November / Month of the Sonata – 15
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Tag: The Classical Period
June 13, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XVI – on Chopin
“The Old Burgtheater“ (1888 – 1889)
Gustav Klimt
_______
having brought up nocturnes and ballades
in my last instalment, however peripherally,
I’ll dig into these deeper, to illustrate the
impact Romanticism had on music, on
fine arts as well, and literature, in the
West, as it highlighted emotions as a
requirement of the audiences that
funded them
the French Revolution had happened,
the idea of individual rights, liberty,
equality, fraternity, spread across
even autocracies, czars, kaisers,
kings were threatened
theatres were becoming, because of
the growth of the Middle Class, what
had been the salons of the aristocrats,
people were paying for what the nobility
had been seeing, in concert halls, see
above
but the audience wanted their money’s
worth, both in spectacle, and personal
contact, easy ingenuity was out, they
had to be impacted, get them howling,
whooping, just like today
but to return to ballades and nocturnes,
they were the answer, plangent appeals
to the heart, which had not been a
concern of the earlier Classical Period,
where prestidigitation, technical
wizardry, had been the requirement
of the courtly courts
ballades, nocturnes, preludes, didn’t
exist before the Romantic Period,
essentially, music that hadn’t a
formal structure, hadn’t a set of
compositional rules, but spoke,
rather, from a place of intimacy,
unconstrainedly
here’s a ballade, for instance, here’s
a nocturne, both of Chopin, as
identifiable as Shakespeare, van
Gogh, in each their own particular
vocabulary, wearing his heart on
his sleeve, and always absolutely
extraordinary
enjoy
R ! chard
June 1, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, XV – what’s a rhapsody
“Rhapsody of Steel“ (1959)
________
so what’s a rhapsody
if you’ve been following at all my
musical adventure, you’ll have
heard by now several rhapsodies
at first, I suggested that the rhapsody
was an evolution from the fantasia,
a piece of music in one movement
that allowed for any internal
construction, but that, after the
Classical Period, became imbued
with Romanticism, passion became
a condition of music, mere technical
ability was no longer enough
note that the audience was different,
rather than nobles who commissioned
artists to decorate their salons, the
burgeoning Middle Class was hungry
for them to entertain, performers were
becoming the main attraction, not just
the background, see, for instance,
Beethoven
but not only did rhapsodies spread
from just one player to an entire
orchestra – see Brahms, then
see Gershwin – but its essential
structure, one movement, was
challenged, see Ravel here, or
Rachmaninov, whose rhapsodies
are both composed of distinct
movements, Rachmaninov even
further refining his movements
into variations, for years, I
referred to his Rhapsody on a
Theme of Paganini as his
Variations
all this to say that a rhapsody is
turning out to be not identified
by its structure, its technical
parts, but rather by its intention,
a rhapsody is in the eye of its
composer, like a nocturne, or
a ballade
I’d thought that rhapsodies had
been relegated to the Romantic
Era, with the occasional later
tribute
who, I wondered, could be
writing rhapsodies anymore
but here’s something, however
unexpectedly, you’ll be familiar
with, from 1975, Queen’s Bohemian
Rhapsody, in several movements
– intro, ballad, opera, hard rock,
outro – and including in all of them,
note, voice
all of which speaks of tradition
being a lot closer than one would
think, ancestral, residual, but
defining, traces, like genes,
however updated, however
posthumously interpreted,
pervade, infiltrate, pursue,
inexorably
rhapsodies are in our DNA, it
would appear, for better or for
worse, ever
here’s to them
R ! chard
March 4, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, X
“Joseph Haydn” (1791)
Thomas Hardy
_______
though I’ve focused especially, during
this introduction to Classical music,
on Mozart, a second great pillar of
that era is Haydn, 1732 – 1809
here is one of his 62 piano sonatas,
which expresses more than anything
you’ve heard here yet the definition
of what music was at the time, or
should be, tonality, as I’ve earlier
said, tempo and repetition were
tantamount
listen for or the rigidity of the tempo,
the consistent melliflousness of
the melody, and therefore tonality,
and the repetition of all the
