Although the meanings of music are not translatable into language in a direct style, it has never stopped commentators from stating unprovable speculations as to the meaning of Beethoven's masterpieces.
Nowhere has this tendency been more manifest than in the different interpretations of his Seventh Symphony, which was begun in 1811 and completed in May 1812. Lenz saw it as a second "Pastoral" Symphony, complete with village wedding and peasant dances. A certain Dr. Iken tried to show that the Symphony portrayed a political revolution and Marx saw in it "a wedding festival or celebration of a warrior people".
Schumann discovered a rustic wedding in the famous Allegretto, while another saw a "procession in the catacombs". Berlioz heard a Peasant "Rondo" in the first movement, and Wagner declared that "this symphony is the very apotheosis of the dance, it is the dance in its highest being".
The success of the second movement was so immediate that the conductor was forced to repeat it once more before he was permitted to continue.
@In Love?@2
Beethoven arrives at Teplitz again. There are speculations that he was deeply in love again, but with whom? Shall we ever know to whom he sent the letters which are known today as the letters to the "Immortal Beloved"?
@Love Letters@2
"My angel, my all, my very self....Oh God, look out into the beauties of nature and comfort yourself with what must be, love demands everything...thus it is to me with you and to you with me..." To whom were those words written?
@Beethoven Meets Goethe@2
Goethe enters Beethoven's name in his diary, in the list of his visits. After meeting Beethoven, Goethe wrote: "A more self-contained, energetic, sincere artist I never saw. I can understand very well how singular his attitude towards the world must be."
@Eighth Symphony And Maelzel@2
Beethoven completed his Eighth Symphony in this year. It was to be performed for the first time in a concert which included the Seventh. Its coming after the Seventh in the same evening, disappointed the first audiences. Beethoven thought differently and retorted that they did not understand it, "because it is much better". He used to call it a "little symphony", referring to its length.
It has been rightly said of the Eighth Symphony, just as has been said of Beethoven himself (who was short of stature), that "within that limited space is concentrated the pluck of twenty battalions".
The whole symphony overflows with unleashed fun and joy, though it was composed at the time of the failure of his most passionate love affair. This only proves, once again, the fallacy of trying to find a direct expression of the composer's innermost emotions in his music.
It is the second movement, with its persisting ticking, which gave rise to the legend that it was based on the canon Beethoven wrote in honour of Maelzel's (1772 - 1838) Metronome.
@At Linz@2
The Linzer Musik-Zeitung announces Beethoven's arrival: "At last we have the long-wished pleasure of having in our metropolis, for some days, the Orpheus and great musical poet of our time, Herr L. van Beethoven." In fact ,he had come to pass a few weeks at his brother Johann's house.
@Brother's Marriage@2
Johann Beethoven marries Therese Obermeyer, although his brother had tried everything in order to stop the relations between the two. Beethoven hastened back to Vienna, angry and mortified that he had not been able to prevent the marriage. It seems that Beethoven also disapproved of the marriage of Caspar, his other brother, in 1806.
Beethoven completed his 7th and 8th Symphonies during this year, as well as the Sonata for piano and violin, Op.96, and additional works.
