a veritable Schubertiade, IV
“Schubert at the Piano II“ (1899)
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Category: Chopin
April 9, 2024
a veritable Schubertiade, III
“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
November 18, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 18
“A Melody of Schubert“ (c.1896)
Francesc Masriera
________
though there are other, and quite significant,
composers who fit into this category,
Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin pretty
much define, all by themselves, the
Romantic Period
Chopin composed only two sonatas of note,
plus one more that is overlooked for being
an early, student effort, not up to the
standard of his later ones, Chopin, rather,
wrote mostly shorter pieces, nocturnes,
études, preludes, polonaises, and more,
that later became the very stuff of his
reputation
Schubert wrote enough sonatas that he
could be compared to Beethoven, indeed
it can be difficult to tell one from the other,
much as it can be difficult to tell Haydn
from Mozart, products in either case of
being both of their respective eras
when I was much younger, a guest among
a group of academics, where I’d been invited
by the host’s wife, a co-worker, what I knew
of Classical music, in the large sense, which
is to say comprising all of the musical periods,
Classicism, Romanticism, Impressionism,
and beyond, was all self-taught
is that Beethoven, I asked the host, about
a piece of music he’d put on
that’s Schubert, he replied, aghast, as
though I’d just farted
I blushed, deep red, confounded
Schubert, having great admiration for
Beethoven, took on many of the older
composer’s lessons, four movements
instead of the Classical three, for
instance, and many of the technical
tricks of his forebear
but there’s an essential component of
their styles that marks one from the
other, an easy way to tell them apart,
Beethoven always composes against
the beat, Schubert following it
listen to the first few notes of Beethoven’s
“Pathétique”, for instance, the beats are
erratic, confrontational, the mark of a
revolutionary, Beethoven was brashly
proclaiming his worth, he had something
to prove
Schubert, who was essentially playing
for friends, just wanted to entertain
them, which he did in spades, without
bombast or bluster
listen to his Piano Sonata in A major,
D959, for example, no swagger, no
ostentation, delivering nevertheless
something quite, and utterly,
enchanting, everything following,
unobtrusively, the beat
enjoy
R ! chard
November 9, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 9
Jules Delsart
______
at the end of the Romantic Period, 1886, and
encroaching on the upcoming Impressionistic
Era, César Frank wrote his Violin Sonata in
A major, a musical glimpse into a new age,
this is not Chopin, not Beethoven, not
Schubert, despite obvious, if you’re
listening, homages, references
you’ll note the atonality, musical progressions
that seem askew, eccentric, not as harmonious
as those earlier composers, like a neurosis
taking over
tempo, a second essential element of music
in the West, however changeable might it be,
even within the individual movements, is
recognizable
repetition, the third pillar of Western music
is keeping us on track, bringing us back to
the original statement, to the air each
movement presents at their several
introductions
Frank’s sonata was so appreciated by an
accomplished cellist friend, Jules Delsart,
that he asked if he would transcribe it for
cello, their joint Sonata in A major for
Cello and Piano remains to this day a
stalwart on the cello circuit
compare, an exercise in sharpening your
aesthetic pencil, try it, enjoy
R ! chard
November 7, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 7
“The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog” (1818)
Caspar David Friedrich
_____________
meanwhile, back at sonatas for one
instrument, it’s about time I brought
up Chopin, the one composer that
everyone associates before anyone
else with Romanticism, 1800, say,
till about 1880, he incorporates it,
not without reason, Chopin
personifies the Romantic Era, like
Mozart represents the Classical
others who count would be Elizabeth
Barrett Browning, her “Sonnets from
the Portuguese” – How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways – Victor Hugo’s
“Les Misérables”, and Charles Dickens
preaching, in all his works, humanity
Caspar David Friedrich‘s, also, iconic
Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog“,
see above
Chopin sounds a lot like Beethoven,
indeed, the first notes of his Second
Piano Sonata, in B-flat minor, Op. 35
are a reference to Beethoven’s
Sonata no 8, his “Pathétique“, listen,
you’ll hear the same peremptory,
commanding, chord, demanding
attention, the rest is consummate,
however, Chopin
in the last movement, you’ll specifically
hear what Chopin brought to the table,
texture, soundscape, rather than a
