November / Month of the Sonata – 18
Richibi’s Weblog
Just another WordPress.com weblog
Category: Mozart
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
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
November 4, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 5
“Primavera“, or “Spring“ (1478 – 1482)
Sandro Botticelli
_________
here’s a violin sonata from Beethoven,
1801, his No. 5, in F major, Op. 24,
nicknamed “Spring“, it is ebullient
Beethoven is more forthright than
Mozart, he’s passionate, wears his
heart on his sleeve, is tender, then
rambunctious, you’ll hear it in the
extremes of volume, loud, soft,
often with spontaneous outbursts,
it’s like talking to a friend, the
appeal is emotional, personal,
where Mozart was earlier decorative,
it’s the Romantic Era taking over
from the Classical
you’ll notice also that Beethoven is
chipping away at the conventions,
there are four movements here
instead of just three, he’s saying
that his stuff is not just decorative
but important, Beethoven has
something to say, he’s got a story
to tell, there’s even a narrative feel
to his composition, like there’s a
conclusion to his story, a point
we’ve moved from a variety of
artefacts, disparate pieces, to a
cohesive and meaningful entity
the sonata is a trinity, three
essences in one
R ! chard
November 4, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 4
“Violinist“
Blek le Rat
____
it must be pointed out that sonatas could be
written for other instruments than keyboard,
but since any other instrument could play
just one note at a time, it became the custom
to make a keyboard instrument, which is to
say, essentially, the piano, its accompaniment
therefore, you’ll find that sonatas can be
comprised of more than just one instrument,
more about which later
don’t be confused, the history of music
is one of contradictions, as it is with, for
that matter, any representation of reality
including, incidentally, religion, art’s
historical ancestor, before the modern
world took over, before the advent of
democracy, the French and American
Revolutions, before our secular
21st Century, when artists took over
from preachers, where we started
getting our gospel from literature,
rather, movies, television, concerts,
instead of the Bible, for better or
for worse
here’s, meanwhile, Mozart’s Violin Sonata
no. 26, in B-flat Major, K. 378, of 1779,
telling it like it was, back then, starting
the process
listen
R ! chard
November 2, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 3
“Mona Lisa“ ( c.1503 – c.1519)
Leonardo da Vinci
__________
the next sonata, Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata
No 8 in C minor, Op 13, the ‘Pathétique’“,
is one that everyone’s heard, if only ever in
fragments, right up there with “Jingle Bells”
in our musical repertory, in our cultural DNA,
or, for that matter, Beethoven’s, also, other
iconic piece, the “Moonlight Sonata“, the
“Mona Lisa“, nearly, see above, of music
the initial chords are peremptory, have
resonated, echoed, reverberated,
throughout the ages
this is not, however, the way one should
be addressing the aristocracy, Beethoven
was speaking for the growing Middle
Classes, who, hungering for the status
and refinement of the elite, the French
Revolution having just happened, were
crowding the burgeoning concert and
recital halls cashing in on that interest
the artist was now the main attraction,
where earlier the performer had been
merely decorative, the sponsored
employee of an, however benevolent,
aristocrat, see Mozart, see Haydn
listen to Beethoven strutting, for the
ages, his revolutionary stuff, thumbing
his nose at convention, demanding
attention
enjoy
R ! chard
November 1, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 2
“Joseph Haydn“ (1791)
Thomas Hardy
________
Haydn, profoundly underrated, was the
other pillar of Classical music during that
period, Beethoven, with half a foot only
in that era, uses its elements to yank us,
yelling and screaming, into the next, the
Romantic Era, 1800 to 1870 more or less,
more about which later
if Haydn sounds a lot like Mozart, it’s that
this piece was also written in 1789, both
were catering to the aristocracy, courts,
salons, music was therefore frivolous,
meant to be entertaining, not inspirational,
trills, a lot of decoration, technical agility,
prestidigitation over profundity
Beethoven will change all that, stay tuned
meanwhile, listen to, enjoy, Haydn’s Piano
Sonata in A-flat major, no 31, Hob XVI-46,
today’s prescribed apple
R ! chard
November 1, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 1
“Still Life with Seven Apples“ (1878)
Paul Cézanne
_____
a sonata is to the concerto what an apple
is to an apple pie, its essential component,
after which the rest is decoration, however
inspired
sonatas existed before Mozart, but he’s
the one, along with Haydn, as well as
early Beethoven, who put them on the
musical map, 1750 to 1800, more or
less
it seems to me appropriate, therefore,
to start my Sonata Month then
here’s something by Mozart, 1789, his
last piano sonata, No. 18, in D major,
K. 576
three movements, fast, slow, fast – allegro,
adagio, allegretto – a perfect example of
the sonata as it was establishing itself
then, a piece of music consisting of
several distinct sections, movements,
meant to highlight contrasts, musical
agility in the artist, compositional
imagination
listen, enjoy
R ! chard
March 4, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, X
“Joseph Haydn” (1791)
Thomas Hardy
_______
though I’ve focused especially, during
this introduction to Classical music,
on Mozart, a second great pillar of
that era is Haydn, 1732 – 1809
here is one of his 62 piano sonatas,
which expresses more than anything
you’ve heard here yet the definition
of what music was at the time, or
should be, tonality, as I’ve earlier
said, tempo and repetition were
tantamount
listen for or the rigidity of the tempo,
the consistent melliflousness of
the melody, and therefore tonality,
and the repetition of all the
component tunes
I remember going to a drum recital
once, here in Vancouver, a guy was
expressing his artistry in a formal
venue, I was sitting in a forward
row, saw him set up his music on
his music stand, and I thought,
he’s going to have to turn the
pages, which he did, a drummer
that’s all I remember of the
presentation, but that was enough,
an entire revelation
in this Haydn sonata, the pianist
turns the pages of his score, back
and forth, an interesting visual
expression of the imperative of
repetition in that era’s music,
having to return to what had
been written on the previous
page
also note that trills abound
note too in the second movement,
the adagio cantabile, the sudden
introduction of arpeggios,
transcendent, as though angels
had just appeared
which prefigures the metaphysical
aspirations of the Romantic Period
which ensued, see, for instance,
Chopin
note also that we’re on fortepiano
here, a period instrument, a cross
between the harpsichord and the
modern instrument
thoroughly enjoy
R ! chard
March 2, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, IX
Richibi's Weblog 