Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 09/14/2000, uploaded on 01/24/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Beethoven/Liszt: Symphony No. 7

The achievements of Franz Liszt (1811-1866) as a phenomenal pianist and groundbreaking composer often overshadow his contribution to the art of transcription.  But it is this very combination of compositional ability and pianistic facility which are responsible for Liszt's supreme skill at adapting music for one medium to another; specifically, arranging orchestral music for the piano.

Liszt's desire to arrange the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) began around 1835; by 1837 he completed the fifth, sixth, and seventh symphonies.  Like most of Liszt's 200 transcriptions for solo piano, his aim was to promote the music of the composer whose work he arranged, and to show off his uncanny pianistic abilities in the process.  Liszt's preface to the published edition of his arrangements gives a clear indication of the care and respect with which he undertook the task:

The name of Beethoven is sacred in art . . . I consider my time well spent if I have succeeded in transferring to the piano not only the grand outlines of Beethoven's compositions but also all those numerous fine details, and smaller traits that so powerfully contribute to the completion of the ensemble.  My aim has been attained if I stand on a level with the intelligent engraver, the conscientious translator, who comprehend the spirit of a work and thus contribute to the knowledge of the great masters and to the formation of the sense for the beautiful.

Beethoven composed his seventh symphony in 1811-12.  The work was premiered with great success in December 1813 in the hall of the old Vienna Conservatory.  Richard Wagner describe the symphony as the "apotheosis of the dance", due to each movement's obsessive treatment of a single rhythmic idea: spritely dotted rhythms in the first movement (following a long introduction), march rhythms in the somber, funereal second movement, rapid-fire quarter notes in the scherzo (with trio based on an Austrian pilgrims' song), and syncopation in the romping, elated finale.     John Ferguson

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Symphony No. 7 in A Major                Ludwig van Beethoven

                The Seventh Symphony was completed in 1812, four years after the Pastoral Symphony. During those four years, Beethoven had been quite productive composing the string quartets in E flat and F minor; the music for Egmont, King Stephen, and the Ruins of Athens; the Choral Fantasy, the musical predecessor of the Ninth Symphony; as well as many other works. The Eighth Symphony followed immediate on the heels of the Seventh, appearing within the same year.

                The first performance of the Seventh Symphony, along with the "Battle Symphony," took place on December 8^th, 1813 at a benefit concert organized by Maelzel for the soldiers wounded at the battle of Hanau where Austrian and Bravarian troops attempted to cut off Napoleon's retreat from Leipzig. Beethoven himself conducted this performance despite being nearly deaf by this time. The concert, however, was a success. The famous Allegretto of the Seventh Symphony was encored and the entire concert was repeated again only a few days later on the 12^th, also with great success.

                The Seventh Symphony immediately grew in popularity and is one Beethoven's most often performed orchestral works. Beethoven himself thought the symphony "one of my best works", even though it was extremely rare for him to look on any his compositions with praise. Mendelssohn once exclaimed, "How the orchestra is treated! What a sound it has!" Wagner called it the "apotheosis of the dance." However, the symphony was not without its critics. Carl Maria von Weber, a stern critic of Beethoven's work though somewhat hypocritical, after hearing the Seventh Symphony, commented that Beethoven was "ripe for the madhouse." Perhaps it is poetic justice then that Weber, when in London in 1826 to premiere his Oberon, while conducting a Philharmonic Concerto had to perform this very work.

                The Symphony No. 7 is another example of the ever expanding symphonic form at the hands of Beethoven. The introduction to the first movement is expansive and carries far more weight than the introductions to the First, Second and Fourth Symphonies. In this regard, it reminds one of the introduction to Schubert's C major Symphony. An Allegretto replaces the usual Andante or Adagio movement so as not to disturb the abundant energy of the work. The Scherzo's only equal among the preceding symphonies, in terms of proportions, is that of the Fourth. The finale can only be described as the first example of unbridled humor in Beethoven's symphonies-a personal boisterousness without concern for the conventions of others. Beethoven himself termed this manner "aufgeknöpft" for which the best English translation is "unbuttoned." This humor would play a role in several of his later compositions.          Joseph DuBose