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Category: music to ponder

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 - Eyvind Earle

        “Rhapsody of Steel“ (1959)

                   Eyvind Earle

                       ________

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

 
 
 
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May 25, 2023

how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XIV – more rhapsodies

Rhapsody, 1958 - Hans Hofmann

    

    “Rhapsody” (1958) 

         

         Hans Hofmann

 

                _______

          

now that you’ve heard New York in

Gerschwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and

Vienna in Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody

on a Theme of Paganini, listen to 

Hungary, or rather its Gypsy

component, however rejected, 

reviled, at the time, but proud 

enough, resilient, to strike back 

with its infectious music, how

many times have we heard that

story before

      

Budapest doesn’t sound at all like 

Vienna, though they’re only mere 

blocks away, essentially, listen,

Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody no 2,

in C# minor, he wrote nineteen, 

you’ve probably heard this one,

it’s in our DNA

 

here are a couple of Spanish

rhapsodies, meanwhile, if we’re to 

follow a national agenda, Chabrier, 

a name you’ve probably never 

heard before, but not so, I assure

you, his music, his España,

Rhapsody for Orchestra, is

written in our blood, listen

 

Ravel wrote also a Rapsodie 

espagnole, more French than

Spanish, to my mind, steeped

in its early Twentieth Century

Impressionism,  all textures,

soundscapes, not rhythms

 

Ravel makes up for it, though, in his

Bolero, perhaps the most Hispanic 

piece ever of all, you tell me

 

both Chabrier and Ravel, incidentally, 

were French, doing what Dvořák, a 

Czech, had done, would do, for 

Americans, honour their fascinating

rhythms

 

Liszt, by the way, was Hungarian, his

rhapsodies were native, if profoundly

influenced by Vienna 

 

listen, enjoy

 

 

R ! chard

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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

    “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

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April 26, 2023

how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XII – on rhapsodies 

Rhapsody, 1958 - Hans Hofmann

   “Rhapsody“ (1958) 

           Hans Hofman 

                       _____

 

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   

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March 16, 2023

how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XI

Funeral in the Snow near the Old Tower, 1883 - Vincent van Gogh

          “Funeral in the Snow near the Old Tower“ (1883)

                          

                        Vincent van Gogh

                            _________

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

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March 4, 2023

how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, X

Joseph Haydn, 1791 - Thomas Hardy

        “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

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March 2, 2023

how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, IX

The Spanish Guitarist, 1897 - Pierre-Auguste Renoir

          “The Spanish Guitarist” (1897)

 

                  Pierre-Auguste Renoir

 
 

                            ____________

 

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

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February 26, 2023

how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, Vlll

Polonaise, 1934 - Konstantin Korovin

                                  

         “Polonaise” (1934)

 

                  Konstantin Korovin

 

                                  ________

cause the pickings are slim among the

shared musical formats between Mozart

and Chopin, Mozart, for instance,

composed eighteen piano sonatas to

Chopin’s mere three, Chopin’s First

even having been more or less 

disregarded since for being promising

maybe, but not at all inspired, where

Mozart meanwhile also wrote 27 piano

concertos to Chopin’s only two, though

both, his, entirely mighty

 

Chopin, however, pretty well establishes

the nocturne, the scherzo, the prelude,

the étude, the polonaise, the mazurka

as musical forms, while Mozart never

establishes a thing, apart from his own

supreme talent

 

but here are a couple of fantasias that

they both share, Mozart’s Fantasia

no 3 in D minor, of four, Chopin’s

Polonaise-fantaisie in A-flat major,

Opus 61, Chopin blending here his

fantaisie to the beat of a polonaise,

a dance form of his native Poland,

see above

 

listen for trills in the Mozart, which

admittedly show up only near the

end of the piece, otherwise he

sounds a lot like, I’ll admit, Chopin

 

listen for arpeggios in the Chopin

                                 

a follow-up exercise in listening,

trills, notably, up against arpeggios

                                                                    

consider, enjoy

 

 

R ! chard

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February 16, 2023

how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, Vll (cont.)

