Pick up Beethoven’s famous and representative works!
Ludwig van Beethoven created innovative music that served as a bridge from the Classical to the Romantic era, leaving a profound influence on later generations.
His music is passionate yet rich in beautiful melodies, and it conveys a sense of essential depth, as if pursuing things to their very core.
There are many masterpieces that everyone has heard at least once, such as “Fate” (Symphony No.
5) and “Für Elise.”
In this article, we’ve picked out some of Beethoven’s famous and representative works.
Why not immerse yourself in the music of Beethoven, one of the great composers?
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[Beethoven] Pick-Up of Famous and Representative Works (71–80)
Beethoven, String Quartet No. 14, Budapest Quartet (1961) Beethoven String Quartet No. 14Ludwig van Beethoven
This string quartet, famous as one of Beethoven’s early masterpieces, is extremely delicate.
While it lacks the boldly lyrical, full-throated passages later known as hallmarks of Beethoven’s style, it still conveys a distinctly Beethovenian character—like the gradual arrival of autumn from afar—evoking a bright and beautiful landscape.
Der glorreiche Augenblick Cantata “The Glorious Moment” Op. 136Ludwig van Beethoven
As a so-called hidden gem, the piece “The Glorious Moment” is actually quite well known, but the circumstances of its creation are not widely known among Japanese people.
In 1814, at the Congress of Vienna convened after Austria’s victory in the Napoleonic Wars, delegations from across Europe gathered.
It was then that Beethoven, in celebration of his homeland Austria’s triumph, “composed for this congress” the cantata Der glorreiche Augenblick, Op.
136.
Although the work is in fact strongly political, it is a very important piece within Beethoven’s output for its attempt to fuse vocal and orchestral forces.
Some even say that without this work, the Ninth Symphony would never have been born.
The Consecration of the House, Op. 124 (Dedication Ceremony)Ludwig van Beethoven
The Consecration of the House holds a very important place among Beethoven’s works; it is the only overture he wrote in the 1820s and also his last piece composed for purely orchestral forces.
It is the overture to a festival play composed for the opening of a newly built theater in Vienna, and its premiere on October 3 coincided with the name day of Emperor Francis II.
Ecossaise in E-flat major, WoO 86Ludwig van Beethoven
Although it is very well known as a piano practice piece, this song—whose beautiful melody and rhythms and tunes that intersect between bright, light passages make it popular among children—is actually a work by Beethoven.
There used to be many pieces that famous pianists, both in Japan and abroad, performed as well,
Kriegerchor: We build and die (Warriors’ Chorus: “We build and then die”)Ludwig van Beethoven
Kriegerchor: Wir bauen und sterben (Warriors’ Chorus: “We Build and We Die”) is one of the four numbers from the 1815 incidental music Leonore Prohaska, WoO 96.
Its opening unfolds in a way that evokes melodic metal, making it a classical piece you’ll definitely want to hear in a metal arrangement at least once!
Rondo a Capriccio, Op. 129 “Rage Over a Lost Penny (Die Wut über den verlorenen Groschen)”Ludwig van Beethoven
Long known as “The Rage Over a Lost Penny (Die Wut über den verlorenen Groschen),” Beethoven’s piano piece Rondo a Capriccio in G major, Op.
129 actually bears the formal title “Rondo alla ingharese quasi un capriccio.” Composed relatively early, around 1795, it was also published posthumously.
It is hugely popular with audiences, but difficult to perform due to its very rapid passages, extensive modulation and development, and widely spanning right-hand arpeggios.
With that in mind, please enjoy a performance by the genius Evgeny Kissin.
Vesta’s Fire (unfinished), opera, Hess 115 (Vestas Feuer)Ludwig van Beethoven
“Vestas Feuer” (The Fire of Vesta) is an opera that Beethoven began composing in 1803 at the request of Emanuel Schikaneder, the manager of a theater in Vienna.
He completed up to Act 2, but the work remained unfinished due to Schikaneder’s resignation.
After Beethoven’s death, the autograph manuscript was discovered in 1953, and the work was published with additional completion by Willy Hess, a noted scholar of Beethoven’s unfinished compositions.