sonatas, continued (Rachmannov – “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”)
“Rhapsody“ (1958)
Hans Hofmann
________
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Category: concerts to ponder
November 14, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 14
“The Old Burgtheater“ (1888 – 1889)
Gustav Klimt
_______
cause most composers, including the great
ones, didn’t write many sonatas, or not many
to equal their greatest compositions, I’ll skip
directly from Bach to Beethoven, who first
gave sonatas their commanding position
on the cultural map
he wrote 32, the early ones competent,
even admirable, others inspiring, several
completely transcendental
of the 32, here’s the first of my favourites,
his 15th, in E major, Opus 28, the
“Pastorale”, German spelling, of 1801
you might wonder about all the letters and
numbers in the naming of early music, much
of it compiled by later musicologists, cause
titles hadn’t been given to musical pieces,
even Beethoven’s “Pastorale” had been
later provided by his publisher
music before the late Classical Period
might’ve been written down, but not
widely distributed, there wasn’t a
market for it until the advent of the
Middle Class, who now wanted
access to what the aristocracy had
earlier, what compositions existed
would’ve been the property not of
the composer, but of the duke,
baron, or prince who’d hired him
for his court, see Haydn here, for
instance, and the Estherházys
when greater demand grew for music
manuscripts, titles little by little became
a manner of increasing marketing,
scores found their way throughout
Europe to supply the many amateurs
who’d gather and play before we had
television
some of these amateurs became
noteworthy performers, who also
began to proliferate, to fill the
burgeoning concert halls,
see above
incidentally, there’s also a “Pastorale”
Symphony of Beethoven, in F major,
Opus 68, you might want to listen to
and compare
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
June 1, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XV – what’s a rhapsody
“Rhapsody of Steel“ (1959)
________
so what’s a rhapsody
if you’ve been following at all my
musical adventure, you’ll have
heard by now several rhapsodies
at first, I suggested that the rhapsody
was an evolution from the fantasia,
a piece of music in one movement
that allowed for any internal
construction, but that, after the
Classical Period, became imbued
with Romanticism, passion became
a condition of music, mere technical
ability was no longer enough
note that the audience was different,
rather than nobles who commissioned
artists to decorate their salons, the
burgeoning Middle Class was hungry
for them to entertain, performers were
becoming the main attraction, not just
the background, see, for instance,
Beethoven
but not only did rhapsodies spread
from just one player to an entire
orchestra – see Brahms, then
see Gershwin – but its essential
structure, one movement, was
challenged, see Ravel here, or
Rachmaninov, whose rhapsodies
are both composed of distinct
movements, Rachmaninov even
further refining his movements
into variations, for years, I
referred to his Rhapsody on a
Theme of Paganini as his
Variations
all this to say that a rhapsody is
turning out to be not identified
by its structure, its technical
parts, but rather by its intention,
a rhapsody is in the eye of its
composer, like a nocturne, or
a ballade
I’d thought that rhapsodies had
been relegated to the Romantic
Era, with the occasional later
tribute
who, I wondered, could be
writing rhapsodies anymore
but here’s something, however
unexpectedly, you’ll be familiar
with, from 1975, Queen’s Bohemian
Rhapsody, in several movements
– intro, ballad, opera, hard rock,
outro – and including in all of them,
note, voice
all of which speaks of tradition
being a lot closer than one would
think, ancestral, residual, but
defining, traces, like genes,
however updated, however
posthumously interpreted,
pervade, infiltrate, pursue,
inexorably
rhapsodies are in our DNA, it
would appear, for better or for
worse, ever
here’s to them
R ! chard
May 10, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XIII – Antonin Dvořák
“American Gothic“ (1930)
Grant Wood
______
if you were able to hear the difference
in my last communication between
Vienna and New York in the two
rhapsodies I compared, contemporaries,
incidentally, you might be interested in
a European composer, highly
underestimated in my opinion, who
bridges both cultures by composing a
tribute to the country that receives him,
gloriously, for a couple of years, before
he returns, homesick, to his beloved
Bohemia, which is to say, Prague,
Antonín Dvořák, don’t ask, 1841 – 1904
here’s his 12th String Quartet, nicknamed
the “American”, listen, you’ll understand
why
here’s his New World Symphony, again
you’ll understand why
fun facts, Neil Armstrong brought a
recording of it, the New World
Symphony, with him to the moon
during the first manned landing,
back in 1969, can you get more
cool than that
also, this particular version is from
Pyongyang, which is to say, North
Korea, which is to say, the audience
here is nearly as interesting as the
symphony itself, do they even
speak the language, if they grew
up on Chinese opera
do you
R ! chard
April 26, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XII – on rhapsodies
“Rhapsody“ (1958)
_____
if, in my last instalment, I compared iconic
funeral marches, let me do the same for
a couple of iconic rhapsodies, another
musical form that came and went, that’s
come and gone, but not forgotten
what’s a rhapsody
as far as I can make out, it’s much the
