Musik zu einem Ritterballet

I actually find it harder to write about someone as famous, as ubiquitous, as towering a personality as Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). One thinks of him in the same vein as Shakespeare, Michelangelo, or Homer. Where to begin? What to draw from thousands of essays already devoted to the man and his works? At best, we try to discover a middleground between remaining speechless (words fail us in confronting creative geniuses who have altered history) and being long-winded (writing tome-like studies that attempt to comprehend everything).
Born in Bonn in 1770, Beethoven was a child prodigy who came of age in a world that had already experienced the wonders of Wolfgang and Nannerl Mozart. Beethoven’s father likely lied to make his precocious son seem even younger than he truly was, but the boy’s talent was real. Moreover, it was noted by important people. Among these was Count Waldstein, known to pianists, of course, as the dedicatee of the magnificent C-major Piano Sonata, Op. 53. Waldstein helped foster Beethoven’s path into the homes of the nobility, which lead to commissions, opportunities for travel, and eventually to sufficient funds to undertake a long-term relocation to Vienna, capital of the musical world. In his final year at Bonn, Beethoven provided music for a delightful ballet organized by Waldstein for the 1791 carnival season.
The Ritterballet, or Knight’s Ballet, was composed in late 1790 and represents Beethoven’s first contact with the stage. His only other ballet centers on The Creatures of Prometheus (1801). Lasting just 10 minutes, the Ritterballet celebrates simple, apparently universal pleasures and preoccupations: the hunt, war, drinking, and love. Beethoven opens with a buoyant March in D major followed by a charming German Song that carries an endearing lilt in its 2/4 meter. After each successive episode—a Hunting Song by the woodwinds, a B-minor Romance using pizzicato string quartet, a riotous War Song featuring timpani rolls, and a good-natured Drinking Song—Beethoven inserts the German Song as a timid refrain. One wonders if there was some specific choreography or stage direction that prompted this refrain. The ballet closes with a German Dance (waltz) and forceful Coda for full orchestra. It was not published during his lifetime, and there seems to have been no further performance during that era apart from the premiere. But the Ritterballet bore fruit by providing Beethoven an audience and an occasion to try his hand in large orchestral writing. This is not earth-shaking music, of course, but as the proverb says:

Es ist kein Baum, der nicht zuvor ein Sträuchlein gewesen.
Even the mightiest oak was once an acorn.

(c) Jason Stell