The ''Andante favori'' is a work for
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
solo by
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
. In catalogues of Beethoven's works, it is designated as
WoO
Woo, WoO, WOO, W.O.O. and variants may refer to:
People
Woo or Wu, romanization of several East Asian names:
* Hu (surname): 胡, 瓠, 護, 戶, 扈, 虎, 呼, 忽, 斛
* Wu (surname): 吳, 伍, 武, 仵, 烏, 鄔, 巫
* Ng (name): 吳, 伍
* ...
57.
Composition and reception
The ''Andante favori'' was written between 1803 and 1804, and published in 1805. It was originally intended to be the second of the three movements of Beethoven's
''Waldstein'' Piano Sonata, Op. 53. The following extract from
Thayer Thayer may refer to:
Places
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* Thayer, Illinois
* Thayer, Indiana
* Thayer, Iowa
* Thayer, Kansas
* Thayer, Michigan
* Thayer, Missouri
* Thayer, Nebraska
*Thayer, West Virginia
* Thayer County, Nebraska
* Thayer Street, Providence, ...
's Beethoven biography explains the change:
:''
Ries Ries is the German word for a unit of paper ream, derived from the Arabic word ''rizma''.
The term can refer to:
Geography
* Nördlinger Ries, a large circular depression in western Bavaria, Germany.
* Ries (Graz), a district of the city of Gr ...
reports (''Notizen'', p. 101) that a friend of Beethoven's said to him that the sonata was too long, for which he was terribly taken to task by the composer. But after quiet reflection Beethoven was convinced of the correctness of the criticism. The andante... was therefore excluded and in its place supplied the interesting Introduction to the rondo which it now has. A year after the publication of the sonata, the andante also appeared separately.''
It was composed as a musical declaration of love for Countess
Josephine Brunsvik Josephine Brunszvik, miniature drawn by pencil, before 1804.
Josephine Brunsvik or Countess Jozefina Brunszvik de Korompa, Countess Josephine Deym, ( hu, Brunszvik Jozefina; 28 March 1779 – 31 March 1821) was probably the most important woman i ...
,
[Tellenbach, Marie-Elizabeth ''Beethoven and His "Immortal Beloved" Josephine Brunsvik'' XIX. Tacit Dedications and the Brunsvik Sonatas, Translated by John E. Klapproth (2014) North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace.] but the Brunsvik family increased the pressure to terminate the relationship.
["Beethoven and Pepi, what is this going to be? ... She must be on her guard! Her heart must have the strength to say no, a sad duty." eethoven und Pepi, was soll daraus werden? Sie soll auf ihrer Hut sein! ... Ihr Herz muss die Kraft haben nein zu sagen, eine traurige Pflicht.(Therese to Charlotte, 20 January 1805, in La Mara 1920, p. 54.)] She could not contemplate marrying Beethoven, a commoner.
["I would have to violate sacred bonds if I gave in to your request – Believe me – that I, by doing what is my duty, suffer the most – and that surely noble motives were guiding my actions." [Ich müßte heilige Bande verletzen, gäbe ich Ihrem Verlangen Gehör – Glauben Sie – daß ich, durch Erfüllung meiner Pflichten, am meisten leide – und daß gewiß, edle Beweggründe meine Handlungen leiteten.] (Josephine to Beethoven, Winter 1806/7, in Schmidt-Görg 1957, p. 21.) See also Tellenbach (1988) for the effect of guardianship laws.]
The reason for the title was given by Beethoven's pupil
Czerny, quoted in Thayer: "Because of its popularity (for Beethoven played it frequently in society) he gave it the title ''Andante favori'' ("favored Andante").
The music
The ''Andante favori'' is in F major (the
subdominant
In music, the subdominant is the fourth tonal degree () of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance ''below'' the tonic as the dominant is ''above'' the tonicin other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdomina ...
of the ''Waldstein'' key), in 3/8 time, and is marked ''Andante grazioso con moto''. Formally, the work is a
rondo
The rondo is an instrumental musical form introduced in the Classical period.
Etymology
The English word ''rondo'' comes from the Italian form of the French ''rondeau'', which means "a little round".
Despite the common etymological root, rondo ...
, with each return of the theme appearing in
varied form. The theme itself is fairly extended and in
ternary form
Ternary form, sometimes called song form, is a three-part musical form consisting of an opening section (A), a following section (B) and then a repetition of the first section (A). It is usually schematized as A–B–A. Prominent examples includ ...
. The work takes about nine minutes to play.
Adaptations in popular culture
The makers of the 1995
BBC adaptation of
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
's novel
Pride and Prejudice
''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...
used the ''Andante favori'' as the musical content of a concocted scene in which Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy exchange tender glances while his sister Georgiana plays the andante on the
fortepiano
A fortepiano , sometimes referred to as a pianoforte, is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1698 up to the early 19th century. Mo ...
. The action of the scene is timed to match two
modulations in the music, from F to D major and then back again.
References
;Notes
External links
*
{{Authority control
Piano solos by Ludwig van Beethoven
1804 compositions
Compositions in F major