12/08/2023
Today in history: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A, Op. 92 was composed in 1811-12, more than three years after the premiere of the Fifth and the Sixth Symphonies. Although Beethoven did not compose any symphony during the intervening years, he remained productive in other genres, especially keyboard and chamber music, and produced some of his most important works, including the “Emperor” Piano Concerto, the “Lebewohl” (Farewell) Piano Sonata, and the “Archduke” Piano Trio. The vacancy of symphonic work did not imply that Beethoven was no longer interested in being publicly recognized as a symphonic composer (Lockwood, Beethoven’s Symphonies, 146). In 1809, he noted some short ideas marked “Sinfonia” in his sketchbooks, though some of them were not used in the later symphonies. Beethoven finally started working on the A major Symphony in earnest in the fall of 1811 in the Bohemian spa town of Teplice, where he had travelled to improve his health, and completed it in April 1812.
The Seventh Symphony was premiered in the great hall of the University in Vienna on December 8, 1813, as part of a charity concert for soldiers wounded in the Battle of Hanau. This concert was probably the most successful in Beethoven’s lifetime. The program also included the first performance of the “Battle Symphony” Wellington’s Victory, an anti-Napoleon patriotic showpiece which celebrated the British victory over the French at the Battle of Vitoria in Spain (Steinberg, The Symphony: A Listener’s Guide, 38-43). Unlike some of Beethoven’s other symphonies such as the Third and the Fifth, which we now regard as great works but were initially resisted to some degree by the composer’s contemporaries, the Viennese audience immediately embraced the Seventh Symphony, and considered it among their favorite orchestral works. Its huge popularity led to three performances in the ten weeks following its premiere. The second movement—Allegretto—was particularly loved, leading to outbreaks of applause before the third movement during a number of early performances. The Allegretto remained widely popular throughout the nineteenth century, and even today is often performed separately. According to a reviewer three years after the first performance, “the second movement…which since its first performance in Vienna has been a favorite of all connoisseurs…is still demanded to be repeated at every performance.” (Lockwood, Beethoven’s Symphonies, 159.) Not only did the audience enjoy the “rustic simplicity” of the work, the artistic value of the Seventh Symphony was also well-received by critics and composers such as Hector Berlioz who considered it “a masterpiece – alike of technical ability, taste, fantasy, knowledge, and inspiration.” (Lockwood, Beethoven’s Symphonies, 166.)
What has made the Seventh Symphony exceptional in the minds of critics since its earliest performances is its rhythmic vitality and momentum. Richard Wagner exalted the lively rhythm with this often-quoted poetic description:
All tumult, all yearning and storming of the heart, become here the blissful insolence of joy, which carries us away with bacchanalian power through the roomy space of nature, through all the streams and seas of life, shouting in glad self-consciousness as we sound throughout the universe the daring strains of this human sphere-dance. The Symphony is the Apotheosis of the Dance itself: it is Dance in its highest aspect, the loftiest deed of bodily motion, incorporated into an ideal mold and tone.
The Basics General Information Composition dates: 1811-12. Dedication: Count Moritz von Fries (portrait). Instrumentation: Strings, 2 Fl, 2 Ob, 2 Cl, 2 Bsn, 2 Hn, 2 Tr, Timp. First performance: 8 Dec. 1813, Akademie at University Concert Hall, Vienna. Orchestra size for first or early performance: 1...
