LXXI. BEETHOVEN, Ludwig van (1770-1827)
When the public or performers hated a particular composition, Beethoven must have known he had a winner (see LXIII, the Kreutzer sonata) ...
His pupil, Carl Czerny, asked him why the Eighth was less popular than the Seventh, to which the greatest composer to ever live responded:
" ... because the Eighth is so much better!"
Perhaps most people would disagree even today -- but the Eighth has a charm and strength which is -- I would dare to say -- unique in his oeuvre.
It is a carefully composed work. For example, in the recap of the first movement, he eliminates four bars of the theme just to tighten things up.
Some say the second movement is a parody on the newly-invented metronome (copied and manufactured by Johann Nepomuk Maelzel). Tick-tock goes the music and both primary themes sound similarly metronomic.
The entire symphony is styled like a Haydn-like classical symphony -- including the traditional minuet, which Beethoven had long since replaced with his famous scherzi. The third movement is a minuet, but it wouldn't have been easy to dance to ... the thumping sfzordani feels like you're getting your foot stomped on.
In the fourth movement, from the home key of F Major, Beethoven injects a surprising C# and modulates all over the place. Finally, ending in the key of F-Sharp Major, he pulls off a spectacular ending by hammering the music down a semitone to F Major.
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