Beethoven and his influence on Schubert
Beethoven: His influence on Schubert
Major Works of Western Classical Music
May 21, 2010
The works of Ludwig van Beethoven have profoundly impressed countless musicians from his own time to the present. Discuss Beethoven's influence on one later composer of your choice, making reference to specific works of Beethoven himself and of the selected composer. Explore the nature of this influence, and whether or not it was explicitly expressed by the composer.
Be clear about the genre of your examples. If they are vocal, explore their text (s); if instrumental, explain whether they are programmatic or abstract in nature.
Beethoven was one of the most important figures in western classical music composition who had influenced a number of his successors including many great composers. He had put forth roots in the Mozart and Haydn traditions of classical period but went way beyond that. His lifetime covered both the end of the classical period and the beginning of the romantic period. Not just the techniques and his unique style, but also his revolutionary ideas, his passion to liberty of individuals and the ideas of French Revolution generating an integrity with the radical humanistic ideals of his contemporary society were making him distinct from any other composer.
"Beethoven's story is one of personal triumph over tragedy
and supreme musical achievement. A complex and brilliant man,
no composer before or since has exerted greater influence" ( Lane, 2006).
The life that he had been through, his hearing disorder and as a result the loneliness inside his personality were the parts of the tragedy, which Beethoven successfully amalgamated with his enormous talent and produced works that have still been respected in the 21th century. Even if the later composers tried to resist the influence of Beethoven, they were quite failed to do that.
Franz Schubert, as a crucial individual from the romantic period, was born into a peasant family and usually lived on the occasional commissions from his compositions and mostly on the largesse of rich accompanies who, noticing Schubert's genius had become not only the major audience but also the patrons and champions of his works. Schubert's life is the quintessential example of the Romantic notion of the neglected genius who dies in obscurity (http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/schubert.php, 2006). Organized evening meetings in their homes were taking place in which the songs of Schubert were sung usually the opera singer Johann Michael Vogl sang these songs and Schubert accompanies him with the piano.In the search for success, Schubert's first decision was to detach himself from Beethoven in the times which Beethoven's popularity was not that strong.
Schubert's dispraise of Beethoven was found voice in these words: "... the eccentricity that is common among most composers nowadays, and is due almost wholly to one of our greatest German artists- that eccentricity which joins and confuses the tragic and the comic, the agreeable with the repulsive, heroism with howlings, and the holiest with harlequinades, without distinction" and defined the music of Beethoven as serving "to goad people to madness instead of dissolving them in love, to incite them to laughter instead of lifting them up to God" (Solomon, 1979).
There is even an anecdote about ...
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Schubert's dispraise of Beethoven was found voice in these words: "... the eccentricity that is common among most composers nowadays, and is due almost wholly to one of our greatest German artists- that eccentricity which joins and confuses the tragic and the comic, the agreeable with the repulsive, heroism with howlings, and the holiest with harlequinades, without distinction" and defined the music of Beethoven as serving "to goad people to madness instead of dissolving them in love, to incite them to laughter instead of lifting them up to God" (Solomon, 1979).
There is even an anecdote about Schubert being so opposite of imitating Beethoven that Schubert once in 1817 tried to destroy one of his works, "Die Forelle" just because his friend told him that the song recognized him a passage from Beethoven (Cone, 1970). But soon after that, he recognizes the importance of his effect because of the reason that Beethoven was gaining popularity again. Schubert published a French song for piano four- hands, op. 10 and dedicated it to Ludwig van Beethoven with that exact quote: "To Ludwig van Beethoven by his Worshipper and Admirer. Franz Schubert." (Solomon, 1979)
Though Schubert attempted to detach himself from Beethoven's influence, he therefore became influenced by the idea of challenging the traditional convention which Beethoven originated. No matter how hard Schubert tried to escape Beethoven's influence, he was not able to do so. Schubert did indeed reach a level of success that emulated Beethoven's career. He received wide acceptance among critics and patrons (including those of Beethoven), and was quite popular among the general public. (The influence of Ludwig van Beethoven, n.d.)
There are two obvious examples of the influence of Beethoven on Schubert's instrumental programmatic pieces which are his last major compositions; namely in the opening of the Sonata in C minor and the final of the sonata in A major. The opening of the Last Sonata in C minor was quite similar in structure with Beethoven's theme 32 Variations in C minor; in fact, Beethoven's work was almost imitated by note for note (Cone, 1970). Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 31, No. 1 has a structure that can be closely matched with the structure of the final part of the Last sonata (Einstein, 1951). Alfred Einstein had also commented on the resemblance of Schubert's finale and Beethoven's finale and said "an echo of Beethoven's" as cited in Fisk (2001).
