Research Catalogue

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RESEARCH QUESTION

Firstly, are musical historians historically correct to credit Beethoven as the original composer to use the piccolo in his Fifth symphony, and can Beethoven, therefore, be credited for the eternal establishment of the piccolo in the symphony orchestra, ultimately being responsible for how the piccolo is used orchestrally today?

Secondly, was Beethoven’s use of the piccolo original in its history of acceptance and incorporation into orchestral compositions through an examination of works written before the nineteenth century?

Finally, how did the organological history of the developing “flauto piccolo” expand the possibilities for Beethoven and the composers' pre- and post-Beethoven both positively and negatively?

SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH

The organological development of the piccolo was studied using three primary roles assigned for compositional evolutionary analysis: [1] an expander of range and dynamics, [2] its programmatic effects, and [3] an instrument’s primary role in a solo arrangement. Before Beethoven, only the first and second of these primary orchestral roles for the piccolo were established.

Evolutionary or revolutionary changes in the development of the piccolo were not inevitable. It took Beethoven’ s imagination, creativity, and innovation in his compositions for the "octave flute," to demonstrate its essential role. Beethoven’s first compositional use of the piccolo was in his Musik zu Einem Ritterballett in 1790, fifteen years before the Fifth Symphony in 1807|8. After that, the piccolo’s instrumental role became more innovative and frequent through the 19th-Century, having a new chapter in its place in the symphony orchestra.

As a history, repertoire, and identity existed for the piccolo well before Beethoven's birth, it is too simplistic to state that the piccolo's genesis comes from  "Beethoven" - but despite a learning curve in the understanding of the newly developing wind instruments of the time - in the genius of Beethoven’s compositions are found dynamics and range extensions for the piccolo, never attained before. Beethoven is often called the “father of the orchestral piccolo.” However, despite this credit, he did not launch the piccolo as a full soloist member of the symphony orchestra, which was ultimately accomplished by Tchaikovsky in his Fourth Symphony’s Scherzo, the first piccolo solo in the symphonic repertoire