Opus 36 – Symphony No. 2 in D major
I) Adagio molto – Allegro con brio – II) Larghetto – III) Scherzo – allegro – IV) Allegro molto
Opus 36 – Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36,
dedicated to Prince Carl Lichnowsky, composed 1800 – autumn 1802.
Published in parts in Vienna by the Bureau d’Arts et d’Industrie, March 1804;
published in full score in London by Cianchettini & Sperati, November–December 1808; in Germany (Bonn and Cologne) by Simrock, spring 1822.
GA No. 2 (Series 1/2) – B. 36 – KH. 36 – L. II, p. 203 – N. 36 – T. 103.
Scoring: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings.
The original manuscript, which Beethoven gifted to Ferdinand Ries, has since been lost. Sketches for the first movement (including the introduction) occupy sixteen pages of the Landsberg Sketchbook, while those for the final movement span fifteen pages in the Kessler Sketchbook. It is possible that other sketches once existed, but no trace of them remains.
Moreover, the sketches for the two inner movements are entirely lacking. The Andante cited by Nottebohm, Thayer, and subsequently by Grove—and included by us among the unutilised materials—cannot with certainty be considered a draft for the Larghetto. Similarly, the other fragment that Grove once described as a “recent discovery” by Shedlock is too bare and schematic to be of definitive use.
From the chronology commonly attributed to the two aforementioned sketchbooks, it may be reasonably inferred that the symphony—though begun or at least conceived as early as 1800—was not completed before the late summer or autumn of 1802, a particularly sombre period in Beethoven’s life. This was due both to the worsening of his deafness, which by then had driven him to despair of ever recovering, and to the disillusionment he suffered in his love for Giulietta Guicciardi.
Nothing in the music, however, betrays a state of emotional suffering. Some have spoken of a heroic lie, but one must also consider how natural—especially in youth—it is for the yearning for joy to arise amid sorrow, and how this yearning may take the form of a will to recreate or relive happiness in memory, almost as a way of not losing faith in it. Artistic creation, in which this faith still had firm roots, unfolded in a world of its own—like a blessed refuge for the soul, sheltering it from the immediate and painful experiences of life’s reality.
The First and Second Symphonies are often grouped together as representatives of Beethoven’s so-called early style. Yet there is a clear distinction between them—in scale and proportion, in thematic richness and variety, in breadth of conception, and in vivacity of spirit. And if the Second still outwardly shows traces of its ties to the past, the composer’s personality has nevertheless taken a significant step forward, expanding the bounds of his imaginative and emotional world; there is a heightened sense of youthful boldness, and a deepening of expressive content.
The introduction (Adagio molto) reveals a vision of serenity, touched with a certain solemnity, though not devoid of dramatic inflection. It serves as an apt prelude to the Allegro con brio, which stands as a magnification of a broadly heroic yet peaceful sentiment—its rhythm refined through song into the warmly choral expression of a hymn.
It is a pity that no sketches survive for the Larghetto; it would have been fascinating to observe how, in such a harmoniously conceived structure, the various melodic, harmonic, instrumental, essential and ornamental elements came to be gradually arranged and organised—elements which together gave life to one of the sweetest and most affectionate musical pages in all of Beethoven: an outpouring of serene clarity following vigorous joy, the feeling of innocent love expressed through a smile and suffused with the elegance of formal beauty. It reveals a new facet of that act of faith which the assaults of suffering had not succeeded in undermining in its innate spontaneity.
Yet one cannot help but notice, at a certain point in the development, the hesitation of a short phrase passed from the strings to the winds, to which the timbre of the bassoon lends a particularly shadowed and questioning tone. (We may recall, in terms of expressive and instrumental analogy, a similar moment in the Adagio of Mozart’s Symphony in C major, K. 425.)
The Scherzo (Allegro)—here introduced by Beethoven for the first time under this title in the symphonic field, though he had already used it in piano works and various chamber ensembles—is, in terms of material, simpler or more elementary than that of the First Symphony. Yet it is original in its first part, with the division of the phrase across different instrumental groups, while the second part adopts a more distinctly melodic, linear character—though it also breaks out (in a gesture somewhat akin to that found at the beginning of the first movement of the String Trio Op. 9 No. 2) into syncopations that twice interrupt its progress.
The Trio is perhaps even simpler, tinged with a slightly humorous or emphatic quality in the unisons of the second section, and in the call on the dominant by the timpani and winds announcing the return of the Scherzo. The Finale (Allegro molto) is animated throughout by a spirit of brilliance and playfulness, built upon the lively trilled figure of its opening. Yet it is not so exclusively spirited that it excludes the presence of melodic sweetness or the warmer tone of popular choral celebration—both of which, as in the first movement, also find their rightful place.
