Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36
Premiere: Vienna, April 5, 1803
2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings
*****
Adagio molto - Allegro con brio
Larghetto
Scherzo: Allegro
Allegro molto
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
Shortly after completing his first symphony in 1800, Beethoven began planning his second, but it was not composed for the most part until the summer and early fall of 1802. By then, Beethoven's problems with his hearing had become acute.That spring his doctors had sent him to Heiligenstadt, a quiet village away from the noise of Vienna, and it was there that he completed this symphony in October of 1802. Earlier that month, he had written his famous Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter of profound despair over his increasing deafness, in which he contemplated suicide. But this symphony is not a dark work. Indeed, sections of it have often been characterized as "sunny."Nonetheless, it proved to be somewhat more difficult for audiences than its predecessor.
The premiere took place at the Theater an der Wien, April 5, 1803 in a concert which also included the Symphony No. 1, Beethoven's oratorio Christus am Ölberge, and the Piano Concerto No. 3 with the composer as soloist. Response to the Second Symphony was mixed. Particularly difficult and controversial was the finale with its jagged, eccentric theme, but throughout the work Beethoven is pushing the Classical idiom beyond that of his first symphony. While there were those who felt that this was a great work that would outlive many of the more fashionable works of the day, there were also those who were put off by it. One critic wrote that Beethoven's "anxiety to achieve something novel and surprising was much too evident" and that "the whole thing is too long, and overly-artificial in places." The Finale was called "a repulsive monster, a wounded, tail-lashing serpent, dealing wild and furious blows as it stiffens into its death agony at the end."
The autograph of this symphony, like that of the First Symphony is lost, and there are no other manuscript sources for it. That means that, for this work as well as for its predecessor, we must rely on the earliest printed edition, which, although it was published during the composer's lifetime, was most likely prepared without his involvement or guidance. Since that early edition has been the basis of a long performing tradition, it is interesting to see recent efforts to take a fresh, critical look at that edition, at the apparent errors in it, and at the publisher's corrections.
Boston Baroque Performances
Symphony No. 2 in D Major, op. 36
February 27 & March 1, 2003
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor