Daily Beethoven

Mignon Comparison of 4 composers

Thursday, April 8, 2021

The “Lied" or German classical art-song in which voice and piano are equal players in polyphony, is a genre which flourished during the 19th century heyday of German poetry and literature. Mozart composed the first Lied in 1785 to a poem by Goethe, “Das Veilchen” (The Violet), which tells the mock-tragic story of a flower who falls in love with a shepherdess, only to be accidentally crushed by her.

Lied der Mignon, WoO 134, 1-4

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Few songs have been set to music more often and by more different composers than Lied der Mignon, “Mignon’s Song” from Goethe’s novel, “Wilhelm Meisters Lehrejahre” (Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship). Beethoven published four settings, Schubert six, and settings by Schumann, Hugo Wolf, and Tschaikowsky are also frequently performed.

Comparison of Lieder settings

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Lyndon LaRouche insisted that German “Lieder” (songs) functioned as a Rosetta Stone for understanding classical musical composition and encouraged the study of how different composers set the same poem- for example, looking at the similarities to get at the principle of vocalization.

Kennst Du das Land

Monday, April 5, 2021

“Mignon” is the name of a fictional character in Goethe’s novel, “Wilhelm Meisters Lehrerjahre” (Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship). She is a waif who is traveling with a troupe of circus performers until she is rescued by the title character. An enigmatic figure who sings of unbearable loneliness and longing, her songs were set to music by many composers, including Beethoven.

Mass in C, Opus 86

Easter, April 4, 2021

Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II, the long-time patron of Franz Josef Haydn, commissioned a new mass setting each year for his wife’s name-day. In 1807, the commission fell to Beethoven, who, in his own words, “treated the text in a manner in which it has rarely been treated”.

Leonore Prohaska, WoO 96

Saturday, April 3, 2021

Eleonore Prochaska was the daughter of a Prussian soldier, raised in a military orphanage after the death of her mother. She was one of many German women who fought in the Napoleonic Wars, though most were ejected from the army when it was found out that they were women.

Opus 133 "Große Fuge" (The Great Fugue)

Friday, April 2, 2021

The Opus 133 "Große Fuge" (Great Fugue) is the summit of Beethoven’s string quartets. With a duration of about sixteen minutes, it’s easily the longest fugue ever written for string quartet, although the finale of the Opus 106 Hammerklavier piano sonata has the same length and formal structure.

String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135

Thursday, April 1, 2021

When Beethoven sent his last string quartet to the publisher, he included the following note: “Here, my dear friend, is my last quartet. It will be the last; and indeed it has given me much trouble. For I could not bring myself to compose the last movement. But as your letters were reminding me of it, in the end I decided to compose it. And that is the reason why I have written the motto: 'Der schwer gefaßte Entschluss. Muß es sein? Es muß sein, es muß sein.' (The difficult resolution. Must it be? It must be, it must be!)".

String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Opus 132 was the second of the three quartets commissioned by Prince Galitzin (the others being Opus 127and 130). Beethoven began the composition in March of 1825 but then became seriously ill, necessitating weeks of bed rest and a complete change of diet. This is said to be the genesis of the centerpiece of this work, the Molto Adagio movement to which Beethoven gave the title “Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart " (Holy Song of Thanksgiving of a Convalescent to the Deity, in the Lydian Mode).

String Quartet No. 14 in C# minor, Op. 131

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Although Beethoven regarded the Opus 131 Quartet in C-sharp minor as his greatest, it was not publicly premiered until 1835, seven years after the composer's death. In 1828, the dying Franz Schubert requested a private performance of the quartet, after which he is said to have exclaimed, “After this, what is left for us to write?”.

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