The number of the works of Schubert and Beethoven that are similar to each other can be increased, but the more it is increased the less commonality there is between the compared pieces. For instance, some particular parts of the first two movements in the C minor Sonata consist of parallel passages from Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8, Op. 13 which is the Pathétique, and it was composed in the same key. The bars from A major Sonata, specifically 200-206 from the end of the development section in the finale, have similarities with the bars 51-55 of the first movement from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Piano Sonata in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2. Beethoven's "Archduke" Trio have some parallel passages with Schubert's B-flat Sonata, namely the opening of B-flat Sonata, the theme of the first movement. On the other hand, bars 34-39 of the B-flat Sonata recall the part of Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto which is the bars 166-169 of the from the first movement of the Emperor; in this case, in the recapitulations both passages are changed. The finale of this sonata; in fact, bear resemblance to a part of Beethoven's String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130 which is the opening of the finale from.
Having said all that, the major pieces that have much more in common with Beethoven's compositions are Schubert's last sonatas; Sonata in C minor, D. 958 as well as Sonata in A major, D. 959. Sonata in C minor consists of four movements; allegro, adagio, menuetto: allegro- trio, allegro. In the first movement called allegro; the exposition is changed from the tonic to E-flat major, while getting midway on to a parallel minor. These are all in harmony with the practice of Classical period. Moreover, the development part becomes intensely chromatic, and it is quite different as compared with the exposition texturally and melodically. The recapitulation again is similar to the classical tradition and thus it stays in the stressing and the tonic subdominant tonalities. The coda; in turn, becomes like the material of the development section, while it is with a more stable tonality. The second movement is in A- B- A- B- A form and in A-flat major. The distinct structure of this movement forms a progression which could be seen at the end of the A section (Fisk, 2000).
Sonata in A major again consists of four separate movements which are allegro, andantino, scherzo: Allegro vivace - Trio: Un poco più lento, and rondo allegretto - presto. In the first movement, the tonality that is dominant is the classical fashion, by changing the exposition from tonic to E major (Webster, 1979). Then, the passage which seems to be appearing in the tonic minor, and is accompanied by the transition and retransition, that has the unconventional role of only shifting to the major mode to prepare the recapitulation there, rather than being completely preparative of the tonic key which in this case has already been previously set up (Rosen, 1997). Schubert's compositions also had a cyclic form which creates a unity within the piece. Fisk (2001) described Schubert's last sonatas with these words "a unifying tonal design, which follows a similar, basic dramatic scheme in each of the three works". The construction of a contrast tonality was achieved through using the home key of the sonata in both the beginning and the ending of the first movement.
To sum up, Ludwig van Beethoven as a quite important genius of western classical music, had been influenced many other crucial figures not only in music history; but also a lot of other branches of art. Many sources recognize Ludwig van Beethoven as a composer of the late Classical Period and the early Romantic Period. Therefore, he had a great influence specifically on the Romantic Period's composers which could be seen as the successors of Beethoven. The significant examples would be Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johann Strauss and most importantly Franz Schubert. Franz Schubert was neglecting the influence that Beethoven had on him; in fact he was quite reactive against having commonalities with Beethoven. But later on, he did admit the importance of Beethoven's impact on his own composition due to the fact that Beethoven's popularity was rising. Schubert's last major sonatas were specifically having resemblance to Beethoven's compositions. These pieces are all instrumental.
References
Cone, E. T. (1970). Schubert's Beethoven. Retrieved May 21, 2010 from http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/LVI/4/779.
Einstein, A. (1951). A musical portrait. Retrieved May 21, 2010 from,
http://www.jstor.org/pss/739997.
Fisk, C. (2000). Schubert recollects himself: The Piano Sonata in C Minor, D. 958. Retrieved May 20, 2010 from, http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/84/4/635.
Fisk, C. (2001). Returning cycles. Retrieved May 20, 2010 from, http://www.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=o3LdUVDh9R4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA25&dq=Sonata+in+C+minor,+D.+958&ots=IFw-_r7WIX&sig=VYlSOZpTSe-Oe0JC0Ak-AduZpOc#v=onepage&q=Sonata%20in%20C%20minor%2C%20D.%20958&f=false
Lane, W. (2006). Beethoven: The Immortal. Retrieved May 21, 2010 from http://lucare.com/immortal.
Rosen, C. (1997). The Cambridge companion to Schubert the book edited by Gibbs, C. H. Retrieved May 21, 2010 from, http://books.google.com.tr/books?id=_O3CcsbpNA8C&pg=PA72&lpg=PA72&dq=Rosen,+%E2%80%9CSchubert%27s+Inflections+of+Classical+Form%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=xjW9VY_95w&sig=O0tGWv7CfkYLNbWbU671ia5LGhw&hl=en&ei=_473S5bNOsresga3_8CCBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
Solomon, M. (1979). Schubert and Beethoven. 19th-Century Music, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Nov., 1979), pp. 114-125. Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved May 21, 2010 from, http://www.jstor.org/pss/746283.
Webster, J. (1979). Schubert's Sonata Form and Brahms's First Maturity. Retrieved May 20, 2010 from, http://www.jstor.org/pss/3519822.
The influence of Ludwig van Beethoven. (n.d). Retrieved May 18, 2010 from, http://www.class.uh.edu/Music/Koozin/techSeminar/Patricklewis/lvbpaper.htm#_ftnref5
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