On This Day!

[Joy]

May 2nd, 1800 -- First performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 1, in Vienna.
'This symphony shows the basic woodwind family which Beethoven would retain throughout his works; flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons in pairs. The use of two horns is also standard although he will use three in the Eroica and four in the Ninth.' The Symphony was dedicated to Baron Gottfried van Swieten, the translator and arranger of Haydn's Creation libretto and friend of Mozart. It was not particularly well received by contemporary critics.

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'Truth and beauty joined'

[This message has been edited by Joy (edited 05-02-2005).]

[Peter]

I think this concert took place on the 2nd April 1800, not May Joy! Although it was felt that there was too much use of the wind instruments, the critic in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung noted that the symphony "revealed much art, novelty and wealth of ideas."

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'Man know thyself'

[Hofrat]

Originally posted by Joy:
May 2nd, 1800 -- First performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 1, in Vienna.
'This symphony shows the basic woodwind family which Beethoven would retain throughout his works; flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons in pairs.

May I correct 2 inaccuracies. The first being the date of the premiere performance of the 1st symphony. It was 2 April 1800. And the second being the "standard" scoring of winds in pairs in the symphonies. In Beethoven's 4th symphony, there is only one flute.


Hofrat

[Joy]

Yea, Peter, I know it's contradictory. I heard on the radio that the date was today and then read in one of my books that it was April 2nd! Live and learn!

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'Truth and beauty joined'