The Symphony No. 3 in E major, Op. 55, titled as the Eroica Symphony, is a symphony in four movements by Ludwig van Beethoven.
One of Beethoven's most celebrated works, the Eroica symphony is a large-scale composition that marked the beginning of the composer's innovative "middle period".Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 Pastorale (Schott), ed. Max Unger, p. vi.
Composed mainly in 1803–1804, the work broke boundaries in symphonic form, length, harmony, emotional and cultural content. It is widely considered a landmark in the transition between the Classical and the Romantic era. It is also often considered to be the first Romantic symphony. Beethoven first conducted a private performance on 9 June 1804, and later the first public performance on 7 April 1805.
Instrumentation The Symphony is scored for:
Woodwinds 2 flutes 2 oboes 2 clarinets in B 2 bassoons
Brass 3 horns in E (1 & 2 in C in mvt 2) 2 trumpets in E & C
Percussion
Strings violins I, II violas cellos double basses
Form
The work is in 4 movements:
Depending upon the conductor's style and observation of the exposition repeat in the first movement, the typical performance time is between 45 and 55 minutes.
I. Allegro con brio
The 1st movement, in time, is in sonata form, with typical performances between 12 and 18 minutes long depending on interpretation and whether the exposition repeat is played. Unlike the longer adagio introductions in Beethoven's first two symphonies, the movement opens with two loud E major chords, played by the whole orchestra, that establish the tonality of the movement.
The conductor Kenneth Woods has noted that the opening movement of Eroica was inspired by and modeled on Mozart's Symphony No. 39, and shares many attributes of that earlier symphony which precedes this one by a decade and a half.Explore the Score – Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Opus 55, Sinfonica eroica, Kenneth Woods, 27 January 2016
Exposition
The exposition has three thematic groups with varying interpretations of functionality.
First group (measures 3 to 44, E major) Second group (measures 45 to 83, B major) Third group (measures 84 to 155, B major)
The exposition begins with the cellos introducing the first theme. By the fifth bar of the melody (m. 7), a chromatic note (C) is introduced, thus introducing the harmonic tension of the work. The melody is finished by the first violins, with a syncopated series of Gs (which forms a tritone with C of the cellos and a diminished chord). This resolves to the dominant of the relative minor (G/C minor) before a short cadential codetta in E major. The first theme is then transferred to wind instruments, then fragmented, moving through other keys with the b motif in canon and interchanged with a hemiola in the dominant, later moving between dominant and tonic. The main theme is finally restated with full orchestra in a and b before modulating to F major and the dominant B in group 2.
The modulation to the dominant key of B appears at mm. 42 to 44, although it is not yet fully stabilized and entrenched. Here follows a group of three or two subjects: a lyrical downward motif (mm. 45 to 56) in canon between oboe, clarinet, flute, and violin; a short upward scale motif (mm. 57 to 64) in strings with a variation; and a section beginning with rapid downward patterns in the violins (mm. 65 to 82).
The third theme of the second group eventually leads to a lyrical theme (m. 83), whose second half of the theme eventually builds to a loud melody (m. 109) that draws upon the earlier downward motif (m. 113). The climactic moment of the exposition arrives when the music is interrupted by 6 consecutives sforzando hemiola chords (mm. 128 to 131). Later, and following the concluding chords of the exposition (mm. 144 to 148), the main theme returns in a brief codetta (m. 148) that transitions into the repeat / development.
The status of these groups is debated as to which is more important in the structure. In the traditional analysis, the three early motifs are transitional subjects to arrive at the "unusually late" lyrical theme. An alternative analysis holds that the second theme begins earlier at m. 45 with the downward motif. In this view, the traditional harmonic progression of the exposition ends at m. 82, with the new lyrical theme at m. 83 beginning an extension. This pattern would be consistent with that found later in the development, in which the climactic moment leads to a new lyrical theme that launches an extended section. Moreover, the downward motif theme (m. 45) is developed significantly in the next section while the lyrical theme (m. 83) does not appear. The early modulation to B had been present in early drafts of the symphony, as was the indecisive nature of the second group.
Commenters have also observed that the sonata form and orchestration transitions would be fully preserved by cutting the third group (m. 83 to 143). However, others have observed that form and orchestration would also be fully preserved if the second and third subjects of the second group were cut instead (mm. 57 to 82), consistent with the traditional analysis.
Development The development section (m. 154), like the rest of the movement, is characterized by harmonic and rhythmic tension from dissonant chords and long passages of syncopated rhythm.
The first section of the development is based around various thematic explorations and counterpoint, including a new scalar figure in bars 165 to 173 and a fugato derived from the main theme of the second group (mm. 236 to 246). The music eventually breaks into a 32-bar passage (mm. 248 to 279) of sforzando chords including both 2-beat and 3-beat downward patterns, culminating in crashing dissonant forte chords (mm. 276 to 279). Commenters have stated that this "outburst of rage ... forms the kernel of the whole movement", and Beethoven reportedly got out in his beat when conducting the orchestra in Christmas 1804, forcing the confused players to stop and go back.
