Viennese classics: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. Vienna Classical School

Not a single sphere of musical art of the 19th century escaped the influence of Beethoven. From the vocal lyrics of Schubert to the musical dramas of Wagner, from the scherzo, fantastic overtures of Mendelssohn to the tragic-philosophical symphonies of Mahler, from the theatrical program music of Berlioz to the psychological depths of Tchaikovsky - almost every major artistic phenomenon of the 19th century developed one of the sides of Beethoven's multifaceted creativity. His high ethical principles, Shakespearean scale of thought, boundless artistic innovation served as a guiding star for composers of the most diverse schools and trends. “A giant whose steps we invariably hear behind us,” Brahms said of him.

Outstanding representatives of the romantic school in music devoted hundreds of pages to Beethoven, proclaiming him their like-minded person. Berlioz and Schumann in separate critical articles, Wagner in whole volumes affirmed the great importance of Beethoven as the first romantic composer.

Due to the inertia of musicological thought, the view of Beethoven as a composer deeply related to the romantic school has survived to this day. Meanwhile, the broad historical perspective opened up by the 20th century allows us to see the problem. "Beethoven and the Romantics" in a slightly different light. Assessing today the contribution that the composers of the romantic school made to world art, we come to the conclusion that Beethoven can neither be identified nor unconditionally brought closer to the romantics who idolized him. It is not characteristic of him main and general, which makes it possible to unite in the concept of a single school the work of such diverse artistic individuals as, for example, Schubert and Berlioz, Mendelssohn and Liszt, Weber and Schumann. It is no coincidence that in the critical years, when, having exhausted his mature style, Beethoven was strenuously looking for new ways in art, the emerging romantic school (Schubert, Weber, Marschner and others) did not open up any prospects for him. And those new spheres, grandiose in their significance, which he finally found in his work of the last period, by decisive features do not coincide with the foundations of musical romanticism.

There is a need to clarify the boundary separating Beethoven and the Romantics, to establish important points of divergence between these two phenomena, close to each other in time, unconditionally touching their separate sides and yet different in their aesthetic essence.

First of all, let us formulate those moments of commonality between Beethoven and the romantics, which gave the latter a reason to see in this brilliant artist their like-minded person.

Against the background of the musical atmosphere of post-revolutionary, that is, bourgeois Europe of the early and mid-19th century, Beethoven and Western romantics were united by an important common platform - opposition to ostentatious brilliance and empty entertainment, which began to dominate those years on the concert stage and opera house.

Beethoven is the first composer to throw off the yoke of a court musician, the first whose compositions are neither externally nor essentially connected with feudal princely culture or with the requirements of church art. He, and after him other composers of the 19th century, is a “free artist”, who does not know the humiliating dependence on the court or the church, which was the lot of all the great musicians of previous eras - Monteverdi and Bach, Handel and Gluck, Haydn and Mozart ... And yet, the freedom won from the fettering requirements of the court environment led to new phenomena, no less painful for the artists themselves. Musical life in the West turned out to be decisively dominated by a poorly educated audience, unable to appreciate the high aspirations in art and looking for only light entertainment in it. The contradiction between the search for advanced composers and the philistine level of the inert bourgeois public to an enormous extent hampered artistic innovation in the last century. This was the typical tragedy of the artist of the post-revolutionary period, which gave rise to the image of the "unrecognized genius in the attic" so common in Western literature. She defined the fiery revealing pathos of Wagner's journalistic works, branding the contemporary musical theater as "an empty flower of a rotten social system." It evoked the caustic irony of Schumann's articles: for example, about the works of the composer and pianist Kalkbrenner, who thundered all over Europe, Schumann wrote that he first composes virtuoso passages for the soloist, and then only thinks about how to fill the gaps between them. Berlioz's dreams of an ideal musical state arose directly from an acute dissatisfaction with the situation that had taken root in his contemporary musical world. The entire structure of the musical utopia he created expresses protest against the spirit of commercial entrepreneurship and state patronage of retrograde currents, so characteristic of France in the middle of the last century. And Liszt, constantly faced with the limited and backward demands of the concert public, reached such a degree of irritation that it began to seem to him the ideal position of a medieval musician, who, in his opinion, had the opportunity to create, focusing only on his own high standards.

In the war against vulgarity, routine, lightness, the main ally of the composers of the romantic school was Beethoven. It was his work, new, bold, spiritualized, that became the banner that inspired all the progressive young composers of the 19th century in search of a serious, truthful, opening up new perspectives of art.

And in their opposition to the outdated traditions of musical classicism, Beethoven and the romantics were perceived in the middle of the 19th century as a whole. Beethoven's break with the musical aesthetics of the Age of Enlightenment was an impetus for them to their own searches, typifying the psychology of the new time. The unprecedented emotional power of his music, its new lyrical quality, freedom of form compared to the classicism of the 18th century, and finally, the widest range of artistic ideas and expressive means - all this aroused the admiration of the romantics and received further multilateral development in their music. Only the versatility of Beethoven's art and its striving for the future can explain such a seemingly paradoxical phenomenon that the most diverse, sometimes completely dissimilar composers perceived themselves as the heirs and successors of Beethoven, having real grounds for such an opinion. And indeed, didn’t Schubert take from Beethoven that developed instrumental thinking that gave rise to a fundamentally new interpretation of the piano plan in everyday song? Berlioz was guided only by Beethoven, creating his grandiose symphonic compositions, in which he resorted to software and vocal sounds. Mendelssohn's program overtures are based on Beethoven's overtures. Wagner's vocal-symphonic writing goes directly back to Beethoven's operatic and oratorio style. Liszt's symphonic poem - a typical offspring of the romantic era in music - has its source in pronounced features of color, which manifested itself in the works of late Beethoven, a tendency towards variation and a free interpretation of the sonata cycle. At the same time, Brahms refers to the classicist structure of Beethoven's symphonies. Tchaikovsky revives their inner drama, organically linked to the logic of sonata formation. Examples of such connections between Beethoven and 19th-century composers are essentially inexhaustible.

And on a broader plane, there are features of kinship between Beethoven and his followers. In other words, Beethoven's work anticipates some important general trends in nineteenth-century art as a whole.

First of all, this is a psychological beginning, tangible both in Beethoven and in almost all artists of the next generations.

Not so much romantics, but the artists of the 19th century generally discovered the image of the unique inner world of a person - an image that is both integral and in constant motion, turned inward and refracting different sides of the objective, external world. In particular, it is in the disclosure and affirmation of this imaginative sphere that, first of all, lies the fundamental difference between the psychological novel of the 19th century and the literary genres of previous eras.

The desire to portray reality through the prism of the spiritual world of individuality is also characteristic of the music of the entire post-Beethoven era. Refracted through the specifics of instrumental expressiveness, it gave rise to some characteristic new form-building techniques that consistently appear both in Beethoven's late sonatas and quartets, and in the instrumental and operatic works of the romantics.

For the art of the “psychological era”, the classicist principles of shaping, expressing the objective aspects of the world, have lost their relevance, namely, distinct, clearly opposed thematic formations, complete structures, symmetrically divided and balanced sections of the form, suite-cyclic design of the whole. Beethoven, like the romantics, found new techniques that meet the tasks of psychological art. This is a tendency towards continuity of development, towards elements of one-partness on the scale of the sonata cycle, towards free variation in the development of thematic material, often based on flexible motive transitions, towards a two-dimensional - vocal-instrumental - structure of musical speech, as if embodying the idea of ​​the text and subtext of the statement * .

* For more on this, see the chapter "Romanticism in Music", section 4.

It is these features that bring together the works of the late Beethoven and the Romantics, who in all other respects are fundamentally contrasting with each other. Schubert's fantasy "Wanderer" and Schumann's "Symphonic Etudes", Berlioz's "Harold in Italy" and Mendelssohn's "Scottish Symphony", Liszt's "Preludes" and Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelungen" - how far these works are in terms of their range of images, mood, external sound from Beethoven's sonatas and quartets of the last period! And yet, both of them are marked by a single trend towards continuity of development.

