Orchestra in Beethoven's Vienna - Early Music-1988-Brown-4-20

Clive Brown

The orchestra in Beethoven's Vienna

1 The old Burgtheater. Vienna. This photograph was taken shortly before its demolition in 1867. Beethoven's First Symphony waspremiered here in 1800. Large-scale oratorio performances by the Tonkiinstler Societat were also given here during the early 19th century,despite cramped conditions.

Anton Schindler remarked of Beethoven's experienceof Viennese orchestras: 'This chapter in the personalexperiences of the great master was one of the mostpainful, and could not have failed to leave scars thathe bore till the end of his days'. He went on to say:

All German orchestras right up to the present day have thissin in common: they are insufficiently and poorly rehearsed.Even if Beethoven, who had no official jurisdiction over theorchestra, had been willing to sacrifice all the financialbenefit to achieve the best possible performance of hismusic, he would not have been able to wring it out of themusicians. If the composer was able to get them to play thecorrect notes in one. or at the most two. rehearsals, he had tobe satisfied with the results. As for . . . deeper nuances.Viennese orchestras lacked both the capacity and the interest'

Schindler did not come to know Beethoven untilaround 1814, and his accounts of events and situations,which were frequently slanted or even plain falsifiedto support the view of himself and his master that hewished the world to accept, have justly been treatedwith caution; but there are good grounds for believingthat his damning assessment of Viennese orchestras ispretty close to the mark. A mass of evidence fromcontemporary sources supports the notion thatBeethoven's time in Vienna coincided with a parti-cularly troubled period in the history of the orchestranot only in that city but throughout Europe. Thereasons for this situation are complex. Some of thecauses were purely musical, while others arose fromsocial and political trends. The ramifications of the

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French Revolution and the periodic bouts of militaryactivity that disturbed Europe for some twenty-fiveyears led to social disruption, economic stringenciesand, ultimately, to financial crisis in Austria In themusical sphere this was reflected in, among otherthings, the virtual disappearance of the princelymusical establishments, an unstable administration ofthe court theatres, poor pay and conditions forprofessional musicians and the inadequate provisionof rehearsal time All this made Viennese orchestrasless fitted to cope with a number of far-reachingmusical developments which even at the best of timeswould have seriously taxed the adaptability anddedication of orchestral musicians The orchestralscores of Beethoven and his younger contemporariespresented unfamiliar technical and stylistic difficultiesfor individual players as well as causing seriousproblems of ensemble, rendering 18th-century per-formance conventions and methods of directioninadequate for their performance Yet, especially inVienna, musicians were slow to adapt to the demandsof the new music In the harsher economic environ-ment of that time a substantial proportion ofprofessional musicians were forced to concern them-selves primarily with earning their living through thefulfilment of as many paid engagements as possible,dedication to the cause of music had to take secondplace For instance, it was remarked of the ItalianOpera company of the Hoftheater in 1800

the orchestra certainly is not lacking in brave fellows, butrather in good will, team spirit and love of art This unselfishlove seems to be wholly unknown to them, thus theensemble of the orchestra is frequently poor it oftenappears as if half the orchestra is filled with substituteswhom the gentlemen of the orchestra send when they haveanother engagement or are pursuing their own pleasure, theresulting effect can easily be imagined 2

Eight years later, J F Reichardt had some hard wordsto say about the standard of orchestral playing inVienna, comparing it very unfavourably with the stateof affairs at the time of his earlier visit in 1783 Hepainted a gloomy picture of the condition of themusical profession, observing:Music suffers here from the inertia and dejected condition ofmost of the musicians It seems to me as if they hardly everbring zeal and goodwill to bear on their work in theorchestra, without which a clean and powerful ensemble cannever be attained They generally complain about the lowpay, which in most cases remains the same as it was in thepast when the cost of living was very much lower, but which.

now that the paper money has declined to about half of itsnominal value, does not provide for the bare necessities oflife So one cannot be surprised to find only dejection anddisgust prevailing in most of the orchestras A considerablenumber of the players are feeble old men who should havebeen pensioned off long ago, but who remain in service inorder to earn enough money to make ends meet3

Much of the vitality of Viennese concert life at thisperiod, however, stemmed from the involvement ofdilettanti Unlike the bulk of professional musicians,they were motivated largely by love of music or bysocial considerations; but when participating in orch-estral ventures it seems probable that they consideredtheir own enjoyment before that of their audienceThere is no evidence that any of the amateur organ-izations rehearsed intensively, while some, such as theConcerts Spintuels, not infrequently performed with-out any rehearsal at all. It is difficult to agree with OttoBiba's assertion that a dilettante was 'a trained musicianwho played his instrument perfectly, but for his ownpleasure rather than for a living simply a performerof professional calibre with amateur status'.4 Somedilettanti were undoubtedly very accomplished, butothers were, equally certainly, far less so A writer in1800 observed

There can be few cities where amateur musical activity is souniversal as here All play, all learn music Naturally thereare some excellent dilettanti among this great multitude, butthey are not so common as before People regard music toolightly, as if it were to be learned in passing, they believe theycan do everything immediately, excusing themselves ulti-mately with the word Dilettante, and take the whole thingmore as a matter of gallantry and correct social behaviour

He went on to lament 'The fortunes of visiting artistsoften lie in the hands of these dilettanti, who reallyfrequently possess little knowledge but who are oftenvery partisan'5

There is nothing to suggest that the first two decadesof the 19th century saw any appreciable improvementin standards either among amateurs or professionalsIn the diary which Michael Frey, a pupil of Spohr wholater became Hofkapellmetster in Mannheim, kept duringhis stay in Vienna in 1815-16, there is a revealingvignette of a musical evening at the house of a certainHildebrand He described it in the following terms:

They did not once hit their notes, played completely out oftime and were so complacent about it that they couldcertainly not hear it The only other violin was played by amember of the orchestra of the Theater an der Wien He wasthe best of a bad lot'

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Other comments in Frey's diary support the picture of avery uneven level of competence in Viennese musicallife

In Reichardf s view the decline in standards, parti-cularly with respect to the organization and personnelof the theatre orchestras, had by the first decade of the19th century become a self-perpetuating situation Heobserved:The worst thing is that, as a result of this inadequate state ofaffairs, artists and public alike become accustomed todefective and imperfect performances, convinced that per-fection can never be achieved or demanded 7

It is highly likely that, human nature being what it is,the generally prevailing conditions bred complacencyand an acceptance of far lower standards in orchestralplaying than those of which the best Viennese musicianswere capable This is brought home strongly by anarticle assessing the qualities of the Nationaltheaterorchestra in 1802. Having enthusiastically described arecent performance, the writer went on to say:Anyone who knows that the united Vienna Nationaltheaterorchestra is only to be compared with three or at the mostfour other German orchestras, will not in any way beastonished by the abovementioned kind of performance,however, one might ask Why does one not always hear itthus7 - Why on other occasions, even in this orchestra, doesthe Turkish drum assault the ears of the listeners withunrestrained force at every opportunity, and make the wholething rock and shake7 - Why, in the entr'acts of the spokentheatre, does the orchestra so often, when the curtain goesup, come to a halt after the first half of a section, andfrequently on a dissonance9 - The foreigner who hears thismay well comprehend the gracious indulgence of the public,but at the same time he will take away with him a very pooropinion of the ears of the musicians and of their skill In themany performances of Die Zauberflote this very orchestra hasnot yet once performed the overture without error Thearticulation of the bass strings is continually lost throughthe exaggerated rapidity of the tempo Instead of theprecisely calculated effect of regular syncopation, the wholething was like a comic horse race where one almost fell overthe other8

