DAILY DOSE OF BEETHOVEN (April 5, 2020)
The Motivfuhrung and the Fifth Symphony-A detective story in 3-PARTS
Part 3: Beyond the Flatfoots
Detectives who go by the book are sometimes known as "flatfoots". In Edgar Allan Poe's great short story "The Purloined Letter", the Parisian police act like flatfoots. Although they are very thorough and can tell if a letter has been hidden in a table leg by using a micrometer, Poe's detective, C Auguste Dupin, knows that they will not find the letter. Because he knows the MIND of his adversary. His adversary is both a mathematician, and a poet, who knows how the Parisian police thinks, and hides it in a way that he knows they will never think of.
Here again is the timing of each 5th Symphony movements:
Movement 1: 0:00
Movement 2 8:14
Movement 3 18:49
Movement 4 24:36
There is a difference between the "flatfoot" method of identifying every single motif, as though it were the same as finding all the hidden airplanes in a cartoon, and motivic LEADING. That process is what we call "Think like Beethoven", and what it means to discover Plato's "The One and the Many."
The what and the what? A symphony is long, and requires a lot of concentration. In previous symphonies, each movement was integrated, and though they went together well, like a beautiful bouquet of flowers, they were separate. In Beethoven's Fifth, one have a sense of a single, unified work, that divides itself into movements, but is primarily a unity: a "one".
As Beethoven progressed, his works became longer, with many more sections, changes, phrases and notes. Yet, as his "many" grew, his unifying "one", became even stronger. What integrates the"many" into a one? A motif? It is a motivating part of the process, but the one cannot be a "thing". The work is unified by a process of change, that is guided by creative discoveries made by the composer, in the domain of the well-tempered musical system. That process of change itself, IS "the one".
What are the discoveries only a great detective would find in this work? We have to think like Beethoven. Look at the tender lyrical theme, in movement 1 at 0:59. Listen to the end of the movement at 6:45. Do we not hear the same theme in a different way? Is it still tender, or does it have the same powerful quality as the opening? Beethoven follows the poet Schiller, in the idea that the strong and powerful must also be tender and loving, and the gentle and tender must also be resolute and strong. Much as in Poe's story, Beethoven is both a musician and a poet! Through a process of change, a single motiv can take on both tenderness and strength!
Furtwangler delivers the transition from the 3rd to the 4th movement in a unique, and electrifying way, so that we hear the joy of making a great creative discovery that changes everything, as if to say " Yes, this is it!"
We recommend listening to the entire transition, from 23:45 to somewhere after 25:00
The symphony ends in a playful way, with Beethoven keeping us guessing as to whether it is finished or not!
For more daily dose, go to: https://www.ffrcc.org/daily-dose-of-beethoven
Daily dose is written by Fred Haight.