Home > Symphony No. 1 (Beethoven)

Beethoven began work on the symphony in 1799 and completed it a year later. The first performance, under the composer's direction, took place on April 2, 1800 in the National-Hof-Theater in Vienna and was a great success. The symphony is dedicated to Baron Gottfried van Swieten.

There are four movements:

1. Adagio molto -- Allegro con brio
2. Andante cantabile con moto
3. Menuetto (Allegro molto e vivace)
4. Adagio -- Allegro molto e vivace

The scoring is for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 timpani, and the usual string section of first and second violins, violas, cellos, and double bassSide and front views of a modern double bass with a french bow. The wire from the tailpiece to the bridge is for a piezo-electric pickup. With spike extended as in the photo, it measures approximately 2m tall. The double bass is a musical instrument, thees.

The symphony is clearly indebted to Beethoven's Classical predecessors, particularly his teacher HaydnPortrait by Thomas Hardy, 1792 Franz) Joseph Haydn (in German, Josef he never used the Franz) ( March 31, 1732 May 31, 1809) was a leading composer of the classical period. He was the brother of Michael Haydn, a composer, and Johann Evangelist Haydn, a te, but nonetheless has characteristics that clearly mark it as Beethoven's work, notably the frequent use of the dynamic sforzando.

The opening is a musical joke: it consists of a sequence of dominant-tonic chord sequences in the wrong key, so that the listener only gradually realizes the real key of the symphony.