The first performance of the symphony took place at the Theater an der Wien on 5 April 1803, during a benefit concert organised by Beethoven himself and apparently also conducted by him. The programme consisted entirely of his own works: the First and Second Symphonies, the Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor (with the composer as soloist), and the oratorio Christus am Ölberge (Christ on the Mount of Olives)—both of the latter receiving their premières—as well as several shorter pieces which, however, had to be omitted due to the excessive length of the programme.
[By Biamonti Giovanni – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati, Torino, ILTE 1968]
Opus 36 Sinfonia n. 2 in re maggiore
Partitura in PDF
Official title: Opus 36 Symphonie Nr. 2 (D-dur) Widmung: Karl Fürst von Lichnowsky NGAI/1 AGA 2 = Serie 1/2
Composition and Publication: Sketched from autumn 1800 through to February 1802. The symphony was probably already complete—full score and parts—by April 1802, in readiness for a projected Akademie concert that ultimately did not take place. It may have been revised again before being sent to print in 1803. The original edition in parts was published in March 1804 by the Kunst- und Industrie-Comptoir of Vienna. On 28 March 1802, Kaspar Karl van Beethoven wrote to Breitkopf & Härtel announcing the imminent completion of the symphony: „ferner werden wir in 3 bis 4 Wochen eine grose Simpfonie, und ein Konzert für das Klavier [Op. 37] haben. Uiber diese beyden letztem Stücke bitte ich, mir […] gelegentlich Ihre Meinung, aber uiber das erstere bitte ich Sie etwas zu eilen, indem wir es gern bald in Druck sehn möchten, Weil es eins von meines Bruders vorzüglichsten Werke[n] ist“ (BGA 81).
Both works were evidently intended for Beethoven’s planned April Akademie, which could not go ahead due to the unavailability of a suitable venue. Preparations were clearly well advanced, as Beethoven asked Ferdinand Ries in an April letter to correct the proofs (BGA 87). After Ries declined, on 22 April, Kaspar Karl asked the publisher to be patient with the works, stating: „weil wir sie noch in einer Musick zu gebrauchen denken“ (BGA 85).
It was only the following year, on 5 April 1803, that this intention was fulfilled in the Akademie at the Theater an der Wien. Given the significant differences between the sketches for the finale (contained in the Kessler Sketchbook) and the final published version, it is likely that the symphony underwent substantial revision—most probably after the performance on 5 April 1803. Following the initial offer to Breitkopf & Härtel on 28 March 1802 (subsequently withdrawn), Kaspar Karl van Beethoven offered the work to André in Offenbach on 23 November, and once again to Breitkopf & Härtel on 22 January 1803. Negotiations may also have taken place with Franz Anton Hoffmeister in Vienna during March/April 1803. On 26 March 1803, Breitkopf & Härtel were ultimately informed that: „diese 2 Werke [Op. 36 und 37] einem ihrer Hr. Collegen um 700 Gulden überlassen“ (BGA 129).
The publication was considerably delayed. As late as November 1803, the symphony was listed (alongside Opp. 37 and 38) in the Comptoir d’Arts et d’Industrie catalogue as forthcoming. The announcement of the actual publication appeared in the Wiener Zeitung on 10 March 1804.
The original metronome markings cited in the incipits derive from a booklet published by S. A. Steiner around 1817: Bestimmung des musikalischen Zeitmasses nach Mälzel’s Metronom. Erste Lieferung. Beethoven. Symphonien Nr. 1–8 und Septett von dem Autor selbst bezeichnet (VN 2811). No surviving copy of this booklet is known today. These metronome indications were also published in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (Leipzig) and incorporated into the AGA, as well as partially in Hofmeister/Direktor (1819) (see Nottebohm, Beethoveniana II, p. 130).
For the dedication, see the Three Trios, Op. 1.
The first performance took place on 5 April 1803, in an Akademie concert organised by Beethoven himself at the Theater an der Wien, which also saw the premières of the Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 37, and the oratorio Christus am Ölberge, Op. 85. Review: Zeitung für die elegante Welt, vol. 3 (1803), 16 April 1803, col. 363f. This public performance was not necessarily the first presentation; a private performance in an aristocratic Viennese residence—perhaps that of the dedicatee, Prince Karl von Lichnowsky (1761–1814)—cannot be ruled out. First edition (March 1804): Vienna, Kunst- und Industrie-Comptoir (Bureau d’Arts et d’Industrie), VN/PN 305.
Title page: GRANDE SINFONIE / pour / deux Violons, Alto, deux Flûtes, deux Hautbois, / deux Clarinettes, deux Bassons, deux Cors, deux / Trompettes, Timballes, Violoncelle et Basse, / composée et dediée / à son Altesse Monseigneur le Prince / CHARLES DE LICHNOWSKY / par / Louis van Beethoven. / Op. 36.
The sketches will be featured in an article specially created for the Beethovenian Music Research Center, www.lvbeethoven.org
