Symphony No. 1 Op. 21 (tr. Schmitt)
Ludwig van Beethoven (tr. Georg Schmitt; ed. Martin Harlow)
Subtitle: For 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Horns, 2 Bassoons and Contrabassoon
General Info
Year: 1800 / 1817 / 2007
Duration: c. 26:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: Ut Orpheus
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - €46.95 | Score Only (print) - €18.95
Movements
1. Adagio molto - Allegro con brio – 7:40
2. Andante cantabile con moto – 7:50
3. Menuetto - Allegro molto vivace – 3:35
4. Adagio - Allegro molto e vivace – 5:50
Instrumentation
Full Score
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
C Soprano Clarinet I-II
Horn in C I-II
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
On April 2, 1800, Beethoven gave his first Akademie, or concert, for his own benefit at the K.K. Hoftheater nächst der Burg, or Burgtheater, in Vienna. The program included an unidentified Mozart symphony, an aria and duet from Haydn’s oratorio The Creation, an unidentified piano concerto both performed and composed by Beethoven, Beethoven’s Septet, Op. 20, an improvisation by Beethoven at the keyboard, and finally “a new grand symphony”—the Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21.
While Beethoven did not write a great deal of serious music for ensembles of wind instruments, he is significant in the history of wind music for the expanded roles that the wind instruments take on in his symphonies. The beginning of this process can be seen in his first symphony. In the review of Beethoven’s April 1800 concert published in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, the reviewer wrote: “...and at the end one of [Beethoven’s] symphonies was performed in which there is considerable art, novelty, and a wealth of ideas. The only flaw was that the wind instruments were used too much, so that there was more Harmonie [wind music] than orchestral music as a whole.”
For 19th-century audiences, music, and particularly instrumental music, was privileged over other art forms. Because it was non-representational and did not use text, instrumental music could reflect the infinite, utopian, and sublime. The symphony was the most esteemed of 19th-century instrumental forms, and arrangements of popular symphonies for piano four-hands and Harmonie (wind ensembles) were common.
This transcription of Beethoven’s First Symphony was arranged by Georg Schmitt, who was the Harmonie director at the court of Prince August von Hohenlohe-Öhringen, in 1817. Schmitt joined the court in 1816 and died in the 1830s. In that short span, he produced more than a hundred arrangements for winds, including German and French operas, for Prince Hohenlohe-Öhringen’s court.
- Program Note from University of Michigan Symphony Band concert program, 3 February 2017
Commercial Discography
- Audio CD: Albion Ensemble
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Illinois State University (Normal) Wind Symphony (Anthony C. Marinello II, conductor) - 24 April 2021
- University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Symphony Band (Michael Haithcock, conductor) – 3 February 2017
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- Allegretto (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Longfield) (1812/2011)
- Europa (Flex instrumentation) (with Charpentier; arr. Haan) (2009)
- The Great Beethoven Bonanza (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Jones) (2015)
- March of the Guards (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Glover) (1805/2019)
- Ode to Joy (Flex instrumentation (arr. Brand) (1824/2000(?))
- Ode to Joy (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Fisher) (1824/2018)
- Ode to Joy (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1824/2020)
- Symphony No. 5 in C Minor (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1804-1808/2014)
- Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral" Selections (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Kanayama) (1808/2014)
- Variations on a Motive of Beethoven (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Ring) (1826/2020)
All Wind Works
- Adagio Cantabile (arr. Daehn) (1798/2009)
- Adagio Pathétique (arr. Hautvast) (1798/2011)
- Allegretto (arr. Court) (1812/1997)
- Allegretto (ar. Longfield) (1812/2011)
- Allegretto (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Longfield) (1812/2011)
- The Allegretto from Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 (arr. Evans) (1812/2013)
- Allegro con Brio (tr. Kreines) (1804-1808/)
- Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, 2nd Movement (arr. Harnsberger) (1804-1808/)
- Coriolan Overture (tr. Hanna) (1807/2014)
- Drei zapfenstreiche (adopt. Schaefer) (1808-1810/1984)
- Écossaise for Military Band (arr. Stalter) (1810/2015)
- Egmont Overture (arr. Grevenbroek) (1810/2012)
- Egmont Overture (tr. Hindsley) (1810/197-?)
