Reception History--Eroica
I am looking for some reviews of Eroica on or near the date of its first performance. I have already been to raptusassociaton.org and have found the reviews there too short or too complicated. I am looking for a good review of the time period to share with my college students in a general history/writing setting.
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An excerpt from the periodical, Der Freimuthige, 26 April 1805:
"One party, Beethoven's most special friends, contend that this particular symphony is a masterpiece, that this is exactly the true style for music of the highest type and that if it does not please now it is because the public is not sufficiently cultivated in the arts to comprehend these higher spheres of beauty; but after a couple of thousand years its effect will not be lessened. The other party absolutely denies any artistic merit to this work. They claim that it reveals the symptoms of an evidently unbridled attempt at distinction and peculiarity, but that neither beauty, true sublimity nor power have anywherebeen achieved either by means of unusual modulations, by violent transitions or by the juxtaposition of the most heterogenous elements. The third, very small party stand in the middle. They concede that there are many beautiful things in the symphony, but admit that the continuity often appears to be confused and that the endless duration of this longest and perhaps most difficult of symphonies is tiring even for the expert; for a mere amateur it is unbearable."
This was written after the first public performance on 7th April 1805 at the Theater an der Wien with Beethoven conducting. The work however had previously been performed privately on several occasions (June 9th 1804 being the first known such performance at the Lobkowitz Palace). Even before the public performance the work had come in for criticism from the publishers Breitkopf and Hartel - excessive length was the one criticism that Beethoven seriously considered when he suggested the work should be performed as the first item on a concert programme.
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'Man know thyself''Man know thyself' -
Peter,
I am interested to find out a bit more information on the reviews of the first performance of Beethoven's Eroica in Paris, 1811, all I have is a reference by the music critic and librarian? Jacques Gabriel Prod'homme, reported that this performance was received with "frenzied applause".
These little tidbits can be so tantalizing!
[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited January 20, 2004).]~ Courage, so it be righteous, will gain all things ~Comment
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Amalie:
[B]Peter,
I am interested to find out a bit more information on the reviews of the first performance of Beethoven's Eroica in Paris, 1811, all I have is a reference by the music critic and librarian? Jacques Gabriel Prod'homme, reported that this performance was received with "frenzied applause".
These little tidbits can be so tantalizing!
Does anyone have more information about the reviews of the first performance of the Eroica in Paris 1811, and Jacques G. Prod'homme please?
And if possible, what is known about the first performance of the Eroica in Stockholm 1817?
Many thanks.
[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited January 21, 2004).]~ Courage, so it be righteous, will gain all things ~Comment
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[quote]Originally posted by Amalie:
[b]Well according to Berlioz's memoirs there were only a few isolated performances of Beethoven's works in Paris up till the 1820s - then on 9th march 1828 a performance of the Eroica was given at the Paris Conservatoire under Habeneck - 2 previous attempts at this work (10 years earlier and in 1826) had met with derision and laughter from the performers. If I find out more about the 1811 performance I'll let you know, though Prod'homme's remarks do seem at odds with the later facts!Originally posted by Amalie:
Peter,
I am interested to find out a bit more information on the reviews of the first performance of Beethoven's Eroica in Paris, 1811, all I have is a reference by the music critic and librarian? Jacques Gabriel Prod'homme, reported that this performance was received with "frenzied applause".
These little tidbits can be so tantalizing!
Does anyone have more information about the reviews of the first performance of the Eroica in Paris 1811, and Jacques G. Prod'homme please?
And if possible, what is known about the first performance of the Eroica in Stockholm 1817?
Many thanks.
[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited January 21, 2004).]
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'Man know thyself''Man know thyself'Comment
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Originally posted by Peter:
Well according to Berlioz's memoirs there were only a few isolated performances of Beethoven's works in Paris up till the 1820s - then on 9th march 1828 a performance of the Eroica was given at the Paris Conservatoire under Habeneck - 2 previous attempts at this work (10 years earlier and in 1826) had met with derision and laughter from the performers. If I find out more about the 1811 performance I'll let you know, though Prod'homme's remarks do seem at odds with the later facts!
Thankyou very much indeed Peter, this is most intriguing.
[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited January 22, 2004).]~ Courage, so it be righteous, will gain all things ~Comment
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