Hector Berlioz on Beethoven Symphony No.8
This Beethoven symphony is also in F, like the Pastoral, though it is designed on a more modest scale than the preceding symphonies. Yet though it hardly exceeds the first symphony (in C major) in the breadth of its forms, it is at least far superior to it in three respects - instrumental writing, rhythm and melodic style.
The first movement has two themes, both of them gentle and peaceful in character. The second and in our view the more striking of the two always seems to avoid the perfect cadence, by modulating first in a completely unexpected way (the phrase begins in D major and ends in C major), and then dissipating itself inconclusively on the diminished seventh chord of the subdominant.
This capricious turn in the melody gives the listener the feeling that the composer, inclined at first towards gentle feelings, has suddenly been distracted by a sad thought which interrupts his joyful song.
The Andante Scherzando is one of those creations for which there is neither model nor counterpart - it drops from heaven complete into the composer’s imagination - he writes it at a single stretch and we are amazed to hear it. The role of the wind instruments is here the opposite of their normal one - they accompany with repeated chords, played pianissimo eight times in every bar, the airy dialogue a punta d’arco between violins and basses. This has a gentle innocence which is delightful in its nonchalant manner, like the song of two children picking flowers in a field on a fine spring morning. The main theme consists of two sections of three bars each, the symmetry of which is broken by the silence which follows the basses’ reply; as a result the first section ends on the weak beat and the second on the strong. The harmonic ticking of the oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons so captivates the listener that he does not notice the lack of symmetry in the strings’ melody which results from the additional silent bar.
The function of this bar is evidently to leave exposed for longer the delightful chord over which the lively melody flutters. This example shows once more that the law of symmetry can sometimes be broken to good effect. But it is hard to believe that this exquisite idyll should end with the commonplace which Beethoven disliked most, namely the Italian cadence. At the moment when the instrumental dialogue of the two small orchestras of wind and strings is at its most enchanting, the composer, as though suddenly obliged to stop, makes the violins play tremolo the four notes G, F, A, B flat (sixth, dominant, leading note, tonic), repeat them several times in a hurry, exactly as when the Italians sing Felicità, and then come to an abrupt halt. I have never been able to make sense of this musical joke.
At this point a minuet, similar in design and tempo to those of Haydn, takes the place of the scherzo in triple time which Beethoven invented and which he has used in all his other symphonic works in such an ingenious and striking way. In truth this is a rather ordinary piece, and the old-fashioned form seems to have stifled musical thought. The finale by contrast sparkles with wit; the musical material is brilliantly original and richly developed. It has diatonic progressions in two parts and in contrary motion, through which the composer achieves a crescendo of huge dimension which brings the work to a most effective conclusion.
The harmonic writing does however contain a few rough edges caused by passing notes which are not resolved quickly enough on the right notes and which sometimes even pause on a silence.
At the cost of some violence to the letter of musical theory it is easy to explain away these passing dissonances, but in performance they always grate on the ear to a greater or lesser degree. But consider the high pedal held by the flutes and oboes on F, while the timpani underneath repeat the same note in octaves at the return of the theme, and the violins play the notes C, G and B flat from the dominant seventh chord, preceded by the third F, A from the tonic chord. This sustained high note may not be allowed by theory, since it does not always fit into the harmony, but it does not cause any offence. On the contrary, thanks to the skilful layout of the instruments and the character of the musical phrase, the result of this bunching of sounds is excellent and remarkably smooth. Before concluding we cannot omit mentioning an orchestral effect which perhaps more than any other takes the listener by surprise when this finale is performed: the note C sharp played very loud by the mass of the orchestra in unison and in octaves after a diminuendo which has faded out in the key of C major. The first two times this rasp is immediately followed by the return of the theme in F, and it becomes clear that the C sharp was simply an enharmonic D flat, the flattened sixth of the main key. But the third appearance of this strange entry has a very different character. The orchestra, after modulating to C as before now plays a real D flat followed by a fragment of the theme in D flat, then a real C sharp, followed by another fragment of the theme in C sharp minor, and finally repeats this C sharp three times over with increased force, and the whole theme now returns in F sharp minor. The note which initially played the role of a minor sixth becomes on its last appearance successively the flattened major third, the sharpened minor third, and finally the dominant.
This is very striking
H. Berlioz
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