A Few Things you Never Knew About Beethoven's 7th Symphony

Ok, so you might know a few of them already, but hopefully there are a few interesting bits in here for you.

• At its debut, Beethoven was noted as remarking that it was one of his “best works”

• The second movement Allegretto was instantly popular, resulting in its frequent performance separate from the complete symphony.

•  The first performance of the piece included some of the finest musicians of the day, including violinist Louis Spohr who made particular mention of Beethoven's antics on the rostrum: "as a sforzando occurred, he tore his arms with a great vehemence asunder ... at the entrance of a forte he jumped in the air"

•  The symphony was premiered at a concert, given on 8th December 1813, to benefit soldiers wounded in the battle of Hanau a few months earlier. Paired with the Seventh at this concert was the first performance of Wellington's Victory, also known as the "Battle Symphony."

•  Richard Wagner’s expressive account of the work is particularly well known: "All tumult, all yearning and storming of the heart, become here the blissful insolence of joy, which carries us away with bacchanalian power through the roomy space of nature, through all the streams and seas of life, shouting in glad self-consciousness as we sound throughout the universe the daring strains of this human sphere-dance. The Symphony is the Apotheosis of the Dance itself: it is Dance in its highest aspect, the loftiest deed of bodily motion, incorporated into an ideal mould of tone."

To book tickets or for more information about The Genius that is Beethoven at St. Nicolas Church, Newbury, please follow the link.

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