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Beethoven: 11 Modlinger Dances / 12 German Dances / 12 Minuets

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Beethoven: 11 Modlinger Dances / 12 German Dances / 12 Minuets

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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) Eleven Dances / Modlinger Tanze, WoO 17 Twelve Contredanses / Zwolf Kontretanze, WoO 14 Twelve German Dances / Zwolf...

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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

Eleven Dances / Modlinger Tanze, WoO 17

Twelve Contredanses / Zwolf Kontretanze, WoO 14

Twelve German Dances / Zwolf deutsche Tanze, WoO 8

Twelve Minuets / Zwolf Menuette, WoO 7/p>

In 1792 Beethoven left his native city of Bonn to seek his fortune in the imperial capital, Vienna. Five years earlier his patron, the Archbishop of Cologne, a scion of the imperial family, had sent him to Vienna, where he had hoped to have lessons with Mozart. His plans were frustrated by the illness and subsequent death of his mother, which made it necessary to return to Bonn and before long to take charge of the welfare of his younger brothers. Beethoven's father, overshadowed by the eminence of his own father, Kapellmeister to a former Archbishop, had proved inadequate both as a musician and in the family, of which his son now took control.

As a boy Beethoven had been trained to continue family tradition as a musician and had followed his father and grandfather as a member of the archiepiscopal musical establishment. In 1792 he arrived in Vienna with introductions to various members of the nobility and with the otter of lessons with Haydn, from whom he later claimed to have learned nothing. There were further lessons from the Court Composer, Antonio Salieri, and from Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, and an initial career of some brilliance as a keyboard virtuoso. He was to establish himself, in the course of time, as a figure of remarkable genius and originality and as a social eccentric, no respecter of persons, his eccentricity all the greater for his increasing deafness. This last disability made public performance, whether as a keyboard-player or in the direction of his own music, increasingly difficult, and must have served to encourage the development of one particular facet of his music, stigmatised by hostile contemporary critics as "learned", the use of counterpoint.

It is a curious sociological fact that dance has so often assumed importance in society .In the later 18th century court dances were dominated by the elegant form of the minuet, a dance that Mozart, a former composer of court dance music in Vienna, had treated in a way befitting his genius. In the 19th century the position of the minuet was usurped by the waltz, with its greater opportunities for brief intimacy between partners. The contrivance, with its duple measure, had undoubted appeal also to the middle classes, while the so-called German dance from the villages of Bavaria and Austria provided the basis of the waltz itself.

Dance music for balls in Vienna was provided by composers of great contemporary distinction. In 1792 Haydn wrote a set of dances for the Artists' Pension Society Ball, followed in 1793 by the composer and publisher Leopold Kozeluch. In 1794 Dittersdorf and Mozart's friend Eybler wrote sets of dances for the ball, and in 1795 Beethoven provided a set of twelve minuets and twelve German dances, later to be listed as WoO 7 and WoO 8, for the same annual occasion. These sets of dances were intended for the smaller of the ball-rooms available, while the principal ball-room used music written for the occasion by Mozart's pupil S�ssmayr. Beethoven's dances make use of the usual modest orchestra, the tenth of the minuets allowing the brief appearance of the popular "Turkish" music of the time, identified with percussion and piccolo. A post-horn is heard in the coda, signalling the end of the set.

The Twelve Contredanses, WoO 14, were completed in 1802, making use of same earlier compositions of the same kind. The seventh and eleventh are used in the finale of the ballet-music for the dancer Salvatore Vigano's Creatures of Prometheus, staged at the Vienna Burgtheater in 1801. The Cantredanses were dedicated to Johann Baptist Friedrich, assistant to Dr. Johann Schmidt, the composer's doctor, who had at this time inspired Beethoven with new optimism about the possibility of a cure for his deafness.

The eleven Modlinger Tanze, WoO 17, were apparently written in 1819, although some have doubted their authenticity. Beethoven's assistant and biographer Schindler tells how the composer had retired to the country, to Modling, where he was occupied in the composition of the Missa Solemnis, for his patron and pupil, Archduke Rudolph. In answer to a request from a group of seven local musicians at the Gasthof "Zu den drei Raben" in the neighbouring village of Br�hl, he is said to have written a set of eleven dances.

