Classical music getting faster?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... unless Andy Bentley misremembered, and it is George Smart to whom he refers (brother and uncle of the two Henrys) - George conducted the first performance in London in March, 1825, and six months later visited the composer, who wrote the Canon WoO 192 in Smart's presence as a gift to "my dear and talented Musical artist and friend".

https://www.beethoven.de/sixcms/list.php?page=museum_internetausstellung_seiten_en&sv%5binternetausstellung.id%5d=31570&skip=11

... but I can't find a reference to the 45min timing here.

[Bryn]

Hmmm. There are two Henry Smarts (father & son) who were associated with Beethoven - the father died in 1823, so if Ludders did say this to him, it was whilst he was in the very first stages of writing the piece. The son was born in October, 1813, so Ludders would have passed on the information to an (at most) thirteen-and-a-half-year-old boy.

(Henry Smart snr was, besides being leader of the Philharmonic Society orchestra, part proprietor of a brewery. Just sayin' ... )

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3369302...n_tab_contents

There again, Mozart had composed 11 symphonies and arranged 4 piano concertos by the time he was thirteen and a half.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... and it was George who noted in his score that the performance had lasted 64mins.

http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2010articles/pdf/ebljarticle42010.pdf

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There again, Mozart had composed 11 symphonies and arranged 4 piano concertos by the time he was thirteen and a half.

[Richard Barrett]

Talk of Beethoven's 9th Symphony reminded me that way back in 1971, Wendy Carlos set a tempo for Rossini's William Tell overture which is unlikely to be exceeded.

[teamsaint]

Talk of Beethoven's 9th Symphony reminded me that way back in 1971, Wendy Carlos set a tempo for Rossini's William Tell overture which is unlikely to be exceeded.

Yeah yeah, they said that about Linford.

Bolt could stop for a lager and still stroll in ahead of Christie.

By the by, there are quite a few pieces of music I can think of that cant go fast enough.......