November / Month of the Sonata – 14
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Category: Johann Sebastian Bach
November 13, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 13
.jpg "Meditation, 1936 - Rene Magritte")
“Meditation“ (1936)
René Magritte
_______
a story
while I volunteered at the palliative care
unit of our downtown hospital, a family
asked if I could monitor their mother
while they took time off for lunch
of course, I agreed
their mother lay unsettled on her hospital
bed, jittery, shaking, distressed, incoherent,
out of touch, in her own nether, dissociated
world, while the family, about ten of them,
had been chatting, seemingly oblivious to,
or unconcerned with, their mother’s flailing
they left
I sat by her side, placed a palm tenderly on
her quivering arm, to impart what calm I
could, to bring her warmth, care, attention,
and began to sing a mantra I’d learned at
an ashram I had been attending, weekly,
for months, after the death of my beloved,
in order to find solace, consolation, Om
Namah Shivaya, I chanted, gently, quietly,
over and over again
little by little, she settled, was becoming
calm
then, in a whisper, she began to join in,
Row, row, row your boat, she sang,
over and over again, along with my
own mantra, a duet of communication,
despite even the incongruity of the
tunes, we were meeting at an even
deeper, primordial level
something stirred behind me, I turned,
the family was standing in the doorway,
all held their breath, watching, as though
they were witnessing grace
I think they were
a mantra is a distillation of the three
pillars of Western music, tempo,
tonality, and repetition, what we sing
to children to lull them to sleep, that’s
what a mantra is
Row, row, row your boat indeed
the history of music in the West is
the disintegration of those norms,
for better or for worse
here’s a solo, note, violin sonata of
Bach, no accompaniment, no piano,
his Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BWV 1003
Bach is of the late Baroque Period, the
tail end of the Renaissance, when art
was directed by the Christian Church,
Bach was in fact cantor, music director,
of several churches in Leipzig
it took Mozart to kickstart the Classical
Era in the West, the purview, now, of
the aristocracy, a process that started
with Louis XIV, the Sun King, the art
that he commissioned for Versailles,
leaving the Church behind in a
secularizing world
with Bach, tempo, tonality and repetition,
set the uncorrupted standard for the
ensuing ages, Bach is the next best
thing, to my mind, to meditation
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
September 17, 2020
Preludes and Fugues, Op.87 – Shostakovich
Tatiana Nikolayeva
___________
during this period of self-isolation, it
is nearly an unavoidable consequence
of such imposed solitude that one
would become contemplative, though,
I must admit, this is not for me an
especially unusual state
lately, I’ve returned to the Preludes and
Fugues of Shostakovich, a reinterpretation
of the form that Johann Sebastian Bach
had initiated in 1722, and indeed
reinterpreted himself between 1739 and
1742, each set known separately as
Books 1 and 2
a prelude is, as the name itself suggests,
an introductory piece, and I won’t get into
any further explanations of it, which would
be technical, and not especially relevant
here
a fugue is a line of music, however, that
is repeated a few bars in so that the tune
ends up essentially analyzing itself, for
voice we know this as singing in canon,
you’ve probably done this yourself, in a
group, singing, for instance, Row, Row,
Row Your Boat, or, even in French,
Frère Jacques
but the strictly instrumental form becomes,
by virtue of re-examining itself over and
over again, nearly, by definition,
introspective
there are neither highs nor lows, which
is to say, alterations in volume, in a fugue,
so that the couple of hours it takes to get
through any set including them would be
restful, though never not intellectually
intriguing, much as mental meandering,
or daydreaming, speculation, is
Shostakovich, much as Bach did,
composed his in every key, major
and minor, for a total of 24
here are his first 12
here are the remaining dozen
they were written by Shostakovich for
Tatiana Nikolayeva, who plays them
herself in both of these iterations
sit back, relax, enjoy
R ! chard
May 30, 2020
“Apollo e Dafne” – George Frideric Handel
“George Frideric Handel” (1726 – 1728)
Balthasar Denner
__________
supposing that there would probably
be a musical interpretation of the
myth of Apollo and Daphne, I wasn’t
surprised to discover that Handel
had written one, in 1709 – 10, cantatas
on mythic subjects was the type of
thing he did, don’t forget the
Renaissance, the renewed, and
probing fascination, starting more
or less in the 14th Century, with
Classical Greece and Rome, affecting
everything, even as late, 1685 to 1759,
as the 18th Century for this composer
I must admit that I’m not particularly
partial to Handel, his rhythms are
way too elementary for my taste,
plus he never achieves the depth
of emotion Bach, his contemporary,
does, 1685 – 1750, so that I’ve put
him aside pretty well completely
but here’s an Apollo e Dafne that
I found compelling from beginning
to end
Apollo e Dafne is not an opera, but
a cantata, which means a piece
for voice and orchestra, but with
several movements, like tunes in
a Broadway show
this production, however, has
incorporated a scenario with
singers in costume acting
out a plot
it has no subtitles though, but
you can read the translation
here, should you need to
Handel’s libretto, note, is a
reworking of Ovid’s text, therefore
not an exact reproduction of the
version I’ve been highlighting,
Dryden’s translation of 1717,
written a few years, you’ll want to
consider, after Handel’s own
composition, but the essential
story is there, she eventually
turns into a tree, no surprise,
you knew that already from Ovid’s
very title, The Transformation of
Daphne into a Lawrel, as
inscribed, however archaically
now, by Dryden
I’ll just point out that Cupid’s in