This seems a far cry from the situation that had existedjust before Beethoven's arrival in Vienna, when a well-travelled visitor to the city in 1790 recorded hisenthusiastic admiration for the orchestra of the ItalianOpera in the following terms:Such order rules here, such a rare unanimity of ensemble,depending not merely on the beat, and such an equal andunanimous feeling in the subtleties of expression, that noorchestra in Europe surpasses it either in details or as awhole'

Having discussed the various merits and demerits ofthe London, Paris, Naples and Munich orchestras, hewent on to describe the Viennese orchestra's excellencein a performance of Sahen's Axur where he had theopportunity to experiencea manner and method of expressing the dying fall of passionwhich were till then unknown to me As the storm of excitedpassion gradually sank to exhaustion and the most violentagitation gave way to milder feelings, so the orchestraallowed the beat to relax in the most perfect accord with thesingers and the melodies to ebb away more and more slowly,as the mood was intended to become more and more gentleWhen the passion grew again, so the pulse became moreimpetuous and emphatic, and they also accelerated the flowof the melody with rare unanimity of ensemble l0

This peak of excellence came at the end of an era,the material stability and stylistic certainty which layat its root were already under threat from powerfulexternal and internal forces Uncongenial economicconditions and the unfamiliar demands of contem-porary music necessitated the momentous changes inattitudes towards orchestra size, composition, layout,direction and performance practices which took placeduring the following decades The transition was notaccomplished painlessly

Orchestra size and constitutionThe main focus for professional orchestral playing wasthe theatre. As early as 1764, when Florian Gassmannwas Kapellmeister, the two theatres which comprisedthe Hoftheater (the Burgtheater and the Karntnertor-theater) had separate orchestras, each of which,according to an early 19th-century account, was 'notstrong, but well-manned, in the proportion of 6 first, 6second violins, 3 double-basses etc ' " Between 1778,when Joseph II instituted a German Opera company,and 1806 (with a hiatus in 1787-94) there was both anItalian and a German company at the Hoftheater, eachwith its own orchestra In 1781 the German Operacompany consisted of two Kapellmeister, Saheri andUmlauf, 18 principal singers, a chorus of 30 and anorchestra of 37 players, including 6 first and 6 secondviolins, 3 cellos and 3 basses, though it was augmentedwhen necessary12 In about 1785 Paul Wranitzskybecame Orchesterdirektor and remained so until hisdeath in 1808.

Since music was required for overtures, entr'actsand incidental music even in spoken theatre, a secondorchestra remained in existence between 1787 and1794 despite the disbandment of the German company.On its reinstitution in 1794 the German company, with

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2 Sketch of the orchestra pit and stage of the Kamtnertortheater in 1821. Drawn by the theatre costumier, Franz Strdber, shortly after therefurbishment of the theatre in 1821, it shows the arrangement of music stands for the orchestra. It tallies closely with Gassner's sketchpublished in 1844 and shows, in addition, that the desk for the Violindirektor was raised slightly higher than the others.

Siissmayr as Kapellmeister, seems generally to haveperformed in the Burgtheater, while the Italian com-pany under the direction of Salieri and Weigl performedat the Kamtnertortheater. The two companies werenot, however, on an equal footing; the Italian was themore prestigious and the orchestra seems to havereceived higher pay, therefore attracting the betterplayers.13

Whereas in 1764 the two court theatres each had anorchestra of approximately the same size, it appearsthat by the beginning of the 19th century the ItalianOpera orchestra may have been somewhat larger, for areviewer in 1800 mentioned that it contained five five-stringed double basses.l4 By analogy with the orchestraat the Theater an der Wien in 1804, this implies anorchestra of about 16 violins, 4 violas, 3 or 4 cellos, 5basses and the usual wind instruments, giving a totalcomplement of around 45. The Orchesterdirektor of theItalian orchestra between 1796(?) and 1804 was JacomoConti, who was described in 1800 as 'not equal to hisposition',15 and whose incompetence was blamed formany of the orchestra's failings. There is no reliableevidence as to the size of the German orchestra in1800, but it is likely that it still consisted of about 40players.

At Easter 1806 the Italian company was disbanded;some singers were taken into the German companyand presumably the orchestras were reorganized.Salieri stood at the head of the new company withWeigl, Gyrowetz, Rosier and Umlauf as his deputies.Details of the financial and administrative reorgan-ization of 1806 are unclear, but it is possible that thebest players from both orchestras were amalgamatedto form the new opera orchestra, while the restsupplied an orchestra for the necessary incidentalmusic in spoken drama productions. Opera was stillgiven at both court theatres, though the Karntnertorwas increasingly favoured. It officially became theHofoperntheater in 1819. In 1817 Salieri was stillprincipal Kapellmeister, with Weigl, Gyrowetz andUmlauf as his subordinates, while Anton Wranitzskywas Orchesterdirektor and Klorschinsky Vice-Orchester-direktor, it is not possible to determine the precise sizeof the orchestra at that time (it probably depended onthe music being performed on any particular occasion),but it is likely that it was somewhat larger than it hadbeen 20 years earlier.

A writer in 1826 attributed the financial difficultiesof the Hoftheater under Domenico Barbaja to 'an over-full orchestra, which besides five Kapellmeisters -

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Proscenium.

' : Vrjikp-V'lr1'1 'Parterre

J Plan of the orchestra layout at the Karntnertortheater, fromGassner's Dirigent und Ripienist (Karlesruhe, 1844), Beilage no. 10

Messrs Weigl, Gyrowetz, Kreutzer, Wurfel and Krebs -contains three music directors Messrs Katter. Hilde-brand and Schindler, three solo players - MessersMayseder(violin), Merk(cello) andHeilingmayer(harp),as well as a chorus of eighty'.I6 The total number in theorchestra is not stated in this account, but in 1829Vincent Novello noted that the orchestra at theKarntnertor consisted of 10 first violins, 8 seconds, 4each of violas, cellos and basses, and the usualcomplement of wind.17 A plan of the orchestra pub-lished in Gassner's Dirigent und Ripienist in 1844 talliesexactly with Franz Strober's engraving of 1821 showingan orchestra of 8 firsts, 6 seconds, 4 each of violas,cellos and basses, 2 each of flutes, oboes, clarinets,bassoons and trumpets, 3 trombones, 4 horns, harp,timpani and percussion. These illustrations clearlyshow that some of the violins, including the Orchester-direktor, faced the stage while the basses faced outtowards the audience; the other instruments facedsideways so that they could see both the Kapellmeisterand the Orchesterdirektor (see illus.2 and 3).

