November / Month of the Sonata – 22
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Tag: the French Revolution
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
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
January 17, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, cont.
The Stolen Kiss (1788)
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
_____________
if you listened to the couple of pieces I
recommended in my last commentary,
you would’ve indeed recognized, if
even only subconsciously, that the
first work wasn’t composed by the
composer of the other, that different
spirits infused either
a visual representation of the same
thing might be to juxtapose a
contemporary painting of the one
epoch with a corresponding painting
of the other
over a hundred years had passed
between Mozart and Prokofiev,
Mozart’s Piano Sonata no 18, K576
– his last piano sonata, incidentally,
he died a short two years later –
was written in 1789, the year of the
French Revolution, a still safe
distance from Vienna, where
Mozart could still cater to an,
however endangered, species
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, a contemporary
painter, 1732 – 1806, had been doing the
same thing, The Stolen Kiss, 1788, for
instance, a mere year earlier, see above
meanwhile, over a hundred years later,
inches only away from the First World
War, Matisse is doing in art what
Prokofiev is doing in music, taking the
temperature of his own time, Seated
Riffian (1911 –1912) – a Riffian, a Berber,
a North African tribesman – see below,
to corroborate Prokofiev’s equally
emblematic vision of their shared era
you can hear this in the music
mostly through the difference in the use
of volume, languorous softs, thunderous
louds, but also in the more expansive use
of pace, fast, slow, the rapidity of some
notes, the embrace, the extended caress,
of others, in the later composition
which, in a word, follows the development
of the piano from harpsichord to the
instrument we’re used to today
Mozart still had the harpsichord in his ear,
he was writing for the fortepiano, which
evolved, through the pianoforte, to the
piano we know of today, no flexibility of
pace, no flexibility of volume then, listen,
hear, you can hear it in the juxtaposition
we hear a lot more than we think we
hear
R ! chard
__________
Seated Riffian (1911 – 1912)
Henri Matisse
__________
October 20, 2018
the essential Romantic violin concertos
“The Violin“ (1916)
_____
if I was able to bring up a list of
ten top Romantic piano concertos
throughout the 19th Century earlier,
I can number of violin concertos
only three essential ones, with,
however, two other significant
such compositions, which remain,
for one reason or another,
peripheral, secondary
more about which later
but the exalted three are situated
conveniently, the first, at the very
beginning of the Romantic Era,
Beethoven’s magisterial, even
extraordinary, Opus 61 in D major,
1806, and close doubly with the
two others, Tchaikovsky’s
resplendent work, words cannot
do it justice, and Brahms’ no less
transcendental one, at its very end,
1878, none are negligible, it’d be
like missing the Eiffel Tower while
in Paris, skipping the pyramids
along the Nile, they are part of our
cultural consciousness, it would
be an utter shame to pass them
by, they are our glory, our
magnificent heritage
it should be noted that the
concerto, be it for violin, piano,
cello, what have you, a soloist
in concert with an array of
instruments, is the perfect allegory
for the Romantic Era, an individual
in contention with a community,
under the influence of a conductor,
a mayor, a mentor, a polity, the
individuality afforded by the
proclamation of human rights in
the aftermath of the French
Revolution, and its social
consequences, musically
manifested
the match might be fraught,
should be, though with
compromise, considerate
accommodation, fruitful,
hopefully even transcendental,
if not at least entertaining,
cooperation, music seems to
infer eventual concord,
congress, harmony, a way out
of, even dire, distress, or at
least point the way toward it
concertos die out, incidentally, in
the 20th Century, you don’t hear
of very many, if any at all, after
Rachmaninoff, they are gone,
much like later, in the 1950s, the
waltz, forever, with the wind
may they rest in peace
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
September 26, 2018
Piano Concerto no 1 in D minor, opus 15 – Brahms
“The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog“ (1818)
_____________
if Beethoven built the Church, along
with Goethe maybe, of Romanticism,
and be assured Romanticism is an
ideology, a moral outlook, a
motivational perspective, much like
the economy is nowadays,
supplanting any more humanistic
imperatives, Brahms put up one of its
Cathedrals, just listen, the First Piano
Concerto is a monument, as mighty
as the Cologne Cathedral musically,
right next to Bonn, incidentally,
Brahms‘ birthplace
with the disintegration of the
supremacy of the Catholic deity
at the onset of the Protestant
Reformation, Luther, Calvin,
Henry Vlll and all that, bolstered
by new discoveries in scientific
speculation, that the earth wasn’t
flat, for instance, that it revolved
around the sun rather than the
other way around, contradictory,
though convincing, voices began
to abound, excite question
in the 18th Century, the Age of
Reason, the Christian Deity fell,
never effectively to be put back
together again, see for Its final
sundering, Nietzsche
in France, after the Revolution,
the Church was officially removed
from political consideration,
countermanding its centuries of
morally heinous depredations,
the United States had already at
its own Revolution separated it
from State
Romanticism was an answer to
a world wherein there might not
be a God, a world with, however,
a spiritual dimension, to respond
to the clockwork universe
envisioned by the earlier epoch,
the Enlightenment, a world where
everything could be categorized,
analyzed, predicted
Romanticism called for the
inclusion of inspiration in the mix,
there are more things in heaven
and earth, Horatio, than are
dreamt of in your philosophy,
as Shakespeare would, for
instance, have it – “Hamlet”,
1.5.167-8
poets became prophets thereby,
if they could manage it, very
oracles, the world was blessed
with, at that very moment,
Beethoven, far outstripping the
likes of, later, for example, Billy
Graham, or other such, however
galvanizing, proselytizers,
whose messages would’ve been
too, to my mind, literal
for music cannot lie, obfuscate,
prevaricate, music cannot be
fake
and then there was Schubert,
and Chopin, Tolstoy, Dickens,
Elizabeth Barrett Browning,
Robert, her husband,
Tchaikovsky, Caspar David
Friedrich, the Johann Strausses,
Byron, Shelley, Keats, whose
artworks, all, are as profoundly
in our blood, our cultural system,
as, if not more so than, our
present information about the
details of our Christian myths,
despite a superfluity of them
even, throughout the long
indeed Middle Ages, and right
up to, and including, the still
fervent then Renaissance, for
better or for worse still, for us
what Romanticism did, and
specifically through the work
of these seminal artists, was
give each of us a chance,
show us how to come
through trial and tribulation,
what a faith does, any faith
it said, here, this is my dilemma,
and this is how I deal with it
for me, Beethoven’s 32nd
Piano Sonata is, soundly, the
epitome of that, but listen to
Brahms put a stamp on it
with undaunted authority
we might be ultimately of no
consequence in an