Thread: Eroica

Eroica changed music - indeed art - in a way nothing else ever did.
You look at everything that went before Eroica, and then - bang; there it is.
An unprecedented work in every respect.
I played in a performance last November; what a staggering work it is.
Just remarkable.
GG

Originally Posted by GraemeG

Eroica changed music - indeed art - in a way nothing else ever did.
You look at everything that went before Eroica, and then - bang; there it is.
An unprecedented work in every respect.
I played in a performance last November; what a staggering work it is.
Just remarkable.
GG

Hi GraemeG; I was really taken by your above comment re: Eroica. Could you explain it further--in "laymens' terms"--to a non-musician such as myself? Thanks.

Originally Posted by samurai

Hi GraemeG; I was really taken by your above comment re: Eroica. Could you explain it further--in "laymens' terms"--to a non-musician such as myself? Thanks.

Second the request.

Originally Posted by GraemeG

Eroica changed music - indeed art - in a way nothing else ever did.
You look at everything that went before Eroica, and then - bang; there it is.
An unprecedented work in every respect.
I played in a performance last November; what a staggering work it is.
Just remarkable.
GG

I see this quote comes from June 2009 and so I will take the liberty of responding to the two posters above who would like to know 'why' the Eroica Symphony was so revolutionary.

Firstly, one needs to put the Eroica Symphony into some kind of historical context. It was written in 1804. Mozart had been dead only 13 years and Haydn was still alive and occasionally writing music. Beethoven's new symphony was the largest in scale that had ever been written up to that time - many more bars (measures) of music and nearly 50 minutes of music (more than 10 minutes longer than Mozart's Jupiter Symphony with all the repeats). Its melodic and harmonic language were very advanced for the time, with Beethoven using some VERY dissonant harmonies (not always traditionally resolved) and a musical language more overtly emotional than the world has hitherto seen (heard). While not unique in symphonic repertoire up to that time, Beethoven's use of 'theme and variations' form in the massive finale manipulated the simplest of musical ideas in ways that hadn't been dreamt of before - including an extended slow variation featuring a solo oboe just before the coda which was quite unheard of at that time.

In its time, Beethoven's Eroica Symphony was a startling and revolutionary as Stravinsky's Rite of Spring was in 1913.

Thanks, DM. I knew that the symphony felt revolutionary for its time; now I have an explanation for the feeling.

Thank you also, DM. That is worth having when listening to it.

Yes, thanks DM, that's a very good summary.
There's interesting personal biography there too; I think beethoven completed the Heiligenstadt Testament around the time he completed the second symphony - a heartfelt personal docmument addressed to his brother - and Eroica heralded the completely new direction his music was to take.
The first movement of Eroica alone is the length of most of Haydn's & Mozart's symphonies; the scale and breadth of the work are unprecedented.
There's a heap of web-info on Eroica, a little googling will bring you a mass of information.
cheers,
GG

Thank You, DM and GG; your explanations were very helpful--and simply put--so that even a lame-brain such as myself is able to understand them. I shall indeed do some more exploring on this subject, as you so wisely have suggested.

As far as I'm concerned the Eroica is the finest piece of music ever written, in any format. It's extremely complex but still incredibly well-structured and coherent, it's full of remarkable inventiveness, and unparalleled drama. The fugal passage of the 2nd movement is for me the most emotionally powerful moment in music.

Through my first three or four listens, this symphony did nothing for me. It was only once I began to grasp it's structure that I could appreciate it's genius. Going through this analysis might help you appreciate it more, it certainly helped me.

http://www.beethovenseroica.com/Pg3_****/1mov/1m02.htm

Originally Posted by Curiosity

As far as I'm concerned the Eroica is the finest piece of music ever written, in any format. It's extremely complex but still incredibly well-structured and coherent, it's full of remarkable inventiveness, and unparalleled drama. The fugal passage of the 2nd movement is for me the most emotionally powerful moment in music.

Through my first three or four listens, this symphony did nothing for me. It was only once I began to grasp it's structure that I could appreciate it's genius. Going through this analysis might help you appreciate it more, it certainly helped me.

http://www.beethovenseroica.com/Pg3_****/1mov/1m02.htm

I agree. It grows on you.

It's my favourite LvB symphony. Someone in TalkClassical (or was it some other forum?) once wrote that it includes more drama than most operas, and that's the reason why I like it so much. To me it feels that the symphony is in conflict with itself - and that is perhaps my favourite thing in all music: the sense that the music is in conflict with itself. "Eroica" seems to wrestle with all the big questions. Is there a reason to live at all? Will we always be corrupted by our deeds and our small-mindedness? Does anything matter? Should we behave ethically? And then - let me quote Joseph Campbell - "The hero has died as a modern man; but as eternal man - universal man - he has been reborn". Man remains imperfect and fallible, but the idea of heroism - that is, behaving ethically - exists, and we can strive towards it. If we are to be more than beasts, life has to be ethical (unselfish), but that makes life tragic. And that is how things should be.

Sorry for the rant! I'm not a very musical person so I picture music a little bit differently, with thoughts like these.