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Geoff McFetridge

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The Ninth, the Choral

At last I was ready for the Ninth Symphony painting, the only one left to do! I had looked forward to this moment, but now being there I felt the challenge. This Symphony is regarded as his greatest work and I would have to make a painting that reflected its significance! I considered my new sketch, but instead chose to customise the first sketch to a square format. It had the original touch created at the very beginning of this project. I wanted to keep that touch in the last of the paintings. When the drawing was on the canvas it seemed too simple! But I had learnt that simplifying usually is a good thing. Once again I remembered that there is no way of fitting one hour of symphonic music on to a canvas, even a large one!

Like many others I had fallen in love with The Ode to Joy as a very young person. Knowing that this was in the end of the symphony, I used to wait impatiently for the three first movements to pass so I could arrive at my “musical heaven”.

This memory, and the fact that this theme is essential for the entire piece, resulted in erecting the “Pillar of Joy” as the main construction in the painting. A massive erupting joy, like a geyser exploding upwards - to say: “Alle Menschen werden Brüder”. Joy like most other things, is emphasized by contrasts. And I chose to visualize the beginning of Ode to Joy theme with small squares.

As I mentioned earlier, the choice of colours was mainly done during the work itself. The choice of colours was especially challenging in this painting. One of the reasons for that was the “Pillar of Joy”. It had several colours, and had to stand out. What colours should go in the three central circles? And the other crucial question was; what should the background colour be? I struggled with this for a time. Then again gold came forward! And even before that, I had decided to apply metal leaves for the squares carrying the theme. Almost simultaneously the background colour was decided as well, a light and a little “reserved” blue to go lighter all the way down from the top of the painting, almost to white. And having done this, the painting and the entire series were done!

London, 2015

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The Eighth This Symphony might become a little lost between the more gigantic works. It is the shortest of the nine symphonies. It is playful with wonderful melodies.

I felt that the painting should have a simple surface, not become too “loaded”. The figures should carry the colours. The background should be more silent than the Seventh (which I had just done). After I had mixed the background colour. I started covering the whole canvas with one mix; I made it less green than I had planned. Changing my plans like this got me into some trouble. The rest of the colours became a bit reluctant to cooperate. I almost had to “force” them onto the canvas. At one moment the process felt so strange to me that I put the canvas away, facing against the wall to let the work with it rest.

Indeed, as the Third had occupied my mind and I wasn’t resisting it, I turned my attention to it again.

When I finished the Third, I revisited the Eighth and turned it away from the wall. I felt now I could finally fulfil my intentions. I can’t quite explain why this painting turned out like it did. In a way the music deserves a more happy expression. I think perhaps it had to do with my reading about the Composer’s life at the time. The summer of 1812 was a difficult personal period for Beethoven. And it is in a way most astonishing that he in times like this, was able to create this light hearted music!

In 12 years since 1800 Beethoven had composed 8 symphonies (and of course a lot of other works!). Another 12 years would pass before he presented his Ninth.

London, 2015

kjellfolkvordart-blog

The Seventh

I had only a vague idea of the dominant colour for the Seventh. In my mind’s eye I thought it should be reddish. The pleasant swirling tunes suggested that to me but I was not satisfied until I tried a lightened version of mauve. I knew the music of the Seventh, but not well. I learned that it was the “Symphony of Dance”. I didn’t understand that immediately. The introduction of the work is so indefinite. It is like the music is looking for a way to start, hesitating, looking for another place, stopping again… While the large Eroica has an introduction of two chords only, the Seventh is “tumbling around”. This had consequences for my depiction of the music both in composition and in colours. Indeed, when the music finally finds its outlet… what wonderful rhythmic swirls!

London, 2015

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The Sixth, the Pastoral

The time had come to paint a symphony I knew well! The Sixth was my choice. I think this symphony was the clearest in my mind. This is the most “programmatic”of Beethoven’s symphonies. And each movement has a headline describing what is going on in the music. I tried to fit those in to the paintings. I had decided not to identify movements in my paintings, with a few exceptions. The thunderstorm (Fourth Movement) was one of these. It is so significant; cutting all the way through the music just like a real thunderstorm divides a day into before and after.This symphony is so happy! Except for the thunderstorm there are no dissonances, and all is in the happy major keys. This is music without doubts and problems. It is a walk in the countryside! Especially the transition from the thunderstorm to the clear air afterwards is so magnificently described in the music! This was my favourite piece and as a teacher I introduced classical music to children. It is so motivating for children to count the coo-coos.That Beethoven was a passionate lover of nature is very obvious when listening to this music. Beethoven said that the Sixth Symphony was “more the expression of feeling than painting”. I don’t know if I have lived up to that. My painting inspired by the Sixth is certainly the painting in the series with the most recognizable elements from the music. That is because Beethoven has given such precise instructions!