narrative line, music as background,
atmosphere, context
enjoy
R ! chard
August 15, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XVIII – Rachmaninov
“Portrait of the composer Sergei Rachmaninov“
Konstantin Somov
______
though you probably still wouldn’t be able
to tell a prelude from a hole in the wall,
nor, admittedly, can I, unless indicated,
if you’ve listened to the pieces I’ve
recently presented, you’ve noted, even
merely sensed, really, that the preludes
of one composer don’t sound at all like
those of the others, Bach doesn’t sound
like Chopin, who doesn’t sound at all
like Debussy, the first step in telling
your Beethoven from your Bach, as
promised in my title
you might not even be able to tell which
is which as you’re listening, but you can
tell they’re different, you do the same
thing telling your Monet from your
Renoir
Rachmaninov also wrote, like Chopin,
and Debussy, 24 preludes, and, like
Chopin, in every key, major and minor
but spread out through three publications,
Opus 3, no. 2, from 1892, comprising of
only one prelude, but a scorcher, The
a second set, Opus 23, consists of ten,
mostly iconic, pieces, you’ve heard
them somewhere before, therefore
iconic
the final set comes out in 1910,
Opus 32, with thirteen preludes,
for a total of 24
you’ll marvel, even Marilyn Monroe
famously did
enjoy
R ! chard
July 22, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XVII – on preludes
“A Prelude by Bach“ (1868)
Simeon Solomon
__________
what’s a prelude
as the word suggests – pre, from the
Latin, means before, lūdus, again
from the Latin, means game, play,
spectacle – it is a piece of music that
precedes another more elaborate
segment in a compositional whole
a prelude is therefore likely to be short,
otherwise completely improvisatory,
no technical demands, just something
that comes from the heart
there probably existed preludes before
Bach, but he’s the one who put them
on the map, with, specifically, his
monumental Preludes and Fugues,
though that’s another story, more
about which later, but he did write
some stand-alone preludes, for
instance his Six Little Preludes,
BWV 933-938, from around 1717
to 1720, see above
a little over a hundred years later,
in 1834, Chopin picked up the
mantle and wrote his own iconic
Opus 28, 24 stand-alone preludes,
one for every major and minor key,
and established thereby the prelude
as a viable musical form
nearly a hundred years later still,
Debussy set up his own homage
to Chopin, in two bursts of inspired
composition, the twelve preludes of
his Book 1 in 1909 to 1910, followed
by his Book 2, again of twelve preludes,
written in 1912 to 1913
these works are now generally played
in complete sets, though they often
pop up individually as short and sweet
encores here and there at the end of
successful recitals
enjoy
R ! chard
June 13, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XVI – on Chopin
“The Old Burgtheater“ (1888 – 1889)
Gustav Klimt
_______
having brought up nocturnes and ballades
in my last instalment, however peripherally,
I’ll dig into these deeper, to illustrate the
impact Romanticism had on music, on
fine arts as well, and literature, in the
West, as it highlighted emotions as a
requirement of the audiences that
funded them
the French Revolution had happened,
the idea of individual rights, liberty,
equality, fraternity, spread across
even autocracies, czars, kaisers,
kings were threatened
theatres were becoming, because of
the growth of the Middle Class, what
had been the salons of the aristocrats,
people were paying for what the nobility
had been seeing, in concert halls, see
above
but the audience wanted their money’s
worth, both in spectacle, and personal
contact, easy ingenuity was out, they
had to be impacted, get them howling,
whooping, just like today
but to return to ballades and nocturnes,
they were the answer, plangent appeals
to the heart, which had not been a
concern of the earlier Classical Period,
where prestidigitation, technical
wizardry, had been the requirement
of the courtly courts
ballades, nocturnes, preludes, didn’t
exist before the Romantic Period,
essentially, music that hadn’t a
formal structure, hadn’t a set of
compositional rules, but spoke,
rather, from a place of intimacy,
unconstrainedly
here’s a ballade, for instance, here’s
a nocturne, both of Chopin, as
identifiable as Shakespeare, van
Gogh, in each their own particular
vocabulary, wearing his heart on
his sleeve, and always absolutely
extraordinary
enjoy
R ! chard
March 16, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XI
.jpg!Large.jpg "Funeral in the Snow near the Old Tower, 1883 - Vincent van Gogh")
“Funeral in the Snow near the Old Tower“ (1883)
_________
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
March 4, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, X
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