November / Month of the Sonata – 1
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Category: music to ponder
October 30, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata
Childe Hassam
____
having recently determined that a sonata
a day keeps the doctor away, and inspired
to work upon that cure, I thought I’d initiate
a Sonata Month starting in November
there are thirty days in November, so no
more than thirty sonatas, each of which
will, I promise, be a revelation
a sonata is a piece of music consisting
of more than just one part, traditionally
three or four, called movements
within those parameters, anything was,
is, possible, any kind of music, times
three or four, traditionally, Classically
but traditions indeed applied, the tried
and true, fast, slow, fast, became the
standard, a cheery introduction,
followed by a contrasting, which is to
say slower, middle section, then a
restorative, final, energetic, act, meant
to send you, reinvigorated, on your way,
maybe even an equally vivacious fourth
there’ll be sonatas with one movement,
some seven, some with even maybe
more
here’s one, for instance, listen, enjoy
and stay tuned
and thanks for joining in
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
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 25, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XIV – more rhapsodies
“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
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 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)
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