Beethoven's "Orpheus in Hades": The "Andante con moto" of the Fourth Piano Concerto

Author(s): Owen Jander

Source: 19th-Century Music, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Spring, 1985), pp. 195-212
Published by: University of California Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/746511
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Beethoven's

The
Fourth

Andante
Piano

"Orpheus
con

moto

of

Hades":

in

the

Concerto

OWEN JANDER

For several decades now an amusing debate has

been going on among the writers of record
jacket notes as to whether the second movement of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto
does or does not involve some association with
the Orpheus legend. This "debate"can be summarized in the following sentence, in which the
wording is mine: "It was Liszt who first compared the slow movement of Beethoven's
Fourth Piano Concerto with the story of
Orpheus taming the wild beasts with the music
of his lyre; Beethoven, of course, had no such
idea in mind."
This sentence contains four errors.To begin
Notes for this article appearon pp. 210-12.
19th-CenturyMusic VIII/3(Spring1985). @ by the Regents
of the University of California.

with, the link between this movement and the

Orpheus legend was not the discovery of Liszt,'
but of Adolph BernhardMarx. (Moreabout this
in due course.) This attribution to Liszt results
from the following statement in Donald Tovey's Essays in Musical Analysis: "If I am not
mistaken, it was Liszt who compared the slow
movement of this concerto to Orpheus taming
the wild beasts with his music."2 Although Tovey's guess was understandable,3he was in fact
correct only in wondering whether he might be
mistaken. Nonetheless, his casual remark has
been repeated so often that it has evolved into
canon.
The second common error included in my
synthesized statement above is calling the second movement of the Fourth Piano Concerto a
"slow movement." True, as this Andante con
moto [N.B.!]is invariably performedin our time
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19TH

CENTURY
MUSIC

it comes across as a slow movement-indeed,

sometimes a very, very slow movement.4 In the
recorded performance of Solti and Ashkenazy,
for example, one gets the impression that the
conductor is beating the eighth note, with the
metronome marking = 60.6 This compares
quite amazingly with Carl Czerny's tempo
marking

ever imagined before. This movement, I believe, is Beethoven's most elaborate venture
into the realm of programmusic. It may well be
the most totally programmaticpiece of musicgreat art music-ever composed.
EARLY HINTS

= 84.6

The problem with Czerny's tempo is not that

it is too fast, but that it is set to the sub-beat
ratherthan the main beat, the quarternote. The
practice of "feeling" music via the sub-beat often induces too-slow tempi. Not only is
Beethoven's tempo marking very clear-Andante con moto-his

meter is equally clear: 2. If

the second movement of Beethoven's FourthPiano Concerto is performed at a corrected

Czerny tempo, J= 42, a very differentexperience
transpires.
The third error in my made-up sentence is
the comparison of this movement with
Orpheus taming the wild beasts with the music
of his lyre. This erroragain goes back to Tovey,
who had in mind the preface which Liszt provided for his symphonic poem Orpheus.7Liszt
composed this work as an introduction to a performance of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice he conducted at Weimar in 1854.8Liszt judiciously decided not to anticipate the famous Infernal
Scene in the Gluck opera, in which Orpheus,
playing his lyre, subdues the hostility of the Furies of the Underworld. Rather, Liszt prepares
his audience for the opera by depicting, in more
general and philosophical terms, the universal
power of music. In the Andante con moto of
Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, however,
the programI shall propose is not so general;indeed, it deals very specifically with Orpheus
pleading with the Furies of the Underworld. If
some writers in our own time have dismissed
the Orphicprogramwith sarcastic contempt,9it
is chiefly because they have in mind the wrong
chapter of the Orpheus legend.
But the worst errorin my synthesized statement is the very declaration that in composing
the Andante con moto of his op. 58, Beethoven
"of course" had no Orpheus program in mind. It
is my intention here to demonstrate that the
constantly resurfacing rumor about this piece of
music is indeed true-far truer than any of us

Beethoven himself never revealed that his

Fourth Piano Concerto had anything to do with
the Orpheus legend.10 One recalls especially
that remark of Czerny, "There is no doubt that
in many of his most beautiful works Beethoven
was inspired by similar visions or pictures from
his readingor from his own lively imagination."
And then there is that teasing footnote: "He
was reluctant to speak on this matter, except on
a few occasions when he was in a confiding
mood.""11
Unfortunately both the autograph and the
working sketches of the op. 58 are missing. The
latter, in particular, might give us some fascinating insights on this matter.
One precious glimpse comes from J.F. Reichardt'sreportof Beethoven's performanceof the
work at its public premiere, at the Theater-ander-Wien,22 December 1808: "A new concerto
for pianoforte, terribly difficult, which
Beethoven performedastonishingly well in the
fastest possible tempi. The Adagio,12a masterpiece of beautiful sustained melody, he actually
sang on his instrument with a deep melancholy
feeling which awakened its response in me."13
The first hint that this Andante con moto
might be programmatic comes again from
Czerny's On the Proper Performance of All
Beethoven's Worksfor Piano:
In this movement(which,like the entireconcerto,
belongs to the finest and most poetical of
Beethoven's creations) one cannot help thinking of
an antique tragicscene, and the playermust feel with
what intense, pathetic expression his solo is performed, in order to contrast with the powerful and
austere orchestral passages, which are, as it were,
graduallywithdrawn. All the means of cantabile expression in the melody and harmony must be called
forth, and it is only duringthe shake that the power of
tone rises to the highest degree, in orderto die away
again to the gentlest lament. It must not be played
too slow; though the pianist may restrain the time
rathermore than the orchestra.'4

196

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It is impossible to know whether the idea of

"an antique tragic scene" is an invention of
Czemy, or whether this reflects some remark
he had picked up from the composer himself.
One thing we do know: Czemy was on the
scene in Vienna during those years when
Beethoven was working on op. 58 (ca. 180406)15and when he performedthe work-first at
the Palais Lobkowitz in March 1807, then at the
Theater-an-der-Wien,in December 1808.16
MARX'S DISCOVERY

The scholar who first began to bring the

Orpheus programof the Fourth Piano Concerto
into focus was Adolph BernhardMarx-and this
almost 125 years ago-in his Ludwig van
Beethoven, Leben und Schaffen.17Marx was
also the author of a book about the operas of
Gluck. In his chapter on Orfeo ed Euridice he
remarks that the famous Infernal Scene found
its reflection in the music of several other composers, including Beethoven.'8 In his book on
Beethoven, Marx elaborates on this point in
considerable detail: "Hardly could two poems
at their very basis have a closer relation to one
another than that Gluck scene and this
Beethoven Andante. The opposition of a single
person, who has no weapon and no force except
the depth of his feeling and the irresistibility of
his plea, against the assembled force of a chorus,
who deny and resist each advancing step, who
shove back-that is the content of the one musical poem as well as the other."'9
In the course of his subsequent description
this nineteenth-century scholar's prose becomes exceedingly florid and subjective-an approach that tends to sap the confidence of the
twentieth-century scholar. If one reads Marx's
prose sympathetically, however, one can cull
from it some very substantial observations.
First, he recognizes the obvious fact that (at
least in the first forty-six measures of this
movement) a dialogue is present. Second, one
partner in the dialogue is a string chorus, which
declaims in loud, angry octaves. Third, the
other partner is the solo piano, which "raises its
voice" in a manner that is "gently pleading."
Fourth, as the music progresses, the orchestral

