Rossini, Hidas & Beethoven: Mar 21–23, 2025
- cbeeson69
- Mar 21
- 14 min read
Updated: Mar 23
Gioachino Rossini
William Tell Overture
DIVE IN!
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He composed many works in varying genres but is primarily known for his large scale operas - of which he composed an astonishing 39 - all by the age of 37. William Tell isn’t among his most often performed operas, but the Overture has become a mainstay in concert performances and is immensely popular outside of the expected classical music spaces.
HIGHLIGHTS
Rossini was the son of two musicians. As the cobbler’s son makes shoes, so Rossini followed suit. He began composing music by the age of 12 and had his first opera premiered by the age of 18. An astonishing 34 of his 39 operas were composed by the time he was 31 years old!
Rossini composed William Tell in 1829, and in a bold act of mic drop he quit writing any more operas after this one, having established standards for serious and comic operas and at a peak of his fame and wealth.
William Tell was premiered by the Paris Opera in 1829. It had an 1833 production in Italy but not again for another 50 years due to government censorship of its glorification of an anti-authority revolutionary figure.
In 1900, the original orchestral score of the opera was discovered in a used book shop by a Paris Opera archivist. It is now held by the Paris Conservatory.
(You may find these previous two facts a stunningly timely underscoring of the importance of historical preservation and library sciences, given what’s happening in our country today.)
Viennese audiences couldn’t get enough of it! William Tell was performed 422 times there between 1830 and 1907. It was premiered in the US at the Metropolitan Opera in 1831, revived there in 1923, and enjoyed revivals throughout Europe in the 1930s.
The Overture is frequently performed independently of the opera, and is especially well known due to its pop culture influence. It’s often referred to as “The Lone Ranger theme”, and was used in Disney animations as well as the film A Clockwork Orange. Interestingly and quite noteworthy, 20th century Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich uses the primary theme of the finale section in the first movement of his 15th symphony.
There are four distinct sections to the Overture, each with its own character and description:
“The Prelude (Dawn)” is the first music we hear and is incredibly soothingly written for cellos, basses, and timpani. The first five cellists each play their own solo line, creating rich textures and harmonies.
“The Storm” brings out the full orchestra and some spectacularly raucous playing from the trombones.
“The Dairy Cows Call” is a pastoral section of music after the fearful destruction of the storm, and features the English horn and flute. This music has definitely seeped into your consciousness without you realizing it, being used in so many pop culture genres as to make it seem like it’s parodying itself!
Finally we get to the Lone Ranger portion of the music with “March of the Swiss Soldiers”. It is definitely a cavalry charge style galop, from the moment the trumpets herald the start all the way through to the strings playing furiously quickly and the brass and percussion making splashy punctuation.
A typical performance of the William Tell Overture lasts about 12 minutes.
🎉fun fact Storytime!🎉
In 1822, Rossini visited Vienna and while there he requested to meet Ludwig van Beethoven. He was shocked to find Beethoven living in a very rough setting, “When I mounted the stairs leading to the poor lodgings of the great man, I barely mastered my emotions. When the door opened, I found myself in a sort of attic terribly disordered and dirty. I particularly remember the ceiling. It was under the roof and showed crevices through which the rain could not help pouring down in streams.”
Rossini felt a mixture of embarrassment and guilt that the great Beethoven was living in such dilapidated circumstances while he was being treated like a celebrity in wealthy circles all over Vienna. He tried to gather support for Beethoven’s living situation from some of the wealthy Viennese patrons but met with mixed responses, including “He is a misanthrope, cranky and can’t keep friends. You do not know Beethoven. On the day after he finds himself the owner of a house, he will sell it. He will never know how to adjust himself to a permanent home; he feels the need of changing his lodgings every six months and his servant every six weeks…”
At one of the high society events Rossini attended, there was a concert featuring a chamber work by Beethoven. Rossini observed “The new masterwork was listened to with religious respect and received resplendent praise. Hearing it in the midst of all those mundane magnificences, I said to myself sadly that perhaps at that very moment the great man was creating in the isolation of his attic some work of deep inspiration, destined, like his previous ones, to initiate into sublime beauties this same brilliant aristocracy from which he was excluded and which, given over to its pleasures, did not worry about the misery of him who had furnished the pleasures.”
