Beethoven’s First Symphony: The Young Man Who Kicked Open the Door
Vienna, 1800. Beethoven is twenty-nine years old, Mozart is gone, Haydn is the acknowledged master—and an ambitious young composer is about to unveil his first symphony.
In this inaugural episode of The Listening Room, we sit down with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 and listen for the moments when the familiar Classical world begins to shift.
Why does the symphony seem to start in the wrong key? Why does Beethoven call the furious third movement a minuet? And why does the finale begin as though the orchestra is cautiously learning how to play a scale?
No music degree required…
The skinny
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