part asserts itself in "severe denial," while the

piano part becomes "only more pleading and
fervent." Fifth, the repeated staccato exclamations in the orchestral part have an unmistakable similarity to the repeated "No!'s" of
Gluck's Chorus of Furies. Sixth, ultimately the
chorus "melts away in face of the urgency of the
Orphic song." In making the comparison between the Gluck Infernal Scene and the
Beethoven concerto movement, Marx finds the
latter "more energetic." One might take issue
with this appraisal,but certainly the Beethoven
is more concise: the Gluck lasts about twenty
minutes, the Beethoven only about four, if performed according to Beethoven's time signature
and tempo marking.
Marx's discovery is both perceptive and accurate as far as it goes; but it has two shortcomings. To begin with, the parallel between the
Gluck Infernal Scene and Beethoven's Andante
con moto ceases at m. 46 of the latter piece-at
the end of the ten-measure-long decrescendo in
Gluck's music, setting these lines by Calzabigi:
Ah, qualeincognito
affettoflebile
dolcea sospendere
vien l'implacabile
nostrofuror?

Leportestridano
su'nericardini
e il passolascino
sicuroe libero
al vincitor!

(Ah,whatunfamiliar,sweet emotioncausesourimplacablefury to be suspended?The gates creakon

theirblackhinges,andleavethe passagesecureand
freeto the victor!)
But what happens to Orpheus after m. 46 in
Beethoven's music? Does the composer simply
abandon the mythological story, and continue
with music of meditative characterthat is only
vaguely relevant? On the contrary,there is evidence that the story continues right to the last
measure of the movement.
This brings us to the second shortcoming of
Marx's discovery. In dealing with the Orphic
program in the Andante con moto of
Beethoven's op. 58, he discusses only its debt to
Gluck. The Gluck opera, however, is but one of
several sources from which Beethoven seems to
have drawn ideas and inspiration as he composed his Fourth Piano Concerto.
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OWEN
JANDER
Beethoven's
Orpheus

19TH

CENTURY
MUSIC

OVIDIN VIENNA, 1791-1805

The two chief classical sources of the

Orpheus legend are Virgil's Georgics, book IV,
lines 453-527; and Ovid's Metamorphoses,
book X, lines 1-219, and book XI, lines 1-84.
During those years when Beethoven was working on his op. 58 the latter work was experiencing a peculiar surge of popular discovery in Vienna-a circumstance of major importance to
the present study.
By the year 1800 Ovid's Metamorphoses
probably took the prize as the most frequently
published book in the entire history of printing.20 The reason was simple: the Metamorphoses was the most elaborate and entertainingly written source of Classical mythology;
and as such it was the best-selling textbook of
all time. As often as this monumental work had
been published elsewhere in Europe,however-a hundred times in London, another hundred
times in the French-publishingcities of Europe,
and several hundred times in Italy-Ovid's
Metamorphoses was not printedin Vienna until
1791. Censorship caused this odd state of affairs. Vienna, capital of the Holy Roman Empire, was notorious for its extremely conservative and suppressive censorship, which for
generations was in the hands of a commission of
Jesuits at the University.21To the Jesuit mind
Ovid, author of the Ars amatoria and the Remedia amores, was the writer of salacious
books; thus all his works were banned.22
The breakthroughcame in 1791, duringa period of liberalization.23In that year (the year before Beethoven moved to Vienna, it is worth recalling) a society founded for the purpose
sponsored publication of a handsome three-volume edition of Ovid in German translation.24
This "Gesellschaft edition" included 140 illustrations copied from a sumptuous Paris edition of Ovid published between 1767 and 1771
(see plate 3). The names of the members of the
Gesellschaft are listed at the beginning of the
first volume, including over a dozen people who
figure in the biography of Beethoven (e.g., Franz
Joseph von Lobkowitz, in whose palace the
Fourth Piano Concerto was first performed; Josef Sonnleithner, the librettist of Fidelio; and
Cajetan Giannatasio del Rio, the schoolmaster

to whom Beethoven entrusted the education of

his nephew).
It is clear that Beethoven knew many people
in Vienna who not only owned Ovid's Metamorphoses, but had strong convictions about
the value of this work. The introduction of the
Gesellschaft edition noted that German-speaking areas of Europe were distinctly remiss in
their attention to Ovid, and expressed the hope
that the present publication might serve to correct that problem.
And it did-at least as far as Vienna was concerned. The Gesellschaft edition was printedsimultaneously in an inexpensive version (distributed by the publisher Joseph Schalbacher);
and in the next fifteen years-up to the time
Beethoven completed his op. 58-Ovid's Metamorphoses was published in Vienna, in various
editions, six more times.25 In sum, in a city
where this monument of world literaturehad so
long been banned, the Metamorphoses was issued eight times in a brief span of fifteen years.
It was in this cultural climate that Beethoven
composed his Fourth Piano Concerto.26
MUSICAL MODELS

Marx's recognition of the parallel between

the Andante con moto of Beethoven's op. 58
and the Infernal Scene of Gluck's Orfeo was
only a starting point. At least two other contemporaneous operatic settings of the Orpheus
myth seem to have been known to Beethoven
and to have influenced his approachto this unusual concerto movement.27 (There can be no
question, incidentally, that Beethoven knew
Gluck's opera-he owned a copy of the score.28
He was probably introduced to the opera as
early as 1785, when it was performedin Bonn.29
It is even possible that Beethoven playedharpsichord or viola in that production.)
Another Orpheus und Euridice that
Beethoven very likely encountered during his
Bonn years was an opera by Johann Gottlieb
Naumann. This work, first performed in Copenhagen in 1786 with a Danish text by
Dorothea Biehl, had been highly regarded by
C. F. Cramer, editor of the Magazin der Musik.a30
Cramer translated the Danish text into German
and published it in his Magazin in 1786;3' and

198

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then the following year he produceda piano-vocal score of the Naumann, which he published
in Kiel. The score includes a list of subscribers
in which one finds the names of both Christian
Gottlieb Neefe, Beethoven's mentor in Bonn,
and Antonio Salieri, one of Beethoven's teachers in Vienna.
These publications are relevant to the
present study on two counts. First, both the libretto and the score contain a lengthy introduction by Cramer that includes German translations of the Virgil and the Ovid versions of the
Orpheus myth. If Beethoven had access to either of these Cramer publications, then he
would have had access to these Classical texts
in translation as early as 1786 or 1787.
Secondly, although the Biehl-Naumann version is closely modeled on the famous operaby
Calzabigi and Gluck-the layout of acts and
scenes is almost identical-this
Danish
introduces
various
new
elements.
Orpheus
In the Infernal Scene, the encounter between
Orpheus and the Furies, there is an attempt to
intensify the dialogue found in the earlier
model. In the Calzabigi-Gluck score Orpheus's
speech is repeatedly interrupted by the cries of
"No!" from the chorus. These cries are then reiterated: "No! No! No!" In the scene as a whole,
however, the music for Orpheus and the music
for the Chorus of Furies co-exist in large independent blocks. The Biehl-Naumann version
telescopes the dialogue by shortening the
speeches from each side, thus bringing the
thoughts into more intense interaction. Here
are the texts of Orpheus's principal speech as it
occurs in the two libretti. (In both, the text for
chorus is italicized and placed in parentheses.)
CALZABIGI--GLUCK

Deh, placatevi con me!

