“The instruments that belong to the symphony are violins, violas, and bass instruments each part is strongly reinforced. A symphony is an instrumental work, generally for orchestra. Bathia Churgin’s 1980 translation of Schulz’s complete “Symphonie” entry, with a fine commentary, can be read here, but select portions of Schulz’s description in Churgin’s translation will serve as starting points for highlighting and clarifying the three characteristics identified above.ġ. Schulz’s entry “Symphonie” in the 1774 edition of Johann Georg Sulzer’s influential multi-volume dictionary Allgemeine Theorie der Schönen ( General Theory of the Fine Arts), which continued to be revised and reissued until 1798. One of the most complete descriptions of the symphony during this time was J. These descriptions tend to agree on three common characteristics: 1) it is a work for instruments, most commonly the string-centric ensemble we now call orchestra, 2) it functions as a dramatic work within different performance settings, and 3) its dramatic content fits into specific expectations about musical structure. What was the symphony in the late eighteenth century, as understood by Beethoven? There are many models of works that can shed light on this, and theorists and critics of the day have also left many contemporary descriptions of what “symphony” meant in the years leading up to Beethoven’s first symphonic composition.
Exploring Beethoven’s genius in the symphonic genre requires an understanding of the genre which Beethoven inherited. The Symphony in the Late Eighteenth Centuryīeethoven moved to Vienna in 1792, and completed his First Symphony in 1800. Beethoven’s Classical Inheritance: the Symphony and the Orchestra