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Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No.1, Op.21

Further Information

• As Hollywood is today to the film industry, so was Vienna to the music world of the late 1700s. The capital city of what was then a grand and powerful empire, Vienna stood as the political, economic, and cultural heart of half a continent, a city that served as a magnet to ambitious people of diverse interests. Of the great composers who are now identified with that city, few were Viennese natives. Rather, they came to Vienna from far and near in hope of building a prosperous career. Both Haydn and Mozart traveled that path, enjoying varying degrees of success. By the time Beethoven followed their lead in 1792, his elder colleagues had established a strong tradition of symphonies, sonatas, and string quartets, all suffused with a sense of elegance, clarity, and graceful proportion. That Classical style was soon to fade from the scene, yet it persists in Beethoven's earliest works, notably his first two piano concerti and his First Symphony.

  This earliest of Beethoven's symphonies premiered at Vienna's Hofburgtheater on April 2, 1800. The concert, the composer's official Vienna debut, also featured his Septet, his Piano Concert, op. 15, a Mozart symphony, and selections from Haydn's The Creation. That juxtaposition of the young master's compositions against those of his immediate predecessors would have emphasized the similarities between their styles, yet the differences are also clear, and differences there are, for though Beethoven drew upon tradition, he also experimented with new ideas. He made greater use of wind instruments than was customary and introduced a surprising degree of vigor into what his audience members would have expected to be a courtly third movement minuet. In fact, from the very opening chord, which is not in the expected key, to the concluding march-like theme, which bore a marked resemblance to a German drinking song, Beethoven colored an established musical genre with his own wry wit. Although some conservatives critics were no doubt caught by surprise, most observers responded positively to the new work. The authoritative Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung was full of praise, saying the symphony showed "much art, novelty, and wealth of ideas," and Carl Maria von Weber lauded it as the "splendid, clear, fire-streaming Symphony in C." It was the first large-scale work Beethoven published.

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