Brings the late Beethoven closer to the composers of the romantic school and an extraordinary expansion of the range of phenomena covered by their art. This feature is manifested not only in the diversity of the thematics itself, but also in an extreme degree of contrast when comparing images within the same work. So, if the composers of the 18th century had contrasts, as it were, on a single plane, then in the late Beethoven and in a number of works of the romantic school, images of different worlds are compared. In the spirit of Beethoven's gigantic contrasts, romantics collide earthly and otherworldly, reality and dream, spiritualized faith and erotic passion. Let us recall Liszt's Sonata in h-moll, Chopin's Fantasia in f-moll, Wagner's "Tannhäuser" and many other works of the musical-romantic school.

Finally, Beethoven and the romantics are characterized by a desire for detailing expression - a desire that is also highly characteristic of the literature of the 19th century, not only of the romantic, but also of a clearly realistic plan. This trend is refracted through musical specificity in the form of a multi-element, condensed, and often multi-layered (poly-melodic) texture, extremely differentiated orchestration. The massive sonority of the music of Beethoven and the Romantics is also typical. In this respect, their art differs not only from the chamber transparent sound of classicist works of the 18th century. It equally opposes some schools of our century, which, having arisen as a reaction to the aesthetics of romanticism, reject the “thick” loaded sonority of the orchestra or piano of the 19th century and cultivate other principles of organizing musical fabric (for example, impressionism or neoclassicism).

You can also point to some more particular points of similarity in the principles of shaping of Beethoven and romantic composers. And yet, in the light of our current artistic perception, moments of difference between Beethoven and the romantics are so fundamentally important that, against this background, the features of commonality between them seem to recede into the background.

Today it is clear to us that the assessment of Beethoven by Western romantics was one-sided, in a sense even tendentious. They "heard" only those aspects of Beethoven's music that "resonated in tune" with their own artistic ideas.

Characteristically, they did not recognize Beethoven's later quartets. These works, going far beyond the artistic ideas of romanticism, seemed to them a misunderstanding, a product of the fantasy of an old man who had lost his mind. They also did not appreciate his works of the early period. When Berlioz, with a stroke of his pen, crossed out the whole significance of Haydn's work as an art of allegedly courtly applied art, he expressed in an extreme form a tendency characteristic of many musicians of his generation. Romantics easily gave the classicism of the 18th century to the irrevocably gone past, and with it the work of early Beethoven, which they were inclined to consider only as a stage that precedes the work of the great composer proper.

But even in the approach of the romantics to Beethoven's work of the "mature" period, one-sidedness is also manifested. So, for example, they raised high on a pedestal the programmatic “Pastoral Symphony”, which, in the light of our today's perception, does not at all rise above Beethoven's other works in the symphonic genre. In the Fifth Symphony, which captivated them with its emotional fury, fire-breathing temperament, they did not appreciate its unique formal construction, which forms the most important side of the overall artistic design.

These examples reflect not particular differences between Beethoven and the Romantics, but a deep general discrepancy between their aesthetic principles.

The most fundamental difference between them is in attitude.

No matter how the romantics themselves comprehended their work, they all, in one form or another, expressed in it discord with reality. The image of a lonely person lost in an alien and hostile world, an escape from gloomy reality into a world of unattainably beautiful dreams, a violent protest on the verge of nervous excitement, mental fluctuations between exaltation and melancholy, mysticism and the infernal beginning - it was this sphere of images, alien to Beethoven's work, that was in the art of music was first discovered by the romantics and developed by them with high artistic perfection. Beethoven's heroic optimistic worldview, his composure, the sublime flight of thought that never passes into the philosophy of the other world - all this was not perceived by composers who think themselves to be Beethoven's heirs. Even in Schubert, who, to a much greater extent than the romantics of the next generation, retained simplicity, soil, connection with the art of folk life - even in him the pinnacle, classical works are mainly associated with a mood of loneliness and sadness. He was the first in Marguerite at the Spinning Wheel, The Wanderer, the Winter Road cycle, the Unfinished Symphony and many other works to create the image of spiritual loneliness that has become typical for romantics. Berlioz, who considers himself a successor to the heroic traditions of Beethoven, nevertheless captured in his symphonies images of deep dissatisfaction with the real world, yearning for the unrealizable, Byron's "world sorrow". Indicative in this sense is the comparison of Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony" with Berlioz's "Scene in the Fields" (from "Fantastic"). Beethoven's work is fanned with a mood of light harmony, imbued with a sense of the merging of man and nature - Berlioz's work has a shadow of gloomy individualistic reflection. And even the most harmonious and balanced of all composers of the post-Beethoven era, Mendelssohn does not come close to the optimism and spiritual strength of Beethoven. The world with which Mendelssohn is in complete harmony is a narrow "cozy" burgher little world that knows neither emotional storms nor bright insights of thought.

Finally, let us compare Beethoven's hero with typical heroes in the music of the 19th century. Instead of Egmont and Leonora - heroic, active personalities, carrying a high moral principle, we meet with restless, dissatisfied characters, vacillating between good and evil. Max from Weber's Magic Shooter, Schumann's Manfred, Wagner's Tannhäuser, and many others are perceived in this way. If Florestan in Schumann is something morally integral, then, firstly, this image itself - seething, frantic, protesting - expresses the idea of ​​​​extreme intransigence with the outside world, the quintessence of the very mood of discord. Secondly, in the aggregate about Eusebius, who is carried away from reality into the world of a non-existent beautiful dream, he personifies a typical split personality of a romantic artist. In two ingenious funeral marches - Beethoven's "Heroic Symphony" and Wagner's "Twilight of the Gods" - the essence of the difference in the worldview of Beethoven and romantic composers is reflected like in a drop of water. For Beethoven, the funeral procession was an episode in the struggle, culminating in the victory of the people and the triumph of truth; in Wagner, the death of a hero symbolizes the death of the gods and the defeat of the heroic idea.

This deep difference in attitude was refracted in a specific musical form, forming a clear line between the artistic style of Beethoven and the Romantics.

It manifests itself primarily in the figurative sphere.

The expansion of the boundaries of musical expressiveness by the romantics was to a large extent connected with the sphere of fabulous-fantastic images they discovered. For them, this is not a subordinate, not a random sphere, but the most specific and original- exactly what, in a broad historical perspective, primarily distinguishes the 19th century from all previous musical eras. Probably, the country of beautiful fiction personified the artist's desire to escape from everyday boring reality into the world of an unattainable dream. It is also indisputable that in the musical art the national self-consciousness, which flourished magnificently in the era of romanticism (as a result of the national liberation wars at the beginning of the century), manifested itself in a heightened interest in national folklore, permeated with fairy-tale motifs.

One thing is certain: a new word in the operatic art of the 19th century was said only when Hoffmann, Weber, Marschner, Schumann, and after them - and at a particularly high level - Wagner broke fundamentally with the historical mythological and comedic plots that are inseparable from the musical theater classicism, and enriched the world of opera with fantastic and legendary motifs. The new language of romantic symphonism also originates in works that are inextricably linked with the fairy-tale program - in the "Oberonian" overtures of Weber and Mendelssohn. The expressiveness of romantic pianism to a large extent originates in the figurative sphere of Schumann's "Fantastic Pieces" or "Kreisleriana", in the atmosphere of the ballads of Mickiewicz - Chopin, etc., etc. The enormous enrichment of the colorful - harmonic and timbre - palette, which is one of The most important conquests of world art of the 19th century, the general strengthening of the sensual charm of sounds, which so directly separates the music of classicism from the music of the post-Beethoven era - all this is connected primarily with the fabulous-fantastic circle of images, which was first developed consistently in the works of the 19th century. From here, to a large extent, that general atmosphere of poetry, that glorification of the sensual beauty of the world, without which romantic music is unthinkable, originates.

Beethoven, on the other hand, was deeply alien to the fantastic sphere of images. Of course, in terms of poetic power, his art is in no way inferior to the romantic. However, the high spirituality of Beethoven's thought, its ability to poeticize different aspects of life, is in no way associated with magical, fabulous, legendary, otherworldly mystical images. Only hints of them are heard in isolated cases, moreover, they always occupy an episodic, and by no means central place in the overall concept of the works, for example, in the Presto from the Seventh Symphony or the finale of the Fourth. The latter (as we wrote above) seemed to Tchaikovsky a fantastic picture from the world of magical spirits. This interpretation was undoubtedly inspired by the experience of half a century of musical development after Beethoven; Tchaikovsky, as it were, projected the musical psychology of the late 19th century onto the past. But even accepting today such a "reading" of Beethoven's text, one cannot fail to see how much in terms of color Beethoven's finale is less bright and complete than the fantastic pieces of the romantics, who on the whole were significantly inferior to him in terms of the scale of talent and strength of inspiration.