component tunes
I remember going to a drum recital
once, here in Vancouver, a guy was
expressing his artistry in a formal
venue, I was sitting in a forward
row, saw him set up his music on
his music stand, and I thought,
he’s going to have to turn the
pages, which he did, a drummer
that’s all I remember of the
presentation, but that was enough,
an entire revelation
in this Haydn sonata, the pianist
turns the pages of his score, back
and forth, an interesting visual
expression of the imperative of
repetition in that era’s music,
having to return to what had
been written on the previous
page
also note that trills abound
note too in the second movement,
the adagio cantabile, the sudden
introduction of arpeggios,
transcendent, as though angels
had just appeared
which prefigures the metaphysical
aspirations of the Romantic Period
which ensued, see, for instance,
Chopin
note also that we’re on fortepiano
here, a period instrument, a cross
between the harpsichord and the
modern instrument
thoroughly enjoy
R ! chard
March 2, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, IX
“The Spanish Guitarist” (1897)
____________
just as I was about to relegate the trill
to Mozart and the Classical Period, I
inadvertently came upon something
wonderful by Joaquín Rodrigo, a
Spanish composer, 1901 – 1999, a
concerto for guitar
the trill had been decorative, meant to
appeal to aristocrats frequenting
salons
then the French Revolution happened,
and the growth of the Middle Class,
and consequently popular avenues
of entertainment for the liberated,
concert halls, for instance, looked
for a more emotionally powerful
experience, arpeggios took care of
that
the trill died
but in 1939, nearly two centuries
later, Rodrigo wrote his Concierto
de Aranjuez, a descendent pays
homage to an elder, trills abound
it should be stated that a guitar can
play only one note at a time, it might
be that trills lend themselves better
to such an instrument than an
arpeggio would
then again, I’ve found that Spanish
music, the tango, the tarantella, for
instance, see above, has held more
rigidly to the imperatives of Western
music I’ve spoken of here before,
tempo, tonality, repetition, it is not
Debussy, Ravel, it is not even
Chopin, it is peripheral, maybe, to
the cultural establishment, but
potent, steeped in blood and
tradition
here’s Rodrigo giving you Mozart
enjoy
R ! chard
May 12, 2019
tempo in Beethoven’s Piano Sonata no 32, Opus 111
_
for Lajla, who wondered
where I’ve been these past
few weeks
if music is a communication, as I firmly
believe it is, even listing it as one of my
languages on all of my formal
applications, it should have, much as
in any other communication, a set of
rules, a structure, a grammar, which
indeed it does
where the mood of a verb, for instance,
in English, indicative, I am, conditional,
if I were, subjunctive, that I be, infinitive,
to be, or, indeed, again infinitive, not to
be, that is, indicative once more, the
question
whether ’tis, indicative, nobler in the
mind to suffer, infinitive, the slings
and arrows of outrageous fortune,
or to take, infinitive, arms against a
sea of troubles, and by opposing,
participle, end, infinitive, them – but
you get my drift, in music we have
tempo, adagio, andante, allegro,
presto, among others, to set,
indeed, the mood
as chamber music, an entertainment
for aristocrats, moved from the dance
rhythms of their salons during the
Classical Period to the more diverse
beats, the more varied and evocative
tempi, especially with Beethoven,
into the Romantic Era, music began
to speak, evoke rather than lilt
listen to Beethoven’s 32nd Piano
Sonata, for example, his Opus 111,
in two contrasting movements,
one fast, nearly even frenetic, the
other slow, resigned, subdued,
introspective, the first, angry,
chaotic, frustrated, a burst of
fulgurating intensity, resolving,
in the second, into quiescence,
submission, calm, if ultimately
miraculous incandescence, one
the antithesis of the other
Beethoven juxtaposes fury,
tranquility, loud, soft, short, long
– the serene adagio is twice
length of the boisterous allegro
– and by extension, war, peace,
man, woman, strong, weak, hope,
despair, yin, in other words, yang,
indissoluble dichotomies, a
veritable musical existential
philosophical tract, Beethoven’s
treatise on existence
you can’t dance to it, though,
don’t ask him
but you can thoroughly enjoy,
be inspired
R ! chard
October 7, 2018
Piano Concertos 2, 3, 4 – Beethoven
“Liberty Leading the People“ (1830)
