Omaha daily bee., 1895-09-29
WAS HIS LAST GREAT WORK
When Beethoven Wrote His Last
Symphony.
MANUFACTURED MANY MUSICAL MELODIES
DIR. Bnetcns Concludes HIS Discus
sion of the Great Musical Conn
poser and His EHorts-Intro-
ductiOn of the Ode.

In the following article DR.. Bleieus con-
| cludes his discussion OF Beethoven's SYM
phony. In this paper the doctor says:
l.. Sonnleithner related in 1854, on the au-
thorlty OF Carl Czerny, that shortly after the
first performance OF the symphony, Beethoven
| admitted to a small erie OF his most intl-
mate friends that be perceived that he had
| erred in the matter of the last movement OF
the symphony. He said he would cut it OF
and replace 1t with an instrumental move
ment, for which he already had subject in
his mind. This subject was probably the one
| which haunted him all through the last OF
the year 1923 occurring no less than thr Q
times in the midst Of the work on other parts
! of the symphony. This subjsct. on It's first
appearance, he identified by writing above II
| "Finae Instromentae." Subsequently he used
1t in the quartet in A minor Top. 1922. Not
tebohm fixes the date OF its first appeara CO
among the sketches as June or July Of 1923.
Among the SIX atches OF this cate Is 10 be
found this significant observation:
Perhaps after all the chorus, "Freude
Schooner" the first words Of Schler's ode),
looks as If he had once abandoned the Idea Of
choral finale altogether and was now again
questioning whether he had not better use t
| In composing the finale Beethoven first
worked out the choral part. The me ody, sim
pie and ingenious as it now app ars, was the
result of many eXparimen en.s and changes.
These occur more frequently in con -ection
| with the second period Of the melody,
| "Fr5u ude," in the psges da ing the last mont s
| OF 1922, than that then the me o ly
| we know had not been accepted without re-
! course. The date of the first of these Efforts
| is fxe1 by Nottebohm July. 1823 the
| others are later. The plan Of using Turkish
music" is given comical promin nee in the
/ sketches. Among those last quotsd tn re is
a memorandum sugg sling the use of Turkish
music in the setting of the lines:
| 'Werdas ME gekonnt uer stehle
| Vein ma sich aus esem Bund."
| And again on the studies for the "All gro
ALA Marcia" already referrol to, he outlines
a pan. which, afterwards executed. is as fol-
! lows: Turkish mus c-frst pianissimo-
| rests-then the full strengthn' When the
sketches for the choral movement max their
| appearance in the sketch book they strongly
corroborate the testimony Of Sch'n1ler con .
cerning the difficulty which Beethoven found
| in introducing the "Ode."
HIS FIRST PLAN.
The indications are that aft r reso'vi- G to
| introduce the voices, his first plan mpy
to do so with an instrumental Introduction
| like an overture. There is nothing
| to suggest the reason why the pan
| was not carried out, except that from
the manner in which the object was uti-
| mately accomplished it Is evident that he
was seeking for the spiritual link which
should unite the movement with its prede-
| cessors. SCHNEIDER relates in his biography:
When the work of celebrating the fourth
| movement was reached, a struggle began,
| such as I have hardly ever seem The diff
Guilty lay in finding fitting mode of intro
duction for Schiller's ode. One day as
entered the room he called out to me, i
| have it! / have itp and extended sketch
book in which he had written Let us sing
the song of the immortal Schiller" etc.
The leaf afterward fell into the possession
of SCHNEIDER and was, by him preserved. 1t
is now in the Royal library in Berlin.
A number of the sketches made by Beetho-
ven in cropping for the path which would
| lead him back to the domain he had left
when he took up with the plan of using
| voices very interesting. Il have them
| but can not publish them here) They are
| supposed to have been written in October
| 1923. In the first line we recognize the sub
ject of the noisy ritornel that ushers in the
last movement and is interrupted by the
first recitatve of the BASES. Then come
the words, partly set to declamatory mel
| ody: To-day is a solemn day, let it be cele'
brated with song and-Qlegbe word.') The
ritornel is continued, and reminiscence of
| the first movement introduced. Then again
the voice enters with comment: "Oh, no.
not this! Something different, pleasing, is
| what | demand" four bars of the scherZo
pass in review, and the voice continues:
Nor this; it is not better only a little
merrier." The adagio is suggested fol-
| lowed by the words, II shall see that l my
self intone something, which re-
peat CD after me-" Then come the bars
| which, in the instrumental introduction as
it stands, suggest the melody of the ode.
after which, This it is! Ha! Now 1t is
! found! 'Freude seh.'" " and the joy melody Is
sung two bars After this, still set to music,
comes: This, too, is too tender; something
animated must be hunted for like the On-
legible word" Another setting gives the
words of approval which follow the Joy mel
ody TIA! that is it! Now it is found! Freude),
shortly afterward, and this time they are
given the very melody which Is given out
in the last rectative and by the baritone
Il,. thn Ct
| SINGING THE MELODY.
To appreciate fully the interesting character
! of these sketches the reader must be IA
miliar with the last movement of the sym
phony. 1t opens with a turbulent Presto
by the wind instruments, which is interrupted
by Bsethovens original invention, recita-
tive Of the celos and basses; then the presto
is repeated with angry emphasis, and again
comes an expostulation from the speaking
instruments; then in succession come remin-
iscences from the first three movements, with
intervening declamatory passages for the bass
instruments; after the movements have thus
been passed in review, the wood instruments
sing the opening strains, which suggest the
melody of the ode, and the bass instruments
express their satisfaction as plainly as in
struments can. They act upon the sugges-
tion of the wood instruments and sing the
melody through to the end in union and
alone and then deliver it to the orchestra
for variation. very similar performance
is then gone through in introducing the
voices The noisy ritornel is heard again,
but this time the expostulation comes from
human lips and is clothed with human Ian
guage. 1t is the baritone sooist who ad-
dresses the instruments: 80 friends, not
these tones! but let us unite IN more pleasant
ones!" and then like the bass instruments
before, he sings the melody to the end, and
transfers 1t to the chorus. The remainder
of the work is made up Of variations on the
melody.
Now the significance which we see in the
sketches is apparent to all they form a plan
in wo. ds which Beethoven carried out in the
music. The problem he had set by in
Producing voices in the symphony was a
difficult one, the more so since the first three
movements were designed en- Trey in1ep nd
ent Of such outcome. To attach a chorIl
part to a symphony, with nothing more than
an instrumental prelude, would have de-
stroyed the form of the work and left 1t
wanting the essential spirit of unity. To
accomplish the innovation and yet at the
same time crown the work with finale that
should seem essential part Of the whole
was the great problem and we know how he
solved IL. He united three movements by
the marshaing of their subjects at the close
and brdged the charm between the instru-
ments and the voices with the instrumental
recitatives, interpreting by their aid the
sentiments which, we have seen he out
lined in the plans as shown in the sketches