It is this criterion of colorism that particularly clearly underlines the different paths followed by the innovative searches of the Romantics and Beethoven. Even in the works of the late style, which at first glance are very far from the classicist warehouse, Beethoven's harmonic and instrumental-timbre language is always much simpler, clearer than that of the romantics, to a greater extent expresses the logical and organizing principle of musical expressiveness. When he deviates from the laws of classical functional harmony, this deviation leads rather to ancient, pre-classic modes and polyphonic structure than to the complicated functional relationships of romantic harmony and their free polymelody. He never strives for that self-sufficient brilliance, density, luxury of harmonic sounds, which form the most important side of the romantic musical language. The coloristic beginning in Beethoven, especially in the later piano sonatas, is developed to a very high level. And yet it never reaches a dominant value, never suppresses the general sound concept. And the actual structure of a musical work never loses its distinctness, relief. To demonstrate the opposing aesthetic aspirations of Beethoven and the Romantics, let us compare again Beethoven and Wagner, the composer who brought to a climax the typical tendencies of romantic means of expression. Wagner, who considered himself the heir and successor of Beethoven, in many respects actually brought closer to his ideal. However, his extremely detailed musical speech, rich in external timbre and color shades, spicy in its sensual charm, creates that effect of “monotony of luxury” (Rimsky-Korsakov), in which the sense of form and internal dynamics of music is lost. For Beethoven, such a phenomenon was fundamentally impossible.

The enormous distance between the musical thinking of Beethoven and the Romantics is just as clear in their attitude to the miniature genre.

Within the framework of the chamber miniature, romance reached hitherto unprecedented artistic heights for this type of art. The new lyric style of the 19th century, expressing direct emotional outpouring, intimate mood of the moment, dreaminess, was ideally embodied in a song and a one-movement piano piece. It was here that the innovation of the romantics manifested itself especially convincingly, freely, and boldly. Schubert and Schumann's romances, Schubert's "Musical Moments" and "Impromptu", Mendelssohn's "Songs without Words", Chopin's nocturnes and mazurkas, Liszt's one-movement piano pieces, Schumann's and Chopin's cycles of miniatures - all of them brilliantly characterize the new, romantic thinking in music and superbly reflect the individuality of their creators. Creativity in line with the sonata-symphonic classical traditions was given to romantic composers much more difficult, rarely reaching the artistic persuasiveness and completeness of style that characterizes their one-movement pieces. Moreover, the principles of shaping, typical of the miniature, consistently penetrate into the symphonic cycles of the Romantics, radically changing their traditional appearance. So, for example, Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony" absorbed the patterns of romance writing; it is no coincidence that it remained “unfinished”, that is, two-part. "Fantastic" Berlioz is perceived as a gigantic overgrown cycle of lyrical miniatures. Heine, who called Berlioz "a lark the size of an eagle", sensitively caught the contradiction inherent in his music between the external forms of monumental sonatas and the composer's mentality, gravitating towards miniature. Schumann, when he turns to the cyclic symphony, to a large extent loses the individuality of the romantic artist, which is so clearly manifested in his piano pieces and romances. The symphonic poem, reflecting not only the creative image of Liszt himself, but also the general artistic structure of the middle of the 19th century, with all the clearly expressed desire to preserve the generalized symphonic structure of thought characteristic of Beethoven, repels primarily from one-part constructions of the romantics, from the colorful and variational free methods of shaping characteristic of her, etc., etc.

In Beethoven's work there is a diametrically opposite trend. Of course, the diversity, diversity, richness of Beethoven's searches is so great that it is not difficult to find miniature works in his legacy. And yet it is impossible not to see that compositions of this kind occupy a subordinate position in Beethoven, yielding, as a rule, in artistic value to large-scale, sonata genres. Neither the bagatelles, nor the "German Dances", nor the songs can give an idea of ​​the artistic individuality of the composer, who brilliantly manifested himself in the field of monumental form. Beethoven's cycle "To a Distant Beloved" is rightly pointed out as a prototype of future romantic cycles. But how inferior this music is in terms of inspiration, thematic brightness, melodic richness not only to Schubert and Schumann cycles, but also to the sonata works of Beethoven himself! What marvelous melodiousness some of his instrumental themes possess, especially in works of the late style. Let us recall, for example, Andante from the slow movement of the Ninth Symphony, Adagio from the Tenth Quartet, Largo from the Seventh Sonata, Adagio from the Twenty-ninth Sonata, as well as an infinite number of others. In Beethoven's vocal miniatures, such a wealth of melodic inspiration is almost never found. At the same time, it is characteristic that within the framework of the instrumental cycle, as element of the structure of the sonata cycle and its dramaturgy, Beethoven often created finished miniatures, outstanding in their immediate beauty and expressiveness. Examples of this kind of miniature compositions that play the role of an episode in a cycle are endless among the scherzos and minuets of Beethoven's sonatas, symphonies, and quartets.

And even more so in the late period of creativity (namely, they are trying to bring him closer to romantic art) Beethoven gravitates towards grandiose, monumental canvases. True, during this period he created "Bagateli" op. 126, which, with their poetry and originality, rise above all other works by Beethoven in the form of a one-part miniature. But it is impossible not to see that these miniatures for Beethoven are a unique phenomenon that did not find continuation in his subsequent work. On the contrary, all the works of the last decade in Beethoven's life - from the piano sonatas (No. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32) to the Solemn Mass, from the Ninth Symphony to the last quartets - with maximum artistic power affirm his monumental and majestic mindset. , its inclination towards grandiose, "cosmic" scales, expressing a sublimely abstract figurative sphere.

A comparison of the role of the miniature in Beethoven's work and that of the Romantics makes it especially obvious how alien (or failed) the latter was to the sphere of abstract philosophical thought, which was highly characteristic of Beethoven as a whole, and in particular for the works of the later period.

Let us recall how consistent Beethoven's attraction to polyphony was throughout his entire career. In the later period of creativity, polyphony becomes for him the most important form of thinking, a characteristic feature of style. In full agreement with the philosophical orientation of thought, Beethoven's keen interest of the last period in the quartet is perceived - a genre that, precisely in his own work, has developed as an exponent of an in-depth intellectual beginning.

Inspired and intoxicated with lyrical feeling, episodes of late Beethoven, in which subsequent generations, not without reason, saw the prototype of romantic lyrics, as a rule, are balanced by objective, most often abstractly polyphonic parts. Let us at least indicate the relationship between the Adagio and the polyphonic finale in the Twenty-ninth Sonata, the final fugue and all the preceding material in the Thirty-first. Free cantilena melodies of slow parts, often really echoing the lyrical melodiousness of romantic themes, appear in late Beethoven surrounded by abstract, purely abstract material. Ascetically severe, often linear in structure, devoid of song and melodic motifs, these themes, often in polyphonic refraction, shift the center of artistic gravity of the work from slow melodic parts. And this already violates the romantic image of all music. Even the final variations of the last piano sonata, written in "Arietta", which, on the surface, is very reminiscent of a miniature of the romantics, lead very far from the intimate lyrical sphere, in contact with eternity, with the majestic cosmic world.

In the music of the Romantics, however, the realm of the abstract philosophical turns out to be subordinate to the emotional, lyrical element. Accordingly, the expressive possibilities of polyphony are significantly inferior to harmonic colorfulness. Contrapuntal episodes are generally rare in the works of the Romantics, and when they occur, they have a completely different appearance than traditional polyphony, with its characteristic spiritual structure. Thus, in the “Sabbat of Witches” from Berlioz’s “Fantastic Symphony”, in the Liszt sonata in b-moll, fugue techniques are the bearer of a Mephistopheles, ominously sarcastic image, and not at all that sublime contemplative thought that characterizes the polyphony of late Beethoven and, we note in passing, Bach or Palestrina.

