By: Greg Mitchell On this Sunday let's take a media break from Barack, bailouts and Bush to contemplate the universe. Tomorrow marks the 200th anniversary of The Greatest Concert Ever. But have no fear, a critical newspaper review is coming up.
Fellow geezers: Forget the Beatles at Shea Stadium, Dylan in Manchester, the Stones at Altamont, Springsteen at the Bottom Line (I was even there) -- and you youngsters pick your fave from the past three decades. On December 22, 1808, Ludwig van Beethoven himself rented a hall in Vienna and promoted the concert to end all concerts: the debut, over four hours, of three of the greatest works in the history of music: his Fifth Symphony, the Sixth ("Pastoral") Symphony, and the astounding Piano Concerto No. 4, plus the wonderful Choral Fantasia (forerunner to his Ninth Symphony).
And yes, it was a fiasco (as the newspaper reported).
But imagine: It was as if Orson Welles premiered "Citizen Kane," "The Magnificent Ambersons," and "Touch of Evil" on the same night -- with "The Lady from Shanghai" thrown in for good measure.
This was mid-period Beethoven. He was 38 at the time and would live another 19 fitful years.
He had been losing his hearing for almost ten years and would soon be completely deaf. In fact, he would play piano in concert for virtually the last time at this epic 1808 program, as hearing himself play would eventually cease. That wouldn't stop him, a few years later, from producing his most astounding writing of all: the late piano sonatas and string quartets, the Ninth Symphony, and much more. If you know Beethoven only from his symphonies you are truly missing nearly all of his most amazing, moving, and profound work.
I won't go into all of the details on the 1808 concert here, but in a nutshell: The hall in Vienna was freezing cold. Beethoven, as a taskmaster conductor, had alienated the musicians, rehearsals were inadequate, he finished one piece on the morning of the concert with (reportedly) the ink still wet that night.
Parts of the program went off very well; on the other hand, he stopped the Choral Fantasia after a few minutes and made the orchestra start over. A candle holder on Beethoven's piano apparently got knocked over at some point. In any case, the show went on, and on. In that era, it was hard enough for any audience to appreciate and/or grasp the unprecedented length -- and revolutionary nature -- of Beethoven's compositions, and now they were cold and tired.
The key newspaper review at the time noted the genius of Beethoven's new compositions but also the demands on the audience: "It is known that, with respect to Vienna, it holds even more true than with respect to most other cities, what is written in the scriptures, namely that the prophet does not count for anything in his own country."
The reviewer for Leipzig's Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung also observed: "To judge all these executed pieces is -- after the first and only hearing, particularly since these are works by Beethoven, of which so many have been performed in one session and most of which are great and long--nearly impossible.
"However, as far as the execution of this academy concert is concerned, it could be considered lacking in all respects....Most noticeable, however, was the error that occurred in the last Fantasy. The wind instruments varied the theme, which before, Beethoven had played on the piano. Now it was the oboes' turn. The clarinets--if I am not mistaken!--miscounted and set in at the same time. A peculiar mix of tones emerged; B. jumped up and tried to silence the clarinets, however, he did not succeed until he called out quite loudly and rather angrily to the orchestra: Silence! This will not do! Once more--once more! and the praised orchestra had to accommodate him and play the unfortunate Fantasy again, from the beginning--!
"The effect of all of these pieces on the mixed audience, and particularly of the pieces of the second section, obviously suffered from the amount and the length of the music."
I will leave off here with the invitation: In these tough times, you really might find (as I did) that a little Beethoven -- principally the piano sonatas, trios and string quartets -- will help you make it through your week.
For a clip from one of the pieces first played on Dec. 22, 1808 go to:
The E&P Pub
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