Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) was a German
composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most
admired composers in the history of Western music; his
works rank among the most performed of the classical
music repertoire and span the transition from the
Classical period to the Romantic era in classical
music. His career has conventionally been divided into
early, middle, and late periods. His early period,
during which he forged his craft, is typically
considered to have lasted until 1...(+)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) was a German
composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most
admired composers in the history of Western music; his
works rank among the most performed of the classical
music repertoire and span the transition from the
Classical period to the Romantic era in classical
music. His career has conventionally been divided into
early, middle, and late periods. His early period,
during which he forged his craft, is typically
considered to have lasted until 1802. From 1802 to
around 1812, his middle period showed an individual
development from the styles of Joseph Haydn and
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is sometimes characterized
as heroic. During this time, he began to grow
increasingly deaf. In his late period, from 1812 to
1827, he extended his innovations in musical form and
expression.
Beethoven was born in Bonn. His musical talent was
obvious at an early age. He was initially harshly and
intensively taught by his father, Johann van Beethoven.
Beethoven was later taught by the composer and
conductor Christian Gottlob Neefe, under whose tutelage
he published his first work, a set of keyboard
variations, in 1783. He found relief from a
dysfunctional home life with the family of Helene von
Breuning, whose children he loved, befriended, and
taught piano. At age 21, he moved to Vienna, which
subsequently became his base, and studied composition
with Haydn. Beethoven then gained a reputation as a
virtuoso pianist, and was soon patronised by Karl
Alois, Prince Lichnowsky for compositions, which
resulted in his three Opus 1 piano trios (the earliest
works to which he accorded an opus number) in 1795.
The Romance for violin and orchestra No. 2 in F Major,
Op. 50, is the second of two such compositions by
Ludwig van Beethoven. It was written in 1798 but not
published until 1805 (by which time Beethoven had
completed and published the other work, Romance No. 1
in G Major, Op. 40). The accompaniment is for flute and
a pair each of oboes, bassoons and horns, with strings.
This, his second Romance, ‘the most high and noble
feelings are here so easy as to be compared with a
beautiful person who succeeds in everything he tries’
(Mattheson). Beethoven, arch lyricist, his
particularisation of title (rare but not unknown—most
obviously the slow movement of Mozart’s D minor
Concerto, a work he admired, played and composed
cadenzas for) harking back to an unfinished boyhood
Romance cantabile (piano, flute, bassoon) written in
Bonn in 1786—an emotionally awakening fragment. Less
Haydn’s swarthy ‘Grand Mogul’ than a man of
yielding countenance enamoured with a young countess
arrived from Trieste. Julie Guicciardi, la bella
Guicciardi, turning seventeen, hair dressed à la
Titus. ‘I’m out and about again, among people …
[my change of life] brought about by a dear charming
girl who loves me and whom I love. After two years, I
am again enjoying some blissful moments, and it is the
first time that—that I feel marriage might bring me
happiness. But unfortunately she is not of my
station—and now—now I certainly could not marry.’
(16 November 1801).
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_No._2_(Beethoven
)).
Although originally written for Flute, Oboes, Bassoons,
Horns & Strings, I created this Arrangement of the
Romance in F Major (Op. 50 No. 2) for Piano & Small
Orchestra (Flutes, Oboes, English Horns, French Horns,
Bassoon, Violins, Violas, Cellos).
