Mr. Peabody Says:
Symphony Op. 31 was greatly popular. There are four movements, but the traditional minuet was replaced with two marches to give a feeling of battle. The funeral march in the middle came long before Beethoven’s Piano Sonata op. 26 and his „Eroica”, so it is quite likely that Beethoven got some of his ideas from this older composer.
The full title is: “Grand Characteristic Symphony for the peace with the French Republic in C Minor, Op. 31”, which is quite a mouthful. I’d like to know a lot more about how he came up with the title, but likely it would take some more knowledge of history of that era than what I know.
Howard Griffiths
- I. The Revolution – March of the Austrians and Prussians. Andante maestoso – Allegro molto – Tempo di marcia piu maestoso piu allegro – Tempo primo – 0:02
- II. The Fate and the Death of Louis XVI – Funeral March. Adagio affettuoso – 10:40
- III. English March – March of the Allies – The Tumult of a Battle. Tempo di marcia movibile – Allegro – 18:42
- IV. The Prospects of Peace – Rejoicing at the Achievement of Peace. Andante grazioso – Allegro vivace – 23:06
Instruments:
- piccolo
- 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets
- 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets
- timpani
- strings
A valuable resource:
I went HERE and found some very interesting info. I want to come back to this site.
Some backgroud info:
Pavel Vranický, later Germanized as Paul Wranitzky (30 December 1756 – 29 September 1808), was a Moravian composer born in the same year as Mozart, but at the end of the, so he was almost one year younger.
At age 20, like so many other Czech composers of that period, he moved to Vienna to seek out opportunities within the Austrian imperial capital. From 1790, he conducted both royal theater orchestras. He was the director of the Imperial Court theater orchestras, so had one of Europe’s finest orchestras at his disposal and a guaranteed audience.
He was also a favored composer of Empress Marie Therese: he wrote many works for her and her family. Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven highly respected him. Haydn and Beethoven specifically preferred him as conductor of their new works, and he conducted Beethoven’s First Symphony, in 1800. But eight years later he was dead, another monstrously talented young composer who died way too early, although he lived a lot longer than Mozart.
Incredibly prolific:
He lived to age 51, much longer than Mozart and almost as long as Beethoven, but still he had a short life by our standards today. He wrote many symphonies during the last decade of the 18th century, supposedly over sixty symphonies. Considering his shorter life, he almost rivaled Haydn for an almost insane output. I read that approximately 45 are known today, which seems to mean that more than 15 have been lost.
He also wrote 10 operas and at least 56 string quartets: some think he may have written as many as 73. He also wrote a huge number orchestral and chamber works.