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Technical Notice
| Classical Composer: | Beethoven, Ludwig van |
|---|---|
| Work: | Overture to Collin's Coriolan, Op. 62, "Coriolan Overture" |
| Year Composed: | 1807 |
| Instrumentation: | 2, 2, 2, 2 - 2, 2, 0, 0, timp, str |
| Publishers: |
Edwin F. Kalmus Chester Music and Novello & Co. Breitkopf & Härtel G. Henle Verlag The Edwin A. Fleisher Music Collection Universal Edition |
| Duration: | 00:08:00 |
| Period: | Classical (1750-1830) |
| Work Category: | Orchestral |
Work Information
Available Recording(s)
In 1807 Beethoven wrote an overture to the play Coriolan, the work of the dramatist Heinrich von Collin, brother of the philosopher employed as tutor to Napoleon's son, the Duke of Reichstadt. Collin's verse plays on historical subjects enjoyed considerable popularity in Vienna, where their topical patriotism found a ready response. In Coriolan he treated the story of the Roman general Coriolanus, victorious in war, but contemptuous of the common people. Failing to win election to the consulship, he is dissuaded from attacking and destroying-his own country by the pleading of his wife and his mother. The treatment of the same subject by Shakespeare is , of course, much better known than Heinrich von Collin's play, a work that achieved only ephemeral success.
The first performances of Coriolan in Vienna had been given in 1801, with music arranged by the Abbe Stadler from Mozart's Idomeneo. Beethoven's overture does not seem to have been used for the only recorded performance of the play in Vienna in 1807, but was certainly played in that year. Its first theme suggests Coriolanus himself, its second the pleading of his wife.
Writer: Keith Anderson
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