With Ludwig van Beethoven the symphony became no longer entertainment music but an expression of monumental intellect and innermost feeling, as in Haydn’s and Mozart’s late works. The Symphony No. 1 in C Major (completed 1800) is Haydnesque, particularly in the opening theme of the finale (comparable to the finale of Haydn’s Symphony No. 88), but full of originality. Its four classically structured movements reflect Beethoven’s concern with expressive woodwind writing and dynamics. The third movement (“Menuetto”) is prophetic of Beethoven’s later whirling scherzos. The slow introduction to the first movement is remarkable for its avoidance of the tonic, a technique used often in later works to arouse tension.
The Symphony No. 2 in D Major (1802) is transitional and, like the Symphony No. 1, somewhat diffuse. A long introduction announces a work of grand dimensions. The lyric slow movement is rich in themes that are organically unified. A dynamic scherzo, only slightly dancelike, and an expanded sonata finale (with an enormous coda introducing a new theme) point toward the revolutionary length and structure of the Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major (completed 1804; Eroica), a work that many consider to herald the dawn of musical Romanticism. The Eroica (Beethoven’s title) no longer aims at an elite audience. Its first movement employs a multitude of themes, again drawn together into a cohesive organism and developed in a context of great harmonic tension. The tonic, E♭, is avoided near the beginning for 14 measures. A pathetic funeral march, replacing the ordinary slow movement, is followed by a vigorous scherzo; this leads to a variation finale, based on a theme from his Creatures of Prometheus ballet and full of contrapuntal development. The symphony marked a new fusion of old formal structures with Beethoven’s dynamic outlook.
The cheerful Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major (1806) and fateful Symphony No. 5 in C Minor (1808), so different in character, were composed side by side. The Fifth, like the Eroica, a visionary work, is unified by the famous four-note motive that permeates all four movements in one form or another. The scherzo and finale are joined, and an explosion of C major in the last movement is celebrated with three trombones (possibly their first use in a symphony), piccolo, and contrabassoon. This grandiose edifice is constructed with relentless logic and rhythmic drive, hallmarks of Beethoven’s mature style.
The Symphony No. 6 in F Major (1808; Pastoral, is in five movements, the first two and last in sonata form, each, according to Beethoven, expressing an aspect of rustic life. The whole has a unity of character that reflects a deeper rhythmic unity. A descriptive “Storm” movement links the scherzo (“Merrymaking of the Peasants”) with a calm “Thanksgiving after the Storm” finale, which, incidentally, incorporates a Swiss yodel tune. The relaxed human and poetic qualities of the Pastoral set it apart from the Fifth and from the demoniac Symphony No. 7 in A Major (1812), with its expanded scherzo and trio, blazing finale, and spirited first movement preceded by a long modulatory introduction. The small scale of the first three movements of the Symphony No. 8 in F Major (1812) leaves one unprepared for its breathtaking finale. Its minuet is a subtle parody of the Classical minuet of Mozart and Haydn.
The Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (Choral) found Beethoven deaf at its first performance in 1824. It marked a turning point in music history, not only for its novel inclusion of chorus and vocal soloists in the last movement and the extraordinarily variegated sonata form of that movement—incorporating a Turkish march, double exposition, double fugues, strophic (stanzaic) variations—but for the scope of the whole, a summary of Beethoven’s ethical and symphonic achievements.
In his development of motives and variation of entire themes Beethoven went unchallenged. He expanded the limits of Classical form, particularly in his finales, and increased the length of the symphonic process to more than four times the 15 or so minutes required for a pre-Classical symphony. Further, his orchestral sensitivity allowed all instruments a structural role while simultaneously making new demands on player and listener alike. Besides widening the scope of the orchestra with extra winds and percussion, he made it more than ever a cohesive single instrument, bequeathing to the 19th century a standard against which composers measured the effectiveness of their own orchestrations. Finally, through the immense concentration of his symphonies, he made it impossible for his followers to equal the sheer quantity of production of the Classical composers; far too much effort went into creating a symphony to allow pouring them out by dozens.
Other composers of the mature Classical period
So overwhelming was the impact of Beethoven’s symphonies, along with that of Mozart’s and Haydn’s mature ones, on later generations that they utterly obscure the productions of many other worthy symphonists. François Joseph Gossec, an early French symphonist (born in Vergnies, now in Belgium), and the Flemish composer Pierre van Maldere came to grips successfully with the dominating German-Italian idiom; both were influenced by Stamitz and his school. Van Maldere was eulogized for his imaginative thematic structures as well as for the unusually serious nature of his compositions, which strongly contrasted with the more lighthearted style characteristic of the Mannheimers.
