Beethoven Symphony No. 2 - Movement 1 & Ballet
Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36 I. Adagio molto-Allegro con brio
Karl Bohm conducting Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
The Music:
Beethoven's Second Symphony is one of the last works of Beethoven's so-called "early period." Beethoven composed it in 1801-02 and conducted the first performance on April 5, 1803, at the Theater an der Wien.
This first movement begins with a long, slow introduction that Hector Berlioz considered "a masterpiece" in its own right. The introduction is like a grand, majestic overture by itself. What is of particular interest is that at 01:55, the chords you hear are almost identical to the chords you hear during the opening part of the 1st movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony, which came 22 years after the second symphony!
The exposition begins at 02:48 with a lovely theme-1 followed by the light bouncy theme-2 that appears at 03:42. After a lengthy development section infused with a delightful mixture that Beethoven creates using parts of the two themes, the themes are heard again during the recapitulation at 07:02.
Video Scenes:
Video scenes taken from the Gala Concert of the 275th anniversary of Vaganova Ballet Academy, St Petersburg and the ballet Coppelia
1. Le carneval de Venice • Grand pas de deux
choreographed by Marius Petipa
Elena Obraztsova & Alexander Sergeyev
Artists Theatre Ballet of Leonid Yakobson
2. Romeo and Juliet
choreography by Leonid Yakobson
Olesya Novikova & Vladimir Shklyarov
3. Paquita • Polonaise-Mazurka
choreographed by Marius Petipa
Students of junior classes ARB of Vaganova
4. Esmeralda • Pas de deux Le carneval de Venice
choreographed by Marius Petipa
Ulyana Lopatkina & Andrey Ermakov
Artists Theatre Ballet of Leonid Yakobson
5. Coppelia
The Bolshoi Ballet
The Ballet Gala
Founded in 1738, the Vaganova Ballet Academy is Russia's cultural brand. Graduates of the academy are sought after both as dancers and coaches in different parts of the world. Many of the Vaganova graduates are principle dancers and ballerinas with the world's best companies.
The list of outstanding Vaganova academy graduates is very long: Anna Pavlova, Galina Ulanova, Yuri Grigorovich.... It also features the founder of the American Ballet, George Balanchine, and Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Natalia Makarova.
Agrippina Vaganova was an outstanding Russian ballet teacher. She worked in the Academy for 45 years. Legendary ballerina Maya Plisetskaya recollects: "A dancer looked and worked differently even after a single rehearsal led by Vaganova! There is no other like her..."