Richibi’s Weblog

     “Impression, Sunrise“ (1872) 

               Claude Monet

                   ________

what struck me most about Schubert’s Piano 

Sonata no. 17 in D major, his D850, was, more

than its emotional impact, its technical

wizardry, from the start Schubert dazzles with 

his prestidigitation, his manual dexterity, the

notes fly

there’s a lot of Beethoven in this composition,

working against the beat, apart from the fourth 

movement, the rondo, Schubert is being 

unequivocally Beethoven

the fourth movement is, incidentally, utter 

Mozart, you can tell from the preponderance

of trills

texture, meanwhile, overcoming melody, 

in, most notably, the third movement, is 

right out of Chopin, his “Winter Winds“ 

for instance, an inspired combination

of both melody and texture, where is

the supremacy of either, listen, you tell 

me, do the “Winds“ conquer the groans, 

the tribulations, of the underlying melody, 

the left hand, the low notes, the chthonic, 

the earth, or does the dexterousness of 

the right hand, the ephemeral, the 

transitory, win the day

texture will overcome melody eventually, 

as the century moves along, Impressionism 

will prioritize perspective over emotion, the 

head over the heart, Debussy, among 

others, Renoir, Monet, Pissaro, will 

dominate, see above,  but that’s another

story

meanwhile Schubert

listen

R ! chard