German Dance in D, WoO 13 nr.1 (Orchestrated by Willem) (mp3)
Dance music pure and simple, WoO 13 was also written to please the untrained ear. This is good music, because it is exactly what it pretends to be, no more and no less. To be dismissive of it is to take a far too intellectual approach to music. Music is so much more than only an exercise for the brain. One may be correct in saying that it doesn't require the genius of a Beethoven to compose music like this; nevertheless the fingerprints of a real master can be detected in every of these little dances.
Written between 1792 and 1797, the version for orchestra is lost. Only the piano version, in the hand of a copyist, has survived. Like the other sets of dances, WoO 7, WoO 8, WoO 14 and possibly WoO 10, it was intended to provide music for the parties of the Viennese high society.
In dance music the attention is only partially focused on the music, it therefore requires the greatest simplicity in harmony and melody; a fact which is proven most cruelly every night in our discos. But Beethoven is too fine a musician to provide only a beat with some inarticulate noise. Within the highly confined structure of these German Dances, he gives just sufficient contrast to hold our attention, so that it is possible to listen to them even as absolute music.
Beethoven manages to do so in two ways. In the first place, contrast is provided by giving every new dance another key. The new tonic is either a fifth or a third removed from the previous one. Secondly, he gives each dance a slightly different character. No.1 starts with a crescendo, which serves well as introduction. The motoric No.3 contrasts with humor of No.4 (do note the big leap of 2 octaves, which foreshadows the opening of the Finale of the Second Symphony).
In No.5, the rather aloof and formal sound of the dance proper is contrasted with a sudden expression of feeling in its trio. No.6 employs mock-counterpoint. The very light No.8 contrasts with the somewhat heavier No.9. No.10 has a militaristic character, while the trio of No.11 is the only section in the minor key. No.12 has an extended coda, which breaks loose from the confinement of the dances.
All in all, it can be said that WoO 13 is demonstrative of that maxim by Goethe: "In der Beschraenkung zeigt sich der Meister", "In the (acceptance of) limitation(s), the master appears".
One must expect the present orchestration to be different from Beethoven's original one in almost every detail, with perhaps just a few exceptions. For example, it can be deduced from the horn-fifths in the left hand of the piano version of the trio of No.1, that it was originally intended for the French horns. In the trio of No.7 the melody notes can just be played by a pair of D-horns.
My orchestration wants to highlight the individual character of every dance. It has been kept deliberately light, in order to fit the general mood of the music, giving rise to many solos. No matter the differences in detail, the overall impresion of this orchestration should be close to Beethoven's original.
Orchestration by Willem. World premiere for the Unheard Beethoven site.
WoO: 13
Hess: 5