The Symphony No. 8 in

F major F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consis ...

, Op. 93 is a symphony in four movements composed 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 1812. Beethoven fondly referred to it as "my little Symphony in F", distinguishing it from his Sixth Symphony, a longer work also in F. The Eighth Symphony is generally light-hearted, though not lightweight, and in many places loud, with many accented notes. Various passages in the symphony are heard by some listeners to be musical jokes. As with various other Beethoven works such as the Opus 27 piano sonatas and the later Ninth Symphony, the symphony deviates from Classical tradition in making the last movement the weightiest of the four.

Composition, premiere and reception

The work was begun in the summer of 1812, immediately after the completion of the Seventh Symphony. At the time Beethoven was 41 years old. According to

Antony Hopkins Antony Hopkins CBE (21 March 1921 – 6 May 2014) was a composer, pianist, and conductor, as well as a writer and radio broadcaster. He was widely known for his books of musical analysis and for his radio programmes ''Talking About Music'', br ...

, the mood of the work betrays nothing of the events that were taking place in Beethoven's life at the time, which involved his interference in his brother Johann's romantic relationships. The work took Beethoven only four months to complete, and is, unlike many of his works, without dedication. The premiere took place on 27 February 1814, at a concert in the Redoutensaal, Vienna, at which the Seventh Symphony (which had been premiered two months earlier) was also played. Beethoven was growing increasingly deaf at the time, but nevertheless insisted on leading the premiere. Reportedly, "the orchestra largely ignored his ungainly gestures and followed the principal violinist instead." When asked by his pupil

Carl Czerny Carl Czerny (; 21 February 1791 – 15 July 1857) was an Austrian composer, teacher, and pianist of Czech origin whose music spanned the late Classical and early Romantic eras. His vast musical production amounted to over a thousand works and ...

why the Eighth was less popular than the Seventh, Beethoven is said to have replied, "because the Eighth is so much better." A critic wrote that "the applause it received was not accompanied by that enthusiasm which distinguishes a work which gives universal delight; in short—as the Italians say—it did not create a furor." According to Czerny, Beethoven was angered by this reception.

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

, in his capacity as a music critic, agreed with Beethoven's assessment of the work, writing that "In all subtler respects the Eighth is better han the Seventh" More recently,

Jan Swafford Jan Swafford (born September 10, 1946) is an American author and composer. He earned his Bachelor of Arts '' magna cum laude'' from Harvard College and his M.M.A. and D.M.A. from the Yale School of Music. His teachers included Earl Kim at Harvard, ...

has described the Eighth as "a beautiful, brief, ironic look backward to Haydn and Mozart."

Martin Geck Martin Geck (19 March 1936 – 22 November 2019) was a German musicologist. He taught at the Technical University of Dortmund. His publications concerned a number of major composers. Among the composers in whom he specialised was Johann Sebastian ...

has commented on the authenticity of the Eighth, noting that it contains "all the relevant hallmarks, including motivic and thematic writing notable for its advanced planning, defiant counterpoint, furious cross-rhythms, sudden shifts from ''piano'' to ''forte'', and idyllic and even hymnlike episodes."

Form

Allegro Allegro may refer to: Common meanings * Allegro (music), a tempo marking indicate to play fast, quickly and bright * Allegro (ballet), brisk and lively movement Artistic works * L'Allegro (1645), a poem by John Milton * ''Allegro'' (Satie), an ...

vivace In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

e con

brio Brio (stylized BRIO) is a wooden toy company founded in Sweden. The company was founded in the small town of Boalt, Scania, Götaland in 1884 by basket maker Ivar Bengtsson. For a long time the company was based in Osby, Scania, in southern Swede ...

(

) #

Allegretto In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

scherzando A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mu ...

(

B major B major (or the key of B) is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps. Its relative minor is G-sharp minor, its parallel minor is B minor, and its ...

) #

Tempo di menuetto A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form that accompa ...