_________
for everyone, with great gratitude,
who reads me, I mean only to
bring poetry, which is to say,
light
though I’d considered leaving the
Romantic Piano Concertos behind
to explore other areas of the period
in this survey, it seemed unfair,
indeed remiss of me, not to include
the three among my top ten that I
haven’t yet highlighted, Beethoven’s
2nd, 3rd, and 4th Piano Concertos,
Opuses 19, 37, and 58 respectively,
after all, these are where the spirit
of the age, the Zeitgeist, was
constructed, like a building, with
walls, windows, a hearth, all of
which would become a church,
then a Church, and by the time of
Brahms, a very Romantic Cathedral
the foundation had already been laid
by Mozart with his 27, but music had
not yet become anything other than
an entertainment by then, or
alternatively, an accessory to
ceremonial pomp and circumstance,
see Handel and England for this, or
liturgical stuff, see, among many
others here, Bach
but with the turn towards
independence of thought as the
Enlightenment progressed, cultural
power devolved from the prelates,
and their reverent representations,
to the nobles, who wanted their own
art, music, which is to say, something
secular, therefore the Classical
Period, 1750 – 1800, in round figures
then in the middle of all that, 1789,
the French Revolution happened,
and the field was ripe for prophets,
anyone with a message of hope,
and a metaphysical direction, midst
all the existential disarray – the Age
of Reason had set the way,
theoretically, for the possibility of a
world without God, something, or
Something, was needed to replace
the The Trinity, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, Who had been
seeing Their supremacy contested
since already the Reformation
Beethoven turned out to be just
our man, don’t take my, but history‘s
authentification of it, see the very
Romantic Period for corroboration
in a word, Beethoven established a
Faith, a Vision, not to mention the
appropriate tools to instal this new
perspective, a sound, however
inherited, musical structure – his
Piano Concertos Two, Three, and
Four, for instance, are paramount
amongst a host of others of his
transcendental revelations
briefly, the initial voice, I am here, in
the first movement, is declamatory,
even imperious, but ever
compositionally solid, and proven,
tempo, tonality, recapitulation, the
materials haven’t changed from the
earlier Classical epoch, just the
design, the interior, the
metaphysical conception
his construction is masterfully
direct, the line of music is
throughout ever clear and concise,
despite flights of, often, ethereal,
even magical, speculation, you
don’t feel the music in your body
as you would in a dance, as in the
earlier era, of minuets, but follow
it, rather, with your intellect, you,
nearly irresistibly, read it
but the adagio, the slow movement,
the middle one Classically, is always,
for me, the clincher, the movement
that delivers the incontrovertible
humanity that gave power to the
Romantic poet, who touched you
where you live
Beethoven says life is difficult, and
eventually, at the end of his Early,
Middle and Late Periods, life may
even have no meaning
but should there be someone, he
says, who is listening, Someone –
though implicit is that one may be
speaking to merely the wind – this
is what I can do, this is who I am
and while I am here, however
briefly, I am not insignificant, I
can be worthy, even glorious,
even beautiful, I am no less
consequential, thus, nor
precious, than a flower
for better, of course, or for worse
R ! chard
April 7, 2018
Cello Sonata no 2 in G minor, opus 5 – Beethoven
“Egg on Plate with Knife, Fork, and Spoon“ (1964)
____
after my somewhat prolonged side trip
into Bach country, though it is a land
of many more wonders, I’ll get back
on track, more or less, here, with
Beethoven’s Second Cello Sonata,
the other half of his Opus 5
till then, the cello had served as
accompaniment, essentially, for other
more discursive, higher pitched, less
sonorous, less stentorious
instruments
but Beethoven puts the cello back
into the hottest seat in the house, right
next to the ubiquitous piano, a
requirement in any instance following
the neglect of the cello during the
intervening Classical Period, despite
Bach’s earlier luminous illustration of
its incandescent potential
the Opus 5, no 2 starts, audaciously,
with an adagio, not always a wise
choice, as you’ve heard me repeat
here before, it can be unentertaining
but Beethoven gives his adagio tension
