Eroica Title Page

INTRODUCTION

In our choice of an adequate description of the musical content of the Eroica,  we were trying to find a text that is understandable to us as lay readers, so that we might, first, gain a basic understanding of the musical content of this work, before we embark on looking at more extensive discussions of various aspects of this, in our upcoming look at contemporary music criticism.  

ON ITS MUSICAL CONTENT

For our basic look at the musical content of the Eroica, we rely on the Beethoven part of F.E. Kirby's book, An Introduction to Western Music, in which he discusses the Eroica as an example of Beethoven's middle-period style:

"The Sinfonia eroica, scored for an orchestra of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons in pairs, three horns, two trumpets, tympani, and strings (an orchestra not much larger than that used in the Symphony in C major [Op. 21] is in four movements, all of which are about double the length they would have had in an eighteenth-century symphony: an opening Allegro in sonata form, the "Marcia funebre" (Adagio in C minor), the scherzo and trio in E-flat major, and the finale, an Allegro, based on the theme from Prometheus.

In the first movement, the heroic character that dominates the work as a whole is immediately established by the two loud E-flat major chords which precede the principal theme.  This principal theme shows the same features that we noted in the opening movement of the Symphony in C major (Op. 21); it is triadic and motivic. But the earlier symphony does not prepare one for what happens here:  the immediate motivic breaking down of the theme, the sharp accentuations on weak beats, and the dramatic crescendo leading to the fortissimo restatement of the principal theme that ushers in the modulatory passage.  A number of new themes appear here, but particular attention must be directed to the first, a terse motive in dotted rhythm, which passes from instrument to instrument and plays an important role as the movement unfolds.  A second crescendo leads to the secondary theme, in B-flat major, first in the winds and then in the strings.  Still another crescendo brings the concluding group, which once more features syncopations and, near the end, fortissimo dissonant diminished seventh chords, followed by a brief recalling of the principal theme of the movement.

All these themes appear in the development, the length of which greatly exceeds that of the exposition (248 to 151 bars).  Predominant is the principal theme which appears both by itself and in combination with themes from the modulatory section.  Unusual is the introduction of a new theme, in E minor, one not heard before but which has been regarded as being related to the secondary theme.  Finally, some comment has been occasioned by the passage near the end of the development, the so-called retransition to the recapitulation:  In a diminuendo, as the strings sound a B-flat harmony, the horn enters softly with the principal theme in E-flat, the tonic, thus making a dissonance.  After the recapitulation, which is quire regular, comes a coda, but its length is so great that it has been regarded as a "second development."  It, too, used the new theme that had been introduced in the development.  At the very end the principal theme is stated four times, each time using more instruments and louder, making a crescendo in stages: first in the horn, then the first violins, then the lower strings; then finally as the trumpets and timpani begin with a "military" triplet figure in the accompaniment, it appears fortissimo in the brass instruments, after which the movement rapidly comes to a close.

Although it is unusual to have a funeral march in a symphony, there is ample precedent in the galant instrumental music of the late eighteenth century for the presence of a march.  Since a funeral march is indeed a kind of march, it might be expected to show to some extent at least the same formal organization characteristic of a march.  In the suites and divertimentos of the time, a march was organized much like a minuet:  there would be the march proper, then another march called the trio, after which the march proper is repeated; both march and trio would be disposed according to rounded binary form.  Beethoven's funeral march in the Sinfonia eroica plainly has this standard march form in its background, although some important changes have been introduced.  The opening portion of the movement, the march proper, displays the rounded binary from that would be expected except that double bars are not used, all repetitions being written out in full since the instrumentation is varied.  The trio, in C major, uses triadic and scale figuration as its thematic materials; in the crescendos, martial triplet patterns in the trumpets and timpani are important.  Here the rounded binary form is reduced to a simple ternary scheme with the third part varied (a b a' ). Now come the departures.  After the "bright" trio it seems as if the funeral march is going to be repeated, but after a few bars there is a sudden interruption and a powerful fugue on a variant of the funeral march theme in F minor is presented.  After the fugue comes to its dramatic end with loud repeated diminished-seventh chords, the funeral march is again introduced but in G minor, not C minor, only to be rudely broken off again by a strident fanfare passage employing dotted rhythms in the brass instruments and furious triplets in the strings.  As this subsides, the funeral march is reintroduced, but with the triplet patterns from the fanfare passage retained in the accompaniment, and this time it continues all the way through.  At the very end the march theme is heard with simple accompaniment, but broken up with short rests and anxious syncopations which are related to the conventional "sob" figuration pattern of the time and which here have a particularly poignant effect.

The scherzo, again in the main key of the work, E-flat major, presents something rather different from the usual minuet: driving rhythms, great crescendos, effective syncopations, and so on.  In the trio the use of the three horns as solo instruments with the typical "hunting call" type of thematic material is to be noted.

In the finale, which is based, as we have seen, on a theme from The Creatures of Prometheus, we find an unusual type of theme and variations form, one that has some aspects in common with the ostinato form of the Baroque.  In the usual theme and variations form, as represented for example by Mozart's variations for piano on "Ah!  vous dirai-je Maman" (a tune we know as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"), first the theme, a melody with simple accompaniment is stated, after which it is repeated over and over again with changes or variations.

In the case of the finale of the Sinfonia eroica, after an introductory flourish, the bass part of the theme is presented by itself, pizzicato by the lower strings, and then follow two variations built on this bass part, which appears first in the violoncellos and then in the first violins; with the third variation the melody proper makes its appearance, first in the oboe, then taken up by the full orchestra.  During the movement the variations, many of which are fugal, draw on either the melody or its bass, or both,  Most important are variations IV (a fugue on the bass part) and VII (a fugue on the inversion of the bass part).  Toward the end the themes appear in a slow tempo, making a majestic effect.  After the last variation there is a coda, in which after a soft passage in the E-flat major figuration fortissimo in the full orchestra brings the conclusion" (Kirby:  215-230).  

After this, hopefully, rather clear and simple description of the musical content of this Symphony, we can move on to looking at the music criticism of 'our' contemporary Beethoven experts.