Wellington's Victory
Encyclopedia
Wellington's Victory, or, the Battle of Vitoria, Op. 91 (Wellingtons Sieg oder die Schlacht bei Vittoria) is a minor orchestral work composed by Ludwig van Beethoven
to commemorate the Duke of Wellington
's victory over Joseph Bonaparte
's forces at the Battle of Vitoria
in Basqueland on June 21, 1813. It is also known sometimes as "The Battle Symphony" or "The Battle of Vitoria", and was dedicated to the Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom
. The piece proved to be a substantial moneymaker for Beethoven, but is generally considered among his weakest compositions.
A common (and understandable) misconception among commentators is that the piece commemorates Wellington's defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo
, but it does not.
on 21 June 1813, Beethoven’s friend Johann Mälzel talked the composer into writing a composition commemorating this battle which he could notate on his ‘mechanical orchestra’: the panharmonicon
. Beethoven, however, wrote a composition for large band — an instrumentation so large that Mälzel could not build a machine large enough to perform the music. As an alternative plan, Beethoven rewrote the Siegessinfonie for orchestra, added a first part and renamed the work, Wellington’s Victory. In this form it was premiered in Vienna, together with the première of the Symphony No. 7 and a work performed by Mälzel’s mechanical trumpeter.
The piece was first performed in Vienna
on December 8, 1813 on a concert program to benefit Austria
n and Bavaria
n soldiers wounded at the Battle of Hanau
. Beethoven himself conducted the orchestra
. Running about 15 minutes in duration, the piece was an immediate crowd-pleaser and met with much enthusiasm from early concertgoers. Also on the program was the world premiere of his masterful and oft-performed Symphony No. 7
.
The full orchestration
calls for two flute
s, a piccolo
, two oboe
s, two clarinet
s, two bassoon
s, a contrabassoon
, four horns, six trumpet
s, three trombone
s, timpani
, a large percussion
battery (including muskets and other artillery
sound effects), and a usual string
section of violin
s I and II, viola
s, cello
s, and double bass
es. It is interesting to note the greater number of trumpets than horns, and the expansion of brass and percussion forces.
In the orchestra
l percussion section one player plays the timpani
, the other three play the cymbals, bass drum
and triangle
. On stage there are two 'sides', English and French, both playing the same instruments: 2 side drums (englisches/französisches Trommeln in the score
), 2 bass drum
s (Kanone in the score
), 2 (4) rattle
s, played by 8 to 10 instrumentalists.
The music simulates approaching opposing military regiments and contains extended passages depicting scenes of battle.
It uses older themes, such as "God Save the King," "Rule Britannia" for the British, and "Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre
" ("Marlborough Has Left for the War") for the French - the tune now known as "The Bear Went Over the Mountain
" or "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
."
at all. Johann Mälzel, known today primarily for patenting the metronome
, convinced Beethoven to write a short piece commemorating Wellington's victory for his invention, called the panharmonicon
. A kind of mechanical contraption that was able to play many of the military band instruments of the day, the panharmonicon never caught on as anything more than a curiosity. Nonetheless, Mälzel toured around Europe
showing off Beethoven's work on the mechanical trumpeter and the enthusiasm for the music convinced Beethoven to turn it into a full-blown "victory overture
." The composition work stretched through August and September and was completed in the first week of October 1813.
's 1812 Overture
and Franz Liszt
's Battle of the Huns: Charles Rosen
writes that 'Beethoven's contribution lacks the serious pretentiousness or the incorporation of ideology of Mendelssohn's
Reformation Symphony
, or of Berlioz' Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale
, but it is only the less interesting for its modesty.'
In their book Men of Music
, authors Wallace Brockway and Herbert Weinstock termed the piece an "atrocious potboiler".
Beethoven, having no illusions about the merits of this particular piece, responded protectively to similar criticism in his own time: "What I shit is better than anything you could ever think up!"