by introducing breaks often, which,
rather than stultify, creates momentum,
therefore a narrative, a story to follow
the rhythm is no longer adjusted to
dance essentially, such a spin as is
heard in the second and third
movements, for instance, would
surely sweep one off one’s feet
but the art is in the dance that
Beethoven allows and creates between
the piano and the cello, the first the
filigree on the arm of the more grounded,
more entrenched latter, the crystal, the
silverware that adorn, symbolically, an
however majestic oak table, the creamy
Hollandaise that makes an egg, however
elemental, irresistible, the literary turns
that might transform mere prose into,
verily, poetry, icing on a cake, in a word,
to complement, in stunning and equal
cooperation, the inextricable
counterpart
there is even a moral lesson transmitted
here
Beethoven can often be long-winded,
I’ve found, but there’s always, always,
at the end of the road something
entirely worth the extra minute, the
even several extra minutes
R ! chard
March 22, 2018
Cello Suite no 3, in C major – Bach
“Narcissus“ (c.1599)
______
what struck me about this most extraordinary
performance of Bach’s Third Cello Suite was
nothing to do with the Suite itself, but with
the work of the camera, right out of
Caravaggio, I thought, a bona fide Baroque
artist also, what could the cameraman have
known
stark contrasts, an absolute focus on the
subject without much set decoration, no
consideration for extraneous, though
perhaps effective, decorative elements
to cloud the pictorial issue
this is not at all Bach, incidentally, who
relies on accompaniment, feeder notes,
to shed light on the essential melody,
often even nearly indistinguishable
from the main statement
both are considered Baroque, Bach,
Caravaggio, but I won’t be getting into
it right now, it’s a long, and tortuous
story
otherwise note, indeed, in Bach, the
reiteration of clusters of music, forward
propulsions, with incremental tonal
variations, moving the melody forward,
something lost during the later, more
frivolous, Classical Period, but recovered
eventually, two generations down, by
Beethoven, kind of like children resemble
their grandparents much more than they
do their actual folks
eventually that becomes Minimalism, see,
for instance, Steve, “Different Trains“,
Reich
R ! chard
January 24, 2018
String Quartet no 35 in D minor, Op 42 – Haydn
“Joseph Haydn“ (ca. 1791)
_____________
for, especially, Collin
Haydn’s Opus 42 was written in 1785,
he would’ve been 53, which might
explain his return to a less
ideologically driven music than his
earlier more vociferous compositions,
one gets more conservative, nearly by
definition, as one gets older
there is no vehemence in this quartet,
it is meant to merely delight listeners,
lords and ladies looking to be
impressed, there is no call to arms
here, there’s even a minuet
the final movement, the presto, might
seem urgent, but is rather, I think,
engaging than peremptory, more
entertaining than adamant
there’s only one string quartet in the
Opus 42, usually there are six in
Haydn’s opuses, or opera, the piece
is also terse, a wonderland of
extraordinary music within the span
of, however improbably, just 13
minutes
Haydn seems to be giving us his idea
of the string quartet, a nearly Platonic
proposition, in a nutshell
Plato thought that there was an ideal
string quartet somewhere up there in
an ordering space, a mystical
system of specifically representative
entities, determining the accuracy of
definitions, religions presently
struggle with that, the inflexibility of
their intractable propositions, Haydn
was giving us something to think
about, a string quartet to define the
very ages
note the recurrence of the original
theme always with all of its
permutations
note the rhythmic consistency,
though the several movements are
decidedly, and effectively, divided
according to their strict tempos
note that all, though here and there
a strident note may appear, the
tonality, the key, the modality, is
constant
this will change
but for now we have the very essence
of the Classical Period
and it’s hot
R ! chard
psst: to a friend who’s become impressed
by my choice, incidental of course,
of cellists, I would suggest it has
more to do, perhaps, with its sonority,
the low thrum of their instrument, it
can really unsettle one’s kundalini,
the sleeping serpent at the base of
the spine, and not so much the
individual cellist, maybe
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