THE STORY BEHIND: Beethoven's Symphony No.2

Title: Symphony No.2, op.36, in D major

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Last time performed by the Rhode Island Philharmonic: Last performed January 18, 2014 with Larry Rachleff conducting. This piece is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings.

The Story: Completed in the same year as the first Romance, Beethoven’s Second Symphony is evidence of the ability of artists to immerse themselves in their art as a way to soar above personal circumstances. “I live only in my notes,” he wrote to a friend, “and with one work barely finished, the other is already started; the way I now write I often find myself working on three, four things at once.” Inescapably aware of his advancing deafness, his energy for work and for life was limitless, and in his Second Symphony, he has created an expansive exploration of optimism.

This is not a lightweight work, however. It begins with a Haydn-like slow introduction that portends the scope of things to come. After several dramatic moments, some of which (like a startling fortissimo unison in D minor) may remind us of jagged gestures found in his Ninth Symphony, the introduction glides effortlessly into high spirits and intense joy.

The ensuing larghetto features a string of melodies, often involving lush-sounding clarinets, while the third movement is a scampering scherzo (his first use of the word in a composition), characterized by quick shifts of register, dynamics, and instrumental color. The last movement opens with a bumptious “hiccupping” theme (could Beethoven be giving us a sense of what his infamous digestive problems might have felt like?) that almost imperceptibly propels us to a thoroughly rousing finale.

Program Notes by Jamie Allen © 2024 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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