Ludwig Van Beethoven | Overture to Fidelio

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist, and one of the most important and influential of all Western composers. He was born in Bonn, and went to Vienna (the music capital of Europe at that time) when he was 27. There, he studied with the composer Joseph Haydn, who was also Mozart’s teacher. He was especially well known for his ability to improvise, or make up music on the spot.

In 1802 he wrote a very famous (unsent) letter to his brothers while living in the town of Heiligenstadt. Known as the Heiligenstadt Testament, the letter tells us that Beethoven was deeply depressed about losing his hearing, but resolved to keep living for his art. He went on to compose for the rest of life, unable to hear what he had written. He died when he was 57 years old, and 20,000 people attended his funeral.

Beethoven’s opera Fidelio was first produced in a three-act version in Vienna on November 20, 1805. Later, Beethoven shortened it to two acts and it premiered in 1806 with a new overture. He changed the overture a third time, but this version was not published until after his death. Finally, nine years after its original premiere, Beethoven revised his opera once more with an entirely new overture, the version most popularly performed today.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Concerto No. 10 for Two Pianos

In 1777, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began a journey around the courts of Western Europe. During his long journey, he heard music from many different traditions and cultures. When he returned to his hometown of Salzburg in 1779, the music of these different courts, countries, and cultures was swimming in his mind. Without delay, he began to write a piece for orchestra and two solo pianos.

This new concerto for two pianos would be a challenge for Mozart. In the past, he would have a soloist and the orchestra play off of one another to create an engaging texture. But with two soloists, this was not possible. So Mozart instead had the two solo pianos play off of each other, with the orchestra playing a diminished role and serving as an accompaniment to the pianos. Mozart wrote for a smaller orchestra with this in mind. The resulting concerto is one of Mozart’s favorite works, and one that he often performed with his talented sister Maria Anna (“Nannerl”). When he moved to the Austrian court in Vienna, Mozart performed this work with a larger and more impressive orchestra to make a good first impression!

Mozart was a prodigy like few others. By age five he was competent at the keyboard and violin. At age eight he composed his first symphony. But despite his enormous talent, Mozart was plagued with financial issues for most of his life. His father took him on long trips around Europe in hopes of finding a music position at some court, but all of these failed. When Mozart finally did receive a court position, his employer would often prevent him from pursuing lucrative opportunities nearby.  Though financially troubled, Mozart did earn great praise and popularity. The famous composer Joseph Haydn told Mozart’s father Leopold, “your son is the greatest composer known to me by person or repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition.” Today, Mozart continues to be held in similarly high regard.

Dmitri Shostakovich | Symphony No. 5

Dmitri Shostakovich was born in 1906 and showed great musical talent from an early age, often remembering music his mother played at their previous lesson. In 1917, two years before Shostakovich began his formal musical education, the Russian Revolution took place and the after effects and formation of the Soviet Union would define the rest of Shostakovich’s life.

The composer’s early works were well received, but after the premiere of a controversial opera Shostakovich fell out of favor with the government and its supporters. While he regained popularity with his fifth symphony, Shostakovich spent most of his life attempting to please Soviet officials with his music. His works on the surface appeared to align with Soviet policies, but it’s easy to interpret these as subtle critiques as well.

Shostakovich’s fifth symphony is written in four parts, called movements. The first movement modifies a tune familiar to the Russian audience to create a dark and anxious theme. The third movement uses a lonely oboe surrounded by strings to create a mournful tune before other instruments arrive to reinforce the weeping music. At the first performance of the symphony, people openly cried at the third movement, a rare sight in the Soviet Union at the time. The fourth movement is a series of marches. At first the marches are triumphant but then a slow, funeral march begins. An oppressively grating fanfare closes out the symphony as the string instruments force themselves over the same note, again and again, 285 times in all! Soviet audiences may have picked up on the theme of enforced celebration and recognized the masterwork for its triumph over censorship. Applause after the final note was reported to have lasted over 40 minutes!