London, 2015

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The Fifth, the Fate Symphony

After the Sixth I went straight on with the Fifth, whose music I also knew quite well. Its knocking rhythm or theme, which sets it off, runs more or less through the entire symphony, and is there in my painting. The music is fascinating and it can be interpreted in many ways. The knocking was the jingle of the Norwegian broadcaster in London during the Second World War. Only members of the Nazi Party in Norway were allowed to have radios in those days and listening to London was illegal. This connection is deeply rooted inside me and motivated me when deciding the dramatic and dark and ominous, like war; colours. For me, the music is an on-going struggle between different forces, good and evil. Good wins and this victory is so brilliantly described. All bad moods are forgotten. In Norwegian there is a saying, “When the end is good, all is good!” That really applies to this Symphony.

London, 2015

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Fourth Symphony

I had wondered where to start. Should I begin with the Symphony I knew best or from the beginning - with the First? After having thought about this I made up my mind to start in the middle so I could later work either way. I picked the Fourth, perhaps the one I knew least so I had to listen carefully to the music to grasp what I wanted to express. Its’ colours emerged as light yellow, with some green and orange fields that Dzbroke throughdz. Step by step the painting took form. Early in the work I had an Dzaccidentdz. The canvas fell down and the wet paint applied that day made a mess. At least it looked that way. I was very tired and couldn’t think of anything else to do other than wait until the next day. When I returned to the studio the next day I decided to keep it! The Dzaccidentdz was included in my work, and its consequences were a part of the expression. A happy accident! The last part to be coloured in was in the middle. How should I connect the green to the left with the orange and the lower figures? Suddenly I knew; a mixture of gold and Payne’s Grey. I was very pleased to see it worked well. People might see something like the anatomy of an ear in this painting. I did not deliberately put it there. But maybe my unconscious did. It is of course natural if the Master’s deafness manifested itself in a project like this.

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The Third, the Eroica

Whilst working on the first paintings a thought settled in my mind. Two of the symphonies are so outstanding and so important in musical history that they deserved to be painted in a larger format. So I decided to make those two paintings 1.5 square meters. This meant that I had to redo or modify my sketches, and prepare for work on larger canvases than usual. The difficulty is not only in scaling up or working on a bigger canvas but also requires another rhythm, another dynamic, a more vertical thought process and structure.

The music from the Third Symphony is dramatically different from the two first symphonies. I think Beethoven at this point in his career felt established enough to dare to present something entirely his own, without anything of Haydn or Mozart. Nothing like this music had ever been composed before, it is a new page in the book of music history,

All the years since 1789 had been very dramatic years in European history. Beethoven was emotionally part of it. He had a rebellious mind. He was living in a police state. He thought this “little big man” from Corsica embodied the democratic and anti-monarchical ideals (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity) of the French Revolution. Beethoven was inspired and he dedicated the symphony to Napoleon Bonaparte.

However, when Napoleon decided to crown himself emperor, Beethoven felt betrayed. Furiously he scratched out the dedication on the title page, but the music already had its grand character.This is one of the paintings in which I decided that a movement should show. The Second Movement of Eroica; the Funeral March, contributes greatly to the dimensions of the Symphony, but is musically so different that it would be right to highlight it. I used my new sketch for this painting. My main colours had to correspond with the music. Except for the Funeral March, they are as clear and strong as the music.

London, 2015

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The Second Symphony

I began the Second Symphony next; another of the symphonies I didn’t know well. I had initially decided not to seek background information about Beethoven or his work with the symphonies. I wanted my paintings to express my emotions as they had developed independent of that knowledge. However after having sketched and made some major decisions, I felt that information wouldn’t change my approach and I became increasingly curious. I learned that the two first symphonies were composed more in the old classical style, even if the composer made some stylistic Dzsurprisesdz.The main background colour of the second painting should be a Dzcalmed downdzblue; accompanied by a reddish colour. The work went well and much faster than the previous painting. All the time I had to suppress a desire to use more of the brighter colours. At this stage in the project I was concerned that the paintings shouldn’t become too alike, and I knew I had to save brighter colours for works to come. Beethoven composed his Second Symphony during 1801 and 1802. At this time it was confirmed that his hearing problem would not go away and would continue to deteriorate. He wrote his DzHeiligenstad Testamentdz, a letter to his two brothers that was never delivered. In this letter Beethoven describes his disaster, being a composer and losing his hearing! At the edge of despair he composed this wonderful music!

I decided to join in this project. #100dayproject on instagram my personal hashtag is #1thing100days. I am planning to do 1 creative thing everyday for 100 days. There were 59,765 posts as of 11:11 p.m. I love thinking about all this creative energy happening around the globe!