The Music Lesson, c.1769 - Jean-Honore Fragonard

                    

          “The Music Lesson” (c.1769)

 

              Jean-Honoré Fragonard

 

                    _______________

                    

having spent too much time, perhaps,

giving context, from Classicism to

Romanticism, in my last communication, 

brought on by the worlds that open up

to me when l Iisten to this kind of music,

rather than imparting specific information

about how to sharpen one’s aesthetic

sensitivity, about listening rather than

just hearing, this time I’ll get technical,

if you’ll allow, with the help of the same

two pieces, Mozart’s 16th piano sonata,

Chopin’s 3rd, how are they different,

how are they similar, how do they

compare

 

first, similarities, they are both sonatas,

pieces of music consisting of more than

one segment of music, traditionally, three

or four, Mozart here has three, Chopin

four

 

Chopin doesn’t diverge from the trinity

of imperatives that Mozart set up

during the Classical period, tempo,

tonality, and repetition, the pace of

the music remains constant within

the parameters established by the

directions at the top of the page,

an adagio doesn’t change its beat

throughout the movement for either,

nor would an andante, a presto, an

allegretto

 

this will change

 

neither does any element of the

music produce discords, tonality

remains mellifluous throughout

for both, lilting, harmonious ever,

even often, in either, enchanting

 

this will also change

 

and everywhere, a flight of musical

invention will eventually return to

its original source, and you find 

that you’ve come back from a sonic

adventure to home base, where the

whole thing starts all over again,

repetition, a condition considered

essential, until relatively recently,

to  the definition of music

 

this will also change

 

but how are they different

 

listen to the decoration, Mozart

applies trills to individual notes,

a flutter of adjacent tonalities 

to set the central one off, like

glitter, the twitter of birds

punctuating, here and there, 

the stillness of a forest

 

Chopin colours his entire

keyboard with arpeggios rather,

runs up and down the scales,

turning melodies into not only

delights, but stepping stones to

entirely other dimensions,

extrapolations from the original

tune, seemingly spontaneous

evolutions, the first burgeonings,

incidentally, of jazz, before returning,

notably, to his original air, much as

Mozart does, to his core statement,

fulfilling the Classical requirement

of repetition

 

here’s Mozart, trilling

 

here’s Chopin, arpeggiating

 

how to tell your Chopin from your

Mozart, how to sharpen your

aesthetic sensibility, listen, listen

 

 

R ! chard

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February 11, 2023

how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, Vll

The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, 1818 - Caspar David Friedrich

                       

        “The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog” (1818)

 

                 Caspar David Friedrich

 

                       _____________

                       

by now, if you’ve been listening,

you’ll probably easily tell your

Chopin from your Mozart, even

without looking

 

if not, the one who isn’t Mozart

is Chopin, the one who isn’t

Chopin is Mozart, cause you’re

likely to recognize the one if not

the other

 

here’s Mozart’s Piano Sonata

no 16 in C major, K. 545, from

1788, which even Mozart

deemed “for beginners”, but

its very elementary qualities

suit, here, my purposes

 

here’s Chopin’s Piano Sonata

no 3 in B minor, Op. 58, 1844,

some sixty years later, the

epitome of the Romantic Era

 

Mozart is Classical, the foundation

of the shape and sound of music

in the West, think of Oriental music,

Chinese, for instance, opera, as an

alternative inspirational direction

 

he sets, along with Haydn, incidentally,

the parameters of Western music, I

call it its grammar, tempo, tonality,

and repetition, its hallmarks, its sine

qua non, as we say in Latin, its trinity

of imperatives, its without which there

would be no Western music as we

know it

 

Romanticism, after two revolutions,

the French and the American, comes

along to turn all of that into literature,

prompted by the spirit of democracy,

the first expressions of it since Caesar,

Ancient Rome, where earlier,

everywhere, kings had ruled, and by

extension, even more autocratically,

the Church, for monarchs had

received, morally, and consequently

politically, from it, their mandates

from God

 

one man, one vote, even theoretically,

upended that entire metaphysical

construct, therefore Romanticism

 

everyone had a voice, everyone had

a story, the birth of the individual,

and of, by extension, human rights,

for better or for worse, see above

 

therefore Chopin

 

listen, Chopin is the new Jesus,

prophet, but for a new age 

 

stay tuned

 

 

R ! chard

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