VAN BEETHOVEN'S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 5: THE EMPEROR

Angela

Suffering the flu is a process of seven days, more or less. During these days, you must stay at home, avoid being in contact with other people and relax as time as you could. It's not easy if you are a very active person like The Grandma. She is a bit desperate after three days of relax and she is starting to lose her nerves.

The Grandma has a lot of friends, and they are a great help when you are under her situation. Today, Angela, one of her best German friends, has visited her. She has travelled from Hamburg to Barcelona to spend some days with her and help her. Angela has a busy agenda and The Grandma appreciates a lot her visit. Her German friend is a fan of one of the best musicians of the history, Ludwig Van Beethoven, and The Grandma has wanted to offer her a welcoming concert to celebrate her arrival. The Grandma has chosen a special concerto, No 5, also known as the Emperor Concerto, the Angela's favourite one.

Before Angela's arrival, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her Elementary Language Practice manual (Grammar 26).

More information: Passive 1

The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E♭ major, Op. 73, by Ludwig van Beethoven, popularly known as the Emperor Concerto, was his last completed piano concerto. It was written between 1809 and 1811 in Vienna, and was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf, Beethoven's patron and pupil.

The first performance took place on 13 January 1811 at the Palace of Prince Joseph Lobkowitz in Vienna, with Archduke Rudolf as the soloist, followed by a public concert on 28 November 1811 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig under conductor Johann Philipp Christian Schulz, the soloist being Friedrich Schneider. On 12 February 1812, Carl Czerny, another student of Beethoven's, gave the Vienna debut of this work.

Ludwig van Beethoven

The epithet of Emperor for this concerto was not Beethoven's own but was coined by Johann Baptist Cramer, the English publisher of the concerto. Its duration is approximately forty minutes.

The concerto is scored for solo piano, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B♭ (clarinet I playing in A in movement 2), two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani in E♭ and B♭, and strings. In the second movement, 2nd flute, 2nd clarinet, trumpets, and timpani are tacet.

The concerto is divided into three movements: Allegro in E♭ major, Adagio un poco mosso in B major and Rondo: Allegro in E♭ major.

More information: Redlands Symphony

The first movement begins with the solo piano unfurling a series of virtuosic pronouncements punctuated by mammoth chords from the full orchestra. The vigorous, incessantly propulsive main theme follows, undergoing complex thematic transformation, with a secondary theme of tonic and dominant notes and chords. When the piano enters with the first theme, the expository material is repeated with variations, virtuoso figurations, and modified harmonies. The second theme enters in the unusual key of B minor before moving to B major and at last to the expected key of B♭ major several bars later.

Following the opening flourish, the movement follows Beethoven's three-theme sonata structure for a concerto. The orchestral exposition is a two-theme sonata exposition, but the second exposition with the piano introduces a triumphant, virtuosic third theme that belongs solely to the solo instrument, a trademark of Beethoven's concertos. 

Playing The Piano Concerto No. 5

The coda elaborates upon the open-ended first theme, building in intensity before finishing in a final climactic arrival at the tonic E♭ major.

The second movement in B major forms a quiet nocturne for the solo piano, muted strings, and wind instruments that converse with the solo piano. The third movement begins without interruption when a lone bassoon note B drops a semitone to B♭, the dominant of the tonic key E♭. The end of the second movement was written to build directly into the third.

The final movement of the concerto is a seven-part rondo form (ABACABA). The solo piano introduces the main theme before the full orchestra affirms the soloist's statement. The rondo's B-section begins with piano scales, before the orchestra again responds. The C-section is much longer, presenting the theme from the A-section in three different keys before the piano performs a passage of arpeggios. Rather than finishing with a strong entrance from the orchestra, however, the trill ending the cadenza dies away until the introductory theme reappears, played first by the piano and then the orchestra. In the last section, the theme undergoes variation before the concerto ends with a short cadenza and robust orchestral response.

Download Narrative Analysis of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5

Ludwig van Beethoven (17 December 1770-26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Classical music, he remains one of the most recognised and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies; 5 piano concertos; 1 violin concerto; 32 piano sonatas; 16 string quartets; a mass, the Missa solemnis; and an opera, Fidelio.

Beethoven was born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire. He displayed his musical talents at an early age and was taught by his father Johann van Beethoven and composer and conductor Christian Gottlob Neefe. At the age of 21 Beethoven moved to Vienna, where he began studying composition with Joseph Haydn and gained a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. He lived in Vienna until his death. By his late 20s his hearing began to deteriorate and by the last decade of his life he was almost completely deaf. In 1811 he gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose; many of his most admired works come from these last 15 years of his life.

More information: Deep English

Music is a higher revelation than 

all wisdom and philosophy.

Ludwig van Beethoven

THE FLU ARRIVES TO VISIT THE GRANDMA'S HOME

Arriving to the Medical Centre

The Grandma is knocked out. She's suffering the consequences of the flu and she's totally destroyed. Yesterday, she started feeling the first symtomps and she went to her local medical center.

While she was waiting for her turn, she had enough force to study a new lesson of her Elementary Language Practice manual (Grammar 23).

After visiting the doctor, The Grandma is following her instructions: stay at bed, take warm drinks and take some medicines. It's a matter of time, more or less seven days, to stay fine again and ready to continue with her normal life.

