Wellington's Victory

Wellington's Victory or the Battle of Vittoria, Op 91 is an orchestral work by Ludwig van Beethoven.

History

Ludwig van Beethoven composed the symphonic battle scenes at the Battle of Vitoria ( Beethoven writes: Vittoria), which took place in Vitoria- Gasteiz in the Basque Country on 21 June 1813 in the British and French faced each other.

The inspiration for the composition was Beethoven by Johann Nepomuk Mälzel who sought a powerful piece of music for its mechanical Panharmonikon, with whom he wanted to go to the main European cities on tour. After Beethoven had completed the composition in October 1813 Mälzel came with the other proposal, also to edit the work for large orchestra. With some concerts in this form should first money collected for the planned tour because Mälzel financial resources were exhausted.

The work was enthusiastically received by the audience, unlike many of Beethoven's symphonies and instrumental concertos. The first performance on December 8, 1813 in Vienna was a spectacle, in which all the great composers of Vienna participated: Antonio Salieri was one of the two conductors, Giacomo Meyerbeer and Ignaz Moscheles played with the huge orchestra, which has been supported by numerous drums. Beethoven had the overall musical line.

The piece starts with a drum roll and then processes the British patriotic song Rule, Britannia! and the French folk song Marlbrough s'en va -t -en guerre. In the end, listen to the British national anthem God Save the King - Great Britain triumphed over Napoleon. The play was so successful that it had to be repeated after the first performance several times.

Outline of the work

Division One: Battle

  • Drums and Trumpets on the English side
  • Marcia: Rule Britania
  • Drums and trumpets on the French side
  • Marcia: Marlborough
  • Trumpet on the French side: prompt
  • Trumpet on the English page: Gegenruf
  • Battle. allegro
  • Storm march. Allegro assai

Division Two: Victory Symphony

  • Intrada: Allegro ma non troppo
  • Allegro con brio
  • Andante grazioso
  • Tempo I
  • Tempo di minuetto moderato
  • Allegro
Basque Country (greater region)
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