Symphony No. 4 on Beethoven's Sketches for the Tenth Symphony, Biamonti 838, by Adrian Gagiu, first movement
Based on Beethoven’s sketches for the Tenth Symphony in E flat major, Biamonti 838
Our sincere thanks to Romanian composer Adrian Gagiu for sharing with us his symphony based on Beethoven's sketches for the Tenth Symphony.
The sheet music for Adrian Gagiu's symphony no. 4 may be downloaded at: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/22137321
Composer Adrian Gagiu writes:
In 1822-1827, the fascinating Tenth Symphony (Biamonti 838) was one of Beethoven’s relatively advanced projects, along with the String Quintet in C major, Hess 41 (WoO 62), but still they both were at the beginning of their elaboration. The material is not quite abundant, and many secondary features in the concept sketches could have been modified, according to his working habits, should he have lived a few years more. For a true reconstruction, the sketches are too scarce, but most of them are too good to be left aside and very stimulating for a composer, especially for one whose formation is indebted to Beethoven and who is willing to pay him homage.
This is why, although I appreciate very much the conjectural style completions of some of his unfinished compositions by people like Barry Cooper (Tenth Symphony, first movement), Nicholas Cook (Sixth Fortepiano Concerto, first movement), William Kinderman (Fortepiano Trio in F minor, first movement), or Willem’s “Macbeth” Overture, I have chosen for my Fourth Symphony “Homage to Beethoven” (2003, revised 2021) a Neo-Classical idiom, an approach analogous to Stravinsky’s “The Fairy’s Kiss” (after Tchaikovsky). For such a work, the study of the sketches themselves and of the fundamental articles on Beethoven’s projects and sketches (by Barry Cooper, Sieghard Brandenburg, Robert Winter, Martin Staehelin, Nicholas Cook, and Lewis Lockwood) was a necessity, made possible through the Beethoven Bibliography Database at the Ira F. Brillliant Center for Beethoven Studies, San José State University (many thanks to director William Meredith and curator Patricia Stroh). After completing the first version, I have prepared at Mr. Meredith’s request a text presentation of it (on which this one is based), to be published in their “Beethoven Journal”. Then, in 2021, the symphony was heavily revised, mainly to make it terser and truer to the sketches and to Classical practices.
For this symphony, all the thematic material is Beethoven’s, and also the general outline, as much as the latter could be inferred from his sketches. In this revised version, I made use only of the sketches clearly identifiable as intended for the Tenth Symphony and thus dating from 1822 and later years (most of the themes of its corresponding movements), but also of a few other sketches, most of them contemporary or relatable (unused or intended for other compositions): in the continuation to the second subject group in the first movement, in the second strains of the Presto and of its Trio, and in the transitions and the episodes in the Finale. The symphony has 4 movements lasting now a total of 34 minutes and is scored for a normal concert orchestra, including 3 trombones. The revised version makes use also of a contrabassoon, to support the double basses and suggesting a stronger presence of the winds like in the “larger scale” concerts in the Classical era (usually with doubled winds).
In the first movement (Andante-Allegro-Andante), a nostalgic and spiritual theme in E flat treated in variations and similar to the slow movements of the Pathétique Sonata and the Ninth Symphony is enclosing a wild sonata form in C minor, 6/8. I used all the sketched variants of the themes, simultaneously or in contrapuntal combinations, and for the continuation of the secondary group in the Allegro (now beginning in G minor, and then in E flat in the recapitulation) I used a brief “Siciliana” from 1825, an unused sketch for the finale of the String Quartet Op. 131, and then several concept sketches possibly intended for the Tenth. Here, his strange verbal notation “ohne zweiter Theil” (without the second part) could only mean without repeat of the exposition, not without development and recapitulation. The development is entirely fugato, like in the finale of the Fortepiano Sonata Op. 101 and other late works, and is using all the main themes and different types of answers, up to a bi-tonal superposition of tonic and dominant harmonies (found in several of Beethoven's works). In the abbreviated return of the Andante at the end of the movement, a soft counterpoint in the strings reminds of the stormy Allegro rhythms, but is gradually relaxed.
