Notes: Symphony No. 7 (1812)

Essay on Symphony No. 7 @ classicalnotes.net


      Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 is one of Beethoven's best and most popular symphonies.  It is known for both its exuberance and its beautiful, sophisticated string orchestrations.  There is no "darker" movement in the symphony that would make the exciting final movement "heroic."

     The second movement, traditionally the slow movement, is a faster then usual allegretto, but it is still the slowest movement in the symphony.  Since the symphony's premier, when the audience called for it to replayed as an encore, it has been a lasting favorite.

     The fourth movement has the sound of a lively Scottish folk dance.  This is unsurprising for Beethoven had recently been writing simplified violin and piano duets based on Scottish folk tunes for a Scottish publisher to sell to music students  in his country.  Years later, Richard Wagner, referring to the lively rhythms which permeate the symphony, called it the "apotheosis of the dance."  Many other writers have commented on its whirling dance-energy. 


Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92  (1812, premiered Dec. 1813)


        Movement # 2   Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond.   (8:15)


The movement is structured in a double variation form. It begins with the main melody played by the violas and cellos, an ostinato (repeated rhythmic figure, or ground bass, or passacaglia) of a quarter note, two eighth notes and two quarter notes.

This melody is then played by the second violins while the violas and cellos play a second melody, described as "a string of beauties hand-in-hand".  The first violins then take the first melody while the second violins take the second.  This progression culminates with the wind section playing the first melody while the first violin plays the second.

After this, the music changes from A minor to A major as the clarinets take a calmer melody to the background of light triplets played by the violins. This section ends thirty-seven bars later with a quick descent of the strings on an A minor scale, and the first melody is resumed and elaborated upon in a strict fugato.


        Movement # 4     Weiner Philharmoniker, Leonard Bernstein, cond.     (7:30)


      The last movement is in sonata form. According to Glenn Stanley, Beethoven "exploited the possibility that a string section can realize both angularity and rhythmic contrast if used as an obbligato-like background," particularly in the coda, which contains an example, rare in Beethoven's music, of the dynamic marking fff.

     In his book Beethoven and his Nine Symphonies, Sir George Grove wrote, "The force that reigns throughout this movement is literally prodigious, and reminds one of Carlyle's hero Ram Dass, who has fire enough in his belly to burn up the entire world."