- Egmont Overture (tr. McLain) (1810/2015)
- Egmont Overture (arr. Tobani) (1810/1900)
- Egmont Overture (arr. Van Grevenbroek) (1810/2012)
- Egmont Overture (arr. Winterbottom) (1810/1924)
- Eroica (arr. Ripley) (1804/1900)
- Europa (Flex instrumentation) (with Charpentier; arr. Haan) (2009)
- The European Anthem (arr. Karajan) (1824/1972)
- Finale to "Symphony No. 5" (arr. Isaac) (1804-1808/1965)
- Finale to "Symphony No. 5" (adapt. Longfield) (1804-1808/2020)
- First and Second Movements from Symphony No. 5 in C minor (arr. Godfrey). See: Symphony No. 5 in C minor
- Five Short Pieces for Wind Ensemble (arr. Reynolds) (1975)
- For Elise (arr. Long) (1810/1992)
- Für Elise (arr. Hautvast) (1810/2020)
- Für Elise (arr. Korson) (1810/1867/20--?)
- Grand Serenade (arr. Crusell; ed. Rogers) (1800/2004)
- The Great Beethoven Bonanza (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Jones) (2015)
- Grosse Fuge (arr. Roxburgh) (1825/1995)
- The Heavens Resound (arr. Kinyon) (1803/1990)
- Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee (arr. Kirkland) (1824/1982)
- Leonore Overture No. 3 (tr. Hindsley) (1806/197-?)
- Marcia alla Turca (arr. Rondeau) (1809/2011)
- March in B-flat. See: Marsch
- March in F (arr. Dunnigan) (1809/1995)
- March of the Guards (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Glover) (1805/2019)
- Marsch (c. 1798/1865)
- Military March (Beethoven) (adapt. Greissle) (1816/1827/1945)
- Military March in D (ed. Bourgeois) (1816/2003)
- Moonlight Serenade (arr. Mortimer)
- Moonlight Sonata (arr. Poor) (1801/2010)
- Octet (1792/1834)
- Octet (arr. Byrd) (1792/1834/2021)
- Ode to Joy (arr. Barrett) (1824/1965/1995)
- Ode to Joy (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Brand) (1824/2000(?))
- Ode to Joy (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Fisher) (1824/2018)
- Ode to Joy (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1824/2020)
- Overture to "Fidelio" (arr. Sedlak) (1814/1814)
- Piano Concerto No. 1 (arr. Odom) (1795/2019)
- Presto from "Symphony No. 7" (tr. Thompson) (1811/2018)
- Prometheus Overture (arr. Barnes) (1801/1963)
- Prometheus Overture (arr. Slocum) (1801/1987)
- Quintet in E-flat Major, Op 16 (1796)
- Reflections in Moonlight (arr. Smith) (1801/2007)
- Rocking 4 Elise (arr. Berger) (1810/2014)
- Rondino (1793/195-?)
- Scherzo and Finale from the Fifth Symphony (arr. Godfrey). See: Symphony No. 5 in C minor
- Scherzo from "Symphony No. 9" (arr. Bocook) (1824/2004)
- Septet in E-flat Major, op. 20 (arr. Crusell)
- Sextet (1796)
- Sextet (1796/2020)
- Siegessinfonie (ed. Whitwell) (1813/2013)
- Six Country Dances (tr. McAlister) (1988)
- Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21: Mvt. 1 (arr. Yu) (1800/2014?)
- Symphony No. 1 Op. 21 (tr. Schmitt; ed. Marlow) (1800/1817/2007)
- Symphony No. 3 (tr. Moehlmann; ed. Rogers) (1804/2020)
- Symphony No. 5: Second Movement (arr. Harnsberger). See: Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, 2nd Movement
- Symphony No. 5 in C minor (arr. Godfrey) (1804-1808/1920-1921)
- First and Second Movements from Symphony No. 5 in C minor (1804-1808/1921)
- Scherzo and Finale from the Fifth Symphony (1804-1808/1920)
- Symphony No. 5 in C Minor (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1804-1808/2014)
- Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral" Selections (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Kanayama) (1808/2014)
- Symphony No. 7 (arr. Sedlak) (1812/1989?)
- Symphony No. 9 (tr. Vives) (1822-1824/2013)
- Third and Fourth Movements from Symphony No. 5 in C minor (arr. Godfrey). See: Symphony No. 5 in C minor
- Three Equale (1812)
- Turkish March (arr. Curnow) (1809/2001)
- Variations on a Motive of Beethoven (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Ring) (1826/2020)
- The Yorck Marche. See: March in F
Resources
- Beethoven, L.; Schmitt, G.; Harlow, M. (2007). Symphony No. 1, Op. 21, for 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Horns, 2 Bassoons and Contrabassoon [score]. Ut Orpheus: Bologna.