The composition has had somewhat of a renaissance in recent years as it forms the centre-piece of the Battle Proms Concerts which takes place at a number of stately homes around the UK. This is the only concert series known to play the piece with the full complement of 193 live cannon. Modern technology has allowed this piece to be played in this way using electronic firing devices, which are operated by the orchestra percussionist.
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...
to commemorate the Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
's victory over Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...
's forces at the Battle of Vitoria
Battle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria an allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War.-Background:In July 1812, after...
in Basqueland on June 21, 1813. It is also known sometimes as "The Battle Symphony" or "The Battle of Vitoria", and was dedicated to the Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
. The piece proved to be a substantial moneymaker for Beethoven, but is generally considered among his weakest compositions.
A common (and understandable) misconception among commentators is that the piece commemorates Wellington's defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, but it does not.
Premiere
Following a major military victory over Joseph Bonaparte's armies in Spain at the Battle of VitoriaBattle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria an allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War.-Background:In July 1812, after...
on 21 June 1813, Beethoven’s friend Johann Mälzel talked the composer into writing a composition commemorating this battle which he could notate on his ‘mechanical orchestra’: the panharmonicon
Panharmonicon
The Panharmonicon was a musical instrument invented in 1805 by Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, a contemporary and friend of Beethoven. Beethoven apparently composed his piece "Wellington's Victory" to be played on this behemoth mechanical orchestral organ to commemorate Arthur Wellesley's victory over the...
. Beethoven, however, wrote a composition for large band — an instrumentation so large that Mälzel could not build a machine large enough to perform the music. As an alternative plan, Beethoven rewrote the Siegessinfonie for orchestra, added a first part and renamed the work, Wellington’s Victory. In this form it was premiered in Vienna, together with the première of the Symphony No. 7 and a work performed by Mälzel’s mechanical trumpeter.
The piece was first performed in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
on December 8, 1813 on a concert program to benefit Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n and Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n soldiers wounded at the Battle of Hanau
Battle of Hanau
The Battle of Hanau was fought on between Karl Philipp von Wrede’s Austro-Bavarian corps and Napoleon's retreating French during the War of the Sixth Coalition....
. Beethoven himself conducted the orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
. Running about 15 minutes in duration, the piece was an immediate crowd-pleaser and met with much enthusiasm from early concertgoers. Also on the program was the world premiere of his masterful and oft-performed Symphony No. 7
Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, in 1811, was the seventh of his nine symphonies. He worked on it while staying in the Bohemian spa town of Teplice in the hope of improving his health. It was completed in 1812, and was dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries.At its debut,...
.
Orchestration
"Wellington's Victory" is something of a musical novelty.The full orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
calls for two flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s, a piccolo
Piccolo
The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
, two oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s, two clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s, two bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s, a contrabassoon
Contrabassoon
The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon or double-bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower...
, four horns, six trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s, three trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, a large percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
battery (including muskets and other artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
sound effects), and a usual string
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
section of violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s I and II, viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
s, cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
s, and double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
es. It is interesting to note the greater number of trumpets than horns, and the expansion of brass and percussion forces.
In the orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l percussion section one player plays the timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, the other three play the cymbals, bass drum
Bass drum
Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
and triangle
Triangle (instrument)
The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel but sometimes other metals like beryllium copper, bent into a triangle shape. The instrument is usually held by a loop of some form of thread or wire at the top curve...
. On stage there are two 'sides', English and French, both playing the same instruments: 2 side drums (englisches/französisches Trommeln in the score
Sheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
), 2 bass drum
Bass drum
Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
s (Kanone in the score
Sheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
), 2 (4) rattle
Rattle (percussion)
A rattle is a percussion instrument. It consists of a hollow body filled with small uniform solid objects, like sand or nuts. Rhythmical shaking of this instrument produces repetitive, rather dry timbre noises. In some kinds of music, a rattle assumes the role of the metronome, as an alternative to...
s, played by 8 to 10 instrumentalists.
