Richibi’s Weblog

             

         Venus de Milo

 

             _______

             

about the “Hammerklavier”, I have so much

to say, I’ll try to make it clear and simple 

 

first of all, hammerklavier is the German 

word for piano, more specifically, klavier

means keyboard, hammer is a hammer,

what strikes the strings that make the 

notes sound, rather than pluck them, 

as in the harpsichord

 

by the time of the “Hammerklavier”, 1818,

the harpsichord had gone a long way, from

fortepiano to pianoforte, through to, 

eventually, our modern piano

 

with the “Hammerklavier”, Beethoven is 

into his late stage, he’s not only telling

a story but delivering a thesis, on the 

depth and range of the piano, not only

technically, structurally, but also 

metaphysically, for that time

 

listen to the adagio sostenuto, the third

movement, Beethoven transports you, 

moments after the first few notes have 

been struck, into a meditation

 

adagios had been only emotional until 

then, sentimental

 

this one’s a precursor to the adagio of 

his last piano sonata, his no. 32, so 

profound I want them to play it at my 

funeral, it’s like looking in a mirror, 

but more about that only later, maybe

 

I remember turning a corner in the 

Louvre – I’d been overwhelmed by 

the quantity of works, stopped only 

briefly before famous representations, 

the “Mona Lisa”, for instance, more 

historically interesting to me than 

aesthetically, dusty, it seemed, with 

age – and coming upon the “Venus 

de Milo”, shimmering, breathing 

apparently, see above, and being 

transfixed forever

 

that someone, centuries ago, 

millennia, could create something 

so beautiful, so transcendent, so

timeless, full of grace, who’d have 

someone, centuries later, be 

mesmerized, made me believe  

in beauty as a saving grace

 

this is what happened to me with

the “Hammerklavier”, this is what 

always happens

 

may this happen to you

 

 

incidentally, this version is the first

one I ever heard of the piece, a 

gift from, if I may be indiscreet, 

an Austrian lover, for my birthday,

way back when, the early Seventies

 

it has served me well

 

 

R ! chard