Ludwig van Beethoven - Op.80 Fantasia in C minor ('Choral Fantasia')

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The Fantasy for piano, vocal soloists, mixed chorus, and orchestra, Op. 80, usually called the Choral Fantasy, was composed in 1808 by then 38-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven.

Beethoven intended the Fantasy to serve as the concluding work for the benefit concert he put on for himself on 22 December 1808; the performers consisted of vocal soloists, mixed chorus, an orchestra, and Beethoven himself as piano soloist. The Fantasy was designed to include all the participants in the program and thus unites all of these musical forces.

The work is noted as a precursor to the later Ninth Symphony.

Form

The Choral Fantasy, which lasts about twenty minutes, is divided into two movements, played without a break:

Adagio
Finale. Allegro – Meno allegro (Allegretto) – Allegro molto – Adagio ma non troppo – Marcia, assai vivace – Allegro – Allegretto ma non troppo quasi andante con moto Schmeichelnd hold und lieblich klingen – Presto

The piece is scored for solo piano, mixed chorus, two soprano soloists, an alto soloist, two tenor soloists, a bass soloist, and an orchestra consisting of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings.

The Fantasy opens with a slow but virtuosic 26-bar piano introduction, beginning in C minor and modulating through a variety of keys in florid, improvisatory fashion. At its midpoint it settles on the dominant of the dominant, G major, with an extended cadenza. The implied key is never confirmed and the music eventually returns to C minor in a stormy passage, which at the last moment turns once more toward the dominant seventh of G in a sweeping arpeggio. This concludes the opening section.

The main part of the piece, marked "Finale", begins with a march-like motive (Allegro) played by the cellos and basses, alternating with recitative-like interjections from the piano. The music eventually brightens into C major and the solo piano introduces the principal theme (meno allegro) discussed above. Variations on the theme are then played by gradually increasing contingents of instruments: a solo flute, two oboes, a trio of two clarinets and bassoon, and string quartet. A full orchestral version of the theme played at a forte dynamic leads to the re-entry of the piano and to what seems at first like a postlude to this variation set, but that once again turns toward the dominant. The music pauses with a cadenza on the dominant seventh for the solo piano.

There is an abrupt change of mood as the minor mode returns in a stormy Allegro molto. The alternating phrases for piano and orchestra are a disguised variation of the principal theme. In fact, the three sections that follow the first variation set form another, larger-scale set of variations. The allegro molto soon takes on a developmental quality with a series of modulations, the strings playing phrases of the theme accompanied by rapid broken chords on the solo piano. After another cadenza on an E major triad the second large variation (Adagio, ma non troppo) follows, a calm, flowing A-major section prominently featuring the clarinets. This ends with a call-and-response section between double reeds, horn, and piano, and leads without break into the key of F-major and the third variation on the main theme, Marcia (assai vivace). A reprise of the instrumental theme from the first Allegro forms the transition into the choral finale (Allegretto).

The first half of this is essentially a recapitulation of previously heard material at the beginning of the Finale with the addition of solo voices and chorus, another point of similarity with the finale of the Ninth Symphony. After a prolonged dominant pedal and arpeggios from the soloist the chorus, two solo sopranos sing the main theme, followed by a variation featuring a trio of men's voices. After these two variations the entire chorus is joined by the orchestra for the first time in a tutti rendition of the theme. The music gains excitement and eventually breaks into an accelerated coda (Presto) with all forces joining to bring the piece to a triumphant close.