There is nothing accidental in the fact that none of the romantics continued the artistic line developed by Beethoven in his quartet letter. Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner was “contraindicated” in this chamber genre itself, with its external restraint, the complete absence of an “oratorical pose” and variety, and the monotonous timbre coloring. But even those composers who created beautiful music within the framework of the quartet sound also did not follow the Beethovenian path. In the quartets of Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, the emotional and sensuously colorful perception of the world dominates over concentrated thought. In all their appearance, they are closer to the symphonic and piano-sonata than Beethoven's quartet writing, which is characterized by a "bare" logic of thought and pure spirituality to the detriment of drama and the immediate accessibility of thematism.

There is another important stylistic feature that clearly separates the structure of Beethoven's thought from the romantic one, namely the "local color", first discovered by the Romantics and forming one of the most striking conquests of music in the 19th century.

This feature of style was unknown to the musical creativity of the era of classicism. Of course, elements of folklore have always penetrated widely into the professional composer's work in Europe. However, before the era of romanticism, they, as a rule, were dissolved in universal methods of expressiveness, obeyed the laws of the common European musical language. Even in those cases when in the opera specific stage images were associated with non-European culture and characteristic local color (for example, “Janissary” images in comic operas of the 18th century or the so-called “Indian” ones by Rameau), the musical language itself did not go beyond the framework of a unified European style. And only starting from the second decade of the 19th century, the old peasant folklore began to consistently penetrate the works of romantic composers, and in such a form that specifically emphasized and set off their national-original features.

Thus, the bright artistic originality of Weber's "Magic Shooter" is associated with the characteristic intonations of German and Czech folklore to the same extent as with the fabulous-fantastic circle of images. The fundamental difference between Rossini's Italian classicist operas and his "William Tell" lies in the fact that the musical fabric of this truly romantic opera is imbued with the flavor of Tyrolean folklore. In Schubert's romances, the everyday German song for the first time "cleared" from the layers of foreign Italian operatic "lacquer" and sparkled with fresh melodic turns borrowed from the everyday sounding multinational songs of Vienna; even Haydn's symphonic melodies escaped this originality of local coloring. What would Chopin be without Polish folk music, Liszt without Hungarian verbunkos, Smetana and Dvořák without Czech folklore, Grieg without Norwegian? We even now leave aside the Russian musical school, one of the most significant in the music of the 19th century, inseparable from its national specifics. Coloring the works in a unique national color, folklore connections asserted one of the most characteristic features of the romantic style in music.

Beethoven is in this respect on the other side of the border. Like his predecessors, the folk principle in his music almost always appears as deeply mediated and transformed. Sometimes in separate, literally isolated, cases, Beethoven himself indicates that his music is "in the German spirit" (alla tedesca). But it is hard not to notice that these works (or, rather, individual parts of the works) are devoid of any distinctly perceptible local coloring. Folklore themes are so woven into the general musical fabric that their national and original features are subordinated to the language of professional music. Even in the so-called "Russian quartets", where genuine folk themes are used, Beethoven develops the material in such a way that the national specificity of folklore is gradually obscured, merging with the usual "turns of speech" of the European sonata-instrumental style.

If the modal originality of thematism influenced the whole structure of the music of these quartet parts, then these influences are, in any case, deeply reworked and not directly perceptible to the ear, as is the case with composers of romantic or national-democratic schools of the 19th century. And the point is not at all that Beethoven was unable to feel the originality of Russian themes. On the contrary, his arrangements of English, Irish, Scottish songs speak of the composer's amazing sensitivity to folk modal thinking. But within the framework of his artistic style, inseparable from instrumental sonata thinking, local coloring does not interest Beethoven, does not affect his artistic consciousness. And this reveals another fundamentally important facet that separates his work from the music of the "romantic age".

Finally, the divergence between Beethoven and the Romantics also manifests itself in relation to the artistic principle, which, according to tradition, since the views of the middle of the 19th century, has been considered as the most important point of commonality between them. We are talking about programming, which is the cornerstone of romantic aesthetics in music.

Romantic composers stubbornly called Beethoven the creator of program music, seeing him as their predecessor. Indeed, Beethoven has two well-known works, the content of which the composer himself specified with the help of the word. It was these works - the Sixth and Ninth Symphonies - that were perceived by the romantics as the personification of their own artistic method, as the banner of the new program music of the "romantic age". However, if we look at this problem with an impartial eye, then it is not difficult to see that Beethoven's programming is profoundly different from the programming of the romantic school. And above all, because the phenomenon, for Beethoven, private and atypical, in the music of the romantic style has become a consistent, essential principle.

The romantics of the 19th century needed programming as a factor that would fruitfully contribute to the development of their new style. Indeed, overtures, symphonies, symphonic poems, cycles of piano pieces - all of a programmatic nature - form the generally recognized contribution of the Romantics to the field of instrumental music. However, what is new and characteristically romantic here is not so much the very appeal to extra-musical associations, examples of which permeate the entire history of European musical creativity, How many literary the nature of these associations. All romantic composers gravitated towards contemporary literature, since the specific images and the general emotional structure of the latest lyric poetry, the fairy-tale epic, the psychological novel helped them to free themselves from the pressure of obsolete classicist traditions and “grope” for their own new forms of expression. Let us recall, for example, what a fundamentally important role was played for Berlioz's Fantastic Symphony by the images of De Quincey's novel - Musset's "The Diary of an Opium Smoker", the scenes of "Walpurgis Night" - from Goethe's "Faust", Hugo's story "The Last Day of the Condemned" and others. Schumann's music was directly inspired by the works of Jean Paul and Hoffmann, Schubert's romances were inspired by the lyric poetry of Goethe, Schiller, Müller, Heine, etc. The impact of Shakespeare "rediscovered" by the romantics on the new music of the 19th century can hardly be overestimated. It is felt throughout the post-Beethoven era, starting with Weber's Oberon, Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet, and ending with Tchaikovsky's famous overture to the same subject. Lamartine, Hugo and Liszt; the northern sagas of romantic poets and Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen; Byron and "Harold in Italy" by Berlioz, "Manfred" by Schumann; Scribe and Meyerbeer; Apel and Weber, etc., etc. - each major artistic personality of the post-Beethoven generation found its new system of images under the direct influence of the latest or open modernity of literature. "Renewal of music through connection with poetry" - this is how Liszt formulated this most important trend of the romantic era in music.

Beethoven, on the whole, is alien to programming. With the exception of the Sixth and Ninth Symphonies, all of Beethoven's other instrumental works (more than 150) are the classic pinnacle of music in the so-called "absolute" style, like the quartets and symphonies of the mature Haydn and Mozart. Their intonation structure and the principles of sonata formation generalize a century and a half of experience in the previous development of music. Therefore, the impact of his thematic and sonata development is instantaneous, publicly available and does not need extra-musical associations to fully reveal the image. When Beethoven turns to programming, it turns out that it is completely different from that of the composers of the romantic school.

Thus, the Ninth Symphony, which uses the poetic text of Schiller's ode "To Joy", is not at all a program symphony in the proper sense of the word. This is a work of unique form, which combines two independent genres. The first is a large-scale symphonic cycle (without a finale), which, in all the details of thematic and shaping, adjoins the "absolute" style typical of Beethoven. The second is a choral cantata based on Schiller's text, which forms the gigantic culmination of the whole work. She only appears after that how instrumental sonata development has exhausted itself. Romantic composers, for whom Beethoven's Ninth served as a model, did not follow this path at all. Their vocal music with the word, as a rule, is dispersed throughout the entire canvas of the work, playing the role of a concretizing program. This is how, for example, Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet is built, a kind of hybrid of orchestral music and theatre. And in Mendelssohn's "Laudatory" and "Reformation" symphonies, and later in Mahler's Second, Third and Fourth, vocal music with a word is devoid of that genre independence that characterizes Beethoven's ode to Schiller's text.

