Three Bs

"The Three Bs" is an English-language phrase derived from an expression coined by Peter Cornelius in 1854, which added Hector Berlioz as the third B to occupy the heights already occupied by Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven. Later in the century, the famous conductor Hans von Bülow would substitute Johannes Brahms for Berlioz. The phrase is generally used in discussions of classical music to refer to the supposed primacy of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms in the field.

Origins

In an article in the Berliner Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, Cornelius introduced Berlioz as the third B, concluding his article with the cheer, "Bach, Beethoven, Berlioz!"^[1] Decades later, Bülow composed the following pun to a friend: "Mein musikalisches Glaubensbekenntniss steht in Es dur, mit drei B-en in der Vorzeichnung: Bach, Beethoven, und Brahms!"^[2] B, in German, stands for the note B♭ as well as for the flat sign. The remark may be translated, roughly, as "My musical creed is in the key of E-flat major, and contains three B[-flat]s in its key signature: Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms!" Bülow had been attracted to the idea of a sort of Holy Trinity of classical music for a number of years, writing in the 1880s: "I believe in Bach, the Father, Beethoven, the Son, and Brahms, the Holy Ghost of music".^[2] He further linked Beethoven and Brahms by referring to the latter's First Symphony as Beethoven's Tenth. Niccolò Paganini had even earlier (1838) identified Berlioz as the worthy successor of Beethoven. Indeed, Hans von Bülow, two years before Cornelius' article, had himself called Berlioz "the immediate and most energetic successor of Beethoven".^[3]

In popular culture

• In a Peanuts strip (published February 22, 1952), when Schroeder begins playing the piano, Charlie Brown says "You've heard of Bach, Brahms, and Beethoven, right? Well from now on it's going to be Schubert, Schumann, and Schroeder."
• Cult film reviewer Joe Bob Briggs often refers to The Three Bs as an imperative in cult, exploitation, or B movies. Briggs' Three Bs stand for "Blood, Breasts and Beasts".^[4]

References

Notes

1. Barzun, p. 76
2. Slonimsky, p. 99
3. Comini, p. 249
4. Joe Bob Briggs interview by Coury Turczyn, PopCult Magazine

Sources

• Jacques Barzun, Hector Berlioz and the Romantic Century, Vol. II, New York: Columbia University Press, 1969.
• Alessandra Comini, The Changing Image of Beethoven, Santa Fe: Sunstone Press, 2008.
• Nicolas Slonimsky, Slonimsky's Book of Musical Anecdotes. New York; Schirmer Books, 1998.