Music and Friends: Or, Pleasant Recollections of a Dilettante

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

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text excerpt

At the Philharmonic Concert, June 3rd, 1837, I heard Beethoven's symphony, 'The Eroica,' and, in the estimation of that learned body, it was never played with more success. The night was mild, after the seven months' dreary weather, and the instruments were no longer restricted by the cold, but vibrated pleasantly ; so much does the state of the atmosphere affect and operate upon musical sounds. This symphony is even a more powerful display of the author's imagination than that of the Pastorale. He wrote it in honour of Bonaparte, and intended to call it the Sinfonia de Napoleon ; but, the Consul assuming the imperial robe, Beethoven said he was no better than the rest of the tyrants that had preceded him, and changed the title to that of the 'Death of a Hero.' The performance occupied nearly an hour, during which a dead silence was preserved by the audience, excepting the applause that took place at the end of each movement.

excerpt from 'Music and Friends: Or, Pleasant Recollections of a Dilettante' pp. 684 (162 words)

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1434800483036