Perhaps no aspect of Beethoven's output is as little played as his music for the theater, and that for the play König Stephan, Op. 117, a praisefest for the emperor written to celebrate the opening of a theater in Pest (part of modern-day Budapest), may be the least familiar of all. Incidental music is the ancestor of modern film music, and Beethoven's contribution consists partly of short passages accompanying action or dialogue (the latter are called "melodrama") with little individuality. Yet in the squarish melodies of ...
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Perhaps no aspect of Beethoven's output is as little played as his music for the theater, and that for the play König Stephan, Op. 117, a praisefest for the emperor written to celebrate the opening of a theater in Pest (part of modern-day Budapest), may be the least familiar of all. Incidental music is the ancestor of modern film music, and Beethoven's contribution consists partly of short passages accompanying action or dialogue (the latter are called "melodrama") with little individuality. Yet in the squarish melodies of the instrumental and choral sections, one can hear kernels of larger late Beethoven works. This is even more true of some of the short choral pieces with which conductor Leif Segerstam fills out the program. If there are neglected masterpieces here, they are the two settings of the poem Opferlied, Op. 121b, little choral prayers that have a good deal of the late Beethoven transcendent quality. Segerstam gets this, in performances from the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and a pair of...
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![Beethoven: Konig Stephan [Various] [Naxos: 8574042]](https://www3.alibris-static.com/cover/o61272eqqg2_t.jpg)