An English composer, William Boyce, eclipsed by Johann Christian Bach, wrote eight sinfonias that betray in design the strong influence of theatre music. Basically merely overtures in French or Italian styles, they show none of the modern characteristics being formulated at the time in Germany; England, in general, was not quick to adopt the new symphonic style.
Eastern Europe produced revolutionary composers of whom little was known until the mid-20th century. Stamitz, Bohemian by birth, overshadowed such competent composers as Jiří Benda. Benda’s symphonies, dating mostly between 1750 and 1765, are generally brief, in three movements, and close to the Italian overture in form and feeling. The sonata form is not exploited, although characteristics such as contrasting themes and contrast within a single theme (a technique used also by Mozart) suggest a Mannheim influence or at least a revolt against Baroque conventions.
Luigi Boccherini, Giovanni Giuseppi Cambini, Michael Haydn (Joseph’s brother), Leopold Mozart (father of Wolfgang), and many other important chamber music composers contributed numerous symphonies well worth performance. Later composers included the conservative Swede Franz Berwald and a brilliant but short-lived Spaniard, Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, influential mostly in their own countries; and Muzio Clementi, Luigi Cherubini, Louis Spohr, and Carl Maria von Weber, who, although better known for work in other genres, were nevertheless popular symphonists. Spohr wrote a number of highly pictorial programmatic symphonies, going well beyond Beethoven’s Pastoral.
The Romantic era
Among 19th-century symphonists several trends can be distinguished. Concerned to some extent with self-conscious emotional expression, they often tended to use looser forms and slower paces than the Classical composers. Sometimes this led to lax discipline but not in the case of the finest composers, among them Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Antonín Dvořák, who were all very conscious of their debt to Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn. With later composers, such as Anton Bruckner, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Gustav Mahler, the normal balance of form was sometimes upset in favour of Romantic license, but they too derived their basic goals from the Classical composers, with a more or less heavy admixture of the influence of Richard Wagner.
Schubert
Franz Schubert is known primarily as a songwriter. His nine symphonies stand in the shadow of Beethoven’s but are revolutionary and Romantic in a way utterly different from Beethoven’s. Whereas Beethoven wrestled with melodic problems, Schubert was a born melodist and consequently concerned himself more with the harmonic basis of form. He was likewise the more sensitive orchestrator, and in the last three symphonies he greatly expanded the role of the brasses.
His Symphony No. 1 in D Major (1813) and Symphony No. 2 in B-flat Major (1815) illustrate Schubert’s departure from Classical models. Although the first movements are in sonata form, their pace is slower than the ordinary Classical allegro and is supported by long nonthematic passages that expand the harmonic arch. In the youthful sonata-form movements the second theme group is often set in an unexpected key before the music turns to the dominant at the end of the exposition. In recapitulations too Schubert shies away from harmonic simplicity and Classical expectation; his phrasing also is often irregular. Schubert’s slow movements, scherzos, and minuets are not as strikingly original. Clear references to movements and themes of Beethoven occur in these early works, and in key scheme and major–minor contrast Schubert often betrayed his indebtedness to Beethoven. He was unembarrassed to borrow melodic material, which he transformed in an utterly personal way. This is particularly the case in the Symphony No. 4 in C Minor (1816; Tragic). The Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major (1816), scored for a smaller orchestra, more strongly recalls Mozart and Haydn. The highly emotional No. 6 in C Major (1818) is of larger scale, based as usual more on rhythmic and harmonic impetus than melodic development. The incomplete draft of the Symphony in E Minor-Major (1821) has inspired attempts at completion. But it is the last two (the Symphony in B Minor [1822; Unfinished] and Symphony in C Major [1828; Great]) that raise Schubert to high rank among symphonists. Composed for large orchestras, they nevertheless reflect Schubert’s experience in writing for voice and piano.
The Unfinished consists of two complete movements in and time and a sketch for a scherzo. The complete movements form a convincing unity; masterful in harmonic organization and orchestration, they are expressive without being diffuse, a criticism often levelled against passages in Schubert’s earlier works. The Great is of Beethovenian scale, partly because of extensive repetition. The scherzo and related slow movement, no longer simply rustic pieces, are both in sonata form. Irregular phrases, modulatory schemes, and rhythmic force give evidence of Schubert’s concern with form based on slowed-down and far-reaching harmonic motion. His rhythmic manipulation was un-Classical, his themes personal and of more than Classical significance.