Furie (No!), larve (No!),

Ombresdegnose(No!)

Vi rendaalmen pietose
il mio barbarodolor (No! No! No!)
Deh, placatevi, placatevi con me!
Furie (No!), larve (No!),
Ombre sdegnose (No!)
Vi rendaalmen pietose
il mio barbarodolor.
Furie (No!), larve (No!)
Om - (No!) - bre sdegnose (No!)
Vi rendaalmen pietose

OWEN
JANDER
Beethoven's
Orpheus

il mio barbarodolor,
il mio barbarodolor,
il mio barbarodolor.
BIEHL-NAUMANN

Leisern Lautes seufzt die Klage!

Ach, erbarmt,erbarmteuch mein!
Dieses Leiden, meines Wehmut,
Schmelz' in Mitleid euren Zorn!
(Nein! Nein! Wegvon hier!
Fleuch, fleuch, Sterblicher!)
Von des Lichtes goldnem Strande
Fiihrt herabmich meine Quaal,
Ach, erbarmt,erbarmteuch mein!
(Nein!)
Dieses Leiden, meine Wehmuth,
Schmelz' in Mitleid euren Zorn!
(Nein! Fleuch, Sterblicher!)
Ach, erbarmt!Ach, erbarmt!
Erbarmteuch mein!
(Nein! Nein!)
Erbarmt!Erbarmteuch mein!
(Fleuch!Fleuch!)
Ach, erbarmt!Erbarmteuch mein!
What occurs musically in the Naumann
score can be observed in plate 1. This intensification of the dialogue between Orpheus and
the Furies is distinctly similar to what occurs in
Beethoven's Andante con moto at mm. 26-38.
Nothing in the Gluck score is quite like this;
Beethoven thus probably took this detail from
Naumann.
KANNE'S ORPHEUS

The Orpheus operathat has the most intriguing relationships to Beethoven's Fourth Piano
Concerto, however, is a version that was premiered in Vienna itself, at the Hoftheater, in
November 1807, only eight months after the
first performance of the concerto. The libretto
and score of Orpheus, eine grosse Oper in zwey

Aufziigen were both preparedby the same man,

FriedrichAugust Kanne (avery earlyinstance of
the Wagner phenomenon). Kanne was himself
something of a phenomenon. Educatedin theology and philosophy, he was an exceedingly
learned man. He was a linguist, historian, aeshe was also a
thetician, and journalist-and
and
not
comfairly prolific,
unsuccessful,
poser.32
Kanne and Beethoven became close friends
over the years. Kanne was among the few people
199

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19TH
CENTURY whom Beethoven addressed with "Du." His
best-known role in the world of scholarshipwas
MUSIC
as a journalist-champion of Beethoven's music,
especially during the 1820s.33WarrenKirkendale has advanced the plausible suggestion that
Kanne was probably the "learned specialist"
who assisted Beethoven in the many liturgical
and theological problems involved in the composition of the Missa solemnis.34 (Kannehimself composed a "Missa solemnis," and also
wrote a history of the Mass, which, alas, has not
survived.)
How early in their acquaintance Kanne and
Beethoven became good friends, and how soon
they might have developed a vital exchange of
ideas, we do not know. We do know that they
were introduced to one another in December
1804, as is reported in a letter from Georg August Griesinger to Breitkopf und Hirtel, for
whom he served as an agent:
KannefromDelitzschis now here.I haveled him to
Haydn,Beethoven,andothers.Heappearsto haveno
small opinionof his own talent,nor does he doubt
thathe will havesuccessherewith thattalent.Given
the competitionamongthe trulygreatmastershere,
however,that will not be so easy. Haydn,Mozart,
Vogler,Beethoven,Salieriare all native here. One
must not just equal these to gain recognition,one
must surpassthem.3as

One thing Beethoven and Kanne enjoyed in

common during these middle years of the first
decade was the friendship and patronage of
Prince Lobkowitz, in whose palace Kanne was
frequently a guest.36As early as 1807 Lobkowitz
had become a member of the company of vicedirectors of the Royal Imperial Court Theater
(i.e., the Hoftheater);and it is probablythrough
Lobkowitz's influence that Kanne obtained the
commission to compose his Orpheus for that
theater.37At that time, of course, it was in the
so-called "Eroica-Saal"of the Palais Lobkowitz
that Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto was
first performed.
We cannot know what communication occurred between Beethoven and Kanne on the
subject of Orpheus. (Their mutual patron, one
of the sponsors of the 1791 Gesellschaft edition,
was certainly interested in Ovid.) That there
was some communication between them on
this subject seems clear, as we shall observe in a
We do know that during 1804
moment.

Beethoven was deeply involved in the problem

of finding a libretto that would satisfy his aspirations as an opera composer. He must surely
have been intrigued by the ideas of another
composer who himself was the author of his
own libretto.
And the libretto of Kanne's Orpheus is certainly fascinating. One observes immediately
its differences from the familiar model of Calzabigi and Gluck. Frimmel speaks of Kanneas being "highly gifted, and in regard to independence and originality of spirit, very much like
Beethoven."38 There is no better evidence of

Kanne's originality than this libretto.

For example, it is unified by repeated references to the theme of the power of song. No
fewer than thirteen pages mention "die Macht
der T6ne," "deiner T6ne Zauberkraft," "die
Kunst der T6ne," "geheimnisvolle T6ne,"etc.39
The opera concludes with a chorus that is an encomium to the power of music.
Whereas the Calzabigi-Gluck Orfeois structured in three acts, Kannedesigns his libretto in
two (as he declares on the title page). In Calzabigi the two parts of the Orpheus-in-Hadesepisode-Orpheus's encounter with the Furiesand
his breaking of the vow--are placed at the beginnings of acts IIand III.Kannesharpensthe focus on these two moments of the dramaby placing them at the ends of his two acts.
Kanne's originality is particularly evident at
these two places in his libretto. His act I finale is
a fast-moving affair, like the stretta at the climax of an opera-buffafinale. It concludes with a
burst of spectacle. The Furies thrust their flaming torches toward Orpheus--but he, protected
by the music of his lyre, strides through this
wall of fire and arrives at the portal to Hades in
triumph.
One detects the ghost of Calzabigiin the text
of the act I finale. In general Kannehas taken the
expansive and artificial speeches of the Italian
librettist, put them on high heat, and reduced
them to their very essence. For example, when
Calzabigi's Furies spy the approachof Orpheus
they enquire in lofty language:
Chi mai dell'Erebo
Frale caligini
Sull'orme d'Ercole
E di Piritbo
Conduce il pi6?40

200

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Nei!
Asets'Chor.Nel

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each

Orpheus.

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Net.

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! eeemin1farmog Siemein!Neit, eg,owegp h erI
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dog mos

Plate 1: Biehl-Naumann, Orpheus und Euridice,piano-vocal score (Kiel, 1787).

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19TH

CENTURY
MUSIC
(Unter btm ffa"rfltenZonnet llfiren bit ttf'tn tinj unb
man ff-t bea ingang in bit Unttrrot,r4Uretb met
*trt earotn mit,[(amtaneU bStivorttten.)

