It is well known that Beethoven has nine symphonies, but little known is that Beethoven has an unfinished tenth symphony. However, this tenth symphony has long been a treasure in Beethoven's manuscripts, and only the first movement can be realized. In recent years, the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, an old band that has always been loyal to Beethoven, has finally been sorted out and played, making it a rare treasure of Beethoven.

Orchestra: Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

It is said that Beethoven had a framework for composing the Tenth Symphony before completing the Ninth Symphony in 1824 (this situation is very similar to Beethoven's creative process when composing the Fifth Symphony and the Sixth Symphony). Beethoven really began to write the tenth symphony from 1824, but strangely, it was not until 1827 that he discovered that Beethoven had finished the first movement of this symphony. According to the last memory of Beethoven's close friend Carl Holtz, he heard Beethoven play this movement on the piano. At that time, it was set to E flat major, and then it was quickly replaced by the powerful Allegro in C minor! However, after Beethoven wrote this movement, he never wanted to write it again, which became an eternal mystery. This reminds me of Schubert's two famous unfinished symphonies. Schubert wrote two movements and felt that he had written everything he wanted to say, so there was no need to write more. Could Beethoven be like this? ..... Let's walk into Beethoven's music and feel it!

Before 1980s, Beethoven's Tenth Symphony was regarded as a legendary work full of fantasy, but many people did not believe it existed. People only know that Beethoven wrote nine symphonies, but never thought that there would be a "Tenth Symphony". For many years, this has been a mystery, and people have not found any manuscripts or materials about Beethoven's Tenth Symphony. Until 1977, Pumbaa Winter, a famous Beethoven researcher, said: Although Beethoven didn't write the tenth symphony, according to his research, Beethoven once imagined to write a new symphony (namely the tenth symphony).

Then he published two papers about Beethoven's Tenth Symphony, one by Bredenler and the other by Beethoven manuscript expert Cooper. In their papers, many important drafts of Beethoven's "Tenth Symphony" from 18 12 to 1825 are provided, which are considered to be certain. This shows that Beethoven's Tenth Symphony is no longer a fantasy, but definitely exists. People found a letter eight days before Beethoven's death, that is,1March 8, 827, in which Beethoven mentioned that a new symphony had been drafted. His friend Karl-Hertz claimed to have personally heard Beethoven play the complete first movement on the piano. We can think that Karl-Hertz is a reliable witness, because he had very close contact with Beethoven in the last 18 months.

Beethoven put considerable energy into this new symphony. On one page of the draft, he wrote that it was a new symphony (after the ninth symphony was completed, of course). Beethoven's draft is not as messy and illegible as his other unfinished works, but it is relatively complete. A piece of music is about 250 bars long. Karl-Hertz also described the unusual movement he heard: first, it started softly in E flat major, followed by a powerful allegro passage in C minor. This is consistent with the tune of the Tenth Symphony we are hearing now.

Cooper came across the draft of this symphony while studying Beethoven's manuscript. This draft is not a complete symphony, but most of the first movement. Later, Cooper completed this action. Although Beethoven's symphony is not finished, it still has many meanings. First of all, it has certain historical significance. If Beethoven composed hundreds of complete symphonies, even if one of them was unfinished, people might not care too much about whether it was completed or not. However, Beethoven has only nine symphonies, and these nine symphonies are an important part of all his creations. So, did Beethoven compose the Tenth Symphony? What exactly is his Tenth Symphony? Is a problem that people are very concerned about. Secondly, his symphony has a relatively complete prototype. If Beethoven wrote only a few notes, it is absurd for others to try to finish it. Cooper carefully studied the draft of Beethoven's works and found that the first movement contained enough basic materials without adding new themes.

Beethoven's idea of composing the Tenth Symphony can be traced back to l8l2, when he was composing the seventh and eighth symphonies, and he planned to compose a new symphony. He always writes more than a dozen drafts, three of which are in D minor, showing signs of the Ninth Symphony, but the longest one is in E flat major, much like the Tenth Symphony. At that time, many parts of the draft were in E flat major and C minor. These drafts have many similarities with the later Tenth Symphony in mode, beat, artistic conception and style. At the bottom of those drafts, there are ideas about later movements, which have a lot to do with the tenth symphony.

Judging from Beethoven's draft, Beethoven's plan to compose the tenth symphony seems to be interrupted at the end of l8l5. In the next few years, he really wanted to continue writing, but when he started writing a new symphony, the Ninth Symphony, he stopped writing the Tenth Symphony, which was the end of 18 15. 18 17, London Philharmonic Orchestra asked Beethoven to write two new symphonies, and he wrote back to express his willingness to compose them. In a letter to a friend, he said that part of the symphony had been written. 1 8 2 0, when someone visited him, he was also found to be working on this symphony. From Beethoven's conversation, we can know that the draft of the Ninth Symphony was also written in this period. In addition, some manuscripts of the tenth symphony were also found in the scattered manuscripts of 1 8 1 8.

Beethoven's talk was discovered and published by a man named Gustav Notaborn. In Beethoven's draft, he wrote: Adagio, in an ancient way, appeared a symphony song. This may be the keynote of the second movement. Beethoven was too optimistic about the completion time of his works, or his promise. For example, the string quartetNo. 130 was said to have been completed in about ten days, but it actually took three months. As for his work, he also said that it was basically written, but actually he just wrote the basic content of a movement. In addition, many tunes in Beethoven's Tenth Symphony are similar to those in other works. In the draft of Tenth, a minuet was also used in other music, which was performed in 1 8 2 2. Such changes are common in Beethoven's works.

From Beethoven's tenth draft, we can see that he did his best to finish it. His symphony has about 3 5 0 bars, of which 2 5 0 bars is the first movement. He wrote intermittently from 1 8 1 2 to 1 8 2 7, but he finished the ninth symphony before 1 8 2 4. Although Beethoven didn't finish his "Tenth Symphony" in the end, he devoted a lot of effort to it. We can say that death stopped his creation, because this work was mentioned eight days before his death.

From the acoustics of this symphony, we can hear that Beethoven's voice seems to have changed, just like an old man who has experienced a lifetime of struggle and tribulation, especially the spirit of fighting for the brightness and happiness of all mankind shown in the ninth symphony. Here, Beethoven seems to want a rest, an adjustment, or a rest of the soul, as if looking for Mozart's peace and serenity. But Beethoven was still Beethoven after all. The music didn't last long, and he set off an exciting sound wave.

What kind of artistic realm does Beethoven want to pursue? Some people say that Brahms inherited Beethoven and developed him. But maybe Beethoven in his later years will go the other way. As we know, Beethoven's works are full of struggle and philosophy, as well as the spirit of struggle and resistance to the suffering of human destiny. These factors and contents are undoubtedly the main essence of Beethoven's music. However, there is another important implication in Beethoven's music, that is, the yearning and infinite expectation for a better future and a better life for mankind. These two factors run through Beethoven's life and should be said to be the greatest ideological content in his music creation.

Beethoven's Tenth Symphony not only shows the expectation of a better life, but also shows the heroic fighting spirit. At present, the CD of this work has been published, one is the version conducted by Morris and London Symphony Orchestra, and the other is the version conducted by Weller and Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Not long ago, it was released in the United States and was warmly welcomed by the audience. Now this work of Beethoven has been loved by more and more people.