Into the Weeds
Today was a beast of a research day. I should have taken a break, but instead I pushed through and worked for about 5 hours straight. Note to self: eating, walking, and bathroom breaks will help you maintain long-term focus.
The Beethoven Center here has a wonderful facsimile of Beethoven’s Third Symphony, the “Eroica.” This symphony was initially dedicated to Beethoven’s hero Napoleon Bonaparte - his hero, that is, until Napoleon titled himself Emperor and chose a path which Beethoven believed would lead him to become the same as any other tyrant. Unfortunately the autograph manuscript (in Beethoven’s own handwriting) is lost, but we have a copyist manuscript along with many copies of parts used for the premiere and early performances. Turns out the facsimile I worked with today was created by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, which means I might just get a chance to see the originals when I go to Austria!
I made extensive notes on the first movement. The copyist for the score used a wide variety of piano dynamics, though not with any recognizable patterns. Regular p, p/ (single underline), and p// (double underline) were all common throughout the score. I could also see many different types of staccato marks, from tiny dots all the way through long line staccato (or lls). This copyist seems to have distinguished between open and closed hairpins. My notes for the copyists of the parts follow (please skip if not interested in dry data).
Violin 1/4: This copyist almost always underlines his piano marks - p/, pp/, fp/, and sfp/ all have underlines. Sometimes he spells out pizz as pizzic or pizzicato. He spelled out piu forte completely, as in the score. He varies open vs. closed hairpins
Violin 1/5: This copyist almost never underlines his piano marks - they are remarkably uniform. A notable exception is m. 178 (pp/). He also adds o to the end of dynamics in m. 113 (ffo), m. 210 (po), m. 283 (po), and m. 394 (ppo - where the original ppp/ had been in the score). Piu forte became piu for. All staccato marks resemble dots or short line staccato (sls). Hairpins are always closed. I noticed in the later mvts. more underlining. For example 3rd mvt. starts with Sempre pp/mo e staccato, continues with many pp/o and pp/mo.
Violin 1/6: This copyist rarely uses underlining in the beginning, but he does add it occasionally as the piece goes along. His is heavier handwriting. Often the underlining seems to correspond with important musical moments. The beginning of the third mvt. is marked sempre pia (and several times thereafter). He sometimes uses for instead of f. Abbreviates piu forte to piu for. Nice variety of staccato lengths.
Viola 4: This copyist underlines his double pianos (pp/) but not pianos (p), he uses a combination of open and closed hairpins, and opens the third mvt. with sempre pia. Staccati are mostly dots or sls.
Viola 5: This copyist writes forte dynamics as fo or ffo (but keeps sf), including the piu fo (several bare fs might be in another hand). I observed no underlines at all. The 3rd mvt. begins as sempre pia. All staccatos are basically dots. He uses a combination of open and closed hairpins.
That’s what I have so far, along with my highly annotated score. Check over in San Jose photos for a few more pics of my Airbnb.
A Cesar Chavez memorial on campus
Detail of the Ghandi image