At the beginning of the 19th century, regularorchestras were also maintained at the Theater an derWien. and two other suburban theatres: the Joseph-stadter and the Leopoldstadter where, throughout theperiod, the orchestras were considered distinctlyinferior. In 1804 the orchestra at the Theater an derWien was of a similar size to the orchestra of theGerman opera at the same date. There were twoKapellmeister, von Seyfried and Teyber, and the orch-estra, whose director was Franz Clement, totalled 38,including 6 first violins, 6 second violins. 2 cellos and4 basses.18 Firm information on the size of theorchestras at the theatres in the Josephstadt (whereBeethoven's amanuensis. Anton Schindler. wasOrchesterdirektor from 1822 to 1826) and the Leopold-stadt is not available.

Apart from the theatres, the only other organization

in Vienna to maintain a regular professional orchestrawas the Hofkapelle. The main function of this orchestrawas to accompany the religious services in the ImperialChapel. Between 1793 and 1824 Salieri was Kapell-meister and after him Joseph Eybler. Vincent Novello,who heard them perform in 1829, noted: 'Good band,though small, several of the opera orchestra. Serviceconducted by Eybler. . . There were not many per-formers, but all efficient." At that time the orchestraincluded the four leading Viennese violinists IgnazSchuppanzigh, Joseph Mayseder, Joseph Bohm andLeopold Jansa. Personnel lists show that in addition topairs of the usual wind players, there were 15 violinists(presumably including violas who were not listedseparately) in 1793 and 12 in 1825; there were normally2 (occasionally 3) each of cellos and basses.20 An entryin the 1825 diary of Sir George Smart confirms the sizeof the orchestra: "Mr Eybler was the Director - standingat a desk facing the Altar- on his right in 2 rows were12 violins 2 viole 2 cellos and 2 basses.'21 Thisdescription agrees with a plan given by Gassner in1844 (illus.4). In 1827. according to Edward Holmes,the orchestra sometimes performed 'Sinfonias andother full instrumental pieces' at parts of the servicewhere an organ voluntary was usual in England.22

One of the few concert organizations to use exclu-sively professional musicians in its orchestra was theTonkiinstler Societat, which had been founded in 1771with the aim of raising funds for the support of thewidows and orphans of musicians. It generally gavefour concerts a year, with oratorio figuring prominentlyin its programmes. For orchestral concerts relativelymodest forces were utilized; at the concerts on 15 and16 April 1792, the year of Beethoven's arrival inVienna, there was an orchestra of 6 first violins, 6seconds, 4 violas, 3 cellos and 3 basses, with the usualcomplement of wind.23 But the oratorio performanceswere commonly given with much larger numbers; forthe first performance of Haydn's Die Schopfung in 1800it is reported that an orchestra of almost 200 wasused.24 Handel's Judas Maccabeus in 1806 and Eybler'sDie vier letzten Dinge in 1810 were given with similarforces, while for Beethoven's Christus am Olberge in1817 a smaller but still very sizeable orchestra ofaround 100, containing 20 first violins, 20 seconds, 8violas, 7 cellos and 7 basses, was employed.25

In addition to these regular performances given byentirely professional ensembles, professional musi-cians took part in musical enterprises sponsored bynoble and wealthy amateurs, and in the numerous

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concerts (Akademien) mounted by resident and visitingvirtuosi and composers. The majority of public con-certs, however, were given by orchestras containing ahigh proportion of amateurs; only a few were givenentirely by professionals. The opera orchestras didperform overtures, symphonies and even concertos asentr'acte music in the theatres, but there was nothingapproaching a fully professional concert orchestra inVienna until six years after Beethoven's death, whenFranz Lachner gave a series of carefully rehearsedconcerts with the orchestra of the Hofoper. Lachner'sdeparture from Vienna in 1834 brought this experimentto an end, and there was no serious attempt to emulateit until Otto Nicolai instituted the Philharmonic Con-certs in 1842.

4 Plan of the layout of the choir and orchestra in the Hofkapelle(Gassner op. cit. Beilage no 12)

Among the most durable of the largely amateurorchestral associations were the Augarten Concerts,an annual series usually consisting of twelve summerconcerts given on Thursday mornings at 7.00 or 7.30a.m. These began in 1782 and continued until about1811. On 18 May 1782 Mozart wrote to his father: 'Theorchestra is composed of amateurs except for thebassoons, trumpets and timpani'.26 A reviewer in 1799reported that, apart from the wind and the basses, allthe other sections of the orchestra were numerouslystocked with amateurs.27 Another review from thefollowing year complained that though the room wasexcellent, 'the orchestra is badly placed (right in themiddle without the least elevation)', and gave theimpression that the concerts had progressively fallenoff in standard.28 The Augarten Concerts were directedfrom about 1795 by Ignaz Schuppanzigh, whose closeconnection with Beethoven ensured that the pro-grammes included many of Beethoven's compositions;his overtures, piano concertos (performed by Czernyand Ries among others) and his first five symphonieswere frequently performed here, with Beethoven parti-cipating in the direction. There is, however, no evidencefor the size of the orchestra.

During the years 1803-1807 a series of winterorchestral concerts was given under the auspices ofthe banker, von Wiirth, on Sundays at midday in hisown house. The orchestra consisted largely of amateurs,but was directed by Franz Clement. These concerts,though not strictly speaking public, were consideredimportant enough to be reviewed in the LeipzigAllgemeine musikalische Zeitung. Distinguished soloistsincluding Kalkbrenner, Thieriot and Ries performedconcertos there and the series also included earlyperformances of such works as Eberl's Symphony inE flat op.33 and, much more significantly, Beet-hoven's 'Eroica' on 3 January 1805. The orchestra wasdescribed in 1804 as 'a very powerful company (con-sisting almost entirely of amateurs)'.29

Evidence suggests that in the early years of thecentury a moderate sized orchestra with 6 to 8 firstviolins and the rest in proportion (the normal size ofthe theatre orchestras), was typical for purely orches-tral concerts. This would presumably have been thesize of the orchestra at Beethoven's Akademien on 2April 1800 and 22 December 1808 where he usedwholly professional players (the Italian Opera orchestraand the Theater an der Wien orchestra respectively).For concerts such as tnose of von Wiirth, which tookplace in private houses, an orchestra larger than this

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seems improbable However, it is unlikely that per-formances which were given for an audience ratherthan merely for a few friends or simply for theenjoyment of the performers were much smaller than 6first violins, 6 seconds, 3 or 4 violas, 3 or 4 cellos, 2 or 3basses and the usual complement of wind. Otto Bibahas rightly pointed out that Beethoven's letter of 1813to the Archduke Rudolf suggesting forces of 8 violins,4 violas, 2 cellos and 2 basses for his symphoniesclearly applies to the minimum necessary for a privateplay-through 30 This supposition is supported by detailsof the numbers involved in early performances of the'Eroica' Symphony which took place under the auspicesof Prince Lobkovitz in 1804 and 1805, for whichpayments to musicians are preserved in the Prince'saccount books A first play-through was arrangedshortly before 9 June 1804 at the Lobkovitz Palace,just after the work's completion, with an ensemble ofabout 26 players, including 6 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellosand 2 basses When the symphony was again performedat Prince Lobkovitz's on 23 January 1805, a few weeksafter the von Wurth performance, there were 12violins, 3 violas, 4 cellos, 2 basses, timpani and theusual wind, making some 35 players in all.31

