Beethoven Medal from Fürstenberg Porcelain © Beethoven-Haus Bonn

6 4-voice fugues, Hess 238 for four instruments (1794-5, Beethoven aged 24)

no.1 in E minor
no.2 in D minor
no.3 in C major
no.4 in A minor
no.5 in B flat major
no.6 in A minor

Dedication not known
Duration 9’30”

Listen

Background and Critical Reception

Presenting six more of the fruits from Beethoven’s studies with Albrechtsberger in Vienna, in which he shows himself an adapt composer of counterpoint in four voices.

Again we are indebted to Gustav Nottebohm for the assembly of these fascinating excerpts from lessons in his publication Beethovens Studien.

Thoughts

The four-part fugues show Beethoven in assertive mood, satisfying the brief set for him by his teacher. Once again the level of emotional investment is more distant, but hearing the four-part works on strings gives them a bit more colour.

The first two pieces are straight-faced, the second one with sacred undertones, ending as it does with a sweetly-voiced major chord. The third fugue is matter-of-fact, the fourth – back in a minor key – rather more plaintive. By the fifth fugue Beethoven’s music has acquired a jaunty swing, with the notes tightly knitted together before a relaxed final cadence. This and the straight faced final piece have a most natural flow, despite being little more than a minute long.

Recordings used

Covington String Quartet [Frank McKinster, Greg Pinney (violins), Luke Wedge (viola), William Hurd (cello)] Deutsche Grammophon

The Covington performances are forthright, striding forward confidently. In the minor key works less vibrato gives the overall sound a timbre towards that of a viol consort.

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Covington String Quartet

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1795 Haydn – Piano Trio in F# minor XV:26

Next up 2 chorale fugues Hess 239

Beethoven-Medaille, große Fassung © Beethoven-Haus Bonn

4 3-voice fugues, Hess 237 for piano (1794-5, Beethoven aged 24)

no.1 in G major
no.2 in F major
no.3 in E minor
no.4 in D minor

Dedication not known
Duration 4′

Listen

Background and Critical Reception

The second collection of Beethoven’s academic studies with Albrechtsberger are the fruits of some three-part exercises. There are four of these, scored once again for piano – and once again they are drawn from Gustav Nottebohm‘s invaluable research.

The Unheard Beethoven website, a mine of information for these lesser known works, talks of Beethoven as ‘the lion condemned to a diet of only vegetable soup’. Their point is that the composer, keen to learn and broaden his technique, was prepared to write dutiful music that satisfied his teacher, but also gave him a clearer understanding of counterpoint in the long run. We would see the fruits of this work deep into his late works.

Thoughts

Again there is a fascination in hearing the results of Beethoven’s studies presented in such a bare way. The music is almost completely devoid of emotion, and you can feel the drudgery of academic learning – but there is still room for the odd surprise, such as an unexpected move to a more distant key in the first fugue.

The second is sparkier, the third on the sorrowful side and the fourth a dogged exercise but confidently worked.

Recordings used

Tobias Koch (fortepiano) Deutsche Grammophon

Tobias Koch continues with his deliberate approach, studied but accurate – reflecting the nature of the short pieces.

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Tobias Koch

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1795 Haydn – Piano Trio in G major XV:25

Next up 6 fugues for 4 voices Hess 238

Beethoven medal von Otto Vogt © Beethoven-Haus Bonn

5 2-voice fugues, Hess 236 for piano (1794-5, Beethoven aged 24)

no.1 in D minor
no.2 in E (Phrygian mode)
no.3 in F major
no.4 in B flat major
no.5 in D minor

Dedication not known
Duration 5’30”

Listen

Background and Critical Reception

By 1795, Beethoven was becoming a household name in Vienna – but he was diligently continuing his studies with Salieri and Albrechtsberger.

Salieri was teaching him all about expression in a vocal style, but Albrechtsberger was teaching him the nitty gritty of counterpoint. As anyone studying music for ‘A’ level or beyond knows, this could begin with a musical theme provided by the teacher, with the pupil encouraged to work it into a longer piece through tried and tested methods.

The fugue was one of these methods, perfected by Bach and Handel among many Baroque composers, and seen as the ultimate proof that a composer knew how to work their music. Lesser composers could make it sound like the solving of a mathematical equation, but the good ones knew how to rise above that so that their fugues still had human expression.

Some of the fruits of Beethoven’s ‘homework’ with Albrechtsberger in Vienna were preserved by the musicologist and composer Gustav Nottebohm in his Beethovens Studien, a 19th century publication giving us a fascinating insight into the composer’s background work.

These five two-voice fugues are built on themes written by Albrechtsberger himself, and are realised on the piano.

Thoughts

These musical sketches are fascinating because they sound so dutiful. It is as though Beethoven has taken his art to bits and laid it bare on the music room floor, before picking up the bit marked ‘counterpoint’ and taking it over to the piano.

The music is not always particularly involving but shows the workings of the inner mind – and the fragments are often left unfinished. If it were from the pen another composer it would doubtless be discarded, but because it is Beethoven it stands as an interesting collection of sketches, essential to his later development.

The two minor-key fugues are very solemn.

Recordings used

Tobias Koch (fortepiano) Deutsche Grammophon

Tobias Koch plays a fortepiano in these accounts of Beethoven’s exercises. The approach is a deliberate one, where you can sense the pupil feeling for the notes and not always reaching them.

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Tobias Koch

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1795 Haydn – Trio in D major XV:24

Next up O care selve (first version)