In the second movement, a sonata-scherzo (Presto in C minor, 3/4), another form of the so-called “Fate” motif appears. For the second strain of the Presto I continued this sketch using also two melodies in D major and minor from 1815-1818 intended for the second movement of the Ninth Symphony. Another wild fugato development occurs, using all the themes and some surprises in dynamics, phrasing and thematic relationships. The main subject of this fugato is a contraction of the first Presto theme and thus its octave leap reminds also of the main Allegro theme in the first movement, meaning that the Presto was a return of the mood in the first Allegro but with no major contrasts. The Trio (in C major, 4/4) begins with Beethoven's “fanfare”, reminding of the G minor transition in the first movement, and its second strain makes use of a brooding “Dona nobis pacem” intended for a third Mass and a “Marcia” from 1825 as countermelodies. This escapism does not last, and after some strange modulations the modified reprise of the Presto outbursts. In its fugato development, the first Trio theme serves as a countersubject, consistent to a suggestion by Beethoven for entirely fugato scherzos.
The third movement begins as an introspective, varied prelude, Andante (2/4). The theme is made up of a motif in G minor from 1822 continued with a motif in A flat from 1825, both intended for the Tenth Symphony. Then, another “Dona nobis pacem” intended for a third Mass is used as countermelody, and the prelude ends in G major but modulates to the B flat of the following section, a soft fugue (Andante moderato, 4/4) intended for the Tenth in 1822 (in a way similar to the verbal memorandum of 1818). With its strict style, this fugue is the regeneration in the symphony, having a strong modal touch. Many forms of canons, stretti, free and double counterpoint, and canti fermi appear, and also some motivic development of the subject, with two countersubjects taken from the theme of the prelude. Hints to the introductory Andante theme from the first movement occur, and the sectional structure and tonal plan of the fugue look forward to the final Rondo, a mundane, full-light expression of its regained balance of spirit.
The main theme of the Finale (Allegro moderato, sonata-rondo in E flat, 3/4) is very similar to the Gratulationsmenuett WoO 3, although Professor Cooper wrote me that its eventual use by Beethoven in the finale of the Tenth would have been improbable, once realized in a lesser, publicized composition. Yet, besides the famous case of the “Prometheus” contradance in the “Eroica” Symphony, there are many other surprising instances of self-quoting and retrospective look in late Beethoven. Furthermore, I know of no other finale sketch for the Tenth and it contains a similarity with a beautiful motif from the Andante introduction to the first movement. I made short transitions extracted from WoO 3, a short “Alla autrichien” (sic) from 1823, and a thematically related, canonic sketch in C minor from SBH 680 or the so-called “De Roda Sketchbook” (1825), the latter suggested by Professor Cooper. In addition, I used the jolly Trio of WoO 3 as secondary theme or episode (first in A flat). After a variation of the main theme as sketched by Beethoven comes a central section, where the minuet theme re-appears condensed as the subject for a developmental fughetta, with the bass of the Andante introduction to the first movement as countersubject and with remembrances of the first movement’s C minor and the Fugue’s B flat. The modified recapitulation begins with the secondary theme in E flat, but after the reprise of the first theme a surprising codetta in D major widens the frame, containing a dramatic drum roll on E flat like in another late Beethovenian sketch, and brings back ff the bass of the Andante introduction to the first movement.
At this point the sketch says: “Komm, komm, nimm mich ab zur Verklärung” (Come, come, and raise me to transfiguration). Variants of the Andante theme in the first movement re-appear gently as variations (first in C major, which reminds of the first two movements). Then the minuet returns for the Coda proper (Allegro, ff) like in a sketch, but simultaneously with a “synthetic”, hymn-like version of the Andante theme adapted in triple time, like a spiritual background now conquered for all daylight activities.
Selected Bibliography
1. Brandenburg, S. 1984 – Die Skizzen zur Neunten Symphonie. In: Zu Beethoven 2 (Aufsätze und Dokumente), Verlag Neue Musik, Berlin: 88-129.
2. Cooper, B. 1985 – Newly Identified Sketches for Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony. Music & Letters 66 (1): 9-18.
3. Cooper, B. 1988 – The First Movement of Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony: A Realization. The Beethoven Newsletter 3 (2): 25-31.
4. Cooper, B. 1989 – Beethoven’s ‘Tenth’ (Letters to the Editor). The Musical Times 130 (1752): 61.
5. Cooper, B., Winter, R. 1992 – Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony (Correspondence). Journal of the Royal Musical Association 117 (2): 324-330.
6. Winter, R. 1991 – Of Realizations, Completions, Restorations and Reconstructions: From Bach’s The Art of Fugue to Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony. Journal of the Royal Musical Association 116 (1): 96-126.
7. Winter, R. 1995 – Symphony No. 10: First Movement by Ludwig van Beethoven, Barry Cooper (Review). Notes, Second Series 51 (4): 1459-1461.
Adrian Gagiu
November 2021
Biamonti: 838