Toward the end of the first decade of the 19thcentury the general trend in amateur concerts seems tohave been towards larger orchestras. The winter seasonof 1807-8 saw a new series of concerts mounted as afully public venture. They were initially given in theconcert room at the Mehlgrub under the direction ofan accomplished amateur violinist, von Herring, whofrequently gave concerts in his own house. After ashort while they migrated to the larger and far moresuitable University Hall. The directorship also changedwithin the first year, with Clement replacing vonHerring At these concerts Beethoven 'conducted' theperformance of several of his own works- the ConolanOverture and the 'Eroica' Symphony in December 1807and the Fourth Symphony in January 1808. Theorchestra (of which a detailed list survives) wassubstantial, containing 13 first violins, 12 secondviolins, 7 violas, 6 cellos, 4 basses, timpani and asingle complement of wind instruments, adding up toaround 55 performers. Of these 18 were professionaland the rest amateur32

The French occupation of Vienna and the generallyunpropitious circumstances of those years preventedthese concerts from being set on a permanent footingat that time, but the movement continued to gathermomentum and on 29 November 1812 the event which

was to lead directly to the formation of the Gesell-schaft der Musikfreunde took place in the ImperialReitschule A performance of Handel's Alexander'sFeast with Mozart's orchestration was given by achorus of 280 and an orchestra of 310, in aid of thevictims of a fire at Baden. This was even more massivethan the Tonkiinstler Societat concerts and the venue,used here for the first time in this way, allowed a muchfiner effect than the cramped and acoustically un-grateful Burgtheater The layout, together with detailsof amateur and professional participation, is given in acontemporary plan The positioning of solo instru-ments in the forefront with the singers, shown in the1812 illustration, was clearly dictated both by thenature of the piece and the size of the forces involvedin the performance The placing of the choir in front ofthe orchestra was typical Viennese practice at thisperiod. A similar layout on a smaller scale is shown in aplan of the arrangement at the Concerts Spirituels. Itwas also the scheme adopted for the 1824 perfor-mances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. In the firstfew years of its existence the Gesellschaft der Musik-freunde gave similarly large-scale performances ofHandel's Samson (1814) and Messiah (1815), and AbbeStadler's Die Befreyung von Jerusalem (1816), but thesefestival performances then went into abeyance untilthe 1830s.

More modest but nevertheless substantial forceswere used for four concerts which Beethoven gave atthe end of 1813 and the beginning of 1814 with anorchestra of mixed professionals and amateurs. Inaddition to Wellingtons Sieg, which was included in allof them, the programmes included the premieres ofthe Seventh and Eighth Symphonies. Thayer refers to amemorandum of Beethoven noting the exact numbersof the stringed instruments for one of these concertsas follows- 'at my last concert in the large Redoutensaalthere were 18 first violins, 18 seconds, 14 violas, 12cellos, 7 basses, 2 double bassoons'.33 For theseconcerts it seems certain that he used a doublecomplement of wind instruments

Doubled wind was not uncommon in large-scaleperformances at this time According to the un-published reminiscences of Johann Baptist Geissler,archivist of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, theSociety's orchestra during its first decade of regularorchestral concerts (from 1815) always contained 20first violins, 20 seconds, 12 violas, 10 cellos, 8 basses,with doubled wind when required.34 The suppositionthat they used doubled wind in the performance of

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5 Layout of cho ir and orches tra for a p e r f o r m a n c e of Handel ' s Alexander s Feast in Mozart's orches trat ion . Reitschi i le . 1812

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6 A copperplate engraving of the layout of the choir and orchestra of the Concert Spirituel in about 1825 This shows the Violindirektor (Vil.D) at the right-hand end of the first row of violins The timpani are next to the trumpets, partly obscured by the shadow of the organ

Beethoven's orchestral music at that time is supportedby a set of parts of the Fourth Symphony in thearchives of the Gesellschaft, in which Beethovenhimself has marked the wind parts 'solo' and 'tutti',indicating which passages should be played by asingle player and which should be doubled. Works byBeethoven included in the 1816 and 1817 seasons ofthe Gesellschaft concerts were the Egmont Overtureand the Second and Seventh Symphonies; the FourthSymphony was first performed by them in 1821.

A somewhat smaller orchestra took part in theperformances of orchestral and choral music whichwere given at the Concerts Spirituels (founded in1819). According to Hanslick the chorus and orchestraof these concerts (including 10-12 professional windplayers) numbered about 100." Geissler confirms this,saying that there was an orchestra of 48 and a choir of53 36 The copperplate plan of the ensemble from about

1825, however, shows a choir of 80 and an orchestra of58, with a string section of 10-10-10-6-4, timpani, asingle complement of wind including 4 horns and 3trombones (illus.6).

There were other short-lived and occasional amateurconcert ventures, such as the society known as the'Reunion' which met in a room at the hotel 'zumRomischen Kaiser' in 1812-13, where Beethovendirected his oratorio Christus am Olberge in March 1813.In addition, Beethoven was associated, either in personor through his works, with numerous charity concerts,mostly given by mixed amateur and professionalorchestras. In November 1808 he directed an un-specified symphony, overture and piano concerto at aconcert of the offenthchen Wohlthatigkeits-Anstalten;in May 1814, for the Theater-Armen. he directed theoverture Egmont and Die Schlacht bei Vittoria; for aconcert in aid of the Burgerspital in 1818 he directed

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the Eighth Symphony; and in January 1819, for thewidows of members of the Faculty of Law, his SeventhSymphony. Schubert, too, was connected with theamateur orchestral movement, first at the Convict,with its orchestra containing 12 violins, 2 cellos and 2basses, for which his early symphonies were composed,then with a small orchestra which grew from musicalgatherings at the house of the Vienna merchant,Frischling, for which he composed his Fifth and SixthSymphonies, and finally with the much larger orchestraof the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, for whom hislast symphony was intended but not performedMethods of directionDifferent methods of direction were practised fordifferent types of music. Until about 1810, orchestralworks were normally directed by the principal violinist(concertmaster); when voices were also included, akeyboard player usually participated in the direction,and in large-scale works involving chorus and orchestrathere was often a third director whose sole purposewas to beat time

By the 1790s the presence of a keyboard instrumentin purely orchestral music would already have beenexceptional in Vienna During the late 18th centuryDittersdorf and Haydn directed their symphonies fromthe violin (Haydn only presided at the piano for theperformance of his symphonies in London becausethat was the local practice), and at the beginning of the19th century Clement directed his Ahademwn andSchuppanzigh the Augarten Concerts in the samemanner In 1800 a contemporary describedSchuppanzigh's direction at the Augarten in the follow-ing terms:Hen Schuppanzigh's greatest merit is his bold playing,which thus also has an advantageous influence on hisconducting But with all due acknowledgement of his meritswe cannot agree with the widespread view that he is a greatdirector If that seem quibbling, we may only cite toconnoisseurs that he is a very accomplished practicalmusician but merely that, without any knowledge of theoryand composition The most skilful and expert director, wholacks this knowledge, cannot, we believe, do more than playhis own part correctly and well and if there is a fluctuation intempo or some other error in the orchestra, lay into his violinand stamp his feet (usually in an offensive manner) There ismuch more to preventing such mistakes in the orchestrathrough subtle measures, to holding the orchestra togetherunnoticed by the listeners (as people say) - through thecorrecting and bringing back together of the orchestra,likewise unnoticed by the listener, if such a mistake occurs-in short, to everything which constitutes a great director 37