The music simulates approaching opposing military regiments and contains extended passages depicting scenes of battle.
It uses older themes, such as "God Save the King," "Rule Britannia" for the British, and "Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre
Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre
Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre is one of the most popular folk songs in the French language...
" ("Marlborough Has Left for the War") for the French - the tune now known as "The Bear Went Over the Mountain
The Bear Went Over the Mountain (song)
"The Bear Went Over the Mountain" is a popular children's song often sung to the tune of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow". At one time the lyrics were sung to the tune of "We'll All go Down to Roswer". The public domain lyrics are of unknown origin.-Lyrics:...
" or "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
"For He's A Jolly Good Fellow" is a song which is sung to congratulate a person on a significant event, such as, a promotion, a birthday, the birth of a child, or the winning of a championship sporting event. The melody originates from that of the French song "Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre...
."
The panharmonicon
The first version of "Wellington's Victory" was not written for an orchestraOrchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
at all. Johann Mälzel, known today primarily for patenting the metronome
Metronome
A metronome is any device that produces regular, metrical ticks — settable in beats per minute. These ticks represent a fixed, regular aural pulse; some metronomes also include synchronized visual motion...
, convinced Beethoven to write a short piece commemorating Wellington's victory for his invention, called the panharmonicon
Panharmonicon
The Panharmonicon was a musical instrument invented in 1805 by Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, a contemporary and friend of Beethoven. Beethoven apparently composed his piece "Wellington's Victory" to be played on this behemoth mechanical orchestral organ to commemorate Arthur Wellesley's victory over the...
. A kind of mechanical contraption that was able to play many of the military band instruments of the day, the panharmonicon never caught on as anything more than a curiosity. Nonetheless, Mälzel toured around Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
showing off Beethoven's work on the mechanical trumpeter and the enthusiasm for the music convinced Beethoven to turn it into a full-blown "victory overture
Overture
Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...
." The composition work stretched through August and September and was completed in the first week of October 1813.
The composition today
The novelty of the work has worn down over the last two-hundred years; as a result, "Wellington's Victory" is not much heard in concert halls today. Many critics lump it into a category of so-called "battle pieces" along with TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's 1812 Overture
1812 Overture
The Year 1812, Festival Overture in E flat major, Op. 49, popularly known as the 1812 Overture or the Overture of 1812 is an overture written by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1880 to commemorate Russia's defense of Moscow against Napoleon's advancing Grande Armée at the Battle of...
and Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
's Battle of the Huns: 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 that 'Beethoven's contribution lacks the serious pretentiousness or the incorporation of ideology of Mendelssohn's
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
Reformation Symphony
Symphony No. 5 (Mendelssohn)
The Symphony No. 5 in D major/D minor, Op. 107, called the Reformation Symphony, was composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1830 in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession. This Confession was a key document of Lutheranism and its Presentation to Emperor Charles V in...
, or of Berlioz' Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale
Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale
Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale , Op. 15, is the fourth and last symphony by the French composer Hector Berlioz, first performed on 28 July 1840 in Paris...
, but it is only the less interesting for its modesty.'
In their book Men of Music
Men of Music
Men of Music: Their Lives, Times and Achievements is a volume of mini-biographies and evaluations of famous classical music composers, written by Wallace Brockway and Herbert Weinstock, and originally published by Simon and Schuster in 1939...
, authors Wallace Brockway and Herbert Weinstock termed the piece an "atrocious potboiler".
Beethoven, having no illusions about the merits of this particular piece, responded protectively to similar criticism in his own time: "What I shit is better than anything you could ever think up!"
The composition has had somewhat of a renaissance in recent years as it forms the centre-piece of the Battle Proms Concerts which takes place at a number of stately homes around the UK. This is the only concert series known to play the piece with the full complement of 193 live cannon. Modern technology has allowed this piece to be played in this way using electronic firing devices, which are operated by the orchestra percussionist.