"The Creatures Of Prometheus (Ouverture) (Stage@Seven)" music video by Beethoven
Added: 02-07-2020
Genre : Classical
Description : Stage@Seven: Beethoven: The Creatures of Prometheus (Ouverture) – Andrés Orozco-Estrada
Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Frankfurt Radio Big Band live!
Stage@Seven on Tour
Frankfurt Radio Symphony
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Conductor
Ludwig van Beethoven:
The Creatures of Prometheus (Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus) – Ouverture
Charity Concert for the Rheingau Music Festival
Eberbach Monastery, 19 June 2020
Note:
In accordance with the current restrictions imposed by the Corona pandemic in Germany, this livestream series currently only features ensembles up to chamber orchestral size. The required minimum distances are respected. Streaming is also carried out in a reduced setting.
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The Creatures of Prometheus (German: Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus), Op. 43, is a ballet composed in 1801 by Ludwig van Beethoven following the libretto of Salvatore Viganò. The ballet premiered on 28 March 1801 at the Burgtheater in Vienna and was given 28 performances. It was premiered in New York at the Park Theatre on 14 June 1808 being one of the first full length works by Beethoven to be performed in the United States. It is the only full length ballet by Beethoven.
Viganò was tasked with presenting a work to the empress Maria Theresia at the Vienna Court Theater, and chose the subject matter of Prometheus in an allegorical sense. While Viganò usually composed his own music for his performances, he felt this performance was far too important and asked Beethoven to compose instead. The ballet was written in two acts, with Beethoven creating an overture, an introduction, fifteen numbers, and a finale.
The ballet is an allegory based on the mythical story of Prometheus, who stole fire from Zeus in order to create mankind from clay. In the ballet, Prometheus finds mankind in a state of ignorance and decides to introduce the ideas of science and art to them, largely based on Beethoven's own support of the Enlightenment movement. Prometheus introduces the humans to Apollo, the god of the arts, who commands Amphion, Arion and Orpheus to teach music, and Melpomene and Thalia to teach tragedy and comedy. The humans also meet with Terpsichore who, along with Pan, introduces them to the Pastoral Dance, followed by Dionysus introducing his Heroic Dance.
According to musicologist Lewis Lockwood, Beethoven’s music for this ballet is "easier and lighter than music for the concert hall…It shows Beethoven exploiting instruments and coloristic orchestral effects that would never appear in his symphonies or serious dramatic overtures." Beethoven later based the fourth movement of his Eroica symphony and his Eroica Variations (piano) on the main theme of the last movement (Finale) of this ballet.
The ballet requires the use of harp and basset-horn among the orchestral instruments, instruments Beethoven rarely scored for.
Tags : 2020,
20s,
Beethoven 
