Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) - Cantate pour l'avènement de Léopold II (1790)

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Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Work: Cantate pour l'avènement de Léopold II (1790)
Performers: Nadinе Dеnize (soprano); Jamеs Doing (tenor); Robеrt Giеrlach (baryton);
Chouers et Philarmonie National de Cracovie; Jean-Paul Pеnin (conductor)

Cantate pour l'avènement de Léopold II (1790)
1. Recitatif 0:00
2. Aria 3:48
3. Recitatif 14:44
4. Recitatif 15:31
5. Terzetto 16:13
6. Choeur 19:54

Engraving: Carl Schütz (1745-1800) - Adcuratus prospectus coronationis in regem incliti regni Hungariae ... Imperatoris Leopoldi hujus Nominis Secundi, Posonii die XV Novembr. 1790
Image in high resolution: https://flic.kr/p/2kg9W8u
Drawing: Anna E.G. Hoffmann (fl.c.1880-c.1900) - Portrait bust of Beethoven
Image in high resolution: https://flic.kr/p/2kgjEYs

Further info: https://www.amazon.com/Cantate-Mort-Joseph-LAvenement-Leopold/dp/B00004UKZ0
Listen free: No available

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Ludwig van Beethoven
(Bonn, bap. 17 December 1770 - Vienna, 26 March 1827)

(period 1770-1800)

German composer. The grandson of Lodewijk van Beethoven (1712-1773) and son of court tenor Johann van Beethoven (c.1740-1792), he received his first musical training from his father, who intended that he be seen as a child prodigy like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Further studies in music with Gilles van den Eeden, Tobias Pfeiffer on keyboard, and Franz Rovantini on violin followed his debut at a concert in 1778. The following year, the arrival of Christian Gottlob Neefe allowed Beethoven to find a mentor that would both educate him thoroughly and present opportunities for his own advancement. Under Neefe’s tutelage he composed his first works: three piano sonatas, a piano concerto, and, in 1785, three piano quartets. He also functioned as Neefe’s assistant and from 1783 was a keyboardist with the court ensemble. In 1787 he traveled to Vienna, where he performed before (and probably had a lesson or two from) Mozart, but the death of his mother prevented further study there. His father, meanwhile, sank into alcoholism, and in 1789 Beethoven petitioned the court at Bonn to become titular head of the family, adding half his father’s salary to his own. He also composed two cantatas, one for the death of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II and another for the coronation of his successor as Leopold II in 1790. In 1792 he was accepted as a student of Joseph Haydn and in November of that year arrived in Vienna, where he settled permanently. Though their student-teacher relationship lasted only a short time, terminating when Haydn left for his second visit to London in 1794, Beethoven later dedicated his piano sonatas Op. 2, though he refused to style himself Haydn’s pupil. He also studied with Johann Baptist Schenk and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (his additional studies with Antonio Salieri did not occur apparently until after 1800), and in 1795 he began a career as a performer with a concert on 25 March. Cut off from his stipend from Bonn, he nonetheless began to make a living as an independent musician, winning the patronage of people such as Prince Carl Lichnowsky. In 1796 he undertook a concert tour to Bohemia and Germany, returning to Prague in 1798, around the same time as he began to collect compositional drafts in the well-known sketchbooks. In 1799 he published both a set of string quartets Op. 18 and the C-minor “Pathetique” sonata Op. 13, setting the stage for his later progressive style. In 1800 he held his first benefit concert on 2 April where his Septet Op. 20 and first symphony were premiered.

Although his most progressive and innovative works were composed after 1800 and thus will be considered in this volume’s chronological sequel, the developmental trends can be discerned in works prior to that time, including those already noted. Beethoven’s use of motivic expansion through repetition and sequence, his adaptation of the sonata principle, his often colorful and expansive orchestration, and his highly advanced sense of harmony all represent a constant evolutionary process, particularly during the last decade of the 18th century, thus negating the formerly predominant Caesarian division of his compositions into three periods. There can be no doubt that Beethoven must be considered an iconic, seminal figure in the development of the music of 19th-century musical Romanticism, one who straddles the chronological boundaries between the two centuries and turning his Classical musical style into something far more advanced. For the respect his works have commanded of musicians, and the popularity they have enjoyed among wider audiences, he is probably the most admired composer in the history of Western music. #ClassicalMusic