If there is one thing I would add now to this essay - it would be Beethoven's introduction of the unusual instrument, the oboe, in the fourth movement of the Eroica much like the introduction of the oboe right before the duet 'By Thee with Bliss' in Haydn's Creation. The oboe in the Creation represented a most distinctive feature to express the sounds of the nightingale. In those times, a nightingale was both a forebearer of love and pain. They sing of the bliss of innocence and creation, and yet, when you read the full text of Milton's - you see that Milton believed that Satan was cast down to earth and roaming about even before the fall. He may also be the wind background foreshadowing an uneasy sound (as Milton describes him as tortured by seeing their bliss) and calls it 'sight hateful, sight tormenting!' Thus, these two imparadised in one another's arms, the happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill of bliss on bliss: while I to hell am thrust, where neither joy nor love...(and he goes on to hatch his evil plan whilst sitting in the tree of knowledge).
Anyways, this little duet is in Sonatina form with the adagio section in C major, then followed by an allegretto in F major, and moves to C major again. The choice of key is happy and blissful. The allegretto is in rondo form. when it moves back to the key of C, it begins a long coda in which the text shifts from the world to God. If I remember right, the shift also introduces the bassoons and bass trombones which are not used in the opening of the Creation, but are brought in to play at the duet. In bar 83, the bass trombone doubles the contrabassoon.
I have to look at the orchestration of the Eroica again - but this adding of instruments at the end seems to give the finality to the last movement much like the 'storm and stress' of the changing tides of 'fate' in the Creation. Although, Beethoven would likely use 'fate' and Haydn the term 'fall.'
I forgot to say that an author by the name of Barry Cooper, whom i read when creating this paper, says that 'throughout the 18th century the aristotelian doctrine of art as the imitation of nature was paramount, particularly in French aesthetic writings. That music was less capable of such imitation than, say, painting led to the alternative idea that it was well suited to expressing the passions or emotions, and likewise could arouse similar emotions in the hearer....' If I were to continue writing this paper - I'd also say something about this 'doctrine of expression.' Obviously, it becomes clearer that Beethoven and Haydn were expressing personal feelings and ideas within a 'safe' context of something impersonal to them - but widely understood and known by the theme's generalities to have most people on the planet understand and sympathize or feel the same feelings. That is why I most compare Beethoven with Shakespeare. 'Kant's position in 1790 was far more equivocal: while he considered that of all the arts music was the closest to poetry and even that it 'moves us in more ways and with greater intensity than poetry does', he also felt that 'music is least amongst the fine arts, because it plays merely with the emotions....' The Romantic view was quite different, according to Cooper, ideals of 'universality, rationality, and clarity yielded to a way of thinking that placed the highest value on 'individuality, irrationality, and obscurity. In place of the belief that absolute truth and knowledge were attainable came the opposite belief, that these concepts could never be attained.' From this, I deduce that both Haydn and Beethoven had one foot planted in both the Classical and Romantic era. They were some of the later composers that saw the benefits of both order and disorder and put them together in a Romantic way but expressed by the ideas or dialogue that they chose -very Classical ideals.
ps Beethoven's 'Fidelio' expresses this idealism that sprang from the history of the time. Cooper says 'with the defeat of Napoleon the spotlight of Europe fell on Vienna, after Metternich announced that the peace congress would convene there on 14 Auguest 1814. It was to last nearly a year, during which time the Viennese played host to some 10,000 foreigners, amongst them dignitaries of Europe and their entourages. Vienna rapidly resumed its role as a city of lavish entertainment. There was a prolonged carnival atmosphere as balls, receptions, firework displays and concerts were organized to impress the international gathering. As a leading composer, Beethoven figured prominently. He was asked to compose suitable pieces, the best known being the cantata 'Der glorrieche Augenblick, which exhorted Vienna to rise to the occasion and honour the assembled potentates. His opera Fidelio was the first to be performed during this period; each of its twenty repeats was greeted enthusiastically by full houses , and he was much honored and feted.'
Topic: the return of pianistimo; the battle for middle earth rages on