Rather than leading to the recapitulation at this point, a new theme in E minor is then introduced instead (m. 284), beginning the second section of the development. This eventually leads to a near-doubling of the development's length, in like proportion to the exposition.
At the end of the development, one horn famously appears to come in early with the main theme in E (mm. 394 and 395), while the strings continue playing the dominant chord. In the 19th century, this was thought to be a mistake; some conductors assumed the horn notes were written in the tenor clef (B–D–B–F) while others altered the second violin harmony to G (chord of the tonic), an error that eventually appeared in an early printed version. However, Beethoven's secretary, Ferdinand Ries, shared this anecdote about that horn entrance:
The first rehearsal of the symphony was terrible, but the hornist did, in fact, come in on cue. I was standing next to Beethoven and, believing that he had made a wrong entrance, I said, "That damned hornist! Can't he count? It sounds frightfully wrong." I believe I was in danger of getting my ears boxed. Beethoven did not forgive me for a long time.
Recapitulation The recapitulation starts in the tonic E♭ major as expected, but then features a sudden excursion to F major early on before eventually returning to a more typical form in the tonic. The movement concludes in a long coda that reintroduces the new theme first presented in the development section.
II. Marcia funebre. Adagio assai
The second movement is a funeral march in the ternary form (A–B–A) that is typical of 18th-century funeral marches,Roden, Timothy J.; Wright, Craig; and Simms, Bryan R., Anthology for Music in Western Civilization, Vol. 2 (Schirmer 2009) albeit one that is "large and amply developed" and in which the principal theme has the functions of a refrain as in rondo form. However, it can also be analyzed as having five parts, a combination of ternary, rondo, and sonata form:
Exposition (mm. 1 to 68); Trio in major (mm. 69 to 104), False recapitulation of march (mm. 105 to 113); Central section or Development (mm. 114 to 172); Recapitulation (mm. 173 to 208); Coda (mm. 209 to 247).
Musically, the thematic solemnity of the second movement has lent itself for use as a funeral march, proper. The movement is between 14 and 18 minutes long.
The opening A-section in C minor begins with the march theme in the strings, then in the winds. A second theme (m. 17) in the relative major (E) quickly returns to minor tonality, and these materials are developed throughout the rest of the section. This eventually gives way to a brief B-section in C major (m. 69) "for what may be called the Trio of the March", which Beethoven unusually calls attention to by marking "Maggiore" (major) in the score.
At this point, the traditional "bounds of ceremonial propriety" would normally indicate a da capo return to the A theme. However, the first theme in C minor (m. 105) begins modulating in the 6th bar (m. 110), leading to a fugue in F minor (m. 114) based on an inversion of the original second theme. The first theme reappears briefly in G minor in the strings (m. 154), followed by a stormy development passage ("a shocking fortissimo plunge"). A full re-statement of the first theme in the original key then begins in the oboe (m. 173).
The coda (m. 209) begins with a marching motif in the strings that was earlier heard in the major section (at mm. 78, 100) and eventually ends with a final soft statement of the main theme (m. 238) that "crumbles into short phrases interspersed with silences".
III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace – Trio
The third movement is a lively scherzo with trio in rapid time. It is between 5 and 6 minutes long.
The A theme of the outer scherzo section appears pianissimo in the dominant key of B (mm. 7, 21), then piano in the secondary dominant key of F which is when the B part of the outer scherzo is heard (m. 41). This is followed by a pianissimo restart in B (m. 73), which is when the A theme is heard again, leading to a full fortissimo statement in the tonic key of E (m. 93). Later, a downward arpeggio motif with sforzandos on the second beat is played twice in unison, first by the strings (mm. 115 to 119) and then by the full orchestra (mm. 123 to 127). This is followed by a syncopated motif characterized by descending fourths (m. 143), leading to the repeat.
The trio section features three horns, the first time this had appeared in the symphonic tradition. The scherzo is then repeated in shortened form, except that very notably the second occurrence of the downward unison motif is changed to duple time (mm. 381 to 384). The movement ends with a coda (m. 423), with Beethoven marking the word in the score – which was unusual for him – that quickly builds from pianissimo to fortissimo, encapsulating the pattern of the whole movement.
IV. Finale. Allegro molto – Poco andante – Presto
The fourth movement is a set of variations on a theme. It lasts between 10 and 14 minutes. The theme was previously used by Beethoven in earlier compositions and arguably forms the basis for the first three movements of the symphony as well (see Thematic Origins below), and the movement can be roughly divided into four parts:
Introduction on bass theme (mm. 1 to 75) Theme and variations (mm. 76 to 380) Reprise of the theme (mm. 381 to 430) Coda (mm. 431 to 475)
While writing, Beethoven found himself having to reconcile the succession of the variations form with the processional sonata form found in the first movement. Thus, the final movement can be analyzed as a double variation form, with two themes (the bass theme and melody theme) being varied alternately with each other. Fabrizio Della Seta lays out the themes as such in the table: