Ludwig van Beethoven

Written while he concealed his failing hearing, the piece's dark introduction and turbulent tempo capture the anxiety of that period.

• The heavy, slow chords of the first movement's introduction (Grave) stand in stark contrast to the fast, turbulent section that follows, and this contrast creates the tension running through the entire piece.
• The singing, flowing melody of the second movement (Cantabile) is one of Beethoven's best-known tunes, with the right hand carrying the melody over a quietly rippling accompaniment in the left.
• In the third-movement rondo, the darkness of the first movement fades and lightness returns, and how a performer sustains this shift is a point where interpretations diverge.
• If one listens closely for the moment the opening Grave returns midway through the piece, one can sense that the darkness has not entirely vanished.

Dedicated to his pupil and beloved, Giulietta Guicciardi, the piece carries the feeling of a love that could not be fulfilled.

• True to its marking "quasi una fantasia," the first movement departs from conventional sonata form, laying a restrained melody over calm, unfolding arpeggios that spread each chord tone by tone.
• The nickname ‘Moonlight’ was given not by Beethoven but by a later critic; the piece itself has a far more intimate and darker character.
• The third movement, ‘Presto agitato,’ bursts forth in stark contrast to the calm of the first, and with its rapid finger work and forceful dynamics, it is regarded as one of the most demanding pieces even among performers.
• Hearing the extreme emotional shift from the first movement to the third as a single continuous arc is key to appreciating this piece.

A work he had intended to dedicate to Napoleon, it carries both his disillusionment at Napoleon's betrayal and a new question about what a hero should be.

• The first movement, nearly twice the length of any previous symphony movement, condenses the energy of the entire work into just two short opening chords.
• The second movement, a slow, heavy funeral march evoking a procession, depicts the hero's death and mourning.
• The dissonant chord that appears midway through the first movement's development was heard by audiences of the time as shockingly radical, and even today, how sharply a conductor brings out the tension of this passage marks a fork in interpretation.
• The passage where three horns sound together offers a thickness of brass sonority rarely heard in symphonies before this, sounding like a signal of a new era.

Written as he was losing his hearing entirely, the work distills into music his will to move from darkness toward light.

• The four-note rhythm—"short-short-short-long"—that governs the entire work has come to be described as "fate knocking at the door," though this is an anecdote never confirmed in Beethoven's own words.
• The first movement weaves the entire movement tightly from this single four-note motif alone, and part of the pleasure lies in tracing where and how this rhythm changes shape.
• The passage from the third movement into the fourth flows without pause (attacca), its low, simmering tension gradually swelling until it bursts into release with the opening C-major chord of the fourth movement.
• The trombones, appearing for the first time in the fourth movement, were an unusual addition for a symphony of that era, lending the sense of triumph even greater weight.

Premiered that same year alongside the Fifth, this work fully reveals his nature, one that sought solace in the natural world.

• Each movement carries a title such as ‘awakening of cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside’ or ‘scene by the brook,’ so the composer himself made clear what he meant to depict.
• Near the end of the second movement, the flute, oboe, and clarinet imitate, in turn, the calls of the nightingale, quail, and cuckoo — a passage that stands out clearly to the ear.
• The fourth movement, ‘Thunderstorm,’ is famous for its vivid depiction of thunder through trembling tremolo in the low strings and timpani, and of lightning through sharp figures in the winds.
• After the storm passes, the pastoral melody that returns to calm in the fifth movement sounds like a song of gratitude to nature.

The story of a couple striving to escape an unjust imprisonment, it channels his convictions about freedom and justice into his only opera.

• Among the several overtures he revised, the ‘Leonore Overture No. 3’ is beloved as a standalone concert piece and has a dramatic structure distinct from the opera’s actual overture.
• ‘O welche Lust’ in act 2 is the scene where the imprisoned men are briefly released to sing in sunlight — a moment when pent-up emotion breaks free.
• The trumpet call in the final scene, where the heroine Leonore, disguised as a man, rescues her husband, has become a symbol announcing the moment of salvation.

His final symphony, completed after he had lost his hearing entirely, proclaimed in music the love of humanity found in Schiller’s poem.

• The ‘Ode to Joy’ theme that appears in the fourth movement begins in the low strings and swells outward step by step until it fills the whole orchestra — and that very spread sounds like the message expanding from the individual to all humanity.
• Including soloists and chorus in a symphony was an unprecedented move at the time, and it greatly expanded what a symphony could become thereafter.
• At the premiere, Beethoven, totally deaf, is said to have kept standing without realizing the performance had ended, until a soloist turned him around so he could see the audience’s applause with his own eyes.
• The contrast between the slow, meditative melody of the third movement and the explosive joy of the fourth is central to the experience of hearing this work.

A work distilling the intimate contemplation of his late years, written as he, worn down by the troubles with his nephew, immersed himself in music alone.

• Its structure of seven movements played without pause (attacca) was radical for its time, and the work’s intent comes alive when heard as one long, continuous flow.
• The first movement opens with a quiet, introspective fugue, and Schubert is said to have heard it and marveled, ‘what more is left for us to write after this?’
• In the variation movement toward the end, a simple theme branches into variations of utterly different character, and among performers this passage is known to be especially difficult to keep in ensemble.
• The final movement’s fierce close draws a strong contrast with the contemplative movements before it, bringing the work to an end.