Beethoven’s Brass Players: New Discoveries in Composer-Performer Relations

[Quijote]

Ever wondered why Beethoven gave prominence to the timpanist in some of his works? Or the parts given to the basses in the 9th? Well, have a read and find out more:
Beethoven’s Brass Players: New Discoveries in Composer-Performer Relations
https://www.historicbrass.org/edocma...5_Albrecht.pdf

[Peter]

That's a very long article and I'm no good reading lengthy essays on the internet, I need the book! Any chance of a summary as it looks interesting?

[Chris]

That was a very interesting read. Sometimes when we think of Beethoven composing we think of him just writing down whatever he was inspired to write down, in a very uncompromising way, with practical considerations being secondary. But this gives an insight into the practical and human side of his work as a composer. This happens all the time today in popular music - get some famous guitarist to add his distinctive sound to your song, or whatever. But I wonder how often it happens today in new orchestral compositions.

[Chris]

That's a very long article and I'm no good reading lengthy essays on the internet, I need the book! Any chance of a summary as it looks interesting?

It's harder to read on a screen for sure, but on the other hand, it's ideal for reading during a boring Zoom meeting, so you can continue to stare at the screen and pretend to be paying attention...

[Quijote]

That's a very long article and I'm no good reading lengthy essays on the internet, I need the book! Any chance of a summary as it looks interesting?

Sure, I'll give a summary, no worries. Not right now though, I'm a bit busy, I'll do it later...

[Quijote]

That's a very long article and I'm no good reading lengthy essays on the internet, I need the book! Any chance of a summary as it looks interesting?

OK, here's my attempt at a summary. I will be quoting freely from the text and making unattributed cuts with a few personal comments from time to time; I'll also avoid giving too much historical detail in terms of birth and death dates of the protagonists!

It's right what Chris wrote above [#3] about how we imagine Beethoven just writing down what his inspiration dictated and to hell with any performer who dared complain about any difficult technical passages. There's that famous quote: “Do you believe that I think of your wretched fiddle when the spirit speaks to me?” that Beethoven reportedly growled at his corpulent violinist friend Ignaz Schuppanzigh who had found a passage too difficult in one of the late quartets, if I remember correctly.

Anyway, the article that I linked above by Theodore Albrecht points out that this wasn't necessarily always so and that Beethoven wrote passages that intentionally made use of the specific skills of the instrumentalists he had in mind.

The first case in point concerns clarinettist Joseph Friedlowsky who had come from Prague to join the Theater an der Wien’s orchestra as principal clarinettist in 1802, and was therefore the first to play exposed passages in the Violin Concerto, Symphony no. 4, the “Pastorale” Symphony, and the Choral Fantasy, among others. His fellow principals in the woodwind section were also all Bohemians: bassoonist Valentin Czejka, oboist Franz Stadler, and especially flautist Anton Dreyssig. Czejka would have premiered bassoon solos in the same works in which Friedlowsky played clarinet. Stadler would have played the famous oboe cadenza in Symphony no. 5, as well as prominent passages in the “Pastorale” Symphony and Choral Fantasy; and Dreyssig, who had premiered Mozart’s Die Zauberflflflote over a decade before, would play in the first performances of the Symphony no. 3 (“Eroica”), Leonore Overture no. 3, “Pastorale” Symphony, and Choral Fantasy.

Well, so far, so good. Now to a quote from the article that introduces two key players - a timpanist and a double bass player:

"A skeptic might argue that Beethoven would have composed effectively for any talented principal flautist, oboist, clarinettist, or bassoonist, and ask why the presence of these particular musicians would mean that Beethoven might compose specifically for them. The cases of the Theater an der Wien’s timpanist Ignaz Manker and principal contrabassist Anton Grams provide compelling evidence that if Beethoven knew particular musicians’ strengths, he would write parts to show them to particular advantage."

