Kyle VanderburgAugust 27, 2011

MUSC5970-Beethoven & Schubert

Concerning the Listening Quizzes for Beethoven.

Daniel K. L. Chua, in his article Beethoven’s Other Humanism, mentions

Lewis Lockwood’s qualifications of the heroic phase of Beethoven, which identifies

two works that include the word “hero” in the title given by the composer. The first

of these is the Eroica Symphony (covered in the listening quiz), and the other is the

third movement of the Piano Sonata no. 12, titled Maestoso andante, marcia

funebre sulla morte d'un eroe (Funeral march for the death of a hero). While the

latter is written in regards to a hero, it does not seem to be overly heroic, and is

therefore not recommended for the listening quiz (though it may be useful to listen

to a sample in class for the sake of understanding Beethoven’s use of Hero in the

title). Lockwood also mentions the Egmont and Coriolanus Overtures. Both of these

overtures portray heroes, though it sounds to me that the Egmont Overture fits

into this category more convincingly. Additionally, hearing Beethoven’s heroic

style not played on strings could be helpful to include on the quiz, both the

Hammerklavier and Waldstein piano sonatas can be classified as being heroic (the

Waldstein significantly more so).

Bibliography

Chua, Daniel K. L. “Beethoven's Other Humanism.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 62, no. 3 (Fall 2009): 571-645.