues ... more than once he composed dances for them, adapting the easy notes with laughing sympathy to the curious habits of these children of nature.
~ The man who freed music.

*******************************************


Beethoven made a conscious effort to explore the roots of pastoral music by attending Folk-music gathering in the Austrian Countryside. ( Symphony No.6 refers).
What a scene it must have made with Beethoven moving easily among these rustic folk absorbing the rythms and structures of the melodies, and also passing on to these musical cousins his own brilliant improvisations and harmonies.

I wonder if Bartok and Kodaly had any influence from Beethoven in this while they scoured their own countrysides in search of the native folk music.

[Amalie]

Originally posted by Sorrano:
I wonder if Bartok and Kodaly had any influence from Beethoven in this while they scoured their own countrysides in search of the native folk music.

Yes, I am sure that Bartock and Kodaly and Vaughan Williams for that matter, were part inspired by Beethoven to research folk-music in their own native traditions.
The curious thing is, I think, that nowhere in my reading at least have authors acknowledged Beethoven's debt to these unsung rural masters, and it seems to be assumed that this is a kind of footnote activity to the way in which Beethoven wrote music, whereas my impression is that Beethoven made a far more systematic study of folk-music than is often thought, and which deserves fuller treatment in the biographies. Is it because, I wonder, Beethoven is so central and important to our understanding of classical music, that we are reluctant to acknowledge that he was anything but a self contained genius who was not really influenced by anyone else, or by any other musical idioms, or, horror of horrors, the simple untutored songs of his rural countrymen.

[spaceray]

Has anyone read Barry Coopers book on Beethoven's Folksong Settings? Oxford
Clarendon 1994.

[Joy]

Originally posted by spaceray:
Has anyone read Barry Coopers book on Beethoven's Folksong Settings? Oxford
Clarendon 1994.

I have not but I'm in need of some more Beethoven books to read, I think I've all but read them all!! Is it worth a look? Sounds interesting.


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'Truth and beauty joined'

[spaceray]

Joy, Unfortunately Mr Coopers book is very costly about fifty dollars CDN. It has been on my Christmas list for two years now.I request it from the library every once in a while in the hopes that they will purchase one.I did luck out yesterday and found a paperback Thayer for $9.Many happy hours of reading here.
Muriel

[Rod]

Originally posted by spaceray:
I did luck out yesterday and found a paperback Thayer for $9.Many happy hours of reading here.
Muriel

If you got the complete one volume edition like I've got (as opposed to the more usually found two volume set) you got a real bargain for $9 Muriel!

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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[spaceray]

Here's what happened ,the 2nd hand bookstore
I always deal with suffered a computer crash and they lost the"waiting list" for this paperback single volume or this book would never have seen the light of day and as it was they put it on the shelf based on the original listed price of $6.95.What an unbelievable stroke of luck.I am so far only a few pages into it but have already learned that Thayer himself was a singer in his younger days.

[Joy]

Originally posted by spaceray:
Here's what happened ,the 2nd hand bookstore
I always deal with suffered a computer crash and they lost the"waiting list" for this paperback single volume or this book would never have seen the light of day and as it was they put it on the shelf based on the original listed price of $6.95.What an unbelievable stroke of luck.I am so far only a few pages into it but have already learned that Thayer himself was a singer in his younger days.

What a find! You certainly were lucky. Thank goodness for paperback books as some of us can't always afford the hardbacks! I have a few hardbacks and quite a few paperbacks in my library!


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'Truth and beauty joined'