Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Chronological Bibliography of Books, Articles, Book Chapters, and Musical Editions by Lewis Lockwood
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part One A Creative Life
- 1 Of Deserters and Orphans: Beethoven's Early Exposure to the Opéras-Comiques of Monsigny
- 2 “A Really Excellent and Capable Man”: Beethoven and Johann Traeg
- 3 A Four-Leaf Clover: A Newly Discovered Cello, the Premiere of the Ninth Symphony, Beethoven's Circle of Friends in Bonn, and a Corrected Edition of the Song “Ruf vom Berge,” WoO 147
- 4 “Where Thought Touches the Blood”: Rhythmic Disturbance as Physical Realism in Beethoven's Creative Process
- 5 The Sanctification of Beethoven in 1827–28
- Part Two Prometheus / Eroica
- 6 The Prometheus Theme and Beethoven's Shift from Avoidance to Embrace of Possibilities
- 7 Beethoven at Heiligenstadt in 1802: Deconstruction, Integration, and Creativity
- 8 “Mit Verstärkung des Orchesters”: The Orchestra Personnel at the First Public Performance of Beethoven's Eroica
- Part Three Masses
- 9 “Aber lieber Beethoven, was haben Sie denn wieder da gemacht?” Observations on the Performing Parts for the Premiere of Beethoven's Mass in C, Opus 86
- 10 Heart to Heart: Beethoven, Archduke Rudolph, and the Missa solemnis
- 11 God and the Voice of Beethoven
- Part Four Quartets
- 12 “So Here I Am, in the Middle Way”: The Autograph of the “Harp” Quartet and the Expressive Domain of Beethoven’s Second Maturity
- 13 Meaningful Details: Expressive Markings in Beethoven Manuscripts, with a Focus on Opus 127
- 14 The Autograph Score of the Slow Movement of Beethoven’s Last Quartet, Opus 135
- 15 Early German-Language Reviews of Beethoven's Late String Quartets
- Part Five Explorations
- 16 Three Movements or Four? The Scherzo Movements in Beethoven's Early Sonatas
- 17 Utopia and Dystopia Revisited: Contrasted Domains in Beethoven's Middle-Period F-Major and F-Minor Works
- 18 Schooling the Quintjäger
- 19 Cue-Staff Annotations in Beethoven's Piano Works: Reflections and Examples from the Autograph of the Piano Sonata, Opus 101
- 20 Another Little Buck Out of Its Stable
- 21 Beethoven's Cavatina, Haydn's Seasons, and the Thickness of Inscription
- List of Contributors
- Index of Works by Beethoven
- General Index
1 - Of Deserters and Orphans: Beethoven's Early Exposure to the Opéras-Comiques of Monsigny
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 September 2020
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Chronological Bibliography of Books, Articles, Book Chapters, and Musical Editions by Lewis Lockwood
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part One A Creative Life
- 1 Of Deserters and Orphans: Beethoven's Early Exposure to the Opéras-Comiques of Monsigny
- 2 “A Really Excellent and Capable Man”: Beethoven and Johann Traeg
- 3 A Four-Leaf Clover: A Newly Discovered Cello, the Premiere of the Ninth Symphony, Beethoven's Circle of Friends in Bonn, and a Corrected Edition of the Song “Ruf vom Berge,” WoO 147
- 4 “Where Thought Touches the Blood”: Rhythmic Disturbance as Physical Realism in Beethoven's Creative Process
- 5 The Sanctification of Beethoven in 1827–28
- Part Two Prometheus / Eroica
- 6 The Prometheus Theme and Beethoven's Shift from Avoidance to Embrace of Possibilities
- 7 Beethoven at Heiligenstadt in 1802: Deconstruction, Integration, and Creativity
- 8 “Mit Verstärkung des Orchesters”: The Orchestra Personnel at the First Public Performance of Beethoven's Eroica
- Part Three Masses
- 9 “Aber lieber Beethoven, was haben Sie denn wieder da gemacht?” Observations on the Performing Parts for the Premiere of Beethoven's Mass in C, Opus 86
- 10 Heart to Heart: Beethoven, Archduke Rudolph, and the Missa solemnis
- 11 God and the Voice of Beethoven
- Part Four Quartets
- 12 “So Here I Am, in the Middle Way”: The Autograph of the “Harp” Quartet and the Expressive Domain of Beethoven’s Second Maturity
- 13 Meaningful Details: Expressive Markings in Beethoven Manuscripts, with a Focus on Opus 127
- 14 The Autograph Score of the Slow Movement of Beethoven’s Last Quartet, Opus 135
- 15 Early German-Language Reviews of Beethoven's Late String Quartets
- Part Five Explorations
- 16 Three Movements or Four? The Scherzo Movements in Beethoven's Early Sonatas
- 17 Utopia and Dystopia Revisited: Contrasted Domains in Beethoven's Middle-Period F-Major and F-Minor Works
- 18 Schooling the Quintjäger
- 19 Cue-Staff Annotations in Beethoven's Piano Works: Reflections and Examples from the Autograph of the Piano Sonata, Opus 101
- 20 Another Little Buck Out of Its Stable
- 21 Beethoven's Cavatina, Haydn's Seasons, and the Thickness of Inscription
- List of Contributors
- Index of Works by Beethoven
- General Index
Summary
As a member of the electoral court orchestra in Bonn from 1783 through (most of ) 1792, the adolescent Beethoven participated in performances of a wide variety of theatrical works, both spoken and lyric. His first stint in such a capacity was as rehearsal harpsichordist for the theatrical company directed by Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm Grossmann (1743–96). Hired by Elector Maximilian Friedrich in 1778, Grossmann had quickly assembled a versatile troupe, mainly out of Abel Seyler's disintegrating company (of which he had been a member). Grossmann appropriated Seyler's music director, Christian Gottlob Neefe (1748–98), after Seyler disbanded his troupe for good in August 1779. Neefe soon became court organist as well, and gave lessons to Beethoven; Beethoven assisted him in both the chapel and the theater. The earliest document relating to his participation is an endorsement by court steward Count Sigismund von Salm-Reifferschied (dated February 23, 1784) of a petition by Beethoven to receive a regular appointment—that is, to be paid for services he had been rendering for some time on a probationary basis: “The petitioner has been amply tested and found capable to play the court organ as he has done in the absence of Organist Neefe, also at rehearsals of the plays and elsewhere, and will continue to do so in the future” (my emphasis). After Max Friedrich's death in April 1784, Grossmann's troupe was let go with four weeks’ salary (Neefe remained as court organist), and for several years Maximilian Franz, the next elector, hired various theatrical troupes for Carnival seasons only. For Carnival 1785 the troupe of Grossmann's rival Johann Heinrich Böhm was engaged, but we know little about what it performed, in which town it performed it, or whether it used the court orchestra. For Carnival 1786 Maximilian Franz engaged a “Französisches Hoftheater” formed from remnants of the French-language troupe that had been resident in Kassel. A Hoftheater presumably used the Hoforchester, which meant that Beethoven was probably playing. For Carnival 1787 Maximilian Franz seems to have hired Grossmann, but the engagement was quickly hamstrung by legal disputes between Grossmann and his partner, Christian Wilhelm Klos. Finally, in January 1789, Maximilian Franz reorganized the court theater under the musical direction of Joseph Reicha, and Beethoven played not harpsichord but viola in the orchestra, presumably until he left for Vienna in November 1792.
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- Information
- The New BeethovenEvolution, Analysis, Interpretation, pp. 9 - 36Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2020