In this episode, Carlos and St. John explore Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2. Written during the summer of 1802, Beethoven’s Second Symphony is full of energy and high spirits despite the crisis Beethoven experienced while composing it: that summer, Beethoven realized he was going deaf.
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Contact Us: onthemusic@houstonsymphony.org
Creative Credits
Carlos Botero, Host
St. John Flynn, Host (Houston Public Media)
Mark DiClaudio, Audio Production and Editing (Houston Public Media)
Todd Hulslander, Technical Supervision (Houston Public Media)
Brad Sayles, Houston Symphony Broadcast Recording Engineer (Houston Public Media)
Calvin Dotsey, Executive Producer
Music Credits
Most orchestral excepts featured in On the Music are taken from archival Houston Symphony recordings. We also supplement these with commercially available recordings to ensure that we respect the rights of our musicians and to fill in gaps in our archives. Credits are listed by order of first appearance. The Houston Symphony Broadcast Recording Engineer is Brad Sayles of Houston Public Media.
Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 – Bavarian Radio Symphony. Cond. Mariss Jansons. BEETHOVEN, L. Van: Symphonies Nos. 1-9 / Reflections (Bavarian Radio Symphony, Jansons). 2013. MP3.
Mozart: Symphony No. 39 – Archival Houston Symphony Recording. Conducted by Hans Graf.
Haydn: Symphony No. 104 – Archival Houston Symphony Recording. Conducted by Christoph Escenbach.
Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 – Archival Houston Symphony Recording. Conducted by Andrés Orozco Estrada.
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 8, Pathétique – Daniel Veesey, piano. Courtesy of the Free Music Archive.
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14, Moonlight – Paul Pitman, piano. Courtesy of MuseOpen.
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, Eroica – Archival Houston Symphony Recording. Conducted by Hans Graf.
Sound Effects Credits
Sound effects courtesy of freesound.org. Credits are listed by order of first appearance.
Horse Hooves – Innenstadt_4b_Pferde.wav by OSH37.
Tinnitus Effect – tinnitus.mp3 by Sclolex.
German-language Background Conversation – pub.WAV by Edrie.
Birds – vogel.mp3 by JulianaJK.
War Sounds – Vanhan ajan sota, taistelu / Ancient, old time battle, combat, horses galloping, men shouting and barking, fencing, swords clanging, guns, cannons, shots, mix by YleArkisto.
Sources/Recommended Reading
Grove, George. Beethoven and His Nine Symphonies.
Hopkins, Antony. The Nine Symphonies of Beethoven. London: Heinemann, 1981. Print.
Lockwood, Lewis. Beethoven: The Music and the Life. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003. Print.
Solomon, Maynard. Beethoven. New York: Schirmer Trade, 1998. Print.