The "Pastoral Symphony" is closer in external forms of programming to the sonata-symphonic works of the romantics. And although Beethoven himself indicates in the score that these “memories of rural life” are “more an expression of mood than sound painting,” however, the specific plot associations are very clear here. True, they are not so much picturesque as opera-stage character. But it is precisely in the deep connection with the musical theater that all the unique specificity of the programmatic nature of the Sixth Symphony manifests itself.

Unlike the romantics, Beethoven is guided here not by a completely new system of artistic thought for music, which, however, managed to manifest itself in the latest literature. He relies in the "Pastoral Symphony" on such a figurative system, which (as we have shown above) has long been introduced into the consciousness of both musicians and music lovers.

As a result, the very forms of musical expression in the Pastoral Symphony, for all their originality, are to a large extent based on well-established intonation complexes; new purely Beethovenian thematic formations arising against their background do not obscure them. There is a certain impression that in the Sixth Symphony, Beethoven deliberately refracts through the prism of his new symphonic style the images and forms of expression of the musical theater of the Enlightenment.

With this unique orus, Beethoven completely exhausted his interest in instrumental programming proper. Over the next twenty (!) Years - and about ten of them coincide with the late style period - he did not create a single work with concretizing headings and clear extra-musical associations in manner of the "Pastoral Symphony" *.

* In 1809-1810, that is, in the period between the Appassionata and the first of the late sonatas, characterized by the search for a new path in the field of piano music, Beethoven wrote the Twenty-sixth Sonata, endowed with program headings ("Les Adieux", "L "absence" , "La Retour"). These titles have very little effect on the structure of the music as a whole, on its thematic and development, forcing one to remember the type of program that was found in German instrumental music before the crystallization of the classicist sonata-symphonic style, in particular, in the early quartets and symphonies of Haydn.

These are the main, fundamental moments of the divergence between Beethoven and the composers of the romantic school. But as an additional angle to the problem posed here, let us pay attention to the fact that the composers of the late 19th century and of our present time "heard" such aspects of Beethoven's art, to which the romantics of the last century were "deaf".

Thus, the late Beethoven's appeal to the old modes (op. 132, Solemn Mass) anticipates going beyond the classical major-minor tonal system, which is so typical of the music of our time in general. The tendency, inherent in the polyphonic works of Beethoven's late years, to create an image not through the intonational completeness and direct beauty of the thematic art itself, but through the complex multi-stage development of the whole, based on "abstract" themes, has also manifested itself in many composer schools of our century, starting with Reger. The inclination towards a linear texture, towards a polyphonic development echoes modern neoclassical forms of expression. Beethoven's quartet style, which did not find continuation with Western romantic composers, has been revived in a peculiar way in our days in the work of Bartok, Hindemith, Shostakovich. And finally, after a half-century period between Beethoven's Ninth and the symphonies of Brahms and Tchaikovsky, monumental philosophical symphonism "came back to life", which was an unattainable ideal for composers of the middle and third quarter of the last century. In the work of the outstanding masters of the 20th century, in the symphonic works of Mahler and Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff and Honegger, there lives a majestic spirit, a generalized thought, large-scale concepts characteristic of Beethoven's art.

In a hundred or one hundred and fifty years, the future critic will be able to more fully capture the entire multiplicity of facets of Beethoven's work and evaluate his relationship with various artistic movements of subsequent eras. But even today it is clear to us: Beethoven's influence on music is not limited to connections with the romantic school. Just as Shakespeare, discovered by the romantics, stepped far beyond the boundaries of the "romantic age", to this day inspiring and fertilizing major creative discoveries in literature and theater, so Beethoven, once raised to the shield by romantic composers, never ceases to amaze each new generation of his consonance with the advanced ideas and searches of modernity.

Beethoven was lucky enough to be born in an era that perfectly suited his nature. This is an era rich in great social events, the main of which is the revolutionary upheaval in France. The Great French Revolution, its ideals had a strong impact on the composer - both on his worldview and on his work. It was the revolution that gave Beethoven the basic material for comprehending the "dialectics of life."

The idea of ​​a heroic struggle became the most important idea of ​​Beethoven's work, although by no means the only one. Efficiency, an active desire for a better future, a hero in unity with the masses - this is what the composer puts forward to the fore. The idea of ​​citizenship, the image of the protagonist - a fighter for republican ideals, make Beethoven's work related to the art of revolutionary classicism (with the heroic paintings of David, Cherubini's operas, revolutionary marching song). “Our time needs people with a powerful spirit,” said the composer. It is significant that he dedicated his only opera not to the witty Susana, but to the courageous Leonora.

However, not only social events, but also the personal life of the composer contributed to the fact that the heroic theme came to the fore in his work. Nature endowed Beethoven with an inquisitive, active mind of a philosopher. His interests have always been unusually broad, they extended to politics, literature, religion, philosophy, natural sciences. A truly immense creative potential was opposed by a terrible ailment - deafness, which, it would seem, could forever close the path to music. Beethoven found the strength to go against fate, and the ideas of Resistance, Overcoming became the main meaning of his life. It was they who "forged" the heroic character. And in every line of Beethoven's music we recognize its creator - his courageous temperament, unbending will, intransigence to evil. Gustav Mahler formulated this idea as follows: “The words that Beethoven allegedly said about the first theme of the Fifth Symphony - “So fate knocks at the door” ... for me far from exhaust its enormous content. Rather, he could say about her: "It's me."

Periodization of Beethoven's creative biography

• I - 1782-1792 - Bonn period. The beginning of the creative path.
• II - 1792-1802 - Early Viennese period.
• III - 1802-1812 - Central period. Time for creativity.
• IV - 1812-1815 - Transitional years.
• V - 1816-1827 - Late period.

Childhood and early years of Beethoven

Beethoven's childhood and early years (until the autumn of 1792) are connected with Bonn, where he was born in December 1770 of the year. His father and grandfather were musicians. Close to the French border, Bonn was one of the centers of German enlightenment in the 18th century. In 1789, a university was opened here, among the educational documents of which Beethoven's grade book was later found.

In early childhood, Beethoven's professional education was entrusted to frequently changing, "accidental" teachers - acquaintances of his father, who gave him lessons in playing the organ, harpsichord, flute, and violin. Having discovered his son's rare musical talent, his father wanted to make him a child prodigy, a "second Mozart" - a source of large and constant income. To this end, he himself, and his friends in the chapel invited by him, took up the technical training of little Beethoven. He was forced to practice the piano even at night; however, the first public performances of the young musician (in 1778, concerts were organized in Cologne) did not justify his father's commercial plans.

Ludwig van Beethoven did not become a child prodigy, but he discovered his talent as a composer quite early. He had a great influence Christian Gottlieb Nefe, who taught him composition and playing the organ from the age of 11, is a man of advanced aesthetic and political convictions. Being one of the most educated musicians of his era, Nefe introduced Beethoven to the works of Bach and Handel, enlightened him in matters of history, philosophy, and, most importantly, brought him up in the spirit of deep respect for his native German culture. In addition, Nefe became the first publisher of the 12-year-old composer, publishing one of his early works - Piano Variations on Dressler's March(1782). These variations became Beethoven's first surviving work. Three piano sonatas were completed the following year.

By this time, Beethoven had already begun to work in the theater orchestra and held the position of assistant organist in the court chapel, and a little later he also worked as music lessons in aristocratic families (due to the poverty of the family, he was forced to enter the service very early). Therefore, he did not receive a systematic education: he attended school only until the age of 11, wrote with errors all his life and never comprehended the secrets of multiplication. Nevertheless, thanks to his own perseverance, Beethoven managed to become an educated person: he independently mastered Latin, French and Italian, constantly read a lot.

Dreaming of studying with Mozart, in 1787 Beethoven visited Vienna and met his idol. Mozart, after listening to the young man's improvisation, said: “Pay attention to him; he will someday make the world talk about him." Beethoven failed to become a student of Mozart: due to the fatal illness of his mother, he was forced to urgently return back to Bonn. There he found moral support in an enlightened the Braining family.

The ideas of the French Revolution were enthusiastically received by Beethoven's Bonn friends and had a strong influence on the formation of his democratic convictions.

