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It is one of the earliest works of Beethoven's "middle" period. Beethoven wrote the Second Symphony without a standard minuet; instead, a scherzo took its place, giving the composition even greater scope and energy. The scherzo and the finale are filled with Beethovenian musical jokes, which shocked the sensibilities of many contemporary critics.
It is also tonally subtle, making use of the tensions between the key centres of A, C and F. For instance, the first movement is in A major but has repeated episodes in C major and F major. In addition, the second movement is in A minor with episodes in A major, and the third movement, a scherzo, is in F major. [11]
The second movement is a minuet with trio, rather than the scherzo with repeated trio that Beethoven used most often in his works starting with his second symphony. The trio evokes a musette with its melodies over sustained tonic (here, A) tones. It partly reuses Beethoven's Allemande WoO 81.
J. W. N. Sullivan said that the first movement expresses Beethoven's courage in confronting deafness; the second movement, slow and dirge-like, communicates his despair; the third movement, the scherzo, is an "indomitable uprising of creative energy"; and the fourth movement is an exuberant outpouring of energy. [41]
The second episode begins in A ♭ minor and modulates to E major. With the final return of the main theme, the accompaniment becomes richer and takes on the triplet rhythm of the second episode. There is a brief coda. Second movement MIDI rendition, 5:03 minutes, 12 KB
The slow movement of Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 uses the A–B–A–B–A form found in the 3rd movement of Beethoven's piece and takes various figurations from it. [ 73 ] In the opening notes of the third movement of his Symphony No. 9 ( From the New World ) , Antonín Dvořák pays homage to the scherzo of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with his ...
The first movement begins with a triumphant orchestral opening on the tonic chord, and maintains a playfulness while using chromatic passages to show off the soloist's technique. The second movement is characteristically serene and peaceful, while the closing Rondo brings back the youth-filled playfulness heard in the opening movement.
The second movement, known for its prominent and frequent use of a motif from the Dies Irae chant, has been associated with the imagery of Orpheus taming the Furies (represented, respectively, by the piano and unison strings) at the gates to Hades, a suggestion of Beethoven's 1859 biographer Adolf Bernhard Marx. [10]