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Orpbens

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24r$anbte frobbet ed?-edendbabd

or.
Etb0
a[! etoermgottO bierin noe'n!

lbo r.

oI
bbi'd
*or,
Q)ta
tri9t mtft finetr
-ltmmdr6ffnet
tbor.:

O arfusl
! ru
be
a. (atbor
40[ SU
baWte
lautt or
ta nfinet
fi btest4to
Sumnr

Platelibretto
2: Friedrich
act I finale.
Orpheus,
August
(Vienna,
1807),Kanne,

libretto (Vienna, 1807), act I finale.

(Whocan this be, who from Erebus,throughthe

murkiness,in thepathsofHerculesandPirithous,directshis footsteps?)
Kanne takes these five lines, strips them of all
Classical allusion, and boils them down to a single line of seven monosyllables:
Ha!Werwagtes hierzu nah'n?
(Hah!Whodaresapproachthis place?)
As a result of this incisive approachthe entire
text of the first-act finale of Kanne's Orpheus
fits onto a single page of a printed libretto (see
plate 2). One is amazed to discover that the oneline speeches on this page (the opening lines, in
particular) can be placed under the opening
phrases of the Andante con moto of Beet-

hoven's concerto, and they seem to be saying

exactly what the music is saying."4The orderof
speeches is reversed (Orpheus speaks first in
Kanne, the Furies in Beethoven--on the model
of Gluck's Infernal Scene); but the message is
the same.
STERQUE FRAGORSTAGNIS A UDITUSAVERNIS"

Kanne's act II finale is equally interesting,

and, for the purposes of this present Beethoven
study, equally relevant. This finale (as explained earlier) deals with the episode in the
Orpheus story where the hero breaks his vow,
turns around to look at Euridice,and loses her a
second time. Kanne fills this scene with great
theatrical suspense by means of the elaborate
expansion of a single line that is found in
Virgil's account of this episode: "In that moment all his toil was spent. The ruthless tyrant's pact was broken.And three times a crashing noise was heard in the swamps of Avernis."
In Latin: "Terque fragor stagnis auditus

Avernis."42

This imagery of the three crashes (presumably three strokes of lightning and thunder)is so
vivid that even in situations where artists were
depicting this scene-and basing their conception on the narrative of Ovid-they would borrow these three dramatic crashes from the account of Virgil. A good example is found in the
illustration of this scene that appearedin the
1791 Gesellschaft edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses (see plate 3). Although this depicts
Ovid's Orpheus story, there are three unnatural
but dramatic shafts of light in the sky, clearly
the artist's representation of Virgil'sline.43
The setting for the act II finale of Kanne's
Orpheus is "a forest region with the rocky portal to Hades in the background."Three characters (plus a chorus)are on stage: Abrastos,the father of Euridice; Echion, the High Priest of
Apollo; and Chares, a friend of Orpheus. They
are discussing their concern for Orpheus and
Euridice. The first rumble of thunder is heard.
Echion says:
Hold on! A battle of the elements
Suddenly arises. Threatening storms
Informme that the darkmystery
Will soon be resolved before our eyes.

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rl_

OWEN
JANDER
Beethoven's
Orpheus

MR, 1??i
rz too

1z
Zii
::: ::~nlr~g~l.Z"I?

xo

q.:~
'i'~s
??????

A01
... .

om-

B40

:Air

Plate 3: Orpheus and Euridice, from the Vienna Gesellschaft edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses (1791).
By permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University.
The thunder increases. ("Der Donner wird
stdirker.") The chorus exclaims:
Hah! The wrath of the elements
Threatens mightily.
Storm and night

Rage like a flood of the sea.

Strokes of lightning
Are pursued by thunder,
Mountain and valley
Tremble dreadfully.
O Zeus, assist us in your mercy!
Protect us in this night of terror!
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19TH

CENTURY
MUSIC

Whereupon the lightning and thunder break

forth with maximum violence. At this moment
Orpheus and Euridice suddenly appear at the
entrance of the cavern of Hades. Euridice cries
out "We are saved!" Orpheus--a moment too
soon--turns around to look at Euridice ... and
instantly she vanishes. ("Orpheus sieht sich
nach ihr urn; in diesem Augenblick verschwindet sie.")
There is in this scene not a hint of resem-

blance to the treatment by Calzabigiand Gluck.

Kanne'sfocus is all on theatrical and visual suspense. There is no pleading Euridice, leading us

to wonder whether or not Orpheus will break

his vow. Kanne has taken that one line from

Virgil and exploited it for all of its theatrical potential.44 How does this relate to the situation

in Beethoven? The readercan find the answer to

this question by referring to mm. 55-60 of the
Andante con moto of op. 58 (pp. 208-09 of this

article).
In order to appreciate fully the originality and
ingenuity of Beethoven's treatment of Virgil's
three crashes, however, a few remarks are in order on the subject of the piano for which
Beethoven composed his Fourth Piano Concerto.
THE VIENNESESIX-OCTAVEFORTEPIANO

In truth, no study of the innovative qualities

and the poetic content of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto can be pursued without a keen
awareness of the new piano for which this work
was composed: the Viennese six-octave fortepiano. At no point in the entire history of the piano was the new instrument of the moment so
innovative in structure, or so poetic in its tonal
resources. On the classical five-octave instrument Beethoven had been using up to the time
he began sketching op. 58,45 this concerto
would not only have been unplayable; it would
have been--quite literally-inconceivable.
The
conception of the Fourth Piano Concerto, the
vision of that work, was to a very important degree begotten by the new resources of the Viennese six-octave fortepiano.
How different was this instrument?46
Range. The Classical five-octave fortepiano had the
typical range FF-f"', the same range of most eighteenth-century harpsichords.Whereasthe six-octave
range of contemporaneous English pianos was CC-

c"", on the Viennese six-octave pianos the twelve

new notes are all at the top: FF-f ..... This new range
at the top of the keyboardwas, practically and aesthetically speaking, New Spacein Westernmusic.
Stringing. Whereasmost five-octave fortepianoshad
been double-strung,47the typical six-octave instrument was from top to bottom triple-strung.A doublestrung five-octave instrument will have 122 strings,
a triple-strung six-octave instrument 219 strings.
And these latter instruments were normally fitted
out with wire of heavier gauge.
Weight. The resulting increase of tension within the
frame of the new instrument requiredmuch heavier
construction throughout. A typical five-octave fortepiano weighs about 155 pounds; a six-octave Viennese fortepiano weighs at least twice as much--and
this change occurs in Vienna virtually overnight.
Dynamic range. The limit of the dynamic range
found in the repertoirefor the five-octave instrument
is pp to ff. Even in the very first piece that Beethoven
composed for the six-octave piano, however-the
Appassionata Sonata-the first movement concludes with a dramatic decrescendo from ff to ppp,
the first triple-pianohe ever specified in his music for
the piano. And in the coda of the third movement
Beethoven has a climax marked fff (similarly, the
first triple-fortefound in his keyboardmusic).
The una cordapedal. The six-octave Viennese fortepiano, triple-strung throughout, is an instrument
that can producea true, absolutely perceivable,shift
from una corda, to due corde, to tre corde. The una
corda on such an instrument is hauntingly beautiful
and evocative.48 To shift the action from the unacorda position to the full tre-cordeposition produces
only a slight increase in volume; what is exciting is
the unfolding of the timbre of the instrument. (Inthe
world of organmusic, this is ratherlike opening the
swell-box shades on an open-shallot French trompette, and then closing the shades again.)The change
is subtle, but hair-raising.
There is no other passage in the literature where
the shifting pedal is used so dramatically as in the
Andante con moto of the Fourth Piano Concerto,
where it depicts Orpheusbreakinghis vow, andturning aroundto look at Euridice.
The damper pedal. On the five-octave fortepianothe
damper rail is raised by a knee lever; and with the
dampers raised the instrument produces an amazingly harp-like tone. This was not a standardtechnique for the control of tone or for the creation of a
legato line; it was distinctly a special effect. On the
six-octave Viennese fortepiano,however, the damper
rail is now controlled by the far-more-convenient
damperpedal. As a result of this mechanical innovation, and the fact that the less transparenttone of the
heavier instrument somehow invites the use of the