Beethoven was duly impressed to meet Rossini, but generally wasn’t a fan of Italian music and its perceived lack of seriousness. Rossini was exceptionally well known for his comic light opera works such as The Barber of Seville even though he had composed many other dramatic operas and other serious works. He remarked to Rossini “Never try your hand at anything but opera buffa (comic opera); you would be doing violence to your destiny by wanting to succeed in a different genre. You see, serious opera does not lie in the nature of the Italians. For the true drama, they know not enough of the science of music; and how should they acquire that in Italy? In opera buffa, none can equal Italians. Your language and your temperament predestine you for it.”
Beethoven clearly had respect for Rossini, if tempered by his general take on Italian classical music, saying “Rossini is a talented and a melodious composer; his music suits the frivolous and sensuous spirit of the times, and his productivity is so great that he needs only as many weeks as the Germans need years to write an opera.”
For his part, Rossini recognized Beethoven as an absolute master.❤️
🎉Nerd Party!🎉
The William Tell Overture is so embedded in both popular and high art culture that it was a joy searching for examples. These are a few which I couldn't help sharing!!
Frigyes Hidas
concerto for oboe and Orchestra
DIVE IN!
Frigyes Hidas (1928-2007) was a Hungarian conductor and composer of the 20th century. He was Music Director of the Hungarian National Theater and of Budapest’s Operetta Theater for a combined total of 20 years before he turned exclusively to composition. His compositional output is enormous and he became one of the most decorated and frequently commissioned Hungarian composers of his time.
HIGHLIGHTS
Hidas composed Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra in 1951 when he was just 23 years old.
Compositionally, he didn't hew as closely to the Hungarian folksong style, but instead adopted a style that leaned on jazz-influenced rhythms and harmonies.
Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra is in 3 movements - Allegro, Andante, Allegro vivo
The first movement sounds like it could be a score to an adventure film with rhythmic drive and flashy colorful bursts of energy from the orchestra. Toward the end of the movement there is an extensive solo cadenza for the oboe.
The second movement is a beautiful aria with long singing melodic lines from the solo oboe over a gentle pulsing harmonic fabric of sound in the orchestra, interrupted by a stormy moment in the middle. Interestingly, it ends with a long held note in the solo oboe that doesn’t resolve to a harmonically expected natural resting place.
The third movement is a busy, energetic, bright romp for the solo oboe and orchestra that evokes merriment with syncopated jazzy dance rhythms and some really fun supporting wind and brass solos sprinkled throughout.
A typical performance lasts about 20 minutes.
Did you know? 🧐 🤓 😎
Oboists have to finish making their instruments EVERY DAY. Here is a fun, informative, and SUPER NERDY short documentary segment about the oboe and reed making, featuring Joe Robinson, principal oboist of the New York Philharmonic from 1978 to 2005.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 7
DIVE IN!
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a German composer of the late Classical and early Romantic stylistic eras. He is one of the most influential composers of western European classical music and remains a household name to this day regardless of whether people have listened to his music even one time. He composed his Symphony No. 7 in 1812 when he was 42 years old and in full struggle with his deafness. Nevertheless, this piece of music is a non-stop thrill ride for both listeners and performers. It’s filled with dance rhythms, great melodies, and feels like that rock band turning up their volume all the way through the set until the speakers blow out at the end. It’s really too bad that we can’t step back into the mid 1800s just for today when singing, clapping, and moving along to the music during the concert was still in fashion. I encourage you to listen to this music at home as loudly as possible. Your walls should be vibrating and if everyone in the room isn’t dancing around wildly, conducting, clapping along or periodically shouting by the end you aren’t doing it right. 😎
highlights
Symphony No. 7 lasts for about 40 minutes and is in four sections called movements, like a book with four chapters. Each movement has its own unique characteristics and function, but there are a few things here and there that preview the next movement or tie the whole symphony ‘chapter book’ together.
