Beethoven: Symphony #7 In A, Op. 92 - 2. Larghetto?

Question

I am completely in awe with this piece from his compilation. especially the second movement . i cannot stop listening to it. it says so much to me and sets a tone i cant explain. Does anyone have the same type of feeling for this wonderful piece??

Answer 1

To baydaver:

Mr. Gadfly IS knowledgeable about music -- you simply failed to read his answer properly.

The second mvt IS marked "Allegretto" -- I have the score right in front of me. Gadfly was referring to the last mvt when he talked about allegro con brio.

Now to my answer --

I have often run into people who claim they don't like classical music. This mvt is one I throw at them and without fail, they find it astounding and beautiful -- how could they not? And it gets them interested enought to hear the rest of the piece. Conversion completed -- I have created another fan.

There is a stroy about the Allegro con Brio that Oscar Levant told in his "Memoirs of an Amnesiac". He was stopped for speeding somewhere in LA. He explained to the officer that he was listening to the Allegro con Brio of the 7th Symphony and just got excited. He hummed a few bars for the officer, and the officer LET HIM OFF, saying, "No, you can't possibly drive slow when you're listening to that". Now Levant is famous for embellishing his stories -- but that's a good one. I hope it's true.

Answer 2

Oh yes- for me especially the Allegro con Brio. There are few pieces in music more powerful. The 2nd movement is an Allegretto by the way- not a Larghetto. Throughout my life as a classical musician, I've come back to the Beethoven symphonies again and again and they never cease to amaze me. If forced to choose at pain of death, I might choose the 7th over the 9th as my favorite.
Not that people have always felt this way about Beethoven. As with most new compositions- i.e. when they first are heard- critics frequently don't get them at all.
Here is a review of the 7th quoted in "Lexicon of Musical Invective" by the clever and creative Nicolas Slonimsky. (this book is SO funny you absolutely have to have it) The quote is from A Oulibicheff, "Beethoven, ses critiques et ses glossateurs", Paris - 1857.
" In the preceding symphonies, the traces of the third style of Beethoven are limited to a few wrong chords superimposed intervals of a second, the failure to prepare and to resolve dissonances The the 7th the fantasm mounts. Look, for instance at the deplorable ending of the Andante. Look and weep! Can one imagine F # and G# accompaneid by a chord of A minor? Can one imagine a musician who has the sad courage to debase in this way his own materpiece, to throw the purest part of his genius in the hideous chaos of the chimera as one thorws a bone to a dog. It is in the last movement that the figure of the chimear is completed by adding melodic ugliness to harmonic uglinessl When I heard this flayed harmony, I experienced a shudder and a line of La Fontaine cam back to my memory: On vous sangla le pauvre drille- and the whipped the devil! "

Answer 3

guitargadfly maybe knowledgable about music,but in this case he is quite mistaken. The second movement is INDEED a Larghetto,not an Allegro con Brio. Thats in the latter part of the 1st movement. and yes the 7th is a most important piece of work.

Answer 4

The first time I heard this symphony, it was the 2nd movement. I heard it in a class and was not prepared for the emotional effect it had on me. I can't explain it either. I've always been drawn to the bass instruments, but even as the song develops I am still captured by it.

Answer 5

Most definitely! This movement is the first thing I heard from this specific symphony, and it's very moving! It played right (slowly and forcefully), it sounds brooding and angry. It's probably his best dark piece! However, I eventually obtained the rest of the movements, which are in complete contrast to this movement. I've especially fallen in love with the finale, with all its Bacchic fury! So jovial, so bouncy! Amazing!

Answer 6

I do I do I do!!!!! I LOVE this piece, especially the first two movements, and the second is VERY special. You already know this, so all I can do is agree:)!

Express!
Beth "Petrouchka"

Answer 7

Hot viola soli opens the theme. Beautiful piece. Nasty Scherzo movement...

Answer 8

Yes. It's very dark, and most people who listen to it I think have a similar reaction. It almost makes me think of a funeral.

Though I know someone who had it played at his wedding, which is very odd in my opinion.

Answer 9

Don't have a favorite, but I sure love that piece.