- Beethoven composed this piece for a massive concert at the Theater an der Wien on Dec. 22, 1808. This concert also saw the premieres of Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, plus a performance of his 4th Piano Concerto, portions of his Mass in C Major, and more. (The whole concert lasted more than 4 hours.)
- Beethoven wrote this Choral Fantasy in just a few days, right before the concert, because he wanted the evening to have a special musical finale.
- The Choral Fantasy uses all the forces Beethoven already had available for his monster-concert: orchestra, piano solo, and chorus. This helps explain the work’s unusual structure:
- First section: a piano solo (material which Beethoven originally improvised at the premiere)
- Second section: a set of variations for piano and orchestra on Beethoven’s art song “Gegenliebe,” WoO 118 No. 2
- Third section: a choral setting of a poem by Christoph Kuffner about the power of music.
- The premiere of this work was not a success. The orchestra did not have enough time to rehearse the piece, which Beethoven completed at the last minute; the orchestra quarreled with the irascible composer during rehearsals; the orchestra fell apart during the actual performance of the Choral Fantasy and they had to restart the piece. Also, reportedly, the theater was freezing.1
Sources
- Douglas Johnson et al, “Beethoven, Ludwig van,” Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2001), accessed January 13, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040026.
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