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Thursday, August 23, 2012

Beethoven Symphony No.8

Beethoven in 1815 by German painter
Willibrord Joseph Mahler (1778–1860)
"What point does the claim, ‘I am the Creative Truth’ imply? Do you think that this mystery was mere nonsense?" (Iqbal, Persian Psalms; 1927)

The eighth symphony of Beethoven was first performed in 1814, when Beethoven was 43 and was growing increasingly deaf. It would turn out to be the shortest of all his nine symphonies. himself called "The Little Symphony in F". Critical acclaim would forever remain divided: it is said that Beethoven himself was asked why it was less popular than his seventh  and he replied, "Because the Eighth is so much better." (See Wikipedia).

Generally, the posterity has described the symphony as "light-hearted, though not lightweight, and in many places cheerfully loud" whereby "various passages in the symphony are heard by some listeners to be musical jokes." (See Wikipedia).

Video: Symphony No.8 (Complete)
1. Allegro vivace e con brio @0:00
2. Allegretto scherzando @7:15
3. Tempo di Menuetto @10:53
4. Allegro vivace @15:00

1 comment:

  1. Greetings,

    Thank you for this post.

    This eighth symphony is lovely.

    All good wishes,

    robert

    ReplyDelete