1797. He struggled with the finale and so laid the work aside to concentrate on other projects until late 1799 and he completed most of the work by the early months of 1800. A significant factor about the First Symphony is that it is the only symphony that he composed before the onset of his hearing Problems which began to surface in the late 1790s. He was obviously seriously affected by hearing loss by the time that he worked on his Second Symphony in 1802 as witnessed by the devastating Heiligenstadt Testament that he despairingly wrote in October 1802. Beethoven had a new Vision for the purpose and form of the symphony as tonight’s concert demonstrates: the quarter-century from the First Symphony to the Ninth Symphony (1800-24) still represents the most revolutionary journey in the history of the symphony as a musical form. And so the First Symphony represents Beethoven ready to take on the musical world in a spirit of optimism and still with the relative vigour of a young man. Although not really so young: Mozart had composed his first 38 symphonies by the time he was 30, and even Haydn (not an early Starter) had some 20 symphonies under his beit by the time he reached the age of 30. And Beethoven's younger Viennese Contemporary Schubert had completed all his nine symphonies by the age of 30. Beethoven’s first step into the Symphonie world is a tentative, questioning diminished seventh chord dominated by woodwind over pizzicato strings. This slow introduction is brief - just ten bars long, with C major being firmly established once the Allegro con brio Starts - the three key notes of the triad are then constantly reiterated. Imitative figures are exchanged delightfully between the woodwind Instruments in the secondary material and good humour remains the prevailing mood. Beethoven follows the traditional sonata-form structure with a repeat indicated for the exposition; at the end of the second half of the movement his extended coda removes the need for repeating the second half of the movement. Beethoven’s uncharacteristically tentative first foray into the Symphonie world remains remarkably cautious in the succeeding Andante which is devoid of the depth of expression that he had displayed in such works as his early Piano Sonata Opus 10 no. 3, particularly its slow movement with its unusual marking 'Largo e mesto'. By contrast the present Andante cantabile con moto stays firmly within the neutral field of emotional content. We can hear the influence of the slow movement of Mozart’s Fortieth Symphony. As a pointer to the future, the quiet timpani beats towards the end of the first half foreshadow his distinctive use of timpani in other works such as the Adagio of the Fourth Symphony and the Finale of the Fifth Piano Concerto. Perhaps the most ‘revolutionary’ movement is the third movement, labelled rather inappropriately as ’Menuetto’, for it is truly a Scherzo in character. Haydn had pioneered the use of the Scherzo in his String quartets