More information: Present Continuous-Future Use

Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by an influenza virus. Symptoms can be mild to severe. The most common symptoms include: high fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pains, headache, coughing, sneezing, and feeling tired. These symptoms typically begin two days after exposure to the virus and most last less than a week. The cough, however, may last for more than two weeks.

In children, there may be diarrhea and vomiting, but these are not common in adults. Diarrhea and vomiting occur more commonly in gastroenteritis, which is an unrelated disease and sometimes inaccurately referred to as stomach flu or the 24-hour flu. Complications of influenza may include viral pneumonia, secondary bacterial pneumonia, sinus infections, and worsening of previous health problems such as asthma or heart failure.

Analyzing flu symptoms

Three of the four types of influenza viruses affect people, Type A, Type B, and Type C.  Type D has not been known to infect people, but is believed to have the potential to do so. Usually, the virus is spread through the air from coughs or sneezes. This is believed to occur mostly over relatively short distances. It can also be spread by touching surfaces contaminated by the virus and then touching the mouth or eyes.

A person may be infectious to others both before and during the time they are showing symptoms. The infection may be confirmed by testing the throat, sputum, or nose for the virus. A number of rapid tests are available; however, people may still have the infection even if the results are negative.  A type of polymerase chain reaction that detects the virus's RNA is more accurate.

More information: History

Frequent hand washing reduces the risk of viral spread. Wearing a surgical mask is also useful. Yearly vaccinations against influenza are recommended by the World Health Organization for those at high risk. The vaccine is usually effective against three or four types of influenza. It is usually well-tolerated. A vaccine made for one year may not be useful in the following year, since the virus evolves rapidly. Antiviral drugs such as the neuraminidase inhibitor oseltamivir, among others, have been used to treat influenza. The benefit of antiviral drugs in those who are otherwise healthy do not appear to be greater than their risks. No benefit has been found in those with other health problems.

Following the doctor's advice

Influenza spreads around the world in yearly outbreaks, resulting in about three to five million cases of severe illness and about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths. About 20% of unvaccinated children and 10% of unvaccinated adults are infected each year. In the northern and southern parts of the world, outbreaks occur mainly in the winter, while around the Equator, outbreaks may occur at any time of the year. Death occurs mostly in the young, the old, and those with other health problems. Larger outbreaks known as pandemics are less frequent.

In the 20th century, three influenza pandemics occurred: Spanish influenza in 1918, ~50 million deaths, Asian influenza in 1957, two million deaths, and Hong Kong influenza in 1968, one million deaths. The World Health Organization declared an outbreak of a new type of influenza A/H1N1 to be a pandemic in June 2009. Influenza may also affect other animals, including pigs, horses, and birds. Approximately 33% of people with influenza are asymptomatic.

Symptoms of influenza can start quite suddenly one to two days after infection. Usually the first symptoms are chills and body aches, but fever is also common early in the infection, with body temperatures ranging from 38 to 39 °C, approximately 100 to 103 °F. Many people are so ill that they are confined to bed for several days, with aches and pains throughout their bodies, which are worse in their backs and legs.

More information: Johnson & Johnson

The main symptoms of influenza are:

-Fever and chills

-Cough

-Nasal congestion

-Runny nose

-Sneezing

-Sore throat

-Hoarseness

-Earache

-Muscle pains

-Fatigue

-Headache

-Irritated, watering eyes

-Reddened eyes, skin (especially face), mouth, throat and nose

-Petechial rash

In children, gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, may be severe in children with influenza B.

It can be difficult to distinguish between the common cold and influenza in the early stages of these infections. Influenza is a mixture of symptoms of common cold and pneumonia, body ache, headache, and fatigue. Diarrhea is not usually a symptom of influenza in adults, although it has been seen in some human cases of the H5N1 bird flu and can be a symptom in children.

Surviving the flu at home

When an infected person sneezes or coughs more than half a million virus particles can be spread to those close by. In otherwise healthy adults, influenza virus shedding, the time during which a person might be infectious to another person, increases sharply one-half to one day after infection, peaks on day 2 and persists for an average total duration of 5 days, but can persist as long as 9 days. In those who develop symptoms from experimental infection, only 67% of healthy experimentally infected individuals, symptoms and viral shedding show a similar pattern, but with viral shedding preceding illness by one day.

Children are much more infectious than adults and shed virus from just before they develop symptoms until two weeks after infection. In immunocompromised people, viral shedding can continue for longer than two weeks.

More information: CDC

These are the main ways that influenza spreads:

-By direct transmission, when an infected person sneezes mucus directly into the eyes, nose or mouth of another person;

-The airborne route, when someone inhales the aerosols produced by an infected person coughing, sneezing or spitting;

-Through hand-to-eye, hand-to-nose, or hand-to-mouth transmission, either from contaminated surfaces or from direct personal contact such as a hand-shake.

Reasonably effective ways to reduce the transmission of influenza include good personal health and hygiene habits such as: not touching your eyes, nose or mouth; frequent hand washing, with soap and water, or with alcohol-based hand rubs; covering coughs and sneezes; avoiding close contact with sick people; and staying home yourself if you are sick. Avoiding spitting is also recommended. Although face masks might help prevent transmission when caring for the sick, there is mixed evidence on beneficial effects in the community.

Smoking raises the risk of contracting influenza, as well as producing more severe disease symptoms.

More information: CDC

The worst pandemic in modern history was the Spanish flu of 1918, 

which killed tens of millions of people. 

Today, with how interconnected the world is, it would spread faster.

Bill Gates