November / Month of the Sonata – 20
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Category: parsing art
November 19, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 19
“Over the Town“ (1918)
Marc Chagall
________
Johannes Brahms is pretty well the last of
the great Romantics, 1833 – 1897, he wrote
his Piano Sonata no 3, in F minor, Opus 5,
when he was not quite twenty, with the
same bravura as Beethoven, let me point
out, his sonata has five movements, a sign,
as I’ve said before, of bristling confidence
as a form grows from its original, pristine,
shape, it can only grow by evolving,
becoming something, eventually, that it
wasn’t, by dint of breaking all the rules,
transgressing
style becomes the manner in which a
work is transformed from its integral
state into something more decorated,
more intricately designed, like adding
lace to a perfectly adequate collar, or
making a soufflé out of an egg
but who wouldn’t, won’t
a point is reached where style overcomes
substance then, and becomes the focus
of the entertainment, one watches the
bravura
to my mind, this, however wondrous,
sonata, hasn’t the emotional appeal
that I’d heard in the earlier Romantics,
that would keep me rapt to the end,
the draw for me is the prestidigitation,
the manual dexterity, which is like
watching someone fly through the
air with the greatest of ease, but be
not otherwise moved, see above
but that’s me, and that’s to my mind
incidentally, since this is Brahms’
last sonata, he only wrote three,
this is probably the last of the
great Romantic sonatas, after
which Impressionism
R ! chard
November 18, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 18
“A Melody of Schubert“ (c.1896)
Francesc Masriera
________
though there are other, and quite significant,
composers who fit into this category,
Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin pretty
much define, all by themselves, the
Romantic Period
Chopin composed only two sonatas of note,
plus one more that is overlooked for being
an early, student effort, not up to the
standard of his later ones, Chopin, rather,
wrote mostly shorter pieces, nocturnes,
études, preludes, polonaises, and more,
that later became the very stuff of his
reputation
Schubert wrote enough sonatas that he
could be compared to Beethoven, indeed
it can be difficult to tell one from the other,
much as it can be difficult to tell Haydn
from Mozart, products in either case of
being both of their respective eras
when I was much younger, a guest among
a group of academics, where I’d been invited
by the host’s wife, a co-worker, what I knew
of Classical music, in the large sense, which
is to say comprising all of the musical periods,
Classicism, Romanticism, Impressionism,
and beyond, was all self-taught
is that Beethoven, I asked the host, about
a piece of music he’d put on
that’s Schubert, he replied, aghast, as
though I’d just farted
I blushed, deep red, confounded
Schubert, having great admiration for
Beethoven, took on many of the older
composer’s lessons, four movements
instead of the Classical three, for
instance, and many of the technical
tricks of his forebear
but there’s an essential component of
their styles that marks one from the
other, an easy way to tell them apart,
Beethoven always composes against
the beat, Schubert following it
listen to the first few notes of Beethoven’s
“Pathétique”, for instance, the beats are
erratic, confrontational, the mark of a
revolutionary, Beethoven was brashly
proclaiming his worth, he had something
to prove
Schubert, who was essentially playing
for friends, just wanted to entertain
them, which he did in spades, without
bombast or bluster
listen to his Piano Sonata in A major,
D959, for example, no swagger, no
ostentation, delivering nevertheless
something quite, and utterly,
enchanting, everything following,
unobtrusively, the beat
enjoy
R ! chard
November 17, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 17
Venus de Milo
_______
about the “Hammerklavier”, I have so much
to say, I’ll try to make it clear and simple
first of all, hammerklavier is the German
word for piano, more specifically, klavier
means keyboard, hammer is a hammer,
what strikes the strings that make the
notes sound, rather than pluck them,
as in the harpsichord
by the time of the “Hammerklavier”, 1818,
the harpsichord had gone a long way, from
fortepiano to pianoforte, through to,
eventually, our modern piano
with the “Hammerklavier”, Beethoven is
into his late stage, he’s not only telling
a story but delivering a thesis, on the
depth and range of the piano, not only
technically, structurally, but also
metaphysically, for that time
listen to the adagio sostenuto, the third
movement, Beethoven transports you,
moments after the first few notes have
been struck, into a meditation
adagios had been only emotional until
then, sentimental
this one’s a precursor to the adagio of
his last piano sonata, his no. 32, so
profound I want them to play it at my
funeral, it’s like looking in a mirror,
but more about that only later, maybe
I remember turning a corner in the
Louvre – I’d been overwhelmed by
the quantity of works, stopped only
briefly before famous representations,
the “Mona Lisa”, for instance, more
historically interesting to me than
aesthetically, dusty, it seemed, with
age – and coming upon the “Venus
de Milo”, shimmering, breathing
apparently, see above, and being
transfixed forever
that someone, centuries ago,
millennia, could create something
so beautiful, so transcendent, so
timeless, full of grace, who’d have
someone, centuries later, be
mesmerized, made me believe
in beauty as a saving grace
this is what happened to me with
the “Hammerklavier”, this is what
always happens
may this happen to you
incidentally, this version is the first
one I ever heard of the piece, a
gift from, if I may be indiscreet,
an Austrian lover, for my birthday,
way back when, the early Seventies
it has served me well
R ! chard
November 16, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 16
“Big Zoo, Triptych“ (1913)
August Macke
________
the “Appassionata”, Beethoven’s Piano
Sonata no 23, sounds a lot like his
Piano Sonata no 21, the “Waldstein”,
both have three movements, fast, slow,
fast, Beethoven still doing Beethoven,
each only about a year apart, 1804,
1805, listen to them side by side, from
movement to movement, the moods
in either are much the same
I’ll point out, however, that the second
and third movements in the “Appassionata”
are linked, there is no pause between them,
Beethoven is making clear that the sonata
is an integral whole, not a collection of
disparate elements
what does that mean, it means that
Beethoven is creating a literature, not
only tunes, but a story, with beginning,
middle and end
compare in art with the triptych, see above,
with artists delivering more than individual
paintings, but a narration
both arts, music, painting, are meant to
transcend their original ends
enjoy
R ! chard
November 15, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 15
“Beethoven“ (1987)
Andy Warhol
______
Beethoven’s piano sonatas are divided in
three sections, Early, Middle and Late,
indeed, the last of his Early sonatas is
his 15th, the “Pastorale”, see my
November / Month of the Sonata – 14
the early ones are all still highly influenced
by his illustrious predecessors, Mozart and
and Haydn, and derive, however
idiosyncratically, from the Classical Era,
though there are notable differences, his
addition of a fourth movement, for instance,
instead of the standard three, an upstart
strutting his stuff, asserting his potent
individuality
with the Middle sonatas, Beethoven is well
on his way to defining the Romantic Period,
nearly single-handedly, the works are bold,
expansive, lush, powerful, a story is told,
movements are chapters in a book, a book
of metaphysical dimensions
with the Late sonatas, Beethoven will leave
the planet, deliver musical revelations
compositional issues apply, which I won’t
get into, for being abstruse, but you can
already hear in his Middle sonatas the
powerful voice of a musical prophet
here’s his Piano Sonata no 21, in C major,
the “Waldstein”, dedicated to his friend
and patron, Count von Waldstein, hence
the name, it straddles the Classical and
Romantic Periods, at home in the salons
of the nobles, but dazzling as well for the
new audiences that are flocking to the
flourishing concert halls
and we’re only at the start of his Middle
Period
stay tuned
R ! chard
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
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 12, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 12
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