In view of the state of his temper, as recorded by various visitors to Modling, that summer, this would have been unexpectedly obliging of him. Now virtually stone deaf, he complicated his stay there by the usual difficulties of his own making. Unreasonable quarrels with servants, leading to their abrupt departure, and with inn-keepers unable to provide exactly what he wanted, as the mood took him, punctuated his work on the great setting of the Mass. The parts of the so-called Modling Dances were discovered at the Thomasschule in Leipzig in 1905 and were published two years later. The original instrumentation was limited by the number of players, who nevertheless were able to turn their hands to more than one instrument each, switching, as occasion demanded, from wind to string instrument.

Capella Istropolitana

The Capella Istropolitana was founded in 1983 by members of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, at first as a chamber orchestra and then as an orchestra large enough to tackle the standard classical repertoire. Based in, Bratislava, its name drawn from the ancient name still preserved in the Academia Istropolitana, the orchestra works in the recording studio and undertakes frequent tours throughout Europe. Recordings by the orchestra on the Naxos label include The Best of Baroque Music, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, fifteen each of Mozart's and Haydn's symphonies as well as works by Handel, Vivaldi and Telemann.

Oliver Dohnanyi

Oliver Dohnanyi was born in 1955 and studied the violin, composition and conducting at the Bratislava Conservatory, in the Slovakian capital, pursuing further studies in Prague under Vaclav Neumann and others, and in Vienna under Otmar Suitner. He graduated in 1980 but had already established himself as artistic director of the Charles University Art Ensemble and the Canticorum lubilo chamber ensemble in Prague. He has won distinction in various competitions, including the Respighi Competition in Italy and international competitions in Budapest and Prague. From 1979 to 1986 Oliver Dohnanyi was conductor of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra in Bratislava and has appeared with major orchestras there, in Prague and in Hungary, as well as with the West Berlin Symphony Orchestra, and since 1986 has been principal conductor of the opera of the Slovak National Theatre. In addition to work with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, he has appeared as a guest conductor in the concert hall and in opera in France, Italy, Austria, the USSR, Cuba, East Germany, Bulgaria, Switzerland and elsewhere.

Disc 1

11 Dances, WoO 17, "Modlinger Tanze"

(more info)

Performed by: Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, L' Capella Istropolitana London Philharmonic Orchestra
Composed by: Ludwig van Beethoven
Conducted by: Oliver Dohnanyi Michi Gaigg Felix Weingartner

No. 1, Waltz - 1:26
No. 2, Minuet - 2:27
No. 3, Waltz - 1:21
No. 4, Minuet - 2:17
No. 5, Minuet - 2:13
No. 6, Landerer - 1:20
No. 7, Minuet - 2:14
No. 8, Landerer - 1:16
No. 9, Minuet - 2:17
No. 10, Waltz - 1:11
No. 11, Waltz - 1:24

12 Contredanses, WoO 14

(more info)

Performed by: Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, L' Capella Istropolitana Tapiola Sinfonietta
Composed by: Ludwig van Beethoven
Conducted by: John Storgards Oliver Dohnanyi Michi Gaigg
Jeno Jando, piano
Recording date: June 1989

No. 1 - 0:36
No. 2 - 0:46
No. 3 - 1:26
No. 4 - 0:41
No. 5 - 1:25
No. 6 - 1:39
No. 7 - 0:46
No. 8 - 0:41
No. 9 - 0:37
No. 10 - 1:09
No. 11 - 0:38
No. 12 - 2:16

12 German Dances, WoO 8

(more info)

No. 1 - 0:37
No. 2 - 1:26
No. 3 - 1:28
No. 4 - 1:27
No. 5 - 1:25
No. 6 - 1:35
No. 7 - 1:29
No. 8 - 1:24
No. 9 - 1:26
No. 10 - 1:26
No. 11 - 1:23
No. 12 - 3:38

12 Minuets, WoO 7

(more info)

Performed by: Capella Istropolitana Tapiola Sinfonietta
Composed by: Ludwig van Beethoven
Conducted by: John Storgards Oliver Dohnanyi
Recording date: June 1989

No. 1 - 2:10
No. 2 - 2:13
No. 3 - 2:07
No. 4 - 2:13
No. 5 - 2:07
No. 6 - 2:11
No. 7 - 2:14
No. 8 - 2:20
No. 9 - 2:10
No. 10 - 2:47
No. 11 - 2:24
No. 12 - 2:11

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Composer(s):
Beethoven, Ludwig van

Conductor(s):
Dohnanyi, Oliver

Orchestra(s):
Capella Istropolitana

Label: Naxos Classics
UPC: 730099543323
Item Number: 8550433
Release Date: May 14, 1991