#theferretgeneral

This is a collection of Beethoven’s thoughts on other composers as well as other composers’ thoughts on him. This list currently focuses on some of Beethoven’s contemporaries as of September 16, 2021. This will be updated in the future. There will be a second (and maybe more) post in the future containing many more composers I left out here. If anyone has any more information on these people, leave it below! If anyone knows any other composers’ thoughts on Beethoven or vice versa that I did not mention, please let me know! Also, please inform me if I have made any errors in this post.

(Post updated October 1 and October 20)

(https://images.app.goo.gl/kahgbDzLCf2TiYZi8)

Cherubini

(https://images.app.goo.gl/EYXAxNcoixbjrmjw9)

Beethoven on Cherubini

Beethoven and Cherubini met in Vienna in 1805. Beethoven loved Cherubini’s music and appropriated aspects of his style. When Beethoven was asked who, apart from himself, he thought was the greatest living composer, he paused a little startled and then said “Cherubini”. Beethoven had also said another time that Cherubini was “Europe’s foremost dramatic composer.”

Beethoven wrote to Cherubini in 1823, “I am enraptured whenever I hear a new work of yours and feel as great an interest an it as in my own works—in brief, I honor and love you.”

Beethoven loved Cherubini’s Requiem in C minor, he even wanted it performed at his funeral.

Beethoven sent Cherubini a letter around the time of writing his Missa Solemnis, but apparently Cherubini never got it.

Beethoven wrote to Cherubini, “I prize your works more than all others written for the stage.”

Beethoven said to Louis Schlasser, “Say all conceivable pretty things to Cherubini,—that there is nothing I so ardently desire as that we should soon get another opera from him, and that of all our contemporaries I have the highest regard for him.”

According to Seyfried, Beethoven said, “Among all composers alive Cherubini is the most worthy of respect. I am in complete agreement, too, with his conception of the ‘Requiem,’ and if ever I come to write one I shall take note of many things.”

(https://images.app.goo.gl/JUm1npSP3smEEeKMA)

Cherubini on Beethoven

Cherubini didn’t like Beethoven. He described Beethoven as “an unlicked bear cub” and said that his style was rough. He also said that Beethoven was “brusque.” He attended the first performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio and didn’t really like it.

Franz Joseph Haydn

(https://images.app.goo.gl/FtzwWobpnG1J8VUUA)

Beethoven on Haydn

Haydn was Beethoven’s teacher. He started teaching Beethoven in 1792. He was dealing with a teenage/young adult Beethoven, so Beethoven was obviously going to be difficult.

Beethoven was horrified when Haydn suggested that he write “pupil of Haydn” underneath his name on Op. 1 Piano Trios as a marketing trick. Beethoven felt that he learned nothing from Haydn so he did not write that he was a “pupil of Haydn” on Op. 1 Piano Trios.

Haydn suggested that Beethoven should not publish the third of the piano trios (C minor trio) because it would not have much public acceptance. Beethoven was offended at this remark because he believed that the third piano trio was the best of the set. He believed that Haydn envied the C minor trio.

This event clearly did not soil their relationship since Beethoven dedicated his next opus to Haydn.

On Haydn’s 76th birthday, Beethoven knelt down before Haydn and fervently kissed the hands and forehead of Haydn.

Ries said, “While composing Beethoven frequently thought of an object, although he often laughed at musical delineation and scolded about petty things of the sort. In this respect, “The Creation” and “The Seasons” were many times a butt, though without depreciation of Haydn’s loftier merits. Haydn’s choruses and other works were loudly praised by Beethoven.”

Beethoven said, “Do not tear the laurel wreaths from the heads of Handel, Haydn, and Mozart; they belong to them,—not yet to me.”

(https://images.app.goo.gl/4CZdMUYJb9zcWJaD9)

Haydn on Beethoven

Haydn had an interest of taking Beethoven on his second trip to London.

Haydn genuinely liked Beethoven’s compositions and wished the best for him. When they met for the first time, Beethoven showed him his WoO 87 (Cantatas on the Death of Emperor Joseph II) and WoO O88 (Elevation of Emperor Leopold II) and Haydn was very impressed.

Haydn wrote a letter to the Elector Max Franz and said that Beethoven would fill the position of the greatest musicians in Europe. He also said that he wished Beethoven could stay with him longer.

Haydn called Beethoven “Der große Mogul” behind his back. He was basically calling Beethoven “big shot.”

Beethoven’s friend Ferdinand Ries said this, “I knew [all of Beethoven’s teachers] well; all three valued Beethoven highly, but were also of one mind touching his habits of study. All of them said Beethoven was so headstrong and self-sufficient (selbstwollend) that he had to learn much through harsh experience which he had refused to accept when it was presented to him as a subject of study.”

Haydn said to Beethoven, “You have a lot of talent and you will acquire even more, a lot more. You have an inexhaustible abundance of inspiration, you will have thoughts no one else has had, you will never sacrifice your thoughts to tyrannical rule, but you will sacrifice the rules to your fantasies. You give me the impression of a man who has many heads, many hearts, many souls.” (I read this on the French Wikipedia so if the translation is iffy, I am very sorry)

Johann Nepomuk Hummel

(https://images.app.goo.gl/KHT78BgaKf4hnNRP9)

Beethoven on Hummel

For some time, Beethoven and Hummel were friends. However, after some incidents, they became less close.

Beethoven wished for Hummel to improvise at his memorial concert.

Hummel made keyboard arrangements of Beethoven’s works and Beethoven did not agree with it. He disliked the style of Hummel’s arrangements.

Beethoven and Hummel had two completely different piano playing philosophies. This caused them to butt heads many times.

According to Carl Czerny, Beethoven’s student, Beethoven’s fans thought that “Hummel lacked all real imagination, his playing was monotonous as a hurdy-gurdy, the application of his fingers was like a garden spider, and his compositions were mere arrangements of themes by Mozart and Haydn.”

Ignaz von Mosel, an Austrian court official, composer, and musician, commented on the differences between Beethoven’s and Hummel’s styles. He said, “Herr Louis van Beethoven, whose playing is marked by velocity, power and precision, even more by his compositions, while Herr Joh. Nepomuk Hummel’s is recognized by it’s order, clarity and grace.”

(https://images.app.goo.gl/CBU3vHFuu2iCt8D3A)

Hummel on Beethoven

Beethoven’s arrival in Vienna is said to have shattered Hummel’s self-confidence.

Hummel said about Beethoven, “I readily admit that today Ludwig is far superior to me as a composer. But probably not as a virtuoso at the piano.”

Beethoven was commissioned by Prince Nikolaus II Esterhazy to write a mass. Beethoven wrote his Mass in C and it was performed in Eisenstadt were Hummel was Kapellmeister. The performance did not go well and the prince made a comment behind Beethoven’s back which Hummel reportedly laughed at.

When Beethoven was one his deathbed, Hummel traveled all the way from Weimar to Vienna to see Beethoven. Hummel visited Beethoven three times on his death bed.

On Beethoven’s death bed, Hummel got Beethoven’s signature so Hummel could protect his compositions from illegal copying.

Hummel was present at Beethoven’s funeral. He was a pallbearer.

According to Czerny, Hummel’s fans “reproached Beethoven that he abused the fortepiano, that he was deficient in purity and clarity, that he, through the use of the pedal, only produced confused noise, that his compositions were far-fetched, unnatural, without melody and irregular.”

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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Beethoven on Mozart

Young Beethoven played Mozart’s piano concertos in Bonn and was heavily influenced by him. Young Beethoven once thought he accidentally plagiarized off Mozart. He wrote a passage in C minor and under it wrote, “This entire passage has been stolen from Mozart Symphony in C, where the Andante in 6/8 from the... [he stopped writing here].” He wrote the supposedly plagiarized passage below the text, however, no such passage was ever found in a Mozart symphony that we know of.

Beethoven meet Mozart in Vienna in 1787. According to Ignaz von Seyfried, this is what happened:

“Beethoven made a short stay at Vienna, in the year 1790, whither he had gone for the sake of hearing Mozart, to whom he had letters of introduction. Beethoven improvised before Mozart, who listened with some indifference, believing it to be a piece learned by heart. Beethoven then demanded, with his characteristic ambition, a given theme to work out; Mozart, with a sceptical smile, gave him at once a chromatic motivo for a fugue, in which, al rovescio, the countersubject for a double fugue lay concealed. Beethoven was not intimidated, and worked out the subject, the secret intention of which he immediately perceived, at great length and with such remarkable originality and power that Mozart's attention was rivetted, and his wonder so excited that he stepped softly into the adjoining room where some friends were assembled, and whispered to them with sparkling eyes: ‘Don't lose sight of this young man, he will one day tell you some things that will surprise you!”

You can read Hummel’s perspective on Mozart and Beethoven’s meeting here: https://www.henle.de/blog/en/2020/01/27/beethoven-meets-mozart/ (Warning! It’s long.)

Beethoven said Mozart had “a fine but choppy way of playing, no legato.”

Though he wasn’t exactly bashing Mozart’s operas, he believed that he would never write music to librettos with similar themes to Mozart’s. He said, “I need a text which stimulates me; it must be something moral, uplifting. Texts such as Mozart composed I should never have been able fo set to music. I could never have got myself into a mood for such licentious texts. I have received many librettos, but, as I said, none that met my wishes.”

I’m putting this quote I already showed in the Haydn part too: “Do not tear the laurel wreaths from the heads of Handel, Haydn, and Mozart; they belong to them,—not yet to me.”

Beethoven said, “I have always reckoned myself myself among the greatest admirers of Mozart, and shall do so till the day of my death.”

Beethoven said this to Cramer after hearing Mozart’s piano concerto in C minor: “Cramer! Cramer! We shall never be able to compose anything like that!”

Beethoven said according to Seyfried, “‘Die Zauberflöte’ will always remain Mozart’s greatest work, for in it he for the first time showed himself to be a great German musician. ‘Don Juan’ still has the complete Italian cut; besides our sacred art ought never permit itself to be degraded to the level of foil for so scandalous a subject.”

The Baronin Born asked Beethoven what his favorite Mozart opera was and he said it was ‘Die Zauberflöte.’

(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ludwig-van-Beethoven)

Mozart on Beethoven

When Mozart heard Beethoven play for the first time, he said, “Mark that young man, he will make a name for himself in the world.”

Mozart died shortly after Beethoven came to Vienna so they did not get to interact much.

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Second Part: https://theferretgeneral.tumblr.com/post/662537492215496704/beethoven-and-other-composers-part-two (Schubert and Rossini)

Third Part: https://theferretgeneral.tumblr.com/post/662710737497735168/beethoven-and-other-composers-and-musicians-part

Fourth Part: https://theferretgeneral.tumblr.com/post/669959288702337024/what-did-brahms-liszt-and-schumann-think-of

Sources:

Beethoven and Haydn: Their Relationship. ClassicFM. https://www.classicfm.com/composers/beethoven/guides/beethoven-and-haydn-their-relationship/

Did Beethoven Meet Mozart? ClassicFM, 6 March 2018. https://www.classicfm.com/composers/beethoven/guides/beethoven-and-mozart/

Haydn and Beethoven. Popular Beethoven. https://www.popularbeethoven.com/haydn-and-beethoven/

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) - Reproduktion eines Schabkunstblattes, vielleicht von Franz Wrenk. B 1618, Beethoven-Haus Bönn. https://www.beethoven.de/en/media/view/4767400939487232/Johann+Nepomuk+Hummel+%281778-1837%29+-+Reproduktion+eines+Schabkunstblattes%2C+vielleicht+von+Franz+Wrenk?fromArchive=4886601146564608

Jones, Rhys. Beethoven and the Sound of the Revolution in Vienna, 1792-1814. Cambridge University, 12 November 2014.

Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842) - Stich von Friedrich Wilhelm Bollinger. B 2383, Beethoven-Haus Bönn. https://www.beethoven.de/en/media/view/5065980724117504/Luigi+Cherubini+%281760-1842%29+-+Stich+von+Friedrich+Wilhelm+Bollinger?fromArchive=4886601146564608

Predota, Georg. Ludwig van Beethoven to His Fellow Musicians. Interlude, 22 September 2020. https://interlude.hk/ludwig-van-b-and-his-fellow-musicians/

Predota, Georg. Ludwig van Beethoven to His Fellow Musicians II. Interlude, 20 October, 2020. https://interlude.hk/ludwig-van-b-and-his-fellow-musicians-ii/

Salieri and Beethoven. Popular Beethoven. https://www.popularbeethoven.com/salieri-and-beethoven/

Seiffert, Wolf-Dieter. Beethoven meets Mozart. The genesis of Beethoven’s Mozart Variations WoO 40 according to Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s memoirs (first published). G. Henle Verlag, 27 January 2020. https://www.henle.de/blog/en/2020/01/27/beethoven-meets-mozart/

This is a third part to my list. I decided not to do this as a reblog and instead as its own separate post. I did not have much information for some of these people, so if anyone has any more information, please let me know! If there are any errors, also let me know!

(Updated October 1)

Antonio Salieri - Composer

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Beethoven on Salieri

Salieri was one of Beethoven’s teachers. Beethoven wanted to study with him mainly vocal composition.

Beethoven did not believe Salieri killed Mozart as rumors spread about Salieri’s possible, but highly unlikely, involvement in Mozart’s death. He knew his former teacher well so he did not believe in the rumors that were being spread.

Beethoven’s third violin sonata was dedicated to Salieri.

Beethoven composed variations on Salieri’s themes.

Beethoven asked Salieri to look over his score for Fidelio. Salieri gave him some recommendations, but Beethoven just kept the piece the same.

Beethoven complained about Salieri's presentation of a charity concert that played some of Beethoven’s music. Beethoven said, "Herr Salieri, being my most active opponent, played me a horrible trick"

Salieri was very anti-German. Beethoven made this ironic remark about him. He said, "Salieri, the Court Kapellmeister, who is all-powerful at court and a patriarch of his good intentions for German vocal music and German singers"

Salieri was at the performance of Beethoven’s Wellington’s Victory. Beethoven wrote a letter to the Wiener Zeitung thanking everyone involved with the performance including “a certain Kapellmeister, Salieri by name, who did not disdain to give the beat to the drums and cannonades”

Beethoven was very concerned about Salieri when Salieri was on his deathbed.

Beethoven liked joining in on gossip about Salieri’s unmarried daughters. (Any info on what the gossip was on?)

(https://images.app.goo.gl/jFh4C8jtagdjFpwH9)

Salieri on Beethoven

Beethoven’s friend Ferdinand Ries said this, “I knew [all of Beethoven’s teachers] well; all three valued Beethoven highly, but were also of one mind touching his habits of study. All of them said Beethoven was so headstrong and self-sufficient (selbstwollend) that he had to learn much through harsh experience which he had refused to accept that when it was presented to him as a subject of study.”

Salieri directed a benefit concert and allowed Beethoven to play one of his piano concertos at in March 1795.

Salieri conducted Beethoven’s music very often.

(Does anyone have any quotes from Salieri about Beethoven? Thanks in advance!)

Carl Maria von Weber - Composer, Pianist, Guitarist

(https://images.app.goo.gl/4zxnk48Yo5cGmNik8)

Beethoven on Weber

Beethoven respected Weber, however he did not like his music as much as he liked Cherubini’s music.

Beethoven’s opinion on Weber was originally negative, but he changed his opinions on him after Weber wrote his opera “Der Freischütz.”

Beethoven said, “Weber must now write operas, nothing but operas.”

Beethoven said that Weber was a “poor weak little mannikin.”

Beethoven said, “The little man, otherwise so gentle,—I never would have credited him with such a thing. Now Weber mist write operas in earnest, one after the other, without caring too much for refinement!”

Beethoven greeted Weber in October 1823 saying, “There you are, you rascal; you’re a devil of a fellow, God bless you!... Weber, you were always a fine fellow.”

According to Seyfried, Beethoven said, “Weber began to learn too late; art did not have a chance to develop naturally in him, and his single and obvious striving is to appear brilliant.” This is quite a strange remark considering Beethoven started playing at 5 and Weber did before he was 4.

According to Schindler, Beethoven said, “‘Euryanthe’ is an accumulation of diminished seventh chords—all little backdoors!”

(https://images.app.goo.gl/1Xa4dzESjs18wgh59)

Weber on Beethoven

Weber said that Beethoven was “ripe for the madhouse.” According to Schindler, Beethoven said this in reference to the remark: “If it amuses them to talk an write about me in that manner, let them go on.”

Weber published this satire about Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4, “I have just come from the rehearsal of a Symphony by one of our newest composers; and though, as you know, I have a tolerably strong constitution, I could only just hold out, and five minutes more would have shattered my frame and burst the sinews of my life. I have been made to caper about like a wild goat, and to turn myself into a mere fiddle to execute the no-ideas of Mr. Composer… The first violoncello (bathed in perspiration) says that for his part he is too tired to speak, and can recollect nothing like the warming he has had since he played in Cherubini’s last opera. The second violoncello is of opinion that the Symphony is a musical monstrosity, revolting alike to the nature of the instruments and the expression of thought, and with no intention whatever but that of mere show-off… First a slow movement full of short disjointed unconnected ideas, at the rate of three or four notes per quarter of an hour; then a mysterious roll of the drum and passage of the violas, seasoned with the proper quantity of pauses and ritardandos; and to end all a furious finale, in which the only requisite is that there should be no ideas for the hearer to make out, but plenty of transitions from one key to another—on to the new note at once! Never mind modulating!—above all things, throw rules to the winds, for they only hamper a genius.”

Weber eventually began to like Beethoven’s music. He started to play and conduct it.

Beethoven asked Julius Benedict to invite Weber to meet him at Baden when Weber was in Vienna. Weber accepted the invitation. Weber wrote, “[Beethoven] received me with the most touching affection; he embraced me at least six or seven times in the heartiest fashion and finally, full of enthusiasm, cried: ‘Yes, you are a devil of a fellow, a fine fellow!’”

Weber said this on how Beethoven treated him when they met, “We spent the noon hour together, very merrily and happily. This rough man actually paid court to me, served me at table carefully as though I were his lady, etc.“

Weber visited Beethoven in 1823 and asked him to look at the score of his opera Euryanthe. He wanted Beethoven to give him corrections in order to “redeem it from the unfortunate reception that its first performance had elicited.” Beethoven refused to look at it and said that the revisions should have been made before the opera had been performed.

Weber performed Beethoven’s Fidelio in Prague in 1814 and in Dresden in 1823.

Muzio Clementi - Composer, Pianist, Publisher, Piano Manufacturer

(https://images.app.goo.gl/WMoGX2VjD7vq9oiC6)

Beethoven on Clementi

Beethoven said, “They who thoroughly study Clementi, at the same time make themselves acquainted with Mozart and other composers; but the converse is not the fact.”

Both of them ate at the same restaurant in Vienna called “The Swan.” They saw each other there, but never really interacted despite both of them liking each other’s music.

Beethoven’s themes in his music sometimes resemble those of Clementi’s. Some biographers of Clementi have pointed this out.

Beethoven loved Clementi’s sonatas and sonatinas. He even wanted his nephew Karl to play the pieces. According to Anton Schindler, “[Beethoven] had the greatest admiration for these sonatas, considering them the most beautiful, the most pianistic of works, both for their lovely, pleasing, original melodies and for the consistent, easily followed form of each movement. The musical education of his beloved nephew was confined for many years almost exclusively to the playing of clementi sonatas.”

Schindler also had this to say, “Among all the masters who have written for piano, Beethoven assigned to clementi the very foremost rank. He considered his works excellent as studies for practice, for the formation of a pure taste, and as truly beautiful subjects for performance.”

(https://images.app.goo.gl/MHv5ErKa8hRejqUQ9)

Clementi on Beethoven

Clementi was a music publisher in London. He helped Beethoven spread his music to English audiences.

(If anyone has any more info and could give it to me, it would be greatly appreciated!)

Johann Sedlatzek/Sedlaczek - Flautist

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Beethoven on Sedlatzek

Beethoven called Sedlatzek “a most distinguished artist.”

In a letter to Rodophle Kreutzer, he wrote, “To Monsieur Kreutzer,

Sir! This is with hope that you favor your old friend, I dare to recommend to you the bearer of this letter, Monsieur Sedlatzek, a most distinguished Artist, and am begging you not to refuse him ... I take this time to testify my friendship and perpetual consideration. Sir!

Your very humble servant, L v. B”

In a letter to Cherubini, Beethoven wrote, “To Monsieur Cherubini,

Sir! The bearer of this letter, Monsieur Sedlatzek, ardently desires to pay you his tribute. I am convinced of his esteem as an Artist worthy of my name, and hope for a favorable welcome from you. Accept him with the highest assurance and the same consideration with which I have been honored. Sir!

Your very humble servant, L v. B”

Beethoven had Sedlatzek as his principal flautist at the premier of his 9th symphony.

Sedlatzek was one of Beethoven’s closest friends. He was apart of his inner circle that also included Czerny, Lincke, Schlesinger, and Schuppanzigh.

(https://images.app.goo.gl/aehYyQKzGweJVSnPA)

Sedlatzek on Beethoven

Sedlatzek had played Beethoven’s music. As I mentioned earlier, he was the principal flautist for Beethoven’s premier of the ninth symphony.

Sedlatzek visited Beethoven’s house on September 11, 1825. The conductor Sir George Thomas Smart wrote, “... most of the company departed [after the performance], but Schlesinger invited me to stop and dine with the following party of ten. Beethoven, his nephew (Karl), Holz, Weiss, C. Czerny, who sat at the bottom of the table, Lincke, Jean Sedlatzek- a flute player who is coming to England next year and has letters from the Duke of Devonshire, Count St. Antonio, etc.- he has been to Italy- Schlesinger, Schuppanzigh, who sat at the top, and myself.”

Sedlatzek died in 1866 and was buried next to Beethoven.

(More info would be appreciated! Quotes are especially needed.)

Niccolò Paganini - Violinist, Violist, Guitarist, Composer

Beethoven on Paganini

According to Eric Schissel, Paganini and Beethoven had corresponded. (Any more info on this?)

Despite being his contemporary, the two never met in real life.

Wikipedia says that Beethoven “had well-known fallings out with [it lists some people like Haydn] and the Italian violinist Niccolò Paganini.” (Does anyone have any information on this? I would greatly appreciate it.)

(https://images.app.goo.gl/aehYyQKzGweJVSnPA )

Paganini on Beethoven

Paganini wanted to go to Vienna to commission a piece from Beethoven, but by time he arrived to do so, Beethoven was dead.

Paganini also wanted to purchase all of Beethoven’s string quartets before going to Vienna.

Paganini studied Beethoven’s music a great deal and had loved it very much.

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Part I (Cherubini, Haydn, Hummel, Mozart)

Part II (Schubert, Rossini)

Part III (You’re here!)

Part III (Brahms, Liszt, Schumann)

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What composers and/or musicians would you like to see added to this list? I’ll do another part featuring more of Beethoven’s contemporaries. I’ll also do another part featuring Beethoven’s opinions on his predecessors and one about his successors’ opinions on him (Which one would you like to see first? Predecessors or successors?).

I’ll move on to another composer soon. If there are any that you are dying to see, tell me and I’ll write about them first!

Sources:

BBC Magazine. Weber, Carl Maria von. Classical Music, 29 May 2012. https://www.classical-music.com/composers/carl-maria-von-weber/

Beethoven 250: A visit with Carl Maria von Weber. CSO SOUNDS & STORIES, 24 March 2020. https://csosoundsandstories.org/beethoven-250-a-visit-with-carl-maria-von-weber/

Caeyers, Jan. Beethoven A Life. University of California, 2009.

Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) - Stahlstich von Carl Mayer, Nürnberg, wohl nach einem Gemälde von Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein aus dem Jahr 1823, erschienen bei Schuberth und Niemeyer in Hamburg und Itzehoe, um 1830. B 1378, Beethoven-Haus Bonn. https://www.beethoven.de/en/media/view/5785332414939136/Carl+Maria+von+Weber+%281786-1826%29+-+Stahlstich+von+Carl+Mayer%2C+N%C3%BCrnberg%2C+wohl+nach+einem+Gem%C3%A4lde+von+Carl+Christian+Vogel+von+Vogelstein+aus+dem+Jahr+1823%2C+erschienen+bei+Schuberth+und+Niemeyer+in+Hamburg+und+Itzehoe%2C+um+1830?fromArchive=4886601146564608

de Saint-Foix, Georges and M. D. Herter Norton. Clementi, Forerunner to Beethoven. Oxford University Press, 1931.

“Insignificant Moments in History: Beethoven Meets Clementi.” Youtube, Soundfly, 22 December 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQBNUHzeCG4

Lindsay, Curtis. “Did Beethoven influence Clementi stylistically? What was Clementi’s opinion on him?” Quora, 25 August 2017. https://www.quora.com/Did-Beethoven-influence-Clementi-stylistically-What-was-Clementi%E2%80%99s-opinion-of-him

Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) - Stich von Thomas Hardy nach einem eigenen Gemälde. B 1988, Beethoven-Haus Bonn. https://www.beethoven.de/en/media/view/6139104072826880/Muzio+Clementi+%281752-1832%29+-+Stich+von+Thomas+Hardy+nach+einem+eigenen+Gem%C3%A4lde?fromArchive=4886601146564608

Only Connect - Niccolò Paganini <> Ludwig van Beethoven. National Portrait Gallery. https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2011/only-connect-display/only-connect/nicolo-paganini/only-connect-nicolo-pagnini-ludwig-van-beethoven

Predota, Georg. At the Center of the Musical Universe Antonio Salieri. Interlude, 18 March 2020. https://interlude.hk/center-musical-universe-antonio-salieri/

Predota, Georg. Ludwig van Beethoven and His Fellow Musicians II. Interlude, 20 October 2020. https://interlude.hk/ludwig-van-b-and-his-fellow-musicians-ii/

(https://images.app.goo.gl/JrAgFS6weEXB3VnP7)

First species counterpoint is the simplest of all counterpoint. It consists of:

- Two or more voices (Only one for now)

- Notes of the same length

- Only consonances

To make sure we understand these terms, let’s review!

Consonances and Dissonances

There are two types of intervals: Consonant intervals and dissonant intervals. Consonances can be divided up into two sections: Perfect and imperfect. Perfect consonances are completely stable and pure. They consist of unisons, fifths, and octaves.

Imperfect consonances are less stable, but still consonant. They consist of thirds and sixths.

Dissonances are unstable and discordant. They consist of seconds and sevenths.

Fourths are a bit tricky. Sometimes they’re consonant and sometimes they’re dissonant.

Rules

In first species counterpoint, we are only allowed to use unisons, thirds, fifths, sixths, and octaves. We must start and end with a perfect consonance (unison, fifth, or octave). It is recommended that we use imperfect consonances in our counterpoint (except for the first and last note which must be a perfect consonance), though perfect consonances are acceptable.

When one moves into a perfect consonance, we must do so in contrary motion (two voices move in opposite directions).

Oblique motion (one voice moves while the other does not) and especially contrary motion should be employed as often as possible so we can more easily avoid mistakes.

A cantus firmus (A pre-written melody. See picture below) will be given. It will consist of only whole notes. One must write another voice above OR below the cantus firmus on a different staff. The voice you write is the counterpoint.

(It is not required, but it is helpful to label intervals between each voice.)

A cantus firmus written by Johann Joseph Fux in his book “Gradus ad Parnassum”:

(Notes if unreadable: D, F, E, D, G, F, A, G, F, E, D)

Example of counterpoint given by Fux:

(The numbers above the bottom staff are the intervals. The numbers above the top staff are the measure numbers.)

Remember the rules:

- Only consonances are allowed.

- One must begin and end on a perfect consonance (unison, fifth, octave).

- One must try to move as often as possible in contrary motion and oblique motion to make the voices sound independent from each other.

- No augmented or diminished intervals are allowed.

- No jumps greater than a fifth (except for the octave and minor sixth which should only be employed in an upward direction)

- Large jumps should try to be “recovered” so things don’t sound discombobulated (See example).

(The jump of an octave F to another F is “recovered” by “filling in the gap” afterwards.)

If there are any errors or anything I should add, please let me know! Thanks!

Sources:

Fux, Johann Joseph. Gradus ad Parnassum. Translated by Alfred Mann, W. W. Norton & Company, 1965.

“How to Compose 1:1 Counterpoint.” Youtube, uploaded by Jacob Gran, 31 March 2020, https://youtu.be/b5PoTBOj7Xc