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raiseddamperrail,the undampedarpeggiosuddenly
assumesgreatimportanceas a hallmarkof musical
style. The FourthPianoConcertois permeatedwith
this new sound.Indeed,froma technicalstandpoint,
the undampedarpeggiois the touchstoneof the poetic characterof this impressivelyRomanticwork.
The tonal resources of the Viennese six-octave piano manifest themselves in the Andante
con moto especially in three ways. To begin
with, there is Beethoven's instruction that the
piano part should be played una corda throughout.49Secondly, there is that amazing moment,
discussed above, when Beethoven departsfrom
that instruction and requires that the piano
action be shifted to play the full three strings of
each note. (Since the first of these effects cannot
be producedby a twentieth-century piano, obviously the second effect is impossible as well.)
The third magical use of the resources of the
contemporaneous piano occurs at mm. 47-48,
49-50, and 51, where, for the first time in the
piece Beethoven indicates that the damper
pedal should be depressed (and, of course, the
damperrail lifted). This effect occurs at the end
of that ten-measure-long decrescendowhich depicts the Furies yielding to the song of Orpheus.
When I have played this movement for
friends, using my own six-octave Viennese fortepiano,50I have known them-just at m. 47to gasp. The passage reminds me of that line in
Gray's Elegy: "Or waked to ecstacy the living
lyre." These measures involve a conscious evocation of the sound of the harp.
And why? At this point in the story Euridice
has been yielded over to Orpheus, who guides
his wife through the hazardous gloom of the
Underworld with the protective music of his
lyre.51

Gluck-Orpheus discovery, but then dismisses

that idea and goes about analyzing this composition with a determined avoidance of any reference to poetic content or program.52
In my opinion, to analyze this work without
program misses the point of the form. I divide
the movement into five sections-five musical
sections and five programmaticsections.
I:mm. 1-38. Orpheusaddressesthe hostileFuriesof

the Underworld. Based on Gluck, Kanne, and

Naumann, going back to Virgiland Ovid. A dialogue

betweenthe orchestraandthe piano,with phrasesof

evershorterlengths.

II:mm.38-47. TheFuriesarewon overbythe Orphic

song. Based on Gluck, going back to Virgiland Ovid.

decrescendo.
This sectionis one protracted

III:mm.47-55. Orpheus,nowplayinghis lyre,guides

Euridice through the gloom of the Underworld.
Based on Virgil and Ovid, and reflecting the tradition that Orpheus'slyre has protective magic. Piano

solo, with fourpizzicatochordsin the stringsto emphasizethe harpimageryof the pianoarpeggios.

IV:mm. 55-64. Orpheusbreakshis vow and looks
back at Euridice. Based directly on Virgiland Ovid.

Forsolo piano.

V: mm. 64-72. Euridicefalls backinto the darkness

and is reclaimedby the Furiesof the Underworld.
Based directly on Virgiland Ovid. The orchestrare-

enters, with materialrecallingthe openingof the

movement.
These five musical-programmatic sections
are, as I view it, incontrovertible. Lessklipp und
klar is the specific detail within these sections.
Here we must of necessity enter the realm of
speculation.
The following program is speculative. In the

Any readerwho has made a close study of the

second movement of this concerto is aware that
to try to relate this work to any of the recurring
forms of slow movements of Classical concer-

several years that I have been pondering this

matter I have entertained more than one interpretation for various "moments" in this program.53Whereas I strongly suspect that in this
movement Beethoven set out to create a piece of
music that would be, in every phrase and every
gesture, totally programmatic, it is essential

tos is futile. My own conviction is that any attempt to analyze the form of this movement
without constant reference to its Orphic program is equally futile. The most intelligent and
sensitive essay along these lines is that by Klaus
Karner, who starts out by discussing Marx's

that we recognize that, lacking the composer's

own definitive explanation, we cannot presume
to have unveiled Beethoven's plan. With that
important caveat, however, I present the program on the following pages for the reader's consideration.

MUSICAL FORM: PROGRAMFORM

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OWEN
JANDER
Beethoven's
Orpheus

19TH

PROGRAM

CENTURY
MUSIC

Andantecon moto [

Strings

= 42]

semprestaccato

..., ..

MIL

. M~IO
..

FURIES:Ha! Wer wagt es hier zu nah'n!

(Kanne, act I, sc. xiii, line 2)

I T

;
.

0.

(Ha! Who dares approach this place!)

.
inoltocantabile

Solo*
a i '
-..

me imT
"

"

ORPHEUS:
Ich wandle froh die Schreckensbahn.

,",

(Itreadthis path of terrorsgladly.)

(line 1)

14

Strings
I/

staccato
spemire

"

-..-,

, ,.

FURIES:Ha! Verwegner geh zurUck! (line 4)

(Hah! Trespasser, go back!)

19

Sl1olto
es.ressio
-

..F-H

ORPHEUS:
Ich suche meines Lebens Gliick. (line 3)

(I seek the joy of my life.)

*Beethoven'sannotation: "Wiihrenddes ganzen Andantes

hat der Klavierspielerununterbrochen die Verschiebung
(una corda)anzuwenden, das Zeichen 'Ped.' bezieht sich
ausserdemauf den zeitweisen Gebrauchdes gew6hnlichen

Pedalzuges."(Duringthe entire Andante the pianist should

employ the shifting pedal [una corda]uninterruptedly;the
symbol "Ped."refersto the occasional use of the customary
pedal.)

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26

OWEN
Beethoven's
Orpheus

JANDER
z =

Solo

=semirest
i acat.=.

0Strings

--ILm

FURIES:
ORPHEUS:

FURIES:

I.:I. I.

'"
ofIs-. ,Mgfi = F M"
I

-
I
1PI-IT=1
1 11I ll:-:"
' _

scll/

I =4 ,- ,
1 l
J
- . "'.+
, A'-' ., .J I J

F%

A'-

i.

Du betiubst nicht unser Ohr.

. .

..

"

(You do not deceive us. Open to me the darkportal.

Never will this portal open. You, strings, resonate in
clear chorus.)

Er6ffnetmir das dunkle Thor.

Nimmer 6ffnet sich diess Thor.

IhrSaiten rauscht im hellen Chor.

(lines 6-9)

ORPHEUS:

"

pp

Solo

pp

SIr'n-gs--T

"

Strings

d"d- ,

38

Stri

A i

=f =-

(Goback! Go back! Go back! Have pity! Have pity!)

