Coriolan overture

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Overture to “Coriolan” performed by the Fulda Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Simon Schindler

In 1807 Ludwig van Beethoven wrote the overture to “Coriolan” (op. 62) in C minor as an acting overture to the drama of the same name by Heinrich Joseph von Collin .

Historical background

The Coriolan material first appeared in Titus Livius in Ab urbe condita on. The Roman patrician Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus is banished from Rome because he tried to withhold food to force the people to give them back their rights. Thereupon he allies himself with the enemies of Rome, the Volscern , and attacks his hometown. After it became clear that Rome can no longer be defended with arms, an embassy of noble Roman women, including Coriolan's mother and wife, tried to persuade Coriolan to withdraw the troops by pleading and pleading. After all, his mother succeeds less in asking for peace than by demanding and appealing to his duties towards the homeland.

Musical implementation

With Collin, Coriolan is an ambivalent hero who on the one hand wants to convince outwardly through straightforward action, on the other hand reveals an inner insecurity through his quick-tempered nature. It is precisely these character traits that Beethoven addresses in his overture, which he introduces with three mighty, elongated strings in unison , each of which is abruptly ended by torn tutti strokes. But this imperious motif is followed by a string theme which, in its metrical arbitrariness, questions the self-assurance of the introduction. This unrest motif leads into a quick-tempered tutti , which depicts the waves of emotions of the title hero, and finally ends in a soft, graceful string cantilena: the pleading of women for peace. This pleading and pleading evidently reinforced Coriolan's inner doubts about his actions. Because now the unrest motif pushes more and more into the foreground and ends in more and more emotional outbursts, which are represented by sharp string tremolos. For Coriolan there is no way out of this area of ​​tension, the duties of the homeland and the family on the one hand, and the oath of oath to the Volscores on the other. Collins' drama ends with the suicide of the title character, Beethoven ends his overture with the slowly dying unrest motif. The piece ends with three barely audible pianissimo pizzicato tones.

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