Beethoven's talent as a composer did not develop as rapidly as Mozart's phenomenal talent. Beethoven composed rather slowly. For 10 years of the first - Bonn period (1782-1792) 50 works were written, including 2 cantatas, several piano sonatas (now called sonatins), 3 piano quartets, 2 trios. Most of the Bonn creativity is also made up of variations and songs intended for amateur music-making. Among them is the well-known song "Marmot".

Early Viennese period (1792-1802)

Despite the freshness and brightness of youthful compositions, Beethoven understood that he needed to study seriously. In November 1792, he finally left Bonn and moved to Vienna, the largest musical center in Europe. Here he studied counterpoint and composition with I. Haydn, I. Schenk, I. Albrechtsberger and A. Salieri . At the same time, Beethoven began to perform as a pianist and soon gained fame as an unsurpassed improviser and the brightest virtuoso.

The young virtuoso was patronized by many distinguished music lovers - K. Likhnovsky, F. Lobkowitz, the Russian ambassador A. Razumovsky and others, Beethoven's sonatas, trios, quartets, and later even symphonies sounded for the first time in their salons. Their names can be found in the dedications of many of the composer's works. However, Beethoven's manner of dealing with his patrons was almost unheard of at the time. Proud and independent, he did not forgive anyone for attempts to humiliate his human dignity. The legendary words thrown by the composer to the patron who insulted him are known: "There have been and will be thousands of princes, Beethoven is only one." Not fond of teaching, Beethoven was nevertheless the teacher of K. Czerny and F. Ries in piano (both of them later won European fame) and the Archduke Rudolf of Austria in composition.

In the first Viennese decade, Beethoven wrote mainly piano and chamber music: 3 piano concertos and 2 dozen piano sonatas, 9(out of 10) violin sonatas(including No. 9 - "Kreutzer"), 2 cello sonatas, 6 string quartets, a number of ensembles for various instruments, the ballet "The Creations of Prometheus".

With the beginning of the 19th century, Beethoven's symphonic work also began: in 1800 he completed his First symphony, and in 1802 - second. At the same time, his only oratorio "Christ on the Mount of Olives" was written. The first signs of an incurable disease that appeared in 1797 - progressive deafness and the realization of the hopelessness of all attempts to treat the disease led Beethoven to a mental crisis in 1802, which was reflected in the famous document - "Heiligenstadt Testament" . Creativity was the way out of the crisis: "... It was not enough for me to commit suicide," the composer wrote. - "Only it, art, it kept me."

Central period of creativity (1802-1812)

1802-12 - the time of the brilliant flowering of the genius of Beethoven. The ideas of overcoming suffering with the strength of the spirit and the victory of light over darkness, which he deeply suffered after a fierce struggle, turned out to be consonant with the ideas of the French Revolution. These ideas were embodied in the 3rd ("Heroic") and Fifth symphonies, in the opera "Fidelio", in the music for the tragedy of J. W. Goethe "Egmont", in the Sonata - No. 23 ("Appassionata").

In total, the composer created during these years:

six symphonies (from No. 3 to No. 8), quartets Nos. 7-11 and other chamber ensembles, the opera Fidelio, piano concertos 4 and 5, the Violin Concerto, as well as the Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano and orchestra.

Transition years (1812-1815)

1812-15 years - a turning point in the political and spiritual life of Europe. The period of the Napoleonic wars and the rise of the liberation movement was followed by Congress of Vienna (1814-15), after which reactionary-monarchist tendencies intensified in the domestic and foreign policy of European countries. The style of heroic classicism gave way to romanticism, which became the leading trend in literature and managed to make itself known in music (F. Schubert). Beethoven paid tribute to the victorious jubilation by creating a spectacular symphonic fantasy "The Battle of Vittoria" and the cantata "Happy Moment", the premieres of which were timed to coincide with the Congress of Vienna and brought Beethoven an unheard of success. However, other writings of 1813-17 reflected the persistent and sometimes painful search for new ways. At this time, cello (No. 4, 5) and piano (No. 27, 28) sonatas were written, several dozen arrangements of songs of different nations for voice with an ensemble, the first vocal cycle in the history of the genre "To a Distant Beloved"(1815). The style of these works is experimental, with many brilliant discoveries, but not always as solid as in the period of "revolutionary classicism".

Late period (1816-1827)

The last decade of Beethoven's life was overshadowed both by the general oppressive political and spiritual atmosphere in Metternich's Austria, and by personal hardships and upheavals. The composer's deafness became complete; since 1818, he was forced to use "conversational notebooks", in which interlocutors wrote questions addressed to him. Having lost hope for personal happiness (the name of the "immortal beloved", to whom Beethoven's farewell letter of July 6-7, 1812 is addressed, remains unknown; some researchers consider her J. Brunswick-Deym, others - A. Brentano), Beethoven took on taking care of raising his nephew Karl, the son of his younger brother who died in 1815. This led to a long-term (1815-20) legal battle with the boy's mother over the rights to sole custody. A capable but frivolous nephew gave Beethoven a lot of grief.

The late period includes the last 5 quartets (Nos. 12-16), "33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli", piano Bagatelles op. 126, two sonatas for cello op.102, fugue for string quartet, All these works qualitatively different from all the previous ones. It lets you talk about style late Beethoven, which has a clear resemblance to the style of romantic composers. The idea of ​​the struggle between light and darkness, central to Beethoven, acquires in his later work emphatically philosophical sound. Victory over suffering is no longer given through heroic action, but through the movement of the spirit and thought.

In 1823 Beethoven finished "Solemn Mass", which he himself considered his greatest work. The Solemn Mass was first performed on April 7, 1824 in St. Petersburg. A month later, Beethoven's last benefit concert took place in Vienna, in which, in addition to parts from the mass, his final, Ninth Symphony with the final chorus to the words of "Ode to Joy" by F. Schiller. The ninth symphony with its final call - Embrace, millions! - became the composer's ideological testament to mankind and had a strong influence on the symphony of the 19th and 20th centuries.

About traditions

Beethoven is usually spoken of as a composer who, on the one hand, completes the classicist era in music, and on the other hand, paves the way for romanticism. In general, this is true, but his music does not fully meet the requirements of either style. The composer is so versatile that no stylistic features cover the fullness of his creative image. Sometimes in the same year he created works so contrasting with each other that it is extremely difficult to recognize commonalities between them (for example, the 5th and 6th symphonies, which were first performed in one concert in 1808). If we compare works created in different periods, for example, in the early and mature, or mature and late, then they are sometimes perceived as creations of different artistic eras.

At the same time, Beethoven's music, for all its novelty, is inextricably linked with the previous German culture. It is indisputably influenced by the philosophical lyrics of J.S. Bach, the solemnly heroic images of Handel's oratorios, Gluck's operas, works by Haydn and Mozart. The musical art of other countries also contributed to the formation of Beethoven's style, primarily France, its mass revolutionary genres, which are so far from the gallantly sensitive style of the 18th century. Ornamental decorations, detentions, soft endings typical of him are a thing of the past. Many fanfare-marching themes of Beethoven's compositions are close to the songs and hymns of the French Revolution. They vividly illustrate the strict, noble simplicity of the composer's music, who liked to repeat: "It's always easier."

L. W. Beethoven - German composer, representative of the Viennese classical school (born in Bonn, but spent most of his life in Vienna - since 1792).

Beethoven's musical thinking is a complex synthesis:

Ø creative achievements of the Viennese classics (Gluck, Haydn, Mozart);

Ø the art of the French Revolution;

Ø new emerging in the 20s. 19th century artistic direction - romanticism.

Beethoven's compositions bear the imprint of the ideology, aesthetics and art of the Enlightenment. This largely explains the logical thinking of the composer, the clarity of forms, the thoughtfulness of the entire artistic conception and individual details of the works.

It is also noteworthy that Beethoven showed himself most fully in the genres sonatas and symphonies(genres characteristic of the classics) . Beethoven was the first to spread the so-called. "Conflict Symphony" based on the opposition and collision of brightly contrasting musical images. The more dramatic the conflict, the more complex the process of development, which for Beethoven becomes the main driving force.

The ideas and art of the French Revolution left their mark on many of Beethoven's works. From Cherubini's operas there is a direct path to Beethoven's Fidelio.