Clearly some violinist directors were thought capableof the exemplary conduct alluded to at the end of thisreview, but the evidence suggests that it was not oftenencountered In 1808 J F. Reichardt noted withdisapproval that Schuppanzigh frequently conveyedthe beat through the 'execrable manner of foot stampingwhich is generally practised here',38 and that often heapparently stamped merely to strengthen a forte, evenin quartet performances This and other distractinghabits on the part of violin-conductors were commonA review of a concert given in 1800 by the visitinghorn-player, Punto, who performed the sonata writtenfor him by Beethoven, describes how in a 'HuntSymphony' by Mehul, 'Herr Punto himself conductedwith the violin, but made himself laughable throughthat well-known old French charlatanism and facepulling'39 These practices persisted in Vienna wellinto the second decade of the century, and continuedeven longer elsewhere In 1825, Mendelssohn reporteda performance of Beethoven's Second Symphony inPans where 'The tempi were altogether too fast, andHabeneck, who conducted from the violin, and wouldhave liked to hold them back, made himself quitemiserable, stamping his feet, hitting the stand with hisbow so hard that it wobbled, and moving his wholebody, but none of it was of any avail'40

Beethoven himself seems to have been one of thefirst musicians in Vienna to attempt to direct orchestralconcerts without an instrument His concern for theproper interpretation of his own orchestral worksmade him anxious to supervise their performance Hewas not primarily a violinist and seems never to havedirected from the violin, nor is there evidence tosuggest that he, or anyone else in Vienna during thefirst decade of the 19th century, made a practice ofdirecting orchestral music from the keyboard Allsurviving accounts of Beethoven's conducting suggestthat he directed from a separate music desk without abaton How early he adopted this practice can only beconjectured There is nothing in the only review of hisAkademie in 1800, when the First Symphony waspremiered, to prove that he conducted the orchestralitems in the programme In fact the review mentionsquarrels about the direction, saying that Beethovenwanted Wranitzsky to direct but that the Italian Operaorchestra would only play under their regular Vwltn-direhtor, Conti Nevertheless, the possibility remainsthat Beethoven did take part in the direction in somecapacity, it is tempting to see a hint of his participationin the reviewer's remark that in the finale of the

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symphony the orchestra 'were so casual that despiteall time-beating [alles Taktirens ungeachtet], no morefire could be got out of them, particularly from thewind instruments'4I This could easily refer to Conti,but taking Beethoven's temperament into account it isdifficult to believe that in the circumstances he wouldnot have been time-beating

From the middle of the first decade of the centuryonwards there are many contemporary references toBeethoven conducting his own works At Clement'sAkademie at the Theater an der Wien on 7 April 1805,for instance, where the 'Eroica' was performed, theprogramme announced 'The composer kindly con-sented to conduct the work'42 Ignaz Moscheles reportedthat during his time in Vienna (from 1809) he had'never missed the delightful Concerts at theAugarten where he conducted his own Symphonies'43And Reichardt has left an account of the Akademie inthe Theater an der Wien on 22 December 1808 whereBeethoven conducted a mammoth programme con-taining the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, the FourthPiano Concerto, the Choral Fantasia and some shorteritems, Reichardt described his seat as being in a box 'inthe first balcony near the stage, so that the orchestrawith Beethoven in the middle conducting it was belowus and near at hand'44 Precisely what is meant by theterm 'conducting' in these cases, however, is unclearAccording to Ries, when he gave an early performanceof the C minor Piano Concerto at the Augarten on 19July 1804 'Beethoven himself conducted, but he onlyturned the pages'45 And accounts of the 1808Akademie by Ries and Rbckel suggest that even ifBeethoven beat time at the concert he did not directlysupervise the rehearsal, having offended the orchestraof the Theater an der Wien so much that they refusedto have him in the room with them 46 Later des-criptions of Beethoven's conducting, by Spohr,47 FranzWild,48 Atterbohm,49 Moscheles50 and others agreeclosely in their general description of his method Hedoes not seem to have given a continuous and regularbeat, rather he was concerned with conveying theexpression; his disappearances below the music deskfor pianos and his leaps into the air at fortes aresimilarly described by several observers UnfortunatelyBeethoven's deafness increasingly made control of theperformance impossible and the real direction lay inother hands. Leopold von Sonnleithner recalled that atthe premiere of the Ninth Symphony on 7 May 1824'Beethoven himself stood at the head, the real directionof the orchestra was in the care of Umlauf as time giver

and Schuppanzigh as the principal violin'51 But evenbefore Beethoven had lost his hearing it is questionablewhether he possessed the necessary firmness and tactto be an effective conductor.

In fact, Vienna during Beethoven's lifetime did not,it seems, produce any directors with the authority,personality and ability of a Spohr or a Weber, whocould impose their will and establish unchallengedcontrol over the performance Evidence suggests thatuntil at least 1810 Beethoven's attempts to directpurely orchestral concerts without an instrument wereexceptional, during the second decade of the century,however, the practice became increasingly common,though there appears to have been considerableresistance to it, particularly from violinists Afterattending one of the concerts of the Gesellschaft derMusikfreunde on 7 January 1816 at which Beethoven'sSecond Symphony was performed, Michael Frey com-plained about a 'time beater who stood in the middleand pretty troublesomely wagged his beat from thebeginning to the end of the symphony, but it wouldhave gone on just as well without him'52 By the 1820s aseparate time beater was normal for orchestral concertsin Vienna, though his control was by no meanscomplete or undisputed

Opera performances at the Viennese court theatresduring the early years of the century seem also to havebeen frequently directed from the violin. It is probablethat the Italian custom obtained, whereby the com-poser of an opera or the Kapellmeister presided over thefirst three performances at the keyboard and then leftit entirely in the hands of the Orchesterdirektor Anaccount of the state of affairs at the German Opera in1800, comparing its orchestra with that of the ItalianOpera, stated'

The orchestra possesses far fewer good players than that ofthe Italian Opera, the payment is too poor Yet one oftenhears symphonies by Haydn or, from time to time, an operaby Mozart far better performed by it than by the other, whichis largely thanks to its worthy director Herr Paul WranitzskyMuch worse performed are the overtures to comedies andthe entracts, mostly antiquated symphonies, under thesluggish direction of Herr Reinhard 33

In the rest of his long review of the state of the operacompanies, which criticizes them from numerousangles, the writer made no mention of any director ofthe performances besides the Orchesterdirektor,Wranitzsky, and his deputy, the Kapellmeister Weigland Sahen are only referred to in connection with thechoice of operas, and even if a Kapellmeister was

