Woodwind Ensemble,Woodwind Quintet Bassoon,Clarinet,Flute,Horn,Oboe - Level 4 - Digital Download
SKU: A0.1088119
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Arranged by Ray Thompson. Classical. 12 pages. RayThompsonMusic #692364. Published by RayThompsonMusic (A0.1088119).
Arranged wind quintet. Horn Part in Bb basso ( same as Beethoven's )(alt Hn in F part provided) The Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93 is a symphony in four movements composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1812. Beethoven fondly referred to it as my little Symphony in F, distinguishing it from his Sixth Symphony, a longer work also in F.[1] The Eighth Symphony is generally light-hearted, though not lightweight, and in many places cheerfully loud, with many accented notes. Various passages in the symphony are heard by some listeners to be musical jokes. As with various other Beethoven works such as the Opus 27 piano sonatas and the later Ninth Symphony, the symphony deviates from Classical tradition in making the last movement the weightiest of the four.
This is my arrangement of the 2nd mvt. There is a widespread belief that this movement is an affectionate parody of the metronome, which had only recently been invented (or more accurately, merely improved) by Beethoven's friend, Johann Maelzel. Specifically the belief was that the movement was based on a canon called Ta ta ta... Lieber Maelzel, WoO 162, said to have been improvised at a dinner party in Maelzel's honor in 1812. However, there is no evidence corroborating this story and it is likely that WoO 162 was not written by Beethoven but was constructed after-the-fact by Anton Schindler. A more likely inspiration was the similar rhythmic parody of Joseph Haydn's Clock Symphony.
The metronome-like parody starts at the very beginning of the movement with even staccato chords in 16th-notes (semiquavers). This basic 16th-note rhythm continues fairly steadily through the piece. The tempo is unusually fast for a symphonic slow movement. Richard Wagner has argued that the third movement was intended as the slow movement of this symphony and that the second should be played as a scherzo.