In the composer's works, appealing intonations and chiseled rhythms, broad melodic breathing and powerful instrumentation of the hymns of songs, marches and operas of this era found their embodiment. They transformed Beethoven's style. That is why the composer's musical language, although associated with the art of the Viennese classics, at the same time was profoundly different from it. In the works of Beethoven, in contrast to Haydn and Mozart, exquisite ornamentation, smooth rhythmic pattern, chamber, transparent texture, balance and symmetry of musical themes are rarely found.

Composer of a new era, Beethoven finds other intonations to express his thoughts - dynamic, restless, sharp. The sound of his music becomes much more saturated, dense, and dramatically contrasting. His musical themes acquire hitherto unprecedented conciseness, severe simplicity.

Listeners brought up on 18th-century classicism were stunned and often misunderstood emotional strength Beethoven's music, which manifests itself either in stormy drama, or in a grandiose epic scope, or in penetrating lyrics. But it was precisely these qualities of Beethoven's art that fascinated romantic musicians. And although Beethoven's connection with romanticism is indisputable, his art in its main outlines does not coincide with him. It does not entirely fit into the framework of classicism. For Beethoven, like few others, is unique, individual and multifaceted.

Beethoven's themes:

Ø Beethoven's focus is the life of a hero, flowing in an unceasing struggle for a universal beautiful future. The heroic idea runs like a red thread through all of Beethoven's work. Beethoven's hero is inseparable from the people. In serving humanity, in winning freedom for it, he sees the purpose of his life. But the path to the goal lies through thorns, struggle, suffering. Often a hero dies, but his death is crowned with a victory that brings happiness to liberated humanity. Beethoven's attraction to heroic images and the idea of ​​struggle is due, on the one hand, to the warehouse of his personality, difficult fate, struggle with it, constant overcoming of difficulties; on the other hand, the impact on the worldview of the composer of the ideas of the Great French Revolution.

Ø Found the richest reflection in the work of Beethoven and nature theme(Symphony 6 "Pastoral", Sonata No. 15 "Pastoral", Sonata No. 21 "Aurora", Symphony No. 4, many slow parts of sonatas, symphonies, quartets). Passive contemplation is alien to Beethoven: the peace and silence of nature help to comprehend the exciting issues more deeply, to gather thoughts and inner strength for the struggle of life.

Ø Deeply penetrates Beethoven and into realm of human feelings. But, revealing the world of the inner, emotional life of a person, Beethoven draws all the same hero, capable of subordinating the spontaneity of feelings to the requirements of reason.

The main features of the musical language:

Ø Melodika . The fundamental principle of his melody is in trumpet signals and fanfares, in invocative oratorical exclamations and march turns. Movement along the sounds of the triad is often used (G.P. "Heroic Symphony"; theme of the finale of the 5th symphony, G.P. I part 9 of the symphony). Beethoven's caesuras are punctuation marks in speech. Beethoven's fermata are pauses after pathetic questions. Beethoven's musical themes often consist of contrasting elements. The contrasting structure of themes is also found in Beethoven's predecessors (especially Mozart), but in Beethoven this is already becoming a pattern. The contrast within the theme develops into a conflict between G.P. and P.P. in sonata form, dynamizes all sections of the sonata allegro.

Ø Metrorhythm. Beethoven's rhythms are born from the same source. Rhythm carries a charge of masculinity, will, activity.

§ Marching rhythms extremely common

§ dance rhythms(in the pictures of folk fun - the finale of the 7th symphony, the finale of the Aurora sonata, when, after long suffering and struggle, a moment of triumph and joy comes.

Ø Harmony. With the simplicity of the chord vertical (chords of the main functions, laconic use of non-chord sounds) - a contrast-dramatic interpretation of the harmonic sequence (connection with the principle of conflict dramaturgy). Sharp, bold modulations in distant keys (in contrast to the plastic modulations of Mozart). In his later works, Beethoven anticipates the features of romantic harmony: polyphonized fabric, an abundance of non-according sounds, exquisite harmonic sequences.

Ø musical forms Beethoven's works are grandiose constructions. “This is the Shakespeare of the masses,” V. Stasov wrote about Beethoven. "Mozart was responsible only for individuals ... Beethoven, on the other hand, thought about history and all of humanity." Beethoven is the creator of the form free variations(finale of the piano sonata No. 30, variations on a theme by Diabelli, 3rd and 4th movements of the 9th symphony). He is credited with introducing the variation form into the large form.

Ø musical genres. Beethoven developed most of the existing musical genres. The basis of his work is instrumental music.

List of Beethoven's compositions:

Orchestral music:

Symphonies - 9;

Overtures: "Coriolanus", "Egmont", "Leonora" - 4 versions for the opera "Fidelio";

Concertos: 5 piano, 1 violin, 1 triple - for violin, cello and piano.

Piano music:

32 sonatas;

22 variation cycles (including 32 c-moll variations);

Bagatelles (including "To Elise").

Chamber ensemble music:

Sonatas for violin and piano (including "Kreutzer" No. 9); cello and piano;

16 string quartets.

Vocal music:

Opera "Fidelio";

Songs, incl. the cycle “To a Distant Beloved”, arrangements of folk songs: Scottish, Irish, etc.;

2 Masses: C-dur and Solemn Mass;

oratorio "Christ on the Mount of Olives"

Ludwig van Beethoven Beethoven is a key figure in Western classical music between classicism and romanticism, and one of the most respected and performed composers in the world. He wrote in all the genres that existed in his time, including opera, music for dramatic performances, choral compositions.

His father Johann (Johann van Beethoven,) was a singer, tenor, in the court chapel, his mother Mary Magdalene, before her marriage Keverich (Maria Magdalena Kverich,), was the daughter of the court chef in Koblenz, they got married in 1767.

Beethoven's teachers The composer's father wanted to make a second Mozart out of his son and began to teach him how to play the harpsichord and violin. In 1778, the first performance of the boy took place in Cologne. However, a miracle - Beethoven did not become a child, the father entrusted the boy to his colleagues and friends. One taught Ludwig how to play the organ, the other how to play the violin. In 1780, the organist and composer Christian Gottlob Nefe arrived in Bonn. He became a real teacher of Beethoven

The First Ten Years in Vienna In 1787, Beethoven visited Vienna. After listening to Beethoven's improvisation, Mozart exclaimed. He will make everyone talk about himself! Arriving in Vienna, Beethoven began classes with Haydn, subsequently claiming that Haydn had taught him nothing; classes quickly disappointed both the student and the teacher. Beethoven believed that Haydn was not attentive enough to his efforts; Haydn was frightened not only by the bold views of Ludwig at that time, but also by rather gloomy melodies, which was not common in those years. Once Haydn wrote to Beethoven. Your things are beautiful, they are even wonderful things, but here and there something strange, gloomy is found in them, since you yourself are a little gloomy and strange; and the style of a musician is always himself. Soon Haydn left for England and gave his student to the famous teacher and theorist Albrechtsberger. In the end, Beethoven himself chose his mentor Antonio Salieri.

Later years () When Beethoven was 34 years old, Napoleon abandoned the ideals of the French Revolution and declared himself emperor. Therefore, Beethoven abandoned his intentions to dedicate his Third Symphony to him: “This Napoleon is also an ordinary person. Now he will trample on all human rights with his feet and become a tyrant.” Due to deafness, Beethoven rarely leaves the house, loses sound perception. He becomes gloomy, withdrawn. It was during these years that the composer, one after another, creates his most famous works. During these same years, Beethoven was working on his only opera, Fidelio. This opera belongs to the genre of "horror and rescue" operas. Success for Fidelio came only in 1814, when the opera was staged first in Vienna, then in Prague, where the famous German composer Weber conducted it, and finally in Berlin.

Last Years Shortly before his death, the composer handed over the manuscript of "Fidelio" to his friend and secretary Schindler with the words: "This child of my spirit was born in more severe torment than others, and gave me the greatest grief. Therefore, it is dearer to me than anyone else ... ”After 1812, the composer’s creative activity fell for a while. However, after three years, he begins to work with the same energy. At this time, piano sonatas from the 28th to the last, 32nd, two cello sonatas, quartets, and the vocal cycle "To a Distant Beloved" were created. A lot of time is devoted to processing folk songs. Along with Scottish, Irish, Welsh, there are Russians. But the main creations of recent years have been Beethoven's two most monumental compositions, Solemn Mass and Symphony 9 with Chorus.

