Ears Wide Open Online | Beethoven Symphony No.7

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Beethoven Symphony No.7

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Program LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No.7 in A major, Op.92 (excerpts) Video excerpts of the MSO were recorded 19 March 2020 at Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Southbank Centre, with Benjamin Northey conducting.

Presenter Nicholas has always had a strong commitment to music education and community engagement. In 2010 he was awarded the Dame Roma Mitchell Churchill Fellowship to study the LSO’s iconic Discovery program and the use of improvisation in training classical musicians at the Guildhall School of Music.

NICHOLAS BOCHNER After training in Adelaide and London, Nicholas spent 3 years as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Queensland as part of the ensemble Perihelion, forging a strong reputation as an exponent of contemporary music. He joined the MSO as Assistant Principal Cello in 1998. Since then he has appeared as a soloist, chamber musician and recitalist. He has also taught cello and improvisation at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM).

In 2016, Nicholas’ considerable experience as an orchestral musician and his passion for communication led him to undertake a fellowship at ANAM where he developed, conducted and presented educational concerts for primary school children. During the fellowship he was mentored by Paul Rissmann, Graham Abbott and the legendary Richard Gill AO. Since then he has presented educational concerts for children and adults for MSO, ANAM and the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra.

In 2020 he was named the MSO’s Cybec Assistant Conductor for Learning and Engagement. He is also the conductor of the Melbourne University Biomedical Students’ Orchestra. In support of his work as an education presenter, Nicholas has been studying conducting with Benjamin Northey and won a coveted place at the TSO’s 2019 Australian Conducting Academy.

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Glossary Chromatic A musical scale that divides pitches into 12 individual tones, each separated by a half-tone.

Panharmonicon A mechanical musical instrument that could imitate various instruments and generate sound effects.

Coda A passage that brings a piece to an end.

Technically, it is an expanded cadence. It may be as simple as a few measures, or as complex as an entire section.

Scherzo Often refers to a movement that replaces the minuet as the third movement in a fourmovement work. It can also mean a very fast and upbeat section of classical music, often within a larger composition. Translated from Italian it literally means ‘jest’.

Crescendo The Italian musical term meaning a gradual increase in loudness.

Fortississimo A directive to play as loudly as possible; it is symbolised by ‘fff’.

Variation A technique where music material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these.

Quick Facts LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Beethoven was born in Bonn in 1770, but moved to Vienna at 22 to study with Haydn.

He remained there for the rest of his life.

Brought up in a musical family, Beethoven was truly on the cusp of the Classical tradition of Haydn and Mozart (he met them both and received lessons from Haydn), and the Romanticism of the 19th century.

He also represented a new way of life for a professional musician. Never a man to bow to aristocracy, Beethoven was able to break away from the ties of the court and make a living as a ‘freelance’ performer and composer. Without court confines, Beethoven could expand his musical horizons and write and perform for his own benefit.

Abridged from Justine Bashford. Symphony Australia © 2003

DID YOU KNOW? • Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 was premiered at a benefit concert for wounded soldiers in the immediate aftermath of Wellington’s victory over Napoleon. During the premiere, the piece was conducted by Beethoven himself.

• This piece has the longest slow introduction of all Beethoven’s symphonies.

• The theme for the last movement of this symphony first showed up in an arrangement of a British folk song.