43

-=z2

3F
4Mgs

wi-a"f

FURIES:Zuriick! Zuriick! Zurick! (Kanne,line 13)

ORPHEUS:
Erbarmt euch! Erbarmt euch! (Naumann)

'kPP
R

Mbs Og

Drawn-outdecrescendo,cf. Gluck, "Ah!quale incognito affetto ..." and "Le porte stridano ..." (see p.

197). ("Ah, what unfamiliar sweet emotion causes

I1

-1.

our implacable fury to be suspended?", "The gates

creak on their black hinges, and they leave the passage secure and free to the victor!")
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19TH

CENTURY
MUSIC

Solo

II
. ...
j

l~j,

....,

*F
Strings

pizz.
Piz

.....

Orpheus,playing his lyre, leads Euridicethroughthe

gloom of the Underworld(my own gloss of Virgil and
Ovid).

due e poi tre corde

52

55
rR

ifl,

"""

~ ~

I- ..

"

L ,

--.

-"

a 3 corde

,---

a
cresc.
sin'al

der::so.

Orpheusis concernedfor his wife, out of longing and

fear("aus Sehnsucht, und aus Furcht":1791 translation of Ovid).

ft

Cum subita incautum dementia cepit amantem ...

restitit, Eurydicenquesuam iam luce sub ipsa,
immemor heu! victusque animi respexit.
(Virgil,488-91)
(A suddenfrenzy seized Orpheus,unwary in his love
He stopped, and on the very verge of light, un-

....

mindful, alas! and vanquished in purpose,he looked

back on Euridice,now his own.)

56

a3corde

--------

S6

A
d'

Ibi omnis effusus labor atque immitis rupta tyranni

foedera, terque fragor stagnis auditus Avernis. Illa
'quis et me' inquit 'miseram et te perdidit, Orpheu,
quis tantus furor?'
(Virgil,492-95)

rB-I

(In that moment all his toil was spent; the ruthless
tyrant's pact was broken. And three times a crash
was heard in the swamps of Avernis. She cried,
"What madness, Orpheus, what dreadful madness
has ruinedmy unhappyself and thee?")

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61

60

OWEN
JANDER

Beethoven's
Orpheus

due. unacorda

poi a
dimrnizn al

Solo

Et ex oculis subito, ceu fumus in auras

commixtus tenuis ...
(Virgil,499-500)
(Andstraightawayfrom his sight, like
smoke mingling with thin air ...)

Et protinus illa relapsaest.

(Ovid,57)
(Andinstantly she slipped back.)

0
r

62

a tempo

:-

Lax*.
fugit diversa ... (Virgil,500)
(. .. she vanished afar.)
69

arco
Strinp

Is
(Le-

arco

be- wohl!)

En iterum crudeliaretrofata vocant

conditque natantia lumina somnus.

Supremumque'vale' quod iam

vix auribusille acciperet dixit ...

(Lo,again the cruel fates call me back, and sleep veils

my swimming eyes.)

(Shespoke one last "farewell,"

which scarcely reachedhis ears.)

(Ovid,62-63)

495-96)
(Virgil,

72

70

Solo

Strings

LY?
-q

(... and she fell back to the place whence she had
come.)

i i

... revolutaque rursus eodem est.

(Ovid,63)

S.,,. ,,
Bracchiaqueintendens prendiqueet prenderecertans
nil nisi cedentes infelix arripitauras.
(Ovid,58-59)
(Andhe stretched out his arms, eager to clasp her or
to feel her clasp. Unhappy one, he clasped nothing
but the yielding air.)
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19TH
CENTURY
MUSIC

CONCLUSION

To the reader who reacts to the above program with enthusiastic acceptance I can only
repeat my earliercaveat. All of the above may be
nothing more than an amazing arrayof coincidences. Since Beethoven himself never provided the authoritative key for this piece, the
solid evidence which the scholarly mind requires will probablynever be forthcoming. Any
decision, therefore, regardingthe presence of a
program in the second movement of
Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto must, in a
sense, remain a decision for the individual listener. As Czerny reports, "[Beethoven] knew
that music is not always so freely felt by the
hearers when a definitely expressed object has
alreadyfettered their imagination."154
The scholar who reacts to the above program
with cautious disbelief, however, should consider the following. In the past 175 years much
has changed in music. Our concert halls arebigger.55We use largerorchestras.The instruments
of our time are specifically designed to project
in large spaces. These modern instruments have
a heavier timbre, which tends to make slower
tempi more reasonable and acceptable.
And, as regardsgeneral attitudes toward program music, the pendulum is forever swinging.
Beethoven is said to have remarked, in 1823,
that audiences were no longer so poetically sensitive as they had been a few decades earlier.56
Our end-of-the-twentieth-century experience
with the Andante con moto of Beethoven's
Fourth Piano Concerto-it must be granted-is

a very different experience from that which J.F.

Reichardt described in 1808: "a masterpiece of
beautiful sustained melody, which he actually
sang on his instrument, which awakened its response in me," and which Czerny likened to
"an antique tragic scene."
But the straws of change are in the wind these
days. In the years ahead, quite predictably,there
will be performancesof the concerto which will
change our perception: they will occur in
smaller, more intimate performing spaces; the
piano will be a six-octave Viennese instrument
(or an excellent replica thereof) able to communicate the original poetic characterof this piece;
the string players will use instruments of appropriate character (with gut strings, lighter bows,
etc.); there will be fewer of these instruments;'7
the piece will be performedin 2, not 4; the tempo
will be Andante con moto, not Lento or Largo;
and all of the musicians involved will be seeking to communicate the often-told story
of Orpheus, overcoming the hostility of the
Furies of the Underworld with the Power of
Song, regaining his beloved Euridice, but then
breaking his vow and losing his wife a second
time.
When we hear this work performed in this
manner we shall be better qualified to judgethe
credibility of a program here. Only by ridding
ourselves of our habits of anachronistic performance will we be in a position to perceive
this work as it was originally created,
t
%
to graspits original poetic content.

NOTES
Worksfor the Piano (London,n.d.); facs. edn., ed. Paul Bato
Beethoven
in
the
the
references
all
complete writings
1In
dura-Skoda(Vienna, 1970),p. 110.
and the published correspondenceof Liszt, I have yet to find
7FranzLiszts Musikalische Werke(Leipzig,1908),I, 2 (Symthis remarkto which the music journalistsso often allude.
phonische Dichtungen No. 4); with an Englishtranslation.
2Essaysin Musical Analysis, vol. III: Concertos (London,
1936), p. 80ff.
sSee fn. 3.
3Lisztwrotea symphonicpoemOrpheus(1854)forwhich
9E.g.,AbrahamVeinus, The Concerto (New York, 1945),p.
138: "The readeris asked to believe, if it gives him any pleahe providedanintroductory
essay.HeknewGluck'sOrfeo
ed Euridiceandwrotean essayaboutthat work(Gesamsure, that the slow movement of the fourthBeethovenpiano
concerto depicts Orpheustaming the wild beasts. However,
melte Schriften von Franz Liszt [Leipzig,1910],IV, 23-31).
this was not Beethoven's idea. The interpretationseems to
Liszt performedBeethoven'sFourthPianoConcerto,andarhave startedwith Liszt."
rangedit for two pianos.
101am persuaded,incidentally, that the op. 58 is a cyclic
4Neal Zaslaw, in "Mozart'sTempo Conventions,"Internawork and that it should eventually be recognized as
tional Musicological Society CongressReport11 (CopenhaBeethoven's "Orpheus" Concerto. The present article, of
gen, 1972),720-33, remarks,"Evidenceexists that the slow
Andante originatedonly in the nineteenth century"(p.722).
course, deals only with the second movement.
"Czerny, p. 60 fn.
SLondonCS 6856, recordedin 1973.
12Bythe end of the eighteenth century it became customary
6Czerny, On the Proper Performance of All Beethoven's
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to use "Adagio"loosely in referenceto second movements

