STARTING WITH THE DRAMA

Beethoven composed his 11 overtures during the same period of time as his 9 symphonic works, and approximately within the same chronological time-frame. Thus he wrote his first overture – The creatures of Prometheus – in 1800/01 (approximately simultaneously with his Symphony No. 1), and his last – The consecration of the house – in 1822, which was also the period in which he wrote his Symphony No. 9. Beethoven's overtures are milestones along the road leading to the concert overture and to the symphonic poem (to take this a step further in the history of music). Nowadays, with the exception of the Fidelio Overture, Op. 72c, these works are no longer performed in the theatrical context for which they were originally composed. The overtures are far more independent than their historical predecessors: they provide in advance, as it were, an autonomous, instrumental presentation of the dramatic storyline of the ensuing theatrical work. The sonata form generally applied here is, to a certain degree, the ideal foil for the conflicts and disputes to be dealt with within the drama.
Most of Beethoven's overtures are associated with stage works. These include the overtures for the dramas Coriolan, Egmont, King Stephen, and The ruins of Athens; as well as the overture for the ballet music The creatures of Prometheus; and, of course, the four overtures for Leonore, or Fidelio. On the other hand, the two works Name-day celebration and The consecration of the house were written more for representative occasions.
Thus, The consecration of the house was composed in 1822 as an occasional work for the opening of the Leopoldstadt theatre, and made its entrance with numerous effects, accompanied by a large orchestra. It is constructed in two parts, as is the Name-day celebration Overture, Op. 115 (dating from 1814/15 and dedicated to Prince Radziwill): a slow maestoso introduction is followed by an ostentatious allegro con brio. Incidentally, Beethoven looked on the Name-day celebration as an "overture for all occasions" and that is how the work comes across – decidedly "neutral". Thus, one could describe the Name-day celebration as the first true concert overture penned by Beethoven.
The King Stephen Overture, Op. 117 and The ruins of Athens Overture, Op. 113 had been composed previously, for the official opening in 1811 of a new theatre in the Hungarian city of Pest. Both served as the introduction to the incidental music accompanying the plays by August von Kotzebue. The ruins of Athens evokes a Turkish atmosphere; the three-part overture portrays a rather innocuous side of Beethoven. The King Stephen Overture begins with a slow introduction, after which the music bursts forth in rejoicing celebration of "Hungary's first benefactor".
Despite all the festive elements, these orchestral introductions did not catch on as well as the works commissioned for Goethe's Egmont, Op. 84 and Heinrich von Collin's Coriolan, Op. 62. Of the incidental music to Egmont, only the overture still appears with regularity in the concert repertoire: it is a true masterpiece in its genre. Here, against the background of the revolt of the inhabitants of the Low Lands against the Spanish, Beethoven describes the destiny of the tragic hero, who meets his end under the guillotine; this is followed by the last part of the incidental music – the dazzling victory symphony – which becomes the symbol of liberty. Music theoretician Adolf Bernhard Marx considered Egmont to be the first work in which "instrumental music has been employed to portray independently both an idea and the plot in progress." Coriolan portrays with relentless determination the destiny of the Roman commander, who finally takes up arms against his native city. At the end, he chooses to take his own life: the music fades away, pizzicato and triple pianissimo.
Beethoven's earliest overture, dating from 1800/01, heads a 16-part ballet work: The creatures of Prometheus. The plot of the ballet written by the Italian choreographer Salvatore Viganò has since been lost; however, it refers to the ancient Greek myth in which Prometheus manages to steal fire from the gods. The static introduction begins with a seventh chord (as does, incidentally, the Symphony No. 1, which was written around the same time); the ensuing allegro is effusive and contains two sharply contrasting themes.
For his only opera, Fidelio, Beethoven wrote no less than four overtures. Each one is constructed in a highly diverse manner; moreover, the creative process behind these respective works is less than transparent. Beethoven himself considered the first overture to be the least interesting of the four: it was first performed privately, at the palace of Prince Lichnowsky, and lacked as yet the striking trumpet signal and any further drama. For the première of the opera in 1805, Beethoven replaced this overture with a second one. The Overtures No. 2 and No. 3 (composed for the revival of the work in 1806) are closely related to one another: both follow the plot in great detail, however, the trumpet signal is inserted in various places. The Overture No. 3 projects the dramatic events in a symphonic movement in great intensification, whereas No. 2 follows the theatrical situation more closely. For the revision of his opera in 1814, Beethoven wrote the Fidelio Overture Op. 72c: here, he breaks away from the symphonic approach of the previous version. This overture carries out its duty as an introduction to the work in the conventional sense: it is concise, succinct and exemplary.

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