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involved in the performance in some capacity heseems not to have been credited with any share ofresponsibility either for its good or bad aspects.Another writer observed that Wranitzsky was less goodas a director in operas than in instrumental music,since for operas he only attended the last threerehearsals with orchestra, not the preceding rehearsalswith quartet accompaniment54 This suggests thatthought he did not assume overall responsibility forthe musical direction of the German Opera, it was hewho normally presided in the pit at the performances

It is certainly the case that elsewhere in Germanyduring the first two decades of the century operas weredirected entirely from the violin When Spohr assumedthe post of Kapellmeister at the Frankfurt opera housein 1818 he began, at the request of the singers, bydirecting from the violin in the manner of his pre-decessor, Schmitt Only when, by dint of intensiverehearsal, he had accustomed the singers to learn theirparts so thoroughly that they no longer needed to relyon the director's violin helping them when they losttheir place, was he able to dispense with his violin andadopt the baton instead 55

There are numerous references to the violin directionof operas in Germany at this period. One from 1814, ofa 'recent' performance, gives a vivid picture of theproblems involved The Viohndirektor is described astaking his place in front of the prompter's box and,having rapped on it with his bow

he put his violin under his chin and raised himself on tiptoe,together with his instrument so that he and it were pointedup to the flies He laid the bow on the string near the heel,turned his head once more to both sides, as far as thedifficulties of his position allowed him, and then drew hisbow as though he wanted to cut through all the strings,dipping his whole body so suddenly with this down-bow thathis head came to rest under the music stand the bow lost3 or 4 hairs But soon our director raised himself again andnow bowed on vigorously in this manner so that his notescould be distinguished from all the others by their rough-ness and volume All the while he beat time very audibly,now with his bow, now with his foot, now with the head, andnow with all three together He gave cues to right and left forthe individual instruments, made a peevish face when amistake occurred, or conveyed his approval by a friendlynod of the head, in a word he was like one pursued by bees,in constant motion When the curtain went up his movementswere even more violent, and the fervour and exertion,particularly in his facial muscles, reached an ever higherpitch, and he now had to direct his attention towards threedifferent points of the compass One often observed him in

the dilemma of not being able to look to all sides at once,which dilemma he sought in part to solve by directing hishead to the stage and his violin and bow to either side 56

By the middle of the 1810s, however, it was becomingnormal in Viennese theatres to have a Kapellmeisterregularly directing the singers from a separate musicdesk or sometimes seated at the keyboard, thoughthere is little to suggest that this was seen as any greatimprovement over the former practice Michael Frey,who was hard to please where conductors wereconcerned, caustically described a production ofKauer's Die Chinestschen Lantemen at the Josephstadtertheatre on 31 December 1815.

which was performed in such a manner that onewondered how this sort of thing could exist in a city I foundthe whole thing very tedious and was glad when the filthymess came to an end, Kauer directed his wretched incom-petent piece, it would have been just as good, however, if hehad not been there, he sat so solidly and phlegmatically atthe piano that one could have taken him for dead "

Direction by a Kapellmeister seated at the piano wasstill in vogue at the Leopoldstadter theatre ten yearslater, when Sir George Smart noted in his journal thatthe 'conductor sat at a queer toned long P F, beat timewithout a roll'58 At the Josephstadter, however, heremarked that for a performance of Weber's DerFreischutz 'the conductor beat time at a desk in thecenter [sic] even with the violins'59 This was certainlythe method that had prevailed at the Karntnertor-theater since the reorganization of the orchestra in1821 Gassner's plan of the pit shows the Kapellmeisterin the middle surrounded by cellos and basses, but theOrchesterdirektor, according to Strober's sketch, had araised desk In the Theater an der Wien, however, itseems from an illustration of about 1825 that aconductor stood next to the stage with his back to theorchestra. As late as 1825 direction by the principalviolinist was apparently still in operation for instru-mental music in Viennese theatres, for Smart notedwhen he went to a play at the Burgtheater that for theincidental music there was 'no director of theorchestra'60 Within a few years of this, though,performances under the sole command of a Violin-direktor were seldom to be encountered except in'garden music' and balls, which were directed by suchpopular musicians as Joseph Lanner and JohannStrauss. However, even though by the end of Beet-hoven's lifetime it was normal in Vienna to have aconductor both for concerts and for opera, he had yetto establish full control over the proceedings In

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Viennese opera houses during the 1820s, even wherethere was a Kapellmeister at the piano or beating time ata separate music desk, so that the principal violinistwas not the sole director of the performance, he stillplayed a much more prominent role than the modernleader Right through the 1820s he had an essentialpart in the direction of operas, so much so that theOrchesterdirektor was regarded as of equal importance,at least as far as the orchestra's performance wasconcerned Thus a review of Mozarts Don Giovanni atthe Theater an der Wien in 1822 remarkedThe perfection of the orchestra has perhaps never shownitself in such a good light no note went astray to whichthe composer had given the slightest importance, and everysignificant performance direction was correctly observedFor this so marvellous ensemble, as well as in general, thetwo chiefs, Messers von Seyfned and Clement, who directedthe whole with such zeal and true love of art, should be givenunrestrained and special thanks for their care61

This concept of divided direction meant that inperformances of music for choir and orchestra therewere often three directors, a Violindtrektor, who directedthe orchestra, a Klavierdirektor, who accompanied therecitative in pieces with a continuo part, or otherwiseassisted the soloists and chorus, and a director whoseprincipal responsibility was for the co-ordination ofthe whole This was the common practice in concertswith large forces; at the oratorio concerts of theTonkunstler Societat and the Gesellschaft der Musik-freunde, for instance. Three directors are clearlyshown on the plan of the 1812 Gesellschaft perform-ance of Handel's Alexander's Feast Another person,designated in the list at the bottom as (d) Der Partitur-Nachleser und Anfuhrersgehulfe is not located on theplan, evidently through a printer's oversight, but isprobably to be identified with the 'sub-director', whoon another version of the plan was positioned levelwith the fourth row of violins His function waspresumably to relay the beat to those at the back whocould not clearly see the other directors Leopold vonSonnleithner's recollection was that this was theearliest occasion in Vienna on which a baton had beenused to direct.62 But quite how the responsibility ofdirecting would have been distributed is anothermatter. In this arrangement the Cembalist, as he is heredesignated, would have been the only one of the threefunctionaries whom the solo singers could have seen,he, however, could see the Anfuhrer (who almostcertainly faced towards the front) and could thereforeact as a link between him and the soloists, while,

because of the distances involved, the orchestrawould have been constrained to rely heavily on theguidance of the Vwlmdirektor or the AnfuhrersgehulfeBut much remains unclear Would the Anfuhrer haveturned round to conduct the overture, or would hehave left it to the Vwlmdirektor0 Would he, in fact, haveconducted the solos, or would he only have conductedthe choral numbers7 In other large-scale performancesof works such as Haydn's oratorios or Beethoven'sNinth Symphony, where the composer had not intendeda keyboard part, what sort of part would the Cembalisthave played7 (Conradin Kreutzer was at the piano inthe 1808 performance of Die Schopfung and at the firstperformance of the Ninth) There were undoubtedly avariety of practices - for instance, Wagner recalledthat in Leipzig in 1832, for a performance of the Ninth,a time-beater was only involved during the finale63 -and though the trend was inexorably toward theconcentration of control in the hands of the conductor,it was many years after Beethoven's death before thisgoal was achieved in Vienna

