Notes: Beethoven & Bruckner

It may seem less obvious today, but at the beginning of the 19th century, it was customary for a concert to last several hours. During such an evening, a colourful mix of genres was performed, ranging from symphonies and concertos to opera arias, solo works and even entire choral works. On 22 December 1808, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) organised such a four-hour marathon concert at the Theater an der Wien. The programme featured his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, the Fourth Piano Concerto, an aria, two excerpts from the Mass in C and a piano improvisation. As a fitting finale, Beethoven wanted a ‘brilliant finale’ in which the various instrumental sections from the concert would come together. He announced the work as ‘an improvisation for piano with a gradual entry of the orchestra and, finally, a finale with choir.’

The work in question was a draft version of what would later become the Choral Fantasy, Op. 80. Beethoven was, in fact, known for sometimes performing his compositions in a rough form first, only to finalise them afterwards. Both in melody and message, the Choral Fantasy foreshadows the ‘Ode to Joy’ from his later Ninth Symphony. This, in turn, would become a model for the monumental symphonies of Anton Bruckner (1824–1896).

Bruckner called Beethoven ‘the embodiment of all that is great and sublime in music’ and saw the symphonic model of his Ninth as the perfect foundation for his own symphonies. He also followed this model in terms of duration: with an average length of seventy minutes, Bruckner’s symphonies are grand in scale. His Sixth Symphony is a striking exception: ‘If most of Bruckner’s symphonies can be compared to a majestic Baroque cathedral,’ wrote an Amsterdam critic in 1930, ‘then the Sixth is more like a chapel – intimate and airy, standing in an open, sunny spot in a majestic forest.’