Albrecht develops this, focusing first on the timpanist Ignaz Manker, who also studied violoncello with Anton Kraft and joined Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy’s newly formed Kapelle as a chamber musician in 1795. Even so, he was surely the timpanist for whom Haydn wrote the virtuosic part in his Missa in tempore belli (also known as the Paukenmesse), premiered at Vienna’s Piaristenkirche on 26 December 1796, certainly with Beethoven in attendance. Manker probably became timpanist at the Theater an der Wien in 1801, and when Beethoven scored the introduction to Christus am Olberge early in 1803, he twice left a bar empty except for somber thumps on the timpani to simulate Christ’s heartbeats. At the same time, scoring the Piano Concerto no. 3, Beethoven included a brief dialogue for himself and former chamber musician Manker in the first movement’s coda. In the introduction to the dungeon scene in Leonore/Fidelio (1805), reminiscent of the introduction to Christus, Beethoven now took advantage of the fact that Manker could tune to notes other than tonic and dominant, and scored a tritone (or diminished fifth) for the two drums. Already in the Paukenmesse, Haydn had demonstrated that Manker could play dynamic extremes, and Beethoven did likewise, with soft rhythms for Manker in the transition between the third and fourth movements of the Fifth Symphony, as well as loud thunder in the “Storm” of the “Pastorale” Symphony, both premiered in 1808. When he adapted the Violin Concerto into a Piano Concerto (for publication by Muzio Clementi in London), Beethoven now composed a cadenza for the first movement that included a march duet for piano and timpani—surely to amuse himself and Manker, as much as anything else—before he sent it off for publication. Similarly, when he composed the Piano Concerto no. 5 in 1809, Beethoven wrote another duet for himself and Manker in the finale, at the point where the rondo theme seems to disappear in the distance, just before the final flourish.
In the F-major scherzo of Symphony no. 7 in A, premiered in 1813, Beethoven expanded the interval for Manker to play to the minor sixth, and in the finale of the companion Symphony no. 8 in F, expanded the range of the timpani to octave Fs.

Turning now to double bass player Anton Grams, Albrecht also explains why Beethoven may have written key passages with this musician in mind. Anton Grams (Markersdorf, Bohemia, 1752-1823) studied contrabass under Natter in Prague and was principal when Mozart premiered his Don Giovanni there in 1787. The orchestra itself was small, but was noted for its well-developed sense of ensemble. Lauded for his purity of tone and clarity of execution, Grams probably came to the Theater an der Wien by the end of 1801, and here too became known as an excellent section leader. For the Theater’s Grams-led contrabassists, Beethoven was able to write challenging passages in his Symphonies no. 3 (the Marcia funebre) and 4 (scherzo), his Leonore/Fidelio (the grave-digging scene, also with contrabassoon), and, most obviously, the treacherously exposed passages in the third movement of Symphony no. 5. Beethoven had probably already envisioned the violoncello/contrabass section recitatives in the finale of the Ninth Symphony by the time Grams died on 18 May 1823. An entry by Schindler in one of Beethoven’s conversation books in the weeks before the Symphony’s premiere in May 1824 probably reflects the sense of loss that the composer himself felt: “If old Krams [Grams] were still alive, one could let them go without worry, because he led 12 bassi, who had to do what he wanted.”

Thus, timpanist Ignaz Manker had training as a violoncellist and could tune to intervals beyond the timpani’s traditional tonic-dominant. As a result, Beethoven could write for him the highly experimental tritones in Fidelio, the minor sixths in the Seventh Symphony, and the octaves in the Eighth Symphony. Because Manker was an experienced chamber musician with a well-developed sense of ensemble, Beethoven, as the pianist in his own works, could write the brief timpani-piano dialogue in the Third Piano Concerto, the timpani-piano duet in the cadenza of the piano version of the Violin Concerto, and the timpani-piano duet near the end of the so-called “Emperor” Concerto.