The first performance of Symphony No. 7 was a success and the audience demanded to hear the 8 minute long second movement “Allegretto” again as soon as it was finished! It became popular as a stand-alone piece of music apart from the rest of the symphony, like the Adagietto from Gustav Mahler’s 5th Symphony, the “Goin’ Home” melody from Antonin Dvorak’s 9th Symphony, and “Lyric for Strings” originally from George Walker’s String Quartet No. 1.
The Allegretto movement is still very popular today and was recently used as the soundtrack to the final scene in the movie The King’s Speech.
The first movement Vivace material was used in a scene from "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!", and the 4th movement Allegro con brio music is used in a totally amazing anime show called Dragon Half. (yes, of course I included these videos for you below!)
This music rocks out at Volume 11 even though Beethoven wrote for just two each of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, and trumpets, no percussion other than timpani (kettle drums), and the usual string section of violins, violas, cellos, and basses.
Explore the Music
Here is a listening map that can guide you through the symphony. Read it in advance or while you’re listening!
Movement 1: Poco Sostenuto – Vivace (in English: a little sustained – lively and vivacious)
The first music we hear is an introduction which effectively gathers friends for the dance. We hear first the oboe, then clarinet, and horn statements punctuated by loud chords from the rest of the orchestra.
This introduction gives way to gathering rhythmic energy and melodic fragments.
Around 4 minutes in, the music bursts into action with strings loudly proclaiming the melody, but also listen here for the French horns triumphantly outlining the apex of each of these gestures.
It pretty much rocks out all the way through to this really great coda, or final ending, with a sort of two note “Jaws theme” idea that returns in movements 3 and 4. Again listen for the horns to be the triumphant conquering heroes of the dance near the very end. I dare you not to feel lifted!
Movement 2: Allegretto (in English: a little lively, medium fast)
Here we have a brilliant strategy of building multiple layers of music to draw the listener in. Violas and cellos open with the melody and ostinato, a repeating rhythmic pattern, that defines the movement.
Be sure to listen for a series of increasing layers while new instrument groups take over the ostinato underneath. Beethoven weaves the everything together like this, building in scope and volume.
Movement 3: Presto – Assai meno presto (in English: quick – a lot less quick)
This movement was described by English conductor Thomas Beecham as sounding like “a lot of yaks jumping about”. This made me feel instant kinship with yaks!
Right away musical ideas are tossed around at whiplash speed with dynamic contrasts of loud and soft creating extra suspense and excitement.
Around 2 and a half minutes in, we begin the Assai meno presto slower music, also called a trio section. The “Jaws theme” material from movement 1 appears as a sort of dialogue between winds and strings in this section. Listen for the low horn playing the “Jaws theme” on and off from about 3 and a half to 5 minutes in. This is a preview of an extended expression in the final moments of the last movement.
Then we toggle between the yak dance and the Jaws theme trio before ending again with the dancing yaks. It’s great fun!
Movement 4: Allegro con brio (in English: lively with gusto)
This movement starts so quickly after the end of the 3rd movement that we almost feel like we’ve been shot out of a canon! The entire movement is a whirlwind of activity, with rhythmic drive and contrasts of louds and softs creating suspense and surprise again and again throughout. Note the expression of strong versus weak beats shifting between 1 and 2. We’ll nerd out on that in a moment.
Finally toward the very end you’ll hear the beginning of an extended “Jaws theme” area underpinning all the activity in the orchestra after which Beethoven brings in the “big guns” of wildly triumphant trumpets and horns to polish off the finish of a nonstop super exciting movement. The 7th is clearly the best of Beethoven’s symphonies, and this moment is worth the wait EVERY SINGLE TIME. Fight me.
