Beethoven and C minor
Encyclopedia
In the compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven, C minor is commonly regarded as a special key: works for which Beethoven
chose this key are felt to be powerful and emotionally stormy.
was used infrequently and always for works of a particularly turbulent
cast. Mozart
, for instance, wrote only a very few works in this key, but they are among his most dramatic ones (the twenty-fourth piano concerto
and fourteenth piano sonata
, for instance). That Beethoven chose to write a much larger proportion of his works in this key, especially traditionally "salon" (i.e. light and diverting) genres such as sonatas and trios, was a sort of conscious rejection of older aesthetics, valuing the "sublime" and "difficult" above music that is "merely" pleasing to the ear.
Here are some quotations from commentators to this effect: the key is said to represent for Beethoven a
"stormy, heroic tonality"; he uses it for "works of unusual intensity";; and it is "reserved for his most dramatic music."
Pianist and scholar Charles Rosen
writes:
A characteristic 19th century view is that of the musicologist George Grove
, writing in 1898:
Grove's view could be said to reflect the view of many participants in the Romantic
age of music, who valued Beethoven's music above all for its emotional force.
Of the works said to embody the Beethovenian "C minor mood", probably the canonical example is the Fifth Symphony
. Also notable is that for most of Beethoven's C minor works, the most frequently occurring key for the slow movement is A flat major, the submediant
, which provides a calm contrast.
and Op. 57
(both in F minor), the String Quartet, Op. 95
(also in F minor), the final movements of Beethoven's only two pieces in C-sharp minor (the "Moonlight" Sonata
and the String Quartet, Op. 131
), and two of his most famous D-minor works: the "Tempest" Sonata
(that its slow movement is in the submediant is also characteristic of Beethoven's C-minor mood) and the Ninth Symphony
.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
chose this key are felt to be powerful and emotionally stormy.
Background
During the Classical era, the key of C minorC minor
C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. The harmonic minor raises the B to B. Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with naturals and accidentals as necessary.Its key signature consists of three flats...
was used infrequently and always for works of a particularly turbulent
Sturm und Drang
Sturm und Drang is a proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s, in which individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism...
cast. Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, for instance, wrote only a very few works in this key, but they are among his most dramatic ones (the twenty-fourth piano concerto
Piano Concerto No. 24 (Mozart)
The Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491 is a concertante work for piano, or pianoforte, and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart composed the concerto in the winter of 1785–1786 and completed the work on 24 March 1786...
and fourteenth piano sonata
Piano Sonata No. 14 (Mozart)
The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor, K. 457, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed and completed in 1784, with the official date of completion recorded as October 14, 1784 in Mozart’s private catalogue of works. It was published in December of 1785 together with the Fantasy in C minor, K...
, for instance). That Beethoven chose to write a much larger proportion of his works in this key, especially traditionally "salon" (i.e. light and diverting) genres such as sonatas and trios, was a sort of conscious rejection of older aesthetics, valuing the "sublime" and "difficult" above music that is "merely" pleasing to the ear.
Here are some quotations from commentators to this effect: the key is said to represent for Beethoven a
"stormy, heroic tonality"; he uses it for "works of unusual intensity";; and it is "reserved for his most dramatic music."
Pianist and scholar Charles Rosen
Charles Rosen
Charles Rosen is an American pianist and author on music.-Life and career:In his youth he studied piano with Moriz Rosenthal. Rosenthal, born in 1862, had been a student of Franz Liszt...
writes:
- "Beethoven in C minor has come to symbolize his artistic character. In every case, it reveals Beethoven as Hero. C minor does not show Beethoven at his most subtle, but it does give him to us in his most extrovert form, where he seems to be most impatient of any compromise".
A characteristic 19th century view is that of the musicologist George Grove
George Grove
Sir George Grove, CB was an English writer on music, known as the founding editor of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians....
, writing in 1898:
- "The key of C minor occupies a peculiar position in Beethoven's compositions. The pieces for which he has employed it are, with very few exceptions, remarkable for their beauty and importance."
Grove's view could be said to reflect the view of many participants in the Romantic
Romantic music
Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....
age of music, who valued Beethoven's music above all for its emotional force.
Of the works said to embody the Beethovenian "C minor mood", probably the canonical example is the Fifth Symphony
Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1804–08. This symphony is one of the most popular and best-known compositions in all of classical music, and one of the most often played symphonies. It comprises four movements: an opening sonata, an andante, and a fast...
. Also notable is that for most of Beethoven's C minor works, the most frequently occurring key for the slow movement is A flat major, the submediant
Submediant
In music, the submediant is the sixth scale degree of the diatonic scale, the 'lower mediant' halfway between the tonic and the subdominant or 'lower dominant'...
, which provides a calm contrast.
