Favorite Works From Our Staff - Lisa Carter, Part 2

Lisa Is currently teaching Piano and has space available on her roster. To get in touch, contact her at lisa.carter@m3creativeacademy.com.

Another one of my favorite classical pieces is the Eroica Symphony, which is Beethoven’s third symphony. The second movement is the Marcia Funebre, and it’s a very somber part of the symphony, sometimes even ominous. There are a few parts that are tentatively lighter and happier, but sooner or later, the music slides back into being serious and stern.

 My favorite moment in this sad movement is definitely the fugue, which starts about eight minutes into the movement. Each time a new voice is introduced, playing the main theme, the orchestration gets thicker and more and more forceful. The most powerful moment is near the end of the fugue, when the brass instruments finally join with the rest of the orchestra, making it more majestic and devastating than ever.

I think one of the reasons it is so exciting for me to hear this fugue is that I imagine an intense betrayal happening while the fugue unfolds. Each time a new voice is introduced into the fugue, to me, it always sounded like someone discovering another layer of a plot or deception, growing more and more shocked as the story unravels. This is because I had just finished reading a novel when I was listening to this piece, and the main character in the novel was watching as the emperor is betrayed by all those whom he trusted. The feel of the novel is a mix of ancient Roman politics and Sci-fi technology, so the betrayals and names involved were very similar to Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. For me, this is the "Et Tu, Brute?" moment in the fugue, when the emperor is finally brought down by those closest to him.  

The funny thing is, I didn’t think of this at all in the context of the backstory of the piece, but it seems that Beethoven was also somewhat betrayed after he finished the symphony. The backstory behind Beethoven’s famous third symphony is that he dedicated it to Napoleon Bonaparte. Eroica means “heroic,” and Beethoven greatly admired Bonaparte; however, when he heard that Napoleon had declared himself emperor, he became angry and ripped up the page with the symphony’s dedication to Bonaparte.  

Beethoven's sense of betrayal was after the symphony had been completed, so I don’t think the second movement was intended to sound like being stabbed in the back; that’s just what I hear when I listen to it. 

The great thing about classical music and many contemporary pieces of music is that one can imagine one’s own stories and scenes to go along with the piece. Of course, it’s always good to research the meaning behind a piece of music so you can understand what the composer was intending; but putting your own story to a piece is also one of the most entertaining and inspiring things I can think of doing. Whether I’m writing a story or a piece of music, this is something that never fails to inspire me.

Lisa