Manner of performanceAny attempt to identify the stylistic criteria that wereapplied specifically to orchestral playing in Viennaduring this period is hampered by an acute scarcity ofevidence. It is possible to ascertain with some degreeof accuracy such things as pitch (about A=435 in 1825)and the technical specifications of wind and stringinstruments, but an idea of how the orchestra actuallyplayed remains highly speculative Even when positivestatements about what should or should not be doneare found, there are good grounds for thinking thatthere was often a wide gulf between theory andpractice

One important question is whether or not orchestraswere expected to use any kind of tempo rubato Ingeneral, without adequate rehearsal or efficient con-ducting, the orchestra as a whole could hardly havebeen expected to succeed in producing any subtlevariations in tempo The sort of flexible performancedescribed in Salien's Axur in 1790 could only havebeen achieved under very different conditions fromthose that obtained for most of Beethoven's time inVienna However, there is evidence that, ideally,Beethoven wanted rubato in his orchestral musicIgnaz von Seyfned recalled that when rehearsing hisorchestral works 'He was very particular about ex-pression, the delicate nuances, the equable distributionof light and shade as well as an effective tempo rubato,

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and without betraying vexation, would discuss themwith the individual players'64 The most commonconcept of tempo rubato at this period allowed that asoloist could take more time on a note or phrase aslong as he made it up elsewhere in the bar, while theaccompaniment maintained a steady tempo. Theoreti-cally, therefore, this could have been applied inorchestral compositions to soloistic passages, particu-larly by such undoubtedly fine wind players as theclarinettist, Friedlowsky, or the horn player, Herbst Butwhether or not Viennese orchestras at this time werecapable of realizing an effective tempo rubato, therecan be little doubt that Beethoven envisaged it

In general, orchestral players were expected toobserve different criteria from soloists. All manner ofimprovized ornamentation, which for string playersincluded such things as vibrato and portamento, weremeant to be eschewed by orchestral musicians. It isreasonable to assume that many of the rank and fileplayers did not practise these skills to a great extent inany case, but the most distinguished soloists in Viennaregularly played in orchestras and whether they reallyleft their soloistic practices behind when performingtheir orchestral duties is questionable Certainly Italianorchestras at this period were noted for the cacophonythat resulted at almost every cadence when theindividual members of the orchestra all ornamentedtheir parts in different ways65 This does not seem tohave been the case in Vienna, but there were othermatters that did give rise to complaint.

Portamento is a case in point. The technique hadcertainly been practised by 18th-century string players,and Reichardt specifically prohibited its use byorchestral players in his treatise Ueber die Pflichten desRipien-Viohmsten (1776),66 towards the end of thecentury and especially during the first decade of the19th century, however, through the influence of theFrench school of violinists, portamento becameincreasingly fashionable in Germany Spohr, whoseplaying roused great enthusiasm in Vienna during hisperiod in the city (1812-1815), was its most notableGerman exponent, but there is no doubt that it hadalready become a feature of the playing of nativeViennese violinists before that time Even thoughthere were distinct regional schools of playing through-out the 19th century it would be a mistake to think thatthe members of these schools were in any wayignorant of what was developing elsewhere, a constantstream of travelling virtuosi quickly spread a knowledgeof the latest fashions in string playing throughout.

EuropeBy 1811 it is clear that a number of Viennese string

players were using portamento liberally, not only intheir solo playing but also in the orchestra, for in thatyear the Allgemeine musikahsche Zettung published aletter from Salien in which he attacked the habit,sayingFor some time an effeminate and laughable manner ofplaying their instruments has crept in with various weak soloviolinists, which the Italians call the mamera smorfwsa,stemming from an abuse of sliding the finger up and downthe string This feeble and childish mannerism has, like aninfectious disease, spread to some orchestral players and,what is most ridiculous, not merely to our courageousviolinists, but also to viohsts and even double-bass playersBecause a tolerated evil always gets worse, such a mannerism,particularly in a full orchestra, must necessarily change aharmonious body into a collection of whining children andmiaowing cats 67

He then went on to advise the directors of the ImperialOpera that any players who persisted in this habitshould be removed from the orchestra. However, sinceSahen issued a public manifesto further protestingagainst the use of portamento four years later it seemslikely that his remonstrations were in vain.

The authorities continued to insist for many years tocome that when playing in the orchestra all in-strumentalists should adopt quite a different stylefrom that which they used when playing solo In hisViohnschule of 1832, Spohr directed that the orchestralviolinist shouldabstain from all superfluous appoggiaturas, turns, trills andthe like, as well as all contrived position work, sliding fromone note to another, changing the finger upon a note, inshort from everything appertaining to the embellishment ofsolo playing, which would disturb the smoothness ofensemble if transferred to orchestral playing 68

Gassner, twelve years later, made a similar point withrespect to orchestral players in general69

There is no doubt that the use of portamento inorchestral playing during the first half of the 19th-century was strongly discouraged, the situation withregard to vibrato is less clear cut, but there are goodreasons to suggest that it was similarly regarded asinappropriate in the orchestra. Robert Bremner, in'Some Thoughts on Concert Music' (1777), had ex-plicitly prohibited the employment of vibrato byorchestral players,70 and it seems clear that Spohr, too,intended his strictures against 'everything pertainingto the embellishment of solo playing' to include

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vibrato, since earlier in the Vwhnschule vibrato is dealtwith in the section on embellishments Even in thecontext of solo playing, where vibrato was regarded asa legitimate ornament, very sparing use was counselledby most 19th-century writers, and this aesthetic wasvigorously defended by Leopold Auer at late as 1921."A composer might occasionally require vibrato as aneffect in an orchestral context, and in that case hewould have to request it specifically Thus on page 27of the autograph of Carl Loewe's oratorio Die Festzeiten(1829), the cellos and violas hold three tied semibreveswith a crescendo-diminuendo against which, for bothinstruments, Loewe has written the word 'vibrato'. Theuse of a basically non-vibrato style by orchestralplayers persisted long after portamento had beenaccepted as a feature of orchestral performance, ascan be heard in early recordings; this is probably thereason for Elgar's request for vibrato in the larghetto ofhis Second Symphony (rehearsal number 86) n

Bows and bowing are crucial factors in determiningperformance style, and in this area Beethoven's lifetimecoincided with a period of transition Here, as in thecase of portamento, the influence of the Frenchschool was important It seems highly likely that theimproved Tourte model bow was widely adopted muchfaster than has often been suggested, and with itViotti's characteristic approach to bowing, whichstressed variety of slurring, long bow-strokes andpowerful tone Clearly, not all the leading Vienneseviolinists took up the newer approach Franz Clementis a case in point, a review of his playing by theViennese correspondent of the Allgememe musikahscheZeitung in 1805 observedhis is not the pithy, bold, forceful playing, the gripping,penetrating adagio, the power of bow and tone whichcharacterises the Rode and Viotti school rather an in-describable neatness and elegance, an extremely charmingtenderness and clarity of performance 73

A review of Schuppanzigh's performance of a Viotticoncerto the previous year criticized his deficiency oftone, but gives the impression that his style was closerto the Viotti ideal than was Clement's 74

Undoubtedly, a great variety of bow types andbowing styles co-existed in Vienna at that time Whathappened in orchestras can only be conjectured Howwould the playing of the Theater an der Wien orchestrahave been affected when Spohr, with his Viotti stylebowing, took over from Clement as Orchesterdirektor in18139 It is hard not to conclude that, given thenotorious under-rehearsal of Viennese orchestras and

the difficulty of ensuring even the uniform observanceof up- and down-bows, a mixture of different bowingstyles would have been the rule in all Vienneseorchestras The uniform bowings of the violinists inthe Conservatoire orchestra at Prague under FriednchWilhelm Pixis were a matter of wonder to a reviewer inthe Wiener allgememe musikahsche Zeitung in 1819 AsSpohr observed in 1832The most difficult task is to achieve complete unanimityamong the players in the division of bow-strokes In thisregard therefore much remains to be desired even in the bestrehearsed orchestras But the difficulty lies mainly in thefact that 1) the marking of the bowing is usually even moreslipshod and inadequate in orchestral parts than it is inconcerto and quartet music and that 2) the violinists in anorchestra are never products of one and the same school,and thus all possess different styles of bowing and con-sequently different bowing habits [Spohr's footnote] Theonly exception to this is found in the orchestras of theConservatoires (in Paris, Prague, Naples), which is why suchadmirable results are achieved there in the ensemble of theviolinists 75

However, one thing seems certainbounced bowingswould not have been seen in orchestral playing; thesewere rarely employed at this period and only then byvirtuosos. The normal method of bowing detachednotes would have been with a more or less short bow(depending on which school a violinist belonged to) inthe middle or upper half76

Any notion of a distinctive Viennese style of orches-tral playing during Beethoven's residence in the city isclearly misconceived Viennese orchestras at that timewere heterogenous collections of individuals (andindividualists), some highly accomplished musiciansand others barely competent Lacking adequaterehearsal, efficient direction or the benefits of aconservatoire that could produce players with acommon style, as in Paris and Naples, matters were toshow little improvement until after Beethoven's death.Only then did the beneficial effects of the Conservatoireinstituted by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in1819 and the evolution of conducting begin to makethemselves felt

Clive Brown is a member of the Faculty of Music at OxfordUniversity His publications include a critical biography ofSpohr. and he is currently engaged in research into 19th-century performing practice

'A Schindler. Btographie von Ludwig van Beethoven (Munster.I860), Eng trans D W MacArdle as Beethoven as Iknew him (London1966), p 142

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2Allgemeine musikaltsche Zettung [AMZ], in (1800/1801), p423J F Reichardt, Vertraute Bnefe (Amsterdam, 1810), ed G Gugitz

(Munich 1915) n, pp 132-3"Beethoven. Performers and Critics' International Beethoven

Congress. Detroit. 1977 (Detroit, 1980), p 78'AMZ. Ill (1800/1801), pp65, 676J Schmidt-Gorg, 'Das Wiener Tagebuch des Mannheimer

Hofkapellmeisters Michael Freg', Beethoven Jahrbuch /BeJb/.1965/68, p 153

'Reichardt, op at. l, p 295'AMZ. v (1802/3), pp 29-30'Anon , Reise nach Wien (Hof, Gottfried Adolf Grau, 1795), p 253'"Ibid, p 256"AMZ xxiv (1822), pp 252-3"AMZ. xxiv (1822), p 268"AMZ. Ill (1800/1801), p45"AMZ. in (1800/1801), p42"AMZ. Ill (1800/1801), p45"AMZ. xxvm (1826), p 561"N Medici di Mangnano and R Hughes, A Mozart Pilgrimage

Betng the Travel Dianes of Vincent and Mary Novello m the Year 1829(London, 1955/^1975) pp 270-1

ltAMZ, XXIV (1822), p 320"N Medici di Mangnano and R. Hughes, op at. p 31420Koechel. L von. Die kaiserltche Hof-Mustkkapelle in Wien (Wien,

1869/fll976), p91ff21Smart Papers (in GB-Lbm Department of Manuscripts Add

41774) IV, p39"[Holmes, E ], A ramble among the musicians of Germany (London,

1829). p 161"'Beethoven, performers and critics', p 882'AMZ. ill (1800/1801), p46

"'Beethoven, performers and critics', p 9026W A Bauer, O E Deutsch and J H Eibl, eds, Bnefe und

Aufzeichnungen (Kassel, 1963) in, p 20921

AMZ. 1 (1798/1799), p 543nAMZ. ill (1800/1801), p47"AMZ. vi (1804), p467301

Beethoven, performers and critics', p 8831R Bnnkmann, 'Kleine "Eroica"-Lese\ Oesterreichische Mustk-

zeitschnft (Dec 1984), pp 634-38"'Beethoven, performers and critics', p 8833A W Thayer, Ludwig van Beethoven's Leben, rev E Forbes as

Thayers Life of Beethoven (Princeton, 1964) l, p 57634

'Beethoven. performers and critics', p 9035

E Hanshck. Geschichte des Concenv/esens m Wien (Wien, 1869),pl87

"'Beethoven, performers and critics', p 90"AMZ, 111 (1800/1801), p4738

Reichardt, op at. I. p 16439AMZ, 111 (1800/1801). p49"Mendelssohn, F A life in letters R Elvers, ed , trans C Thomlinson

(New York. 1986) p 36-7"AMZ. ill (1800/1801), p49"Thayer. op at. p 375"Moscheles I (ed ) Life of Beethoven (London. 1841). l, xi"Reichardt, op at. l. p 205"Thayer. op at. p 355"Thayer. op at. p 44747

F Gothel, ed. L Spohr Lebensennnemngen (Tutzing, 1968) I.pp 179-180

"Thayer, op at. n, p 570"Hanshck. op at. p 275!0C Moscheles, ed , Aus Moscheles' Leben (Leipzig, 1872), Eng

trans as Life of Moscheles (London, 1873), n. p 140"AMZ neue folge. n (1864). p 245f"BeJb (1965-68). p 164

"AMZ, 111(1800/1801). p45"AMZ. Ill (1800/1801), p624"F Gothel, ed , op at. n. p48"AMZ. xvi (1814). pp 392-3"BeJb (1965-68), p 161"Smart papers IV. p 32"Ibid'"Smart papers iv. p 36"AMZ, xxiv (1822), p461"Hanslick, op at. p 9463M Gregor-Dellin, ed. Richard Wagner Mem Leben (Munchen,

1963), p72"Thayer, op at, p 371"For accounts of this practice see F Gothel, ed, Spohr

Lebensennnemngen (Tutzing, 1968), I. pp 296-7. and Mendelssohn,Bnefe einer Reise durch Deutschland, Italien und die Schwei2 (Zurich,1958), pp96-7 and 150

"J F Reichardt, [/eberdiePflichtendesRipien-Violinisten{KerUnan