Giulietta Guicciardi, to whom the composer dedicated the Moonlight Sonata, the Ninth Symphony was performed in 1824. The audience gave the composer a standing ovation. It is known that Beethoven stood with his back to the audience and did not hear anything, then one of the singers took his hand and turned to face the audience. People waved handkerchiefs, hats, hands, welcoming the composer. The ovation lasted so long that the police officials who were present immediately demanded it.
Works of 9 symphonies: 1 (), 2 (1803), 3 "Heroic" (), 4 (1806), 5 (), 6 "Pastoral" (1808), 7 (1812), 8 (1812), 9 (1824) ). 11 symphonic overtures, including "Coriolanus", "Egmont", "Leonora" 3. 5 concertos for piano and orchestra. 6 Youth Sonatas for Piano. 32 piano sonatas, 32 variations and about 60 piano pieces. 10 sonatas for violin and piano. concerto for violin and orchestra, concerto for piano, violin and cello and orchestra ("triple concerto"). 5 sonatas for cello and piano. 16 string quartets. 6 trio. Ballet "The Creations of Prometheus". Opera Fidelio. Solemn mass. Vocal cycle "To the distant beloved". Songs on verses of different poets, arrangements of folk songs.

“Music should strike fire from the human breast” – these are the words of the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven, whose works belong to the highest achievements of musical culture.

Beethoven's worldview took shape under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment and the freedom-loving ideals of the French Revolution. Musically, his work, on the one hand, continued the traditions of Viennese classicism, on the other hand, captured the features of the new romantic art. From classicism in the works of Beethoven, the sublimity of content, excellent mastery of musical forms, appeal to the genres of symphony and sonata. From romanticism bold experimentation in the field of these genres, interest in vocal and piano miniatures.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn (Germany) in the family of a court musician. He began to study music from early childhood under the guidance of his father. However, the real mentor of Beethoven was the composer, conductor and organist K.G. Nave. He taught the young musician the basics of composition, taught him to play the clavier and organ. From the age of eleven, Beethoven served as an assistant organist in the church, then court organist, concertmaster at the Bonn Opera House. At the age of eighteen, he entered the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Bonn, but did not graduate from it and subsequently did a lot of self-education.

In 1792 Beethoven moved to Vienna. He took music lessons from J. Haydn, I.G. Albrechtsberger, A. Salieri (the largest musicians of that era). Albrechtsberger introduced Beethoven to the works of Handel and Bach. Hence the composer's brilliant knowledge of musical forms, harmony and polyphony.

Beethoven soon began to give concerts; became popular. He was recognized on the streets, invited to solemn receptions in the houses of high-ranking persons. He composed a lot: he wrote sonatas, concertos for piano and orchestra, symphonies.

For a long time, no one guessed that Beethoven was struck by a serious illness - he began to lose his hearing. Convinced of the incurability of the disease, the composer decided to die and in 1802. prepared a will, where he explained the reasons for his decision. However, Beethoven managed to overcome despair and found the strength to write music further. The way out of the crisis was the Third ("Heroic") Symphony.

In 1803-1808. the composer also worked on the creation of sonatas; in particular, the Ninth for violin and piano (1803; dedicated to the Parisian violinist Rudolf Kreutzer, therefore it was called "Kreutzer"), the Twenty-third ("Appassionata") for piano, the Fifth and Sixth symphonies (both 1808).

The sixth ("Pastoral") symphony is subtitled "Memories of Rural Life". This work depicts various states of the human soul, which is temporarily removed from internal experiences and struggle. The symphony conveys feelings arising from contact with the world of nature and rural life. Its structure is unusual - five parts instead of four. The symphony has elements of figurativeness, onomatopoeia (birds sing, thunder rumbles, etc.). Beethoven's finds were subsequently used by many romantic composers.

The pinnacle of Beethoven's symphonic work was the Ninth Symphony. It was conceived back in 1812, but the composer worked on it from 1822 to 1823. The symphony is grandiose in scale; the finale is especially unusual, which is something like a large cantata for choir, soloists and orchestra, written to the text of the ode “To Joy” by J.F. Schiller.

In the first part, the music is severe and dramatic: a clear and very large-scale theme is born out of the chaos of sounds. The second part - the scherzo in character echoes the first. The third part, performed at a slow pace, is the calm look of an enlightened soul. Twice, the sounds of fanfares burst into the unhurried flow of music. They remind of thunderstorms and battles, but they cannot change the general philosophical image. This music is the pinnacle of Beethoven's lyrics. The fourth part is the final. The themes of the previous parts float before the listener like the passing past. And here comes the theme of joy. The inner structure of the theme is amazing: trepidation and strict restraint, a huge inner strength released in a grandiose hymn to goodness, truth and beauty.

The premiere of the symphony took place in 1825. at the Vienna Opera House. The theatrical orchestra was not enough to implement the author's plan, and amateurs had to be invited: twenty-four violins, ten violas, twelve cellos and double basses. For a Viennese classical orchestra, such a composition was unusually powerful. In addition, each choral part (bass, tenor, alto and soprano) included twenty-four singers, which also exceeded the usual norms.

During Beethoven's lifetime, the Ninth Symphony remained incomprehensible to many; it was admired only by those who knew the composer closely, his students and listeners enlightened in music. Over time, the best orchestras in the world began to include the symphony in their repertoire, and it found a new life.

The works of the late period of the composer's work are characterized by restraint of feelings and philosophical depth, which distinguishes them from the passionate and dramatic early works. During his life, Beethoven wrote 9 symphonies, 32 sonatas, 16 string quartets, the opera Fidelio, Solemn Mass, 5 piano concertos and one for violin and orchestra, overtures, separate pieces for different instruments.

Surprisingly, the composer wrote many works (including the Ninth Symphony) when he was already completely deaf. However, his latest works - piano sonatas and quartets - are unsurpassed masterpieces of chamber music.

Conclusion

So, the artistic style of classicism arose in the 17th century in France, based on ideas about the laws and rationality of the world order. The masters of this style strove for clear and strict forms, harmonious patterns, the embodiment of high moral ideals. They considered the works of ancient art to be the highest, unsurpassed examples of artistic creativity, therefore they developed ancient plots and images.

The peak in the development of musical classicism was the work of Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, who worked mainly in Vienna and formed the Viennese classical school in the musical culture of the second half of the 18th - early 19th centuries. Note that classicism in music is in many ways not similar to classicism in literature, theater or painting. In music, it is impossible to rely on ancient traditions, since they are almost unknown. In addition, the content of musical compositions is often associated with the world of human feelings, which are not amenable to strict control of the mind. However, the composers of the Viennese classical school created a very harmonious and logical system of rules for constructing a work. Thanks to such a system, the most complex feelings were clothed in a clear and perfect form. Suffering and joy became for the composer a subject of reflection, not experience. And if in other types of art the laws of classicism already at the beginning of the 19th century. seemed outdated to many, then in music the system of genres, forms and rules of harmony developed by the Viennese school retains its significance to this day.

Once again, we note that the art of the Viennese classics is of great value and artistic significance for us.

List of used literature

1. Alshvang A.A. Ludwig van Beethoven. Essay on life and creativity. - M .: Soviet composer, 1971. - 558s.

2. Bach. Mozart. Beethoven. Meyerbeer. Chopin. Schumann. Wagner / Comp. "LIO Editor". - St. Petersburg: "LIO Editor", etc., 1998. - 576 p.

3. Velikovich E. Great Musical Names: Biographies. Materials and documents. Composer stories. - St. Petersburg: Composer, 2000. - 192 p.

4. Musical Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ch. ed. G.V. Keldysh. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1990. - 672 p.

5. Osenneva M.S., Bezdorodova L.A. Methods of musical education of younger students: Proc. allowance for students. early fak. pedagogical universities. - M .: "Academy", 2001. - 368s.

6. I know the world: Det. Encyclopedia: Music / Ed. A.S. Klenov. Under total ed. O.G. Hinn. - M.: AST-LTD, 1997. - 448s.