of symphonies and concertos, regardlessof the actual tempo
markings. See David Fallows's article "Adagio"in TheNew
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London,1980),
vol. 1, pp. 88-89.
'3SourceReadingsin Music History, ed. Oliver Strunk(New
York, 1950),p. 738.
14Czerny,p. 110.
'5KurtDorfmiiller, Beitrilge zur Beethoven-Bibliographie
(Munich, 1978),p. 315 (regardingthe genesis of op. 58).
'6RegardingCzerny's activity in Vienna duringthese years,
see Alice Mitchell's article on Czerny in The New Grove,
vol. 5, pp. 138-41.
'7Berlin, 1859. Although this work was published in Germany a total of seven times prior to World War I, it was
never translated.
'8Gluckund die Oper (Berlin,1863),I, 297ff.
19Ludwigvan Beethoven, Leben und Schaffen (Leipzig,
1902; 1st edn., 1859),II, 77ff.
20Sincefor many generationsthroughoutCatholic Europeit
was forbidden to publish the Bible in vernacular translations, it was only in the nineteenth century that the Bible
became the world's most frequentlypublishedbook.
21Anton Mayer, Wiens Buchdrucker-Geschichte, 14821882 (Vienna, 1887),II, 109-16.
22Elsewherein Catholic EuropeOvid's works were banned
for use in schools, but allowed forprivatereading;thus they
were frequently published. In Vienna, however, the attitudes of the censors were unusually severe.
23This liberalization is described by Frank T. Brechka,
Gerhard van Swieten and His World, 1700-1772 (The
Hague, 1970),p. 124ff.
24This 1791 German transl. is not based directly on Ovid.
Rather it is a transl. of an expurgatedFrenchversion (first
pub. Amsterdam, 1732, and used again in the Paris edn. of
1767-71), by the AbbeAntoine Banier(1673-1741), a Jesuit.
25A German transl. by August Rode, 1794; a Germantransl.
by J. H. Voss, 1799; the original Latin text, pub. by J.V. Degen, 1803; a satirical version in doggerelverse by Gottlieb
Milller, 1804-07; the Latin text, ed. by Fr.X. Schonberger,
1805; that same edited text, with a simultaneous transl.,
also in 1805.
26Thebest indication of the Viennese Ovid rage in these
years is the Miiller satire, which was publishedin a series of
small volumes between 1804 and 1807. The volumes containing the Orpheus story (books X and XI of Ovid)were issued, coincidentally, in 1807, the same year as the first performance of Beethoven's op. 58. Several of the same
narrativedetails that occur in the Andante con moto of the
concerto are given comic treatment in Miiller's text: e.g.,
Euridice's "farewell" to Orpheus (Beethoven,mm. 69-70)
becomes "Die lief, und denkt in ihrem Sinn: Leb wohl, du
dummer Laffe";and Orpheus'sreaching out to graspEuridice as she vanishes into the darkness(Beethoven,m. 72)becomes "Vergeblichrang er seine Hiind', nur leere Luft ergriff er."
27It is also possible that Beethoven knew Dittersdorf's
twelve programmatic symphonies based on myths from
Ovid's Metamorphoses, which were given their first Viennese performancesin 1786. One of these dealswith the story
of Orpheusin Hades. In addition,Dittersdorf'sDie Liebeim
Narrenhause,which was performedseveraltimes in Vienna
in April 1787-at which time Beethoven was in the cityincludes a couple of scenes that draw satirically on the
Orpheus legend.
28Thayer'sLife of Beethoven, rev. 2nd edn., ed. Eliot Forbes
(Princeton, 1964),p. 1061.
29Thayer-Forbes,p. 80.
Cramer'sMagazin derMusik for 1783 (1:1)one finds the
a30In

description of the musical scene in Bonn, written by Christian Gottlob Neefe, which includes the often-quotedearly
notice of the talented child Beethoven (Thayer-Forbes,p.
65ff). This same issue of the Magazin also contains, on p.
598ff., a brief but effusive description of the recently composed Metamorphosessymphonies by Dittersdorf(seefn. 27
above). This notice was written by J.T. Hermes, who in
1786 published analytical programsfor these twelve symphonies. It is quite possible, therefore,that the Dittersdorf
works at least came to Beethoven's attention as early as
1783.
31Cramerpublished this translation-along with his elaborate introduction-no fewer than three times: in the Magazin der Musik 2:2 (1786), 1085-145; this same printing,but
in separate format (Libraryof Congress, Schatz 7053), presumably the same year; and then on pp. V-XVIIIof the Vorrede of the 1787 piano-vocalscore.
Cramer'senthusiasm for the Orpheus subject inspired
him also to publish the first German transl. (by "Professor
Eschenburg of Braunschweig") of the Calzabigi libretto
(MagazinderMusik 2:1[1784],458-81).
32Themost extensive recent writing about Kanne is Hermann Ullrich, "Beethovens Freund Friedrich August
Kanne,"OesterreichischeMusik Zeitung 29 (1974),75-80.
33ImogenFellinger, "FriedrichAugust Kanne als Kritiker
Beethovens," in Bericht iiber den internationalen musikwissenschaftlichen Kongref3 Bonn 1970, ed. Carl
Dahlhaus, etc. (Kassel,1972),pp. 383-86.
34"NewRoadsto Old Ideasin Beethoven'sMissa Solemnis,"
in The Creative World of Beethoven, ed. Paul Henry Lang
(New York, 1970),pp. 163-99. The referenceto Kanneis on
p. 198ff.
35Wilhelm Hitzig, "Aus dem Briefen Griesingers an
Breitkopf& HArtelentnommene Notizen uiberBeethoven,"
Der Bir 4 (1927),31.
36Ullrich,p. 75.
37In 1807 Beethoven applied to this same company of vicedirectorsfor an appointmentto compose operason a regular
basis. He took this move at the suggestion of Lobkowitz
(Thayer-Forbes,pp. 425-27).
38TheodorFrimmel, Beethoven-Handbuch (Leipzig,1926),
II, 247.

