DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (April 9, 2020)
Beethoven and the Folk Song
Folk song and Classical music are not commonly linked as equals. Yet, contrary to common conceptions, Classical music has never been high-brow or elitist. It always been an intervention to educate and up-lift people. That includes the Folk Song. Dvorak set to do that for the African-American spiritual, Brahms made arrangements for many German folk songs, and earlier, Bach made entire Cantatas out of simple Lutheran hymns.
Beethoven made equal contributions to this effort. Haydn and Beethoven were commissioned to make arrangements for several Irish and Scottish folks. Here is Beethoven’s setting of “Auld Lang Syne”, written by the Scottish poet, Robbie Burns. We ask you to ask the question: is Beethoven's setting adequate?
Because these works were commissioned and because he did not speak English, it is sometimes assumed that Beethoven just casually whipped off the lot and they are often treated accordingly. Good performances can be hard to find. However, we offer here a set of powerful performances of both Beethoven’s arrangement of Scottish and Irish songs. If you click on “show more”, you will see the names, artists and starting times.
If one studies the score, Beethoven's “Auld Lang Syne” is full of riches. Perhaps some of our readers will undertake realizing them.