Piano Concerto no 4, Opus 58 – Beethoven
Richibi’s Weblog
Just another WordPress.com weblog
Tag: French Revolution
October 22, 2019
ra ta ta tat, ra ta ta tat, ra ta ta tat, like
June 2, 2018
Minuets in G – Bach / Mozart / Beethoven
“The Minuet“ (1866)
_________
having pointed out that the minuet
and the waltz were historically
related, let me somewhat
extrapolate
they are both in 3/4 time, which is
to say, three quarter-notes to the
bar, which means that when
you’re dancing, your beat is one,
two, three, one two three, with
the accent, usually, on the first
note
so what happened, how could two
identical frameworks turn out so
differently
here’s Bach, 1725, his Minuet in G
the first thing you’ll think is, o, so
that’s what that is, it is an iconic
number written on our collective
consciousness
the second thing you’ll notice is
that it is choppy, however delightful,
that it is written for a harpsichord,
and that it’s probably not ready,
despite it’s 3/4 time, to be a waltz,
too many curtsies
here’s Mozart, 1762, his Minuet in G
though you might not want to admit
it, I suspect this number is much
more present in your subconscious
than you’d think, see if you don’t
find yourself later on humming it
but it’s still way too polite to be a
waltz, you can easily imagine the
partners, hands held high together
around their imaginary maypole,
courting, but there’s a touch more
fluidity in the progression of the
notes, it is written for a fortepiano,
an instrument that has added the
hold, or the sustain, pedal to the
harpsichord to increase a note’s
resonance, a loosening of the
earlier constraints of that
quintessentially Baroque
instrument, a cannily apt
metaphor, take into account, for
the unfolding cultural r/evolution
here’s Beethoven, 1796, his Minuet
in G, you’ve heard this one too
the Revolution has taken place,
but entrenched in the music of an
earlier era, the beat remains the
same, this is not a waltz, despite
it’s 3/4 progression
you’ll note, however, more spin
to the cadences, more give, more
elasticity, much of this has to do
with the development of the
central instrument, which was
about to become a pianoforte,
instead of a fortepiano, but
‘nough said about that, I’ll let
you feel it
here’s Chopin, 1833, his Grande
valse brillante, Opus 18, written
for itself, the piano, it is indeed
a waltz, the difference is in the
piano’s ever evolving flexibility,
again a metaphorical expression
of, or an avatar for, the unleashing
of personal freedom, an idea spun
ineradicably from the lessons of
the French, and the, incidentally,
nearly simultaneous, 1776, 1789,
American Revolutions
for better or for worse
R ! chard
January 28, 2018
String Quartet no 19 in C major, K465 (“Dissonance”) – Mozart
“Queen Marie Antoinette of France“ (1783)
Louise Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun
______________
if Mozart’s 19th String Quartet, the last of
his Haydn Quartets, the six he indeed
dedicated to Haydn, sounds less
deferential than one would have thought
for the period, it should be remembered
that the American Revolution had just
taken place, in 1776, the French one was
about to, in 1789, and even the more
aristocratic houses in Europe would not
have been unaffected, Mozart was young,
29, and astir with confidence and bravura,
it was 1785
Haydn had had his moment earlier, his
Opus 20, which went on to revolutionize
music if not countries, but had retreated
to a less emboldened political stance
as he grew older, while concentrating
rather on his more important muse, and
refining his ear for precise, pure music,
which is to say devoid of any but polite
sentiments, delight and lyrical
melancholy only
in Mozart’s 19th String Quartet, even the
minuet is peremptory, not something
you’d especially want to dance to,
however musically accomplished
he starts the first movement with, of all
things, an adagio, however briefly, which
could’ve been disastrous, you need to
know what you’re doing when you open
with a lament
incidentally, all the instruments in the
opening adagio are playing in different
keys, resolved when the allegro kicks
in, this is why it’s called “Dissonance”,
something in and of itself of a
rebellious act
the 19th is also twice the length of
Haydn’s nearest earlier one, his Opus 42,
expansive rather than terse, for whatever
that might mean, the point is to keep us
throughout interested, which he does,
they do
Mozart is prefiguring here, incidentally,
Beethoven, with his audacity, his
sense of an ideological mission, and
he’s mightily impressive
R ! chard
February 18, 2013
Paganini’s 24 “Caprices”
having heard one “Caprice“ of Paganini it’s not
much of a stretch to want to hear them all, and
to my delight and utter astonishment they are
available presently on the Internet in a
presentation so extraordinary it seems