With principal contrabassist Anton Grams, the distinctions are more difficult to perceive, simply because there had always been contrabasses in an orchestra. But Beethoven began subtly, too: soft unison strings in thematic/motivic passages in the opening of the Third Piano Concerto, the Triple Concerto, and the orchestral entrance of the Choral Fantasy; more thematically complex passages in the Funeral March of the “Eroica” Symphony and the grave-digging scene in Fidelio; and especially in the third movement of the Fifth Symphony.

Unlike his writing for the solo woodwinds, who might be presumed to be accomplished players in any orchestra, Beethoven’s writing for the highly unlikely timpanist (with whom he must have developed a very strong professional bond) and contrabass section, when combined with identifiable names and biographical data, lead us to the conclusion that Beethoven must have been tailoring his orchestral writing to specific instrumentalists, sections, and circumstances, to a greater degree than musicologists have previously imagined.

So, that more all less sums up very, very briefly what this article is about without going into great detail about the brass players that Beethoven knew and their membership, hirings, sackings and resignations from the various professional and amateur associations in which they worked during that time.

[Zevy]

That was a very interesting read. Sometimes when we think of Beethoven composing we think of him just writing down whatever he was inspired to write down, in a very uncompromising way, with practical considerations being secondary. But this gives an insight into the practical and human side of his work as a composer. This happens all the time today in popular music - get some famous guitarist to add his distinctive sound to your song, or whatever. But I wonder how often it happens today in new orchestral compositions.

I did read most of it. We often forget that Mozart and Beethoven and most probably all of their contemporaries did not write for the ages, including us who live in the 21st century. They knew exactly who would be playing each part. This is especially true when it came to writing for vocalists.

[Peter]

Thanks for that - I've not heard of Manker and I don't think I've come across him in the Beethoven correspondence? When it came to the quartets we know of course of Schuppanzigh, but I think he would also push to the limits regardless of ability as with the chorus in the 9th and the finale of the Hammerklavier.

[Quijote]

Thanks for that - I've not heard of Manker and I don't think I've come across him in the Beethoven correspondence? When it came to the quartets we know of course of Schuppanzigh, but I think he would also push to the limits regardless of ability as with the chorus in the 9th and the finale of the Hammerklavier.

I forgot to quote the conclusion of Albrecht's article:

"Although it is not perhaps as apparent in the brasses as it is in some orchestral sections, notably the timpani and contrabasses, Beethoven, as often as opportunity allowed it, took great care and probably delight in tailoring specific passages in his orchestral works to specific performers. While uncertainties in personnel compelled him to be comparatively conservative, although often forcefully effective, in his writing for trumpets and trombones, he often felt free, especially at the Theater an der Wien, in scoring challenging passages for the horn section. Benedict Fuchs, Franz Eisen, and Michael Herbst must have enjoyed their athletic workout in the “Eroica” Symphony (1804-05) and shown their appreciation to the composer, who then displayed their talents again in Leonore/Fidelio (1805-06). Fuchs continued to pick soft high notes out of nowhere in the Fourth Symphony (1806-07), but when the middle-ranged Herbst became “solo” player, Beethoven wrote grateful exposed passages for him in the “Pastorale” Symphony (1808). After the K?rntnertor Theater’s low hornist Friedrich Hradetzky played Beethoven’s Horn Sonata in 1809, the composer rewarded him with the solo in the Fidelio Overture (1814) and again in the third movement of the Ninth Symphony (1823-1824). Once we realize that Beethoven interacted, sometimes irascibly, but more often positively, with his orchestral colleagues throughout most of his career, and wrote passages, either as solos or as ensembles, that were calculated to show them to audiences to their best advantage, we can approach his scores with both a new eye for study and a new ear for performance."

[Quijote]

I also should quote an important footnote in the article which raises another interesting point:

"While most of the woodwind players for whom Beethoven wrote particularly gratifying parts hailed from Bohemia (and therefore possibly played with more lyrical phrasing than their native Viennese counterparts and even a hint of vibrato), most of his favored brass players (with the exception of Hradetzky) were from Vienna or its environs (and possibly sounded more like their modern counterparts than the woodwinds did). But this in itself is a future study of major scope."