how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XI

Funeral in the Snow near the Old Tower, 1883 - Vincent van Gogh

          “Funeral in the Snow near the Old Tower“ (1883)

                          

                        Vincent van Gogh

                            _________

having introduced, however peripherally, in my

last instalment, Chopin’s Piano Sonata no 2,

it wouldn’t be fair to not present Beethoven’s

Piano Sonata no 12 to compare, they both

contain iconic funeral marches, written, even

if you have no interest at all in such music, in 

the blood of our Western culture, like

Shakespeare, to be or not to be, you’ve

heard the line, somewhere, even if you have

no idea what he might’ve been talking about

 

I don’t need to point out the dirges among 

the movements, the solemn bits, they will

impose themselves, whether you’re paying

attention or not

                                       

                                         

Beethoven and Chopin sound a lot alike,

Beethoven, 1770 -1827, is earlier, pushed

the Classical Period into the Romantic Era,

pretty well, astonishingly, by himself

 

Chopin, 1810 – 1849, gives us the pinnacle

of Romantic music

 

I tell them apart by their beat, Chopin is

always on, Beethoven is always off, his

schtick, his revolutionary spirit, Chopin,

rather, played for the aristocracy, in

their courtly salons, much like Haydn,

but that’s another story

 

you might notice also that the last

movement in Chopin’s sonata is

all texture, a precursor to the later

Impressionism, in all of the arts

 

Beethoven, however, always takes

you on a journey, never gives you

merely background, there’s always

a core, a foundational melody

 

enjoy

 

 

R ! chard