accorded by the very gods, the violinist, an
unchastened Prometheus this one, Alexander
Markov, delivers unadulterated fire, he is, it is,
astounding, nothing short of outright Olympian
the “Caprices” are for Paganini what the
each was exploring the intricacies of his own
particular instrument, which results to date
remain the standard, the Everest to be
conquered, of either by any aspirant
how do you keep your knees from knocking,
first of all, up there, in those headlights, I
would wonder of the performing artist, the
rest being of course, I’m aware, pure but
metaphysical merely physics, moderately
only incomprehensible
pieces, making them electric but for a picayune
quibble, being of Russian extraction he is not
the Paganini I would want him to be, sensuous
and seductive instead of the more Nordic
commanding and fiery, the Mediterranean
Paganini was famously, after all, a Lothario,
a Casanova, with an especially lubricious,
apparently, fiddle
Paganini, incidentally, wrote the “Caprices“
between 1805 and 1809, smack in the middle
of the Romantic Period, you can hear the altered
audience in the distant concert hall, surely not
the aristocrats who would’ve found this music
presumptuous, impudent, in their privileged
salons, but throngs of the newly franchised –
note the French root in the word “franchised”,
probably stemming from the very French
Revolution – who were looking towards their
bold and liberated future
the music is strictly rhythmic, which is to say,
still Classical, keys don’t change within the
individual pieces, the harmonies are still
sufficiently tonal not to distract, though the
melodies are not simple to follow, the stage
is being set for more abstract stuff, Beethoven,
for instance, writing at the same time, being
much less eccentric, and again maybe less
Mediterranean in his own always nevertheless
beguiling flights of Romanticism
Richard
psst: the performance takes place at the
in, I believe, 1989, for your info
note, incidentally, the white tie and tails,
an aristocratic, which is to say, atavistic,
even then, notion
we will always, all of us, conspire to
seem noble
November 4, 2011
Beethoven’s Symphony no 6, in F major, opus 68, “Pastoral”
symphonies are not my preferred musical form, they are
generally too broad, grand, impersonal, they are nevertheless
the other most impactful order of presentation among musical
instruments, along with the concerto
a symphony is a concerto without a soloist, or it might be more
appropriate to say that a concerto is a symphony accommodating
a soloist, or soloists, in either case the musical elements remain
the same, you don’t have a symphony without movements
a symphony is also of course another name for that very orchestra,
just to confuse you
despite my indifference to that particular form of entertainment
some symphonies are nevertheless still for me impressive, some
even meaningful, poignant, several of Beethoven’s, most of the
works of the transcendental Bruckner, Brahms’ magnificent Fourth,
most others you can keep, as far as I’m concerned, I need a firm
anchoring principle, not the amorphous peregrinations of an
unbridled, often cacophonous crowd
those that I love however have touched me deeply, Beethoven’s
Sixth for instance, wherein through its second movement a loved
one spoke to me unmistakably from heaven, there and then made
me believe in an afterlife and angels, I remember the day clearly
and cherish still that powerful metaphysical moment
in the “Pastoral” Beethoven apotheosizes nature, the movements
themselves, of which there are an unconventional five, are named
after rural settings, like paintings
I imagine Beethoven channeling the idyllic Classical Fragonard, or
straddles triumphally both epochs
you will hear the birds sing, the rippling of the brook, it is as fresh
as ever springtime, as profound and expansive as itself time
Beethoven here speaks as clearly as actual language, and thereby
suggests that music is indeed itself an expressive tongue, earlier
it had been, though moving and undeniably evocative, essentially
an entertainment, a courtly device, though often enough sublime,
see Haydn, Mozart
Beethoven is not courtly, he is bold, assured, and mighty, of a new
breed of colonizers of the new and exhilarating democracy, the
French Revolution had just happened and their aristocracy was
dead and gone, indeed guillotined, a new day had dawned for
the common people, the idea of human rights
Beethoven spoke to these as a prophet, Moses at a secular Mount,
declaring the ideals of the Age of Reason, of which we still carry
the torch, to the multitudes and to their ensuing spawn
Klemperer at first seemed slow to me, nearly tired, but little by
little established a mesmerizing solemnity
by the end of the piece I’d again been touched by heaven
Richard
Richibi's Weblog 