November / Month of the Sonata – 24
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Tag: the Classical Era
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
February 11, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, Vll
“The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog” (1818)
Caspar David Friedrich
_____________
by now, if you’ve been listening,
you’ll probably easily tell your
Chopin from your Mozart, even
without looking
if not, the one who isn’t Mozart
is Chopin, the one who isn’t
Chopin is Mozart, cause you’re
likely to recognize the one if not
the other
here’s Mozart’s Piano Sonata
no 16 in C major, K. 545, from
1788, which even Mozart
deemed “for beginners”, but
its very elementary qualities
suit, here, my purposes
here’s Chopin’s Piano Sonata
no 3 in B minor, Op. 58, 1844,
some sixty years later, the
epitome of the Romantic Era
Mozart is Classical, the foundation
of the shape and sound of music
in the West, think of Oriental music,
Chinese, for instance, opera, as an
alternative inspirational direction
he sets, along with Haydn, incidentally,
the parameters of Western music, I
call it its grammar, tempo, tonality,
and repetition, its hallmarks, its sine
qua non, as we say in Latin, its trinity
of imperatives, its without which there
would be no Western music as we
know it
Romanticism, after two revolutions,
the French and the American, comes
along to turn all of that into literature,
prompted by the spirit of democracy,
the first expressions of it since Caesar,
Ancient Rome, where earlier,
everywhere, kings had ruled, and by
extension, even more autocratically,
the Church, for monarchs had
received, morally, and consequently
politically, from it, their mandates
from God
one man, one vote, even theoretically,
upended that entire metaphysical
construct, therefore Romanticism
everyone had a voice, everyone had
a story, the birth of the individual,
and of, by extension, human rights,
for better or for worse, see above
therefore Chopin
listen, Chopin is the new Jesus,
prophet, but for a new age
stay tuned
R ! chard
November 26, 2018
on the third day of C***mas
“Les musiciens“ (1952)
Nicolas de Staël
___________
on the third day of C***mas, I needed to
ready myself for the onslaught, I was
hosting, yikes, for someone from out
of town
I thought I’d had it all figured out, but
obstacles occurred, of course, to my,
nearly cowed, consternation
I needed help
I’d anticipated more violin concertos
to get me going, but, among my
several bookmarks, King Crimson
came up, a group I’d admired
tremendously in my formative years,
the 70s, when freedom of expression
prevailed, in all of its innocent
expectations
they are tremendous, if you like that
sort of thing, entirely progressive
rock
you’ll think me eccentric if I relate
them to Classical considerations, not
only are they rigorous about tempo,
tonality, and repetition, essential
Classical components, but reach
further into even tribal configurations,
their minimalism – later formalized by,
incidentally, Beethoven – of infinitely
repeated rhythms, like thumping,
intoxicating, essentially, thrusts,
heartbeats meeting heartbeats, very,
in other words, primitive, primeval
add to that, later, their superimposed
atonal riffs – Jimi Hendrix meets the
jungle – a direct reference to
Schoenberg‘s breakdown of the
orthodoxy of the musical scale, and
cadence, and reiteration, you’re left
with a history of our culture’s sonic
aspirations in a single incandescent
concert, despite a couple of egregious
commercial interruptions in the
download, a 21st-Century, it seems,
corporate roadblock
watch, enjoy
R ! chard
April 4, 2018
Cello Concerto no 2 in D major – Haydn
“A Cello“ (1921)
___________
between Bach’s transcendent Suites for
Cello and Beethoven’s reinvention of that
instrument, two only cello works occupy
the last half of that century, both by
Haydn
his Second, however, Concerto, written
several years later than his First, 1783,
indeed nearly twenty years later, seems
to me less accomplished, though ever,
nevertheless, unimpeachably, and
impressively, Haydn
the first movement is long, long works
only until you start thinking it’s long
the initial melody in the adagio, the
second movement, struck me as artificial,
saccharine, though Haydn weaves magic,
not unexpectedly, still, and
continuously, around it in its
development, his elaboration of it
and the pace of the third movement,
following the second, is disconcerting
rather than surprising, rather than,
were it effective, delightful
Mozart wrote a Cello Concerto too,
apparently, but, if so, it is lost
otherwise we’re on to the next historical
epoch, Beethoven’s, after this inauspicious
turn at this generation for the cello, lost
for a while among the more assertive
instruments of that prim, and proper,
Classical Era
R ! chard
April 2, 2018
Cello Concerto no 1 in C major – Joseph Haydn
“St. George and the Dragon“ (c.1470)
________
it isn’t easy for me to leave Bach behind
whenever I start listening to him, I could
ride his musical train forever
but the middle of the 18th Century did, put
him aside, for about a hundred years, until