(F major) #Allegro vivace (F major) The symphony is scored for 2

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

s, 2

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

s, 2

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

s in B, 2

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

s, 2

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

in F (in B basso for the second movement), 2

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

s in F,

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...

, and

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

. It is approximately 26 minutes in duration.

First movement

This movement is in the home key of F major and is in fast time. As with most of Beethoven's first movements of this period, it is written in

sonata form Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical form, musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle ...

, including a fairly substantial

coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...

. Hopkins observed that the movement is slightly unusual among Beethoven's works in that it reaches its dramatic climax not during the

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped *Photographi ...

section, but at the onset of the recapitulation. The concluding bars of the development form a huge

crescendo In music, the dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings still require interpretation by the performer dependi ...

and the return of the opening bars is marked ('' fortississimo'', i.e. extremely loud), which rarely appears in Beethoven's works, but has precedents in the Sixth and Seventh symphonies. This is balanced by the quiet closing measures of the movement. The opening theme is in three sections of four bars each, with the pattern ''

forte Forte or Forté may refer to: Music *Forte (music), a musical dynamic meaning "loudly" or "strong" *Forte number, an ordering given to every pitch class set *Forte (notation program), a suite of musical score notation programs *Forte (vocal gro ...

''–''

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 ...

''–''forte''. At the onset of the recapitulation, the theme is made more emphatic by omitting the middle four bars.

Second movement

There is a widespread belief that this movement is an affectionate parody of the

metronome A metronome, from ancient Greek μέτρον (''métron'', "measure") and νομός (nomós, "custom", "melody") is a device that produces an audible click or other sound at a regular interval that can be set by the user, typically in beats pe ...

, which had only recently been invented (or more accurately, merely improved) by Beethoven's friend,

Johann Maelzel A metronome by Maelzel, Paris, 1815. Johann Nepomuk Maelzel (or Mälzel; August 15, 1772 – July 21, 1838) was a German inventor, engineer, and showman, best known for manufacturing a metronome and several music-playing automatons, and displayi ...

. Specifically the belief was that the movement was based on a canon called "Ta ta ta... Lieber Maelzel,"

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 * Woo ...

162, said to have been improvised at a dinner party in Maelzel's honor in 1812. However, there is no evidence corroborating this story and it is likely that WoO 162 was not written by Beethoven but was constructed after-the-fact by

Anton Schindler Anton Felix Schindler (13 June 1795 in Medlov – 16 January 1864 in Bockenheim (Frankfurt am Main)) was an Austrian law clerk and associate, secretary, and early biographer of Ludwig van Beethoven. Life Schindler moved to Vienna in 1813 to st ...

.Brown, A. Peter, ''The Symphonic Repertoire'' (Volume 2). Indiana University Press (), pp. 517 (2002). A more likely inspiration was the similar rhythmic parody of

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

's "Clock" Symphony. The movement begins with even

staccato Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and has appeared in music ...

chords in 16th-notes (semiquavers) played by the wind instruments, and a basic 16th-note rhythm continues steadily through the piece.

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

has argued that the third movement was intended as the slow movement of this symphony and that the second should be played as a

scherzo A scherzo (, , ; plural scherzos or scherzi), in western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often ref ...

. The key is B 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 F, and the organization is what

Charles Rosen Charles Welles Rosen (May 5, 1927December 9, 2012) was an American pianist and writer on music. He is remembered for his career as a concert pianist, for his recordings, and for his many writings, notable among them the book ''The Classical Sty ...

has called "slow movement sonata form"; that is, at the end of the exposition there is no development section, but only a simple

modulation In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the ''carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informatio ...

back to B for the recapitulation; this also may be described as

sonatina A sonatina is a small sonata. As a musical term, sonatina has no single strict definition; it is rather a title applied by the composer to a piece that is in basic sonata form, but is shorter and lighter in character, or technically more elementar ...

form. The second subject includes a motif of very rapid

sixty-fourth note In music notation, a sixty-fourth note (American), or hemidemisemiquaver or semidemisemiquaver (British), sometimes called a half-thirty-second note, is a note played for half the duration of a thirty-second note (or demisemiquaver), hence the name ...

s. This motif is played by the whole orchestra at the end of the coda.