39Thereferencesto the theme of the power of song arefound

on pp. 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 38, 39, and40 of
this libretto. (Copies of the libretto to Kanne'sOrpheusare
found in the Oesterreichische Nationalbibliothek and the
Music Libraryof UCLA.)
40Inthe original Italian version of Orfeo ed EuridiceGluck
indicates that the chorus should sing this passage "marcato." In the French print of 1774 the composer then indicates "tres marque." A recordingof Orfeo made under the
direction of Sigiswald Kuijken,issued in 1983, in which the
orchestra performs with eighteenth-century instruments,
finds the chorus observing this instruction very carefully
(Accent 8223/24). The effect immediately brings to mind
Beethoven's marking "sempre staccato" for the parallel
"speeches" by the orchestral strings in. the G-MajorConcerto.
41SeeSchindler,Beethoven As I Knew Him, ed. Donald W.
MacArdle,trans. Constance S. Jolly (ChapelHill, 1966), p.
406, for Czerny's remarkthat "everyonehad recognizedin
both op. 14 sonatas the dispute in dialogue form between
two principles, without the aid of words written above the
score."
42Georgics,book IV, lines 491-93. All citations are from
Virgil, Georgics,ed. H. R. Fairclough(Cambridge,1935).
43Mention of Virgil's lightning-and-thunderdetail also appears in the programof Dittersdorf'sOrfeeet Eunridice
symphony. This program,originally pub. by J.T.
(BresHermis
211

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OWEN
JANDER
Beethoven's
Orpheus

19TH

CENTURY
MUSIC

lau, 1786), is rpt. in Carl Krebs, Dittersdorfiana (Berlin,

1900;rpt. 1972),pp. 177-79. (Furtheron Dittersdorf,see fns.
27 and 30.)
All of these programmaticsymphonies by Dittersdorf are
basedon Ovid'sMetamorphoses,to be sure.Nonetheless, at
the moment when Orpheus breaks his vow,
says:
Hermns
"One is remindedthat, despite the 'protinusilla
relapsaest'
[andinstantly she fell back into the darkness],it is not the
lightning that kills Euridice."Here is another similar instance of an artist working from Ovid, but borrowingthis
detail from Virgil.
44Kannehad alreadypreparedhis audiencefor these theatrical effects in his second-act finale by suggestingthese three
Virgiliancrashes in the monologue near the end of his firstact finale. This monologue is for Orpheus,who is trying to
screw up his couragejust prior to approachingthe gates of
Hades. The passageis set as a melodrama,where, at the beginning, middle, and end one finds the stage instructions:
"The music begins, accompanied by lightning and thunder," "The thunder becomes louder,"and "The cliffs break
open, accompanied by the heaviest thunder, and one beholds the entrance to the Underworld,from which emerge
the torch-bearingFuries."
45RachelWade, "Beethoven's Eroica Sketchbook," Fontes
Artis Musicae 24 (1977),254-89, esp. p. 271. Wadesuggests
that the earliest of the few surviving sketches for op. 58
dates from the beginningmonths of 1804.We know that pianos with a six-octave range were being made in Vienna as
early as 1803 (DerBiir4 [1927],63).
46Thefollowing section of this article attempts to clarify,
through simplification, an extremely complex story. Piano
manufacturein Vienna, especially in the first decadeof the
nineteenth century, was characterizedby much experimentation. The idea of "norms"must be recognizedas artificial.
47Inthe 1790s, however, it became increasinglycommon to
introduce triple stringingin the top octave-and-a-halfof the
compass of the piano.
"The so-called una corda on the modem piano does not
yield this effect at all.
Virgil (GeorgicsIV, 464) speaks of Orpheus lamenting the
loss of Euridice by playing on his "hollow tortoise-shell"
(cava testudine-since the Greek lyre was often so constructed). This terminology may have suggested to
Beethoven the use of the una corda in this movement.
49ForBeethoven's instructions on the use of the pedals, see
fn. to the first solo passagein my Program.
S?Builtby RobertE. Smith (Somerville,Mass.), 1976-78.
I am impressed,incidentally, at how complete this Andante
con moto is--from a musical as well as a programmatic
point of view-when played, sans orchestre,on a Viennese
piano with a shifting pedal. My personal experiencein performing this piece suggests to me that Beethoven's op. 58
originated with the second movement: i.e., as an experimental, highly sentimental, programmaticparlorpiece for
solo piano--addressed, to be sure, to an audience caught up
in the Orpheusvogue of the time.
FannyMendelssohnperformedthe Andante con moto of
Beethoven's G-MajorPiano Concerto in this manner-as a
parlor entertainment. She describes (in exquisitely poetic
language)her experience of playing the work, to the accompaniment of a fountain splashingin the garden,for a gathering of beardedyoung artists (Gounod among them) at the
FrenchAcademy in Rome, in May 1840. See SebastianHensel, The Mendelssohn Family, 1729-1847 (New York,
1882),II, 119ff.

51ThomasGraves, The Greek Myths (Baltimore, 1955), I,

112ff. Whereas no classical source specifically reports the
protective use of the lyre at this point in the Orpheusstory,
such a use of the lyre (formagical protection)is alluded to
elsewhere.
The image of a musical instrument endowedwith magically
protective power was already a central theme of Mozart's
Zauberfl6te, where Tamino has his magic flute and Papageno his protective bells. In the sixty years following the
first performanceof Die Zauberfl6te, dozens of operasand
ballets were created for the Viennese audience entitled
Zauber- this or Zauber- that. Musical instruments with
magical powers were especially popular:e.g., Die Zaubergeige (1809), Die Zauberharfe (1820; music by Schubert),
Das Zaubergl6ckchen (1821), Das Zauberhorn(1824),and
Die Zaubermandoline (1827).
52"Formenmusikalischer Aussage im zweiten Satz des GDur Konzertes von Beethoven," Beethoven-Jahrbuch,2nd
ser., 9 (1973-77), 201-16.
53E.g., the chromatic passage in mm. 52-54. My first
thought was that this might representOvid's lines: "They
called Euridice. She was among the new shades, and she
came with halting steps" (bookX, 48-49).
It also occurredto me that these measuresmight be expressive of Euridicepleading with her mystifyingly silent husband.Although this situation is found in neither Virgilnor
Ovid, it is a part of the traditionof Orpheusoperas.
The 1791 Viennese Gesellschaft edn. of Ovid, however, has
a couple of lines that seem to providethe best explanation:
"Schon war er an der Grenze des Todtenreiches,als er aus
Sehnsucht, und aus Furcht,dass sie sich verirrethabe, nach
Eurydicen umblickte." This is a rather free translation of
the following lines in Ovid: "Hic,ne deficeret,metuens avidusque videndi flexit amans oculos." (bookX, 55-56.)
The Latin means: "anxious in case his wife's strength be
failing, and eagerto see her";whereas the Viennese translation says "out of yearning, and out of fear that she might
have lost the way."
The musical detail in Beethoven's mm. 52-54 is aptly expressive of Sehnsucht and Furcht, even if those words are
not found in Ovid: the general descent of the phrase, the
chromaticism, the suspensions, the syncopations. This detail is especially articulated if the pianist observes
Beethoven'spedal markingshere: these measuresshould be
played without depressingthe damperpedal.
(Modem pianists usually pedal their way right through
these three measures, of course, perhapsbecause they haven't looked carefully at the score, perhaps because the
modem piano lends itself to ample use of the pedal,but certainly because they are aware of no reason-no programmatic reason-for not continuing to use the damperpedal,
as in the precedingfive measures.)
54Czemy,p. 60fn.
55Theso-called "Eroica-Saal"in the LobkowitzPalacein Vienna, where the op. 58 was first performed,is still regularly
used for concerts. For a concert by a string quartet in that
room there is space for 144 chairs (12 x 12).Fora concertinvolving an orchestrathe audiencewould obviously be much
smaller.
56Schindler,p. 406.
7%In
the recordingmade of this concerto in Vienna in 1972,
in which PaulBadura-Skodaperformson an 1825 fortepiano
by ConradGraf,andthe membersof the Collegium Aureum
also use original instruments, the string section is distributed 5-4-3-2-1. (HarmoniaMundi HM 20347.)

212

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