The first movement seems to mimic the practice of his First, Second and Fourth symphonies, in which a significant introduction, in slower tempo, precedes the main part of the movement. Lockwood stated that in the Seventh, “rhythmic consistency governs even more pervasively than in most of his other works…the streaming flow of rhythmic events … animates the discourse at every level and becomes a principal source of its organic unity.” But, what makes this work unique (even peculiar) is it’s rhythmic features, with the general characteristics of the rhythms being incessantly forthcoming, fast and fiery. In his conversation with Maximilian Schell, Leonard Bernstein didn’t consider the opening bars of the 2nd movement a legitimate melody at all (10 bars into the opening we hear only two notes). In the Seventh, however, such melodic features, if exist at all, are pushed (maybe deliberately) to the far back of Beethoven’s focus. It may be because, on a subconscious level, I was drawing contrasts between this work and all of Beethoven’s previous symphonies, which almost all carry memorable tunes and melodies, not to mention its immediate predecessor, the Pastoral symphony, of which the whole musical meaning builds on melodic motifs and phrases to express his feelings while submerging himself into the beauty of nature. To be completely honest, in the early years of listening to this piece, the endless and seemingly obsessive repetition of those rhythmic motifs throughout each movement sounded a bit annoying to me. What’s extraordinary about this work, in Sir George Grove’s words, is in “the originality, vivacity, power, and beauty of the thoughts, and in a certain romantic character of sudden and unexpected transition which pervades it.” And one of the key characteristics that contribute to the “vivacity” and “power” here is its heavy use of rhythmic devices. Here are 10 very different recordings of this great work. Both dramatic and dance-like, the Symphony was put to stirring use in The Kings Speech. 200 years ago on 8 December 1813, Beethovens Symphony No.7 was premiered.
7 during a benefit concert on 8 December 1813 in Vienna for the soldiers who had been wounded in the Battle of Hanau. Beethoven - Symphony No.7 in A: The 10 best recordings. 7 was composed in 1812, four years after his “ Pastoral” symphony. Ludwig van Beethoven himself conducted the premiere of his Symphony No. Portrait of Beethoven, by Joseph Willibrord Mähler in 1815īeethoven’s Symphony No.
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