Third movement

\new Score The style of Beethoven's

minuet A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form that accompa ...

is not particularly close to its 18th-century predecessors, as it retains a rather coarse, thumping rhythm; such as how after the initial

upbeat Up beat may refer to: *Upbeat, in music, the last beat in the previous bar which immediately precedes the downbeat *Anacrusis, a note (or sequence of notes) which precedes the first downbeat in a bar in a musical phrase * ''Upbeat'' (album), by t ...

Beethoven places the

dynamic Dynamics (from Greek δυναμικός ''dynamikos'' "powerful", from δύναμις ''dynamis'' "power") or dynamic may refer to: Physics and engineering * Dynamics (mechanics) ** Aerodynamics, the study of the motion of air ** Analytical dynam ...

indication '' sforzando'' ( ) on each of the next five beats. This makes the minuet stylistically close to the other movements of the symphony, which likewise rely often on good-humored, thumping accents. The minuet is written 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 ...

, with a contrasting trio section containing prized solos for horns and clarinet. The clarinet solo is of significant importance in that it was the first major example of a solo clarinet playing a written G₆.

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

praised the "incomparable instrumental thought" shown in Beethoven's orchestration of the trio section. Beethoven Symphony 8 Trio

Fourth movement

The most substantial movement in the symphony, the finale is in

sonata rondo form Sonata rondo form is a musical form often used during the Classical music era. As the name implies, it is a blend of sonata and rondo forms. Structure Sonata and rondo forms Rondo form involves the repeated use of a theme (sometimes called ...

with a fast tempo. The metronome marking supplied by Beethoven himself is

whole note A whole note (American) or semibreve (British) in musical notation is a single note equivalent to or lasting as long as two half notes or four quarter notes. Description The whole note or semibreve has a note head in the shape of a hollow ov ...

= 84. This is the first symphonic movement in which the timpani are tuned in

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

s, foreshadowing the similar octave-F tuning in the scherzo of the Ninth Symphony. Hopkins quoted the entire opening theme of the

finale Finale may refer to: Pieces of music * Finale (music), the last movement of a piece * ''Finale'' (album), a 1977 album by Loggins and Messina * "Finale B", a 1996 song from the rock opera ''Rent'' * "Finale", a song by Anthrax from ''State of Eu ...

"in order to emphasize the outrageous impropriety of the last roaring C-sharp": {, class="wikitable" style="margin: auto;" , - , \version "2.14.1" \layout { #(layout-set-staff-size 16) } \relative c'' { \new Staff { \tempo "Allegro vivace" 1 = 84 \key f \major \time 2/2 \partial 2 \tuplet 3/2 { a8\pp a a} \tuplet 3/2 { a a a} \repeat unfold 3 { a( bes) g4-. } \repeat unfold 2 { \tuplet 3/2 { bes8 bes bes} } \repeat unfold 3 { bes( c) a4-. } f' r8 e \break e4( d) d' r8 c c4( bes) bes-. a-. g-. fis-. g-. a-. bes-. g-. a-. f!-. e-. c'-. g,,-. g''-. \break c,-. r \repeat unfold 2 { \tuplet 3/2 { d8 d d} } d( e) c4-. \repeat unfold 2 { \tuplet 3/2 { d,8 d d} } d( e) c4-. \repeat unfold 2 { \tuplet 3/2 { d'8 d d} } d( e) c4-. b8( c) g4-. f8( g) e4-. d8( e) c4-. \repeat unfold 2 { d8( e) c4-. r2 } d8( e) c4-. cis2~\ff cis \bar ", " } } , - , "All that precedes it is so delicate in texture, so nimble and light-footed."