Consider and Discuss
This symphony is filled with rhythmic vitality and is through and through the “danciest” of all of Beethoven’s 9 symphonies. What do you think makes a particular rhythm seem to encourage movement or dancing? What might some other musical elements be that could increase or decrease the dance feeling of a rhythm? What are some of these things that you think you might notice while listening to a live performance of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony?
Get Active
Beethoven uses triplet rhythms, or rhythms that flow in groupings of 3, in every movement of the symphony. To create more interest and excitement, he layers different rhythms together which make complex combinations. Let’s try learning some!
First establish a steady repeating group of 3 by clapping, tapping your leg, or using any 3 syllable word with equal emphasis on each syllable.
Ex: Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy = 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Now add a clap, tap, or single syllable word to each of the first group of three.
Ex: Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy = 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Grant Grant Grant Grant = 1 1 1 1
Finally add a more complex rhythm of unequal emphasis so that the first is longest.
Ex: Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy = 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Grant Grant Grant Grant = 1 1 1 1
MAdison MAdison MAdison MAdison = 1---23 1---23 1---23 1---23
This is the basis for the first movement Vivace. Nice work getting these layers going!
The second movement is based on groupings of two at first, but then layers with groupings of three. This is harder than it might seem, and is super cool sounding when it all fits together.
First begin with this ostinato, or repeating pattern, that makes up the main theme. Repeat it endlessly for authentic Beethoven effect. :)
Ex: Grant Adams Grant Grant = 1 1 2 1 1
Then layer the steady repeating pulse or beat.
Ex: Grant Adams Grant Grant = 1 1 2 1 1
Grant Grant Grant Grant = 1 1 1 1
Now spice it up with the triplet rhythm layer!
Ex: Grant Adams Grant Grant = 1 1 2 1 1
Grant Grant Grant Grant = 1 1 1 1
Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy = 123 123 123 123
The third movement gets even more interesting with a pickup rhythm that sort of elbows or nudges the steady beat in the ribs over and over again.
First establish your steady triplet grouping:
Ex: Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy = 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Then add your steady pulse:
Ex: Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy = 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Grant Grant Grant Grant = 1 1 1 1
And now elbow/nudge the pulse in the ribs! In this example, the K in McKinley should line up with the K in Kennedy and the G in Grant.
Ex: Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy = 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Grant Grant Grant Grant = 1 1 1 1
McKinley McKinley McKinley McKinley = 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2
The fourth and final movement is a rip roaring rhythm fest, but the primary point of interest is with the shifting emPHAsis on the wrong syllABles. Most music for the symphony orchestra is written so that the first note of a grouping gets the emphasis. It’s often labeled as “on” the beat. Most rock and roll music, by contrast, is arranged so that the second note of a grouping gets the emphasis, which is often called a “back” beat.
Try marching in place = L R L R L R etc
Now add a clap on each LEFT = L R L R L R etc
Switch to clapping on RIGHT = L R L R L R etc
You’ve just unlocked the code for the whole last movement of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony! He throws in the backbeat, turns up the volume, and suddenly we’re in a 19th century rock band!
Listening to the Symphony
Now that you’ve had a chance to consider, discuss, and get active around elements of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony it’s time to listen to a performance. This symphony begs for movement and you can really get after it at home in a way that you can’t when you’re in the concert hall. Clear some space in the room where you’ll be listening. Feel free to join in on the rhythm exercises above, dance around (even the Allegretto movement makes a nice long slow dance!), air "guitar" with the different instruments you hear, conduct along, or keep it chill and journal, paint, or draw your observations. Have a discussion afterward. How was your listening experience? Did you try some new things? In what ways did the discussion or activities effect your listening experience? 😎😎😎
Please share your experience with me! I would love to hear about it or see any of your activities, journaling, or creations!
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