November / Month of the Sonata – 16

Big Zoo, Triptych, 1913 - August Macke

                 

      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