Donald Tovey Sir Donald Francis Tovey (17 July 187510 July 1940) was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist. He had been best known for his '' Essays in Musical Analysis'' and his editions of works by Bach ...

cites the abrupt intrusion of the C-sharp as an example of Beethoven's "long-distance harmonic effects". This "rogue" note is eventually revealed as having an architectural function in the structure of the movement as a whole. The opening material reappears three times: at the start of the

section, the start of the recapitulation, and about halfway through the

. As in the first movement, the move to the second subject first adopts the "wrong" key, then moves to the normal key (exposition: dominant, recapitulation: tonic) after a few

measure Measure may refer to: * Measurement, the assignment of a number to a characteristic of an object or event Law * Ballot measure, proposed legislation in the United States * Church of England Measure, legislation of the Church of England * Mea ...

s. The coda, one of the most elaborate in all of Beethoven's works. Hopkins called it "magnificent" and suggests it is too substantial to be referred to by the term "coda". It contains two particularly striking events. The loud and startling C from the opening finally gets an "explanation": "and now it appears that Beethoven has held that note in reserve, wherewith to batter at the door of some immensely distant key. Out bursts the theme then, in

F sharp minor F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major and its parallel major is F-sharp major (or enharmonically G-flat major). Th ...

." {, class="wikitable" style="margin: auto;" , - , \version "2.14.1" \layout { #(layout-set-staff-size 16) } \relative c' { \new Staff { \override Score.BarNumber.break-visibility = ##(#f #f #t) \set Score.currentBarNumber = #370 \bar "" \tempo 1 = 80 \key f \major \time 2/2 d8\p( e) c4-. r2 d8( e) c4-. r2 d8( e) c4-. des2\ff~ des2 \tuplet 3/2 { f8\p f f} \tuplet 3/2 { f f f} f ges es4-. cis2\ff~ \break cis? \tuplet 3/2 { e!8\p e e} \tuplet 3/2 { e e e} e fis dis4-. cis2\ff~ cis cis~ cis cis~ cis \repeat unfold 2 {\tuplet 3/2 { a''8 a a} } \bar ", , " \break \key d \major a( b) gis4-. a8( b) gis4-. a8( b) gis4-. } } , - , A few measures later, there is a stunning

in which this key is "hammered down" by a

semitone A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...

, arriving instantaneously at the home key of F major. {, class="wikitable" style="margin: auto;" , - , \version "2.14.1" \layout { #(layout-set-staff-size 16) } \relative c'' { \new GrandStaff << \new Staff { \override Score.BarNumber.break-visibility = ##(#f #t #t) \key d \major \time 2/2 \partial 4 a'4-. \set Score.currentBarNumber = #386 gis-. fis-. gis-. a-. \override Score.BarNumber.break-visibility = ##(#f #f #t) b-. gis-. a-. fis-. gis-. fis-. gis-. a-. b-. gis-. a-. fis-. \break gis-. fis-. gis-. a-. b-. gis-. a-. f-. \bar ", , " \key f \major g-. f-. g-. a-. \repeat unfold 2 { bes-. g-. a-. f-. } } \new Staff { \clef bass \key d \major fis,4-. \repeat unfold 2 { b,-. a-. b-. cis-. d-. eis-. fis-. a,-. } b-. a-. b-. cis-. d-. f-. f-. a,-. \key f \major bes-. a-. bes-. c-. d-. f-. f-. a,-. d,-. e-. f-. a-. } >> } , - , The symphony ends with a very long passage of loud tonic harmony.

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

called this movement "One of the greatest symphonic masterpieces of Beethoven."

Notes

References

* *

External links

*
Score

William and Gayle Cook Music Library The William and Gayle Cook Music Library, recognized as one of the largest academic music libraries in the world, serves the Jacobs School of Music and the Bloomington Campus of Indiana University. It occupies a four-floor, 55,000 square-foot facili ...

, Indiana University
Analysis
all-about-beethoven.com {{Authority control 08 1812 compositions Compositions in F major