red, doesn’t sing, just delivers
atmospheric context, and you
might find some later scenes
quite, even shockingly, I did,
explicit, be advised
otherwise, enjoy, be delighted
R ! chard
August 3, 2019
a degustation
“Lemons“ (1929)
___________
watching one of my cooking competition
shows on television the other day, the
twelve contestants were called upon in
pairs to create, each couple, one of the
six elements in a degustation menu
a degustation menu – I raised an eyebrow
at that one – is the same as a tasting menu,
but at a finer, it is implied, restaurant
the theme was citrus fruit, each service
had to highlight one of them, a mandarin,
a lemon, an orange, a lime, a tangelo,
a grapefruit, in that order
my goodness, I thought, a set of
variations on edibles, I was delighted,
not to mention synesthetically
titillated, all my senses were alive
the first course was a mandarin-cured
prawn ceviche, with pesto, something
to tease one’s palate, leaving plenty of
room, however, for what was to follow,
the second course, an equally light
lemon-cured salmon with smoked
crème fraîche and decorative
translucent radish slices, in again but
polite allotments
the third service introduces the protein,
duck with the nearly ever requisite
orange, but with beets, in this instance,
on an underlying sheen of all their
accumulated and colourful juices,
bread, I would imagine, would’ve been
gluttonously required
beef then followed, to fill the second
of the more substantial and filling
elements of the meal, with a lime
reduction and beets
for dessert, the fifth service presented
a tangelo cup with a surprise chocolate
truffle meant to burst in one’s mouth
with iced tangelo flavour, refreshing
and unexpectedly delightful, followed
by a grapefruit sorbet with chocolate
ganache and meringue shards as a
finale
not all contestants reached the heights
wished for, but some were memorable,
much as in any set of, even noteworthy,
variations
here’s Glenn Gould playing Beethoven’s
Six Variations in F major, Opus 34, each
variation is comparable to a culinary
experience, but for piano
listen, compare
these are preceded here by a late, and
haunting, Beethoven bagatelle, his
Opus 126, however, after which the
variations themselves are conveniently
spliced in the editing process to help
distinguish each movement from the
other
Glenn Gould doesn’t hit a note wrong,
but I think Beethoven’s introductory
aria, upon which the variations are
built, and which is repeated at the end
after a coda, or final interpolated wave,
is slow, a more engaging opening
would’ve been, to my mind, more
effective
I also would’ve, however peripherally,
degusted especially the lime beef
R ! chard
psst: incidentally, all Bach’s Cello Suites
are in six segments, their common
theme is dance, each one is a
scintillating Baroque example
July 20, 2019
Concerto for Keyboard / Violin, BWV 1052 – Bach
“The Nightwatch“ (1642)
Rembrandt
_____
for Barbara, who dutifully
kicked me in the psyche
there is apparent discussion about whether
the BWV 1052 of Bach was first a keyboard
or a violin, concerto, I’ve only known it as a
keyboard concerto till now, when looking
for it for a friend, I happened upon this
recently published rendering of an event
that took place at the Rijksmuseum in
Amsterdam in front of the very
“Nightwatch” of Rembrandt, historical
epochs coming iconically together
which is why, incidentally, I love Europe,
Disneyland for adults, where epochal
periods come together like fantasies,
tossing back at us their manifest, their
multifarious, and mythic glories
what do you think, which came first, the
chicken or the egg, the keyboard or the
violin
I think, however prejudicially, the
keyboard, but what do I know
enjoy either, they’re both riveting
R ! chard
psst: note how the painted faces and the real
faces in the violin version look alike,
Rembrandt‘s genius
February 15, 2019
“Années de pèlerinage”, 2nd Year – Liszt
“Petrarch“ (c.1450)
Andrea del Castagno
___________
for John, who would’ve
been 60 today
though the suite might’ve started with
Bach’s string of dance pieces in the
early 18th Century, it becomes evident
during the 19th Century, after a lapse
of nearly 100 years, while it fell into
disfavour, that its resurrection as a
valid musical form might’ve kept the
original structure, which is to say its
several separate parts to make up a
whole, its movements, but that it
now was serving a different purpose
where music had, through to the early
Romantic Period, followed dance
rhythms, or variations of tempo,
adagio, andante, allegro, and the like,
it now presented itself as a background
for settings, be it ballets, as in
Tchaikovsky’s, plays, as in Edvard
Grieg’s celebrated , “Peer Gynt Suite“,
after Ibsen‘s eponymous play,
specific locations, as in Debussy’s
“Children’s Corner“, or more
expansively, both geographically
and in its compositional length,
these very “Années de pèlerinage”
of Liszt
this is in keeping with the exploration
of consciousness of that era, which
would lead to not only Impressionism,
but to Freud, and the others, and the
development of psychoanalysis
you’ll note that music seems much
more improvisational in Liszt than in
Chopin, or Beethoven, prefiguring
already even jazz, more evocative,
less emotional, more personal, not
generalized, idiosyncratic, a direct
development of the newly acquired
concept of democracy, one man, at
the time, one vote, one, indeed,
voice, however individual, however
even controversial
listen, for instance, to Liszt’s “Années
de pèlerinage”, 2nd Year, Italy
1. Sposalizio
2. Il penseroso
3. Canzonetta del Salvator Rosa
4. Sonetto 47 del Petrarca
5. Sonetto 104 del Petrarca
6. Sonetto 123 del Petrarca
7. Après une lecture de Dante: Fantasia Quasi Sonata
today you can listen to suites
from famous films, for instance
“Blade Runner“, the beat, in
other words, goes on
but note the renovations, find them,
I dare you, you’ll be surprised at
your unsuspected perspicacity
listen
R ! chard
January 11, 2019
two suites – Debussy / Ravel
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