Mendelssohn rediscovered him
Bach’s Cello Suites were themselves only
reinstated in the 1930s by Pablo Casals,
the Classical 18th Century had considered
Bach too fussy, his pieces, they thought,
were technical exercises rather than
actual entertainments, form was
overtaking, for them, function
there’s a wonderful book about all this,
“The Cello Suites“, written by Eric Siblin,
a Canadian journalist, which is not only
amazingly informed and probing, but also
beautifully written, it holds a place of
honour on my bookshelf, along with other
inspired, and inspiring, texts
not only was Bach set asunder, dismissed,
during the Classical Era, but all of the
formative music also he had written, for
cello, violin, keyboard, in other words,
the entire curriculum
which, since Bach’s reinstatement, has
become, paradoxically, the very
foundation for learning these instruments
imagine playing a tune with the right
hand, then a few notes later, picking
it up in the left hand while the right
hand keeps on going, imagine what
that does to your fingers, never mind
to your mind, that’s what his Two-Part
Inventions are all about, fifteen of
them, eight in major keys, seven in
minor, consider the technical
difficulties, intricacies, imposed
both compositionally and upon
the harried performer
then Bach follows through with his
Three-Part Inventions to top it all
off, for the keyboard at least, and
only for the moment – there’ll still
be his transcendental “Goldberg
Variations” among other
incandescent masterpieces –
wherein one juggles three tunes at
a time, and all of them in the same
assortment of fifteen contrasting,
foundational, keys, the “Inventions“
– if you can do that, you’re on your
way, one would think, to knowing
entirely what you’re doing
but time marches on, the Classical
Era hits, Haydn takes over, not
unimpressively
the same thing happened in my
generation to Frank Sinatra via
the Beatles, not to mention, a little
later, to either, with Pink Floyd
listen to Haydn’s First Cello Concerto,
note the bravura inherent in the
composition, this is not Bach’s
meditative music, the very Romantic
Period is, through Classical reserve,
expressing already its imminence,
individual prowess is taking over
from community, which is to say
religious, affiliation, the same way
the Renaissance artists, Duccio,
Giotto, Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi,
Uccello had stood out, incidentally,
from their brethren in the standard
communal art schools dedicated to
decorating the ever burgeoning
churches sprouting out in the still
fervent European environment
musical, though unaristocratic,
talents, this time, were beginning,
within a German context, to flex
their decidedly not unimpressive
muscles, and gaining some
significant purchase
and who wouldn’t when a Cello
Concerto would’ve sounded like
this, listen
R ! chard
February 28, 2018
String Quartet opus 74, no 1, in C major – Joseph Haydn
“Minuet in Villa“ (c.1791)
_____________
for my father
the Opus 74, along with the Opus 71, were
written as a unit, to deliver to the English
public for presentation, if the opus numbers
differ, it’s probably to do with publication
dates, the 74‘s being later than the earlier,
but they fit the bill together, batches of six
string quartets for Haydn’s opuses up until
now being the standard, each opus here
comprising only half the normal number,
just three
Haydn’s sponsor, Prince Nicholas Esterházy,
had died, leaving his son, Anton, to preside,
but being tone deaf, the descendant fired
the orchestra, however until then illustrious
the fact that these works were no longer,
therefore, court pieces but intended for
larger, paying, audiences, changed the
dynamics, Haydn is not only peripheral
music at an aristocratic court any longer,
he’s the host, and you can hear it
fermatas, where the note, or the pause,
are accentuated, deliver drama, so does
volume, and sudden tempo changes
therefore the Romantic Period
but, interestingly, the Classical
foundation remains, the established
structure – a musical statement, an
elaboration, a second musical,
related, statement, in usually a
complementary key, it’s own
elaboration, then a recapitulation
of either, or both
the minuet, incidentally, stalwart
still, holding on to the very end of
the 18th Century, still applies, a
sure enough, though residual
sign of the earlier Classical
supremacy, even as that era was
inexorably disintegrating
music is an entertainment, it
inspires, however so incidentally,
though it ever, perhaps even
intentionally, makes you often,
indeed, cry, it’s needed, even in
the direst circumstances, for
courage, however ironically,
however contrapuntally, in any
particular moment, it might even
seem cynical so to arouse spirit,
inspiration, I mean the French had
just turned the world upside down,
and here was sparkling creativity
Haydn was doing his stuff, keeping
us musically integrated, speaking
music instead of politics, turning a
bad situation into pearls, keeping
the world going, the very stuff of
oracles
listen
R ! chard
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