same as a fantasia, if you can remember
what a fantasia is, a free form composition,
but with a Romantic, which is to say a
heartfelt, twist, more pathos, less
technical wizardry
Gershwin wrote his Rhapsody in Blue
in 1924, you can hear New York, Times
Square, Broadway, from the first wail
of the languid horn
Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme
of Paganini, written in 1934, ten years
later, gives you, however, Vienna, its
Romantic Period, the traditions of,
a century earlier, Beethoven, Schubert
Rachmaninov is personal, introspective,
tragic, Gershwin is extroverted, social,
fun
Rachmaninov looked back to his
European, Old World, traditions,
Gershwin augurs an entirely new
voice
listen, you can hear it
enjoy
R ! chard
March 2, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, IX
“The Spanish Guitarist” (1897)
____________
just as I was about to relegate the trill
to Mozart and the Classical Period, I
inadvertently came upon something
wonderful by Joaquín Rodrigo, a
Spanish composer, 1901 – 1999, a
concerto for guitar
the trill had been decorative, meant to
appeal to aristocrats frequenting
salons
then the French Revolution happened,
and the growth of the Middle Class,
and consequently popular avenues
of entertainment for the liberated,
concert halls, for instance, looked
for a more emotionally powerful
experience, arpeggios took care of
that
the trill died
but in 1939, nearly two centuries
later, Rodrigo wrote his Concierto
de Aranjuez, a descendent pays
homage to an elder, trills abound
it should be stated that a guitar can
play only one note at a time, it might
be that trills lend themselves better
to such an instrument than an
arpeggio would
then again, I’ve found that Spanish
music, the tango, the tarantella, for
instance, see above, has held more
rigidly to the imperatives of Western
music I’ve spoken of here before,
tempo, tonality, repetition, it is not
Debussy, Ravel, it is not even
Chopin, it is peripheral, maybe, to
the cultural establishment, but
potent, steeped in blood and
tradition
here’s Rodrigo giving you Mozart
enjoy
R ! chard
February 2, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, V
“Waltz” (1891)
Anders Zorn
________
having brought up the idea of
longevity in my last communication,
the fantasia, a musical form that
lasted about 150 years, with hats
off nevertheless to the later Disney
classic, Fantasia, a tribute, which,
full of Classical music references,
followed in its spiritual mode, and,
after introducing Chopin, perhaps
the very representation of the
Romantic Era, that we carry, or
intuit, in our very bones, I thought
I’d talk about the waltz, a Chopin
specialty, where he created,
incontrovertibly, utter magic
who hears of the waltz anymore, an
antiquated curiosity, though even in
our not so distant blood we feel the
reverberations of its memory, the
throb of its still vibrant cultural
intensity, relevance, rhythm
tangos, incidentally followed, and
other intimate interactions, which
had been earlier frowned upon
the waltz had been the minuet,
the difference was the physical
contact, young nobles left their
aristocratic salons, however
discreetly, to frequent the
more liberal, if disreputable,
establishments – like to
speakeasies during Prohibition
– where they could explore the
new, licentious venues, as
young nobles, ever, would, for
the lure of intimate connection
with the partner
the waltz was thereby born,
couples touched, breast upon
breast, composers followed
Chopin was metaphysical, you
didn’t dance to his waltzes, you
experienced them, here’s his
Minute Waltz, Opus 64, no 1,
here’s his equally delightful
Opus 64, no 2, its companion
but Strauss ll, Johann l‘s son,
got all of Vienna to dance his,
and everywhere else after, until
the waltz fell out of favour
somewhere in the 1950s, leaving
only its memories behind, here’s
his incandescent By the Beautiful
Blue Danube, makes you wish
you’d been there
in the one case, the waltz is
idealized, in the other, it’s the
waltz in action, listen, you can
tell the difference, you won’t
want to dance, for instance, to
Chopin, though you might give
it an ineffectual try, to Strauss,
you’ll careen
R ! chard
August 17, 2020
Piano Concerto no 20, K.466 – Mozart (Uchida)
“Mozart“ (2015)
Bernd Luz
______
having been immersed recently, indeed
consumed by, Ovid, his Metamorphoses,
for four months now, according to a
friend, since, however improbably, April,
and we’re now in mid-August, I’ve been
redirected recently, not only for
metaphysical breath, but by friends
who’ve brought up other ideological
realities
I watched a concert on TV yesterday,
my mother said this morning when I
went over for coffee, she lives,
providentially, to my mind, only a few
blocks away, we touch bases regularly
great, I reacted, I’ve got it on tape, I
was meaning to watch it later
the pianist, she marvelled, also
conducted, I’ve never seen that
I cheered her on, and couldn’t wait to
see for myself when I got home
but couldn’t watch more than a few
moments, the pianist / conductor,
famous in his day, had become
crotchety, decrepit, the piece was
Mozart, you can’t play Mozart with
arthritic fingers
which had me finding the mistress of
Mozart on the internet, unmatched at
Mozart to this day, Mitsuko Uchida,
watch her transform Mozart’s flights
of lyrical fantasy into utter, and
irrepressible, magic, sent it to my
mom for incontrovertible
corroboration
his 20th Piano Concerto, K.466
watch, marvel
R ! chard
July 19, 2020
Chopin Piano Concerto no. 1
“The Monument to Chopin in the Luxembourg Gardens“ (1909)
Henri Rousseau
________
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