DAILY DOSE OF BEETHOVEN (September 4, 2020)
Beethoven composed nearly 70 sets of variations in his lifetime. From May-July 1796, Beethoven was in Berlin as part of a concert tour. He composed a number of important works while there, including the Cello Sonatas, Op. 5, and the “Variations for cello and piano in G major on ‘See the conqu'ring hero comes’ from Handel's oratorio, ‘Judas Maccabaeus’, WoO 45”. The variations are dedicated to Princess Christiane von Lichnowsky, wife of Prince Karl von Lichnowsky, one of Beethoven's most important patrons in Vienna, in whose home Beethoven lived between 1793 and 1795. It was published in 1797. The inspiration for the theme likely came from Baron Gottfried van Swieten, a champion of the works of both Bach and Handel, and a patron of both Mozart and Beethoven (see July 1, 2020 post).
Joseph Handel, whose work, just like that of Bach, was not much played in Vienna at that time, wrote his Judas Maccabaeus (HWV 63) Oratorio in three acts in 1746. The Orotorio takes place in the period 170–160 BC, when Judea was ruled by the Seleucid Empire which undertook to destroy the Jewish religion. Being ordered to worship Zeus, many Jews obeyed under the threat of persecution. Judas Maccabeus was the son of an elderly priest Mattathias, who defied the order and killed a fellow Jew who was about to offer a pagan sacrifice. Maccabaeus then led a revolt (the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire, 167–160 BC), to purify Judaism from the Helllenistic influence. His last name may mean "The Hammer." Handel’s Orotorio included this great chorus, in celebration of the revolt:
Contemplate the joy reflected in the faces of the singers. Is this the right time to ask you to appreciate the mathematical structural brilliance of the composition? J.S. Bach informed his son, CPE, that he rejected all such dry mathematical formulae. However, what you are witnessing on the faces of the singers is something termed by Georg Cantor as: "The Transfinite."
Transfinite is a mathematical term with a complex definition. It also means "across the finite." Love, and art allow us to bridge centuries, as though in a moment! See it in the musicians' faces! A moment of history from 2,000 years ago, in a piece composed over 200 years ago, brings forth a smile born in the moment—albeit in a very long moment! That is the Transfinite.
For sure, Beethoven reflects this “transfinite” moment in his transformation of the original work into 12 variations for cello and piano. We provide here the great performance of this powerful work by Pablo Casals and Rodolf Serkin.
Prejudices perceiving music as merely emotion may deter some from accepting Beethoven as a philosopher and historian, but we have already begun to establish his credentials in this area! Listen to Beethoven in the same manner as you might read Leibniz or Plato! Hint: It was customary in such variations to compose the 4th variation in the tonic minor. How often is the tonic minor invoked here?