List of works
Here is a list of works by Beethoven in C minor that are felt to be characteristic of how Beethoven used this key:- Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II, WoO 87 (1791)
- Piano Trio, Op. 1, No. 3Piano Trios Nos. 1 - 3, Opus 1 (Beethoven)Ludwig van Beethoven's Opus 1 is a set of three piano trios , first performed in 1793 in the house of Prince Lichnowsky, to whom they are dedicated. The trios were published in 1795.Despite the Op...
(1793) - Piano Sonata, Op. 10, No. 1Piano Sonata No. 5 (Beethoven)The Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10, No. 1, was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is dedicated to Anna Margarete von Browne. The first movement of the sonata has a 3/4 meter, the second movement 2/4, and the final movement 2/2. Beethoven's Piano Sonata No...
(1795-8) - Piano Sonata, Op. 13, "Pathétique"Piano Sonata No. 8 (Beethoven)Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, commonly known as Sonata Pathétique, was written in 1798 when the composer was 27 years old, and was published in 1799. Beethoven dedicated the work to his friend Prince Karl von Lichnowsky...
(1798) - String Trio, Op. 9, No. 3 (1798)
- Piano Concerto No. 3Piano Concerto No. 3 (Beethoven)The Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1800 and was first performed on 5 April 1803, with the composer as soloist. During that same performance, the Second Symphony and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives were also debuted. The composition...
(1800) - String Quartet, Op. 18, No. 4String Quartet No. 4 (Beethoven)Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 4 in C minor was published in 1801 as opus 18, no. 4, and was written between 1798 and 1800. It consists of four movements:# Allegro ma non tanto# Andante scherzoso quasi Allegretto# Menuetto: Allegretto...
(1800) - Violin Sonata, Op. 30, No. 2Violin Sonata No. 7 (Beethoven)The Violin Sonata No. 7 in C minor by Ludwig van Beethoven, the second of his opus 30 set, was composed between 1801 and 1802, published in May 1803, and dedicated to Tsar Alexander I of Russia...
(1802) - Symphony No. 3Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major , also known as the Eroica , is a landmark musical work marking the full arrival of the composer's "middle-period," a series of unprecedented large scale works of emotional depth and structural rigor.The symphony is widely regarded as a mature...
, second movement, "Funeral March" (1803) - 32 Variations in C minor, WoO 80 (1806)
- Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 (1807)
- Fifth SymphonySymphony No. 5 (Beethoven)The Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1804–08. This symphony is one of the most popular and best-known compositions in all of classical music, and one of the most often played symphonies. It comprises four movements: an opening sonata, an andante, and a fast...
(1808) - Choral Fantasy, Op. 80 (1808)
- String Quartet No. 10, Op. 74String Quartet No. 10 (Beethoven)Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 10 in E major, nicknamed the "Harp", was published in 1809 as opus 74.- Naming :The nickname "Harp" refers to the characteristic pizzicato sections in the Allegro of the first movement, where pairs of members of the quartet alternate notes in an arpeggio,...
, scherzo movement (1809) - Piano Sonata No. 32, Op. 111Piano Sonata No. 32 (Beethoven)The Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111, is the last of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas. Along with Beethoven's 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120 and his two collections of bagatelles—Opus 119 and Opus 126 —this was one of Beethoven's last compositions for piano. The...
(the last piano sonata, 1822)
Other minor keys
The works by Beethoven in C minor hardly exhaust the set of emotionally stormy minor-key works by this composer; some useful comparisons would include the piano sonatas Op. 2, No. 1Piano Sonata No. 1 (Beethoven)
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2, No. 1, was written in 1795 and dedicated to Joseph Haydn. It is the first piano sonata written by Beethoven...
and Op. 57
Piano Sonata No. 23 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 is a piano sonata. It is considered one of the three great piano sonatas of his middle period . It was composed during 1804 and 1805, and perhaps 1806, and was dedicated to Count Franz von Brunswick...
(both in F minor), the String Quartet, Op. 95
String Quartet No. 11 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's opus 95, his String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, is his last before his exalted late string quartets. It is commonly referred to as the "Serioso," stemming from his title "Quartett[o] Serioso" at the beginning and the tempo designation for the third movement.It is one of the...
(also in F minor), the final movements of Beethoven's only two pieces in C-sharp minor (the "Moonlight" Sonata
Piano Sonata No. 14 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2, by Ludwig van Beethoven, popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata , was completed in 1801...
and the String Quartet, Op. 131
String Quartet No. 14 (Beethoven)
The String Quartet No. 14 in C minor, Op. 131, by Ludwig van Beethoven was completed in 1826. About 40 minutes in length, it consists of seven movements to be played without a break, as follows:#Adagio ma non troppo e molto...
), and two of his most famous D-minor works: the "Tempest" Sonata
Piano Sonata No. 17 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2, was composed in 1801/02 by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is usually referred to as "The Tempest" , but this title was not given by him, or indeed referred to as such during his lifetime; instead, it comes from a claim by his associate Anton Schindler...
(that its slow movement is in the submediant is also characteristic of Beethoven's C-minor mood) and the Ninth Symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
.