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how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XI
by
richibi
“
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
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Published:
March 16, 2023
Filed Under:
Beethoven
,
Chopin
,
Haydn
,
how to listen to music if you don't know your Beethoven from your Bach
,
music to ponder
,
paintings to ponder
,
parsing art
,
recitals to ponder
,
Shakespeare
Tags:
Frédéric Chopin
:
Ludwig Beethoven
:
Piano Sonata no 12 in A-flat major / Op. 26 - Beethoven
:
Piano Sonata no 2 in B♭ minor / Op. 35 - Chopin
:
the Classical Period
:
the Romantic Era
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