Description: Beethoven No.7, 2nd movement

Information:

This is an old - not maintained - article of the AEIOU.

In the Austria-Forum you find an updated version of this article in the new AEIOU.

Symphony no.7, 2nd movement: Allegretto
Duration of performance: c. 8 minutes

Form scheme
2nd movement

In all performances under Beethoven's direction the audiences demanded a repeat of this movement.

bars 1-26

The movement opens with an A minor chord (a six-four chord, i.e. the bass tone is the dominant, not the root). Instead of the dactyl rhythm of the 1st movement, a double time rhythm, gained from the 3rd and 4th bars, dominates the musical process. This basic rhythm is maintained throughout the movement. It is intoned by the strings (the violings excepted) with the main theme of the movement.

bars 27-50

2nd theme is added in the violas and celli. Both themes can be heard simultaneously. The new theme, sounding like a plaintive song, is combined with the main theme.

On the 3rd recurrence of the main theme it is played by the first violins, the 2nd theme is assigned to the 2nd violins. Dynamically the themes increase in volume - the marking says "crescendo poco a poco".

The whole orchestra resumes both themes in fortissimo, woodwinds and horns take over the basic rhythm, the 1st violins play the 2nd voice. The themes, sounding rather gloomy at the beginning, now appear in friendly and sunny splendour.

bars 102-116

In the lyrical A-major centrepiece the rhythm of the 1st part of the movement is only indicated in the pizzicato of the celli and the double bass, then a new theme appears in the woodwinds, derived from the introduction of the movement, the triplets of the 1st violins weaving around it.

The clarinets intone a continuation of the theme, which the horn starts to imitate while the theme is carried on. This clarinet theme is arranged scale-like, with a variation of the ups and downs of the scales in the introduction. A descending scale (over 4 octaves) closes the centrepiece.

In part A1 the main theme recurs in deep pizzicato, contrapunted by theme 2 in the flutes, oboes and bassoons.

A codetta to the main theme forms the end of the 1st section of A1.

A 16th-note episode in the violas and in the 1st violins develops into the 2nd theme in double fugato, the fugato theme deriving from the main theme of the movement. A forceful crescendo steps up both themes.

The fugato leads to a powerful upsurge of the orchestra, an abridged version of the main theme sounds in fortissimo.

The Coda repeats the theme of the centrepiece.

bars 243-270

At the end of the movement the theme is fragmented into its components; in two-bar periods it moves through various instrumental groups, from a high to a low pitch.

The movement fades away with parts of the main theme in the same echoing, questioning six-four chord with which it began.

Turn over to 3rd movement

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