The Premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth and Sixth Symphonies
22nd December 1808
Venue: Theater an der Wien
Beethoven is a genius par excellence .. a composer who broke the barriers shattering the classical period shackles and ushering the Romantic age in music [Who would have started a symphony with those two earth splitting E flat Major chords for his Third - The Eroica?].
On this day, was he a smart concert planner? Difficult to answer this question.
I would have given my right arm to be in that concert and that premiere.
As providence would have it, I can imagine the frustration of the Maestro when he found, apart from his deafness, a cold and bored audience in that concert hall in response to two of the greatest symphonies of the Romantic Period.
The concert began at 1830 hours and with a break was to last for about four hours. Beethoven was trying the patience of those attending. He crammed the program in this fashion as this was the first major concert solely covering his works in almost six years. Emanuel Schikanaeder was that aristocrat who sponsored this concert. The program was to begin with Pastoral Symphony in F Major followed by Ah! Perfido for voice and orchestra; then Gloria from his Mass in C Major; this was then followed by Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major. Beethoven was the soloist and conductor. Welcome break after that. The other side of the interval had Symphony No. 5 in C Minor and the program concluded with the Credo from the same Mass and Choral Fantasy for piano, choir and orchestra.
He was a superhuman but the people in the audience were obviously not. The whole concert was a disaster and the orchestra players may have been grinding their teeth after it was all over.
An important factor that some people ignore besides such a taxing concert program schedule was that there was no dedicated concert hall in Vienna in 1808. This meant that concerts were to take place in theatres when their normal business took a break during Lent and Advent periods.
Another unfortunate thing that happened for Beethoven was that people were more interested in attending the performance of Haydn's Il Ritornio di Tobia Oratorio at the Burgtheater as it was to take place on that same day.
So, the concert was over by 2230 hours.
I would have loved it and would have been swooning by the end of it!
The sad slice of irony is that Beethoven's divine output went on ears in the same way as it would have been when casting pearls before swine!
