sonatas, continued (Messiaen – “Quartet for the End of Time”)
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Tag: sonatas
December 9, 2023
sonatas, continued (Beethoven – Opus 44)
“The Greek Slave Girl (or Variations in Violet and Rose)“ (c.1885 – c.1886)
James McNeill Whistler
_____________
a trio is a group of three instrumentalists,
most often a piano, a violin, and a cello,
in our Western musical tradition
but it is also a musical form, like a waltz
is, or a prelude, or a nocturne, a trio is
a sonata, essentially, but written for
three instruments, not one, nor two,
consisting of more than one segment,
or movement
though I’ve presented trios as trios to date,
sonatas for three instruments, here’s a piece
for three instruments but in one movement,
though segmented, admittedly, as variations,
see above, a similar collection of rhythms
and styles, brought together by a common
essential element, a game audiences played
back then, and still do even now, trying to
distinguish the individual variations, before
falling prey to their enchantment
here’s Beethoven’s Opus 44, in E-flat major,
listen, enjoy
R ! chard
November 25, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 25
“Homage to Claude Debussy“ (1952 )
Raoul Dufy
_____
if I object to sonatas consisting of only
one movement, I can also object to
sonatas consisting of more than two
instruments, but here’s Debussy’s
Sonata for flute, viola and harp,
which should more accurately have
been called a trio, a trio is a sonata
with three instruments
note also in the Debussy the breakdown
of all the Classical imperatives, tempo,
tonality, and repetition, another blow to
established authority
but the test is, does it work, at which
point, if it does, terminology becomes
moot, and meaning changes
today, I pondered the word love, its
myriad meanings, and how we still
call that infinite variety of emotions
the same thing, the word sonata
doesn’t hold a candle to the word
love for disinformation
I thought, okay, just make it work,
I’ll define it for myself later, each
one of us being the final arbiter
of our own aesthetic sensibility
Debussy or not Debussy, that is
the question
R ! chard
November 24, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 24
“Franz Liszt“
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
______
Alban Berg isn’t the only composer to
write a sonata with only one movement,
nor even the first, Franz Liszt, some
sixty years earlier, 1853, wrote this one,
his Piano Sonata in B minor, listen
Franz Liszt was an entertainer, more
performer than poet, you’ll hear more
bravado in this piece, to my mind,
than substance
but then again, sometimes, that is
the substance
though the finger work here is magical,
entirely worth the price of admission
earlier still, during the Baroque era,
sonatas had consisted of only one
movement, but the term had referred
to, then, the structure of the piece, its
inner workings, not so much the form,
the intention, the change happened
during the Classical Era, starting
around the middle of the Eighteenth
Century, the mid-1700s, which has
been the focus of this month’s
investigation, therefore excluded
from my survey, not being of the
modern era
but listen to a sonata of Scarlatti,
1685 to 1757, an exact contemporary,
incidentally, of Bach, 1685 to 1750,
except for the extra seven years,
who wrote over five hundred of
them, all available on the Internet
listen to one only of them, however
contextually peripherally, you’ll
be utterly enchanted, the Baroque
is not an era to be easily overlooked
R ! chard
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 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 7, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 7
“The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog” (1818)
Caspar David Friedrich
_____________
meanwhile, back at sonatas for one
instrument, it’s about time I brought
up Chopin, the one composer that
everyone associates before anyone
else with Romanticism, 1800, say,
till about 1880, he incorporates it,
not without reason, Chopin
personifies the Romantic Era, like
Mozart represents the Classical
others who count would be Elizabeth
Barrett Browning, her “Sonnets from
the Portuguese” – How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways – Victor Hugo’s
“Les Misérables”, and Charles Dickens
preaching, in all his works, humanity
Caspar David Friedrich‘s, also, iconic
Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog“,
see above
Chopin sounds a lot like Beethoven,
indeed, the first notes of his Second
Piano Sonata, in B-flat minor, Op. 35
are a reference to Beethoven’s
Sonata no 8, his “Pathétique“, listen,
you’ll hear the same peremptory,
commanding, chord, demanding
attention, the rest is consummate,
however, Chopin
in the last movement, you’ll specifically
hear what Chopin brought to the table,
texture, soundscape, rather than a
narrative line, music as background,
atmosphere, context
enjoy
R ! chard
November 6, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 6
“The Cello Player“ (1896)
Thomas Eakins
_________
if there could be violin sonatas, there
could be sonatas for, also, other
instruments
here’s one for cello, Beethoven’s utterly
magical Cello Sonata no 1 in F major,
Opus 5, no 1, 1796
note that the structure of the sonata is
being challenged, two movements only,
though the first has two sections that
are linked without pause, the aim is to
connect the musical information, the
work becomes a narrative, not a
collection of disparate pieces
Beethoven is telling a story, speaking
in notes, listen, it’s revelatory
I wish you ears
R ! chard
November 1, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 1
“Still Life with Seven Apples“ (1878)
Paul Cézanne
_____
a sonata is to the concerto what an apple
is to an apple pie, its essential component,
after which the rest is decoration, however
inspired
sonatas existed before Mozart, but he’s
the one, along with Haydn, as well as
early Beethoven, who put them on the
musical map, 1750 to 1800, more or
less
it seems to me appropriate, therefore,
to start my Sonata Month then
here’s something by Mozart, 1789, his
last piano sonata, No. 18, in D major,
K. 576
three movements, fast, slow, fast – allegro,
adagio, allegretto – a perfect example of
the sonata as it was establishing itself
then, a piece of music consisting of
several distinct sections, movements,
meant to highlight contrasts, musical
agility in the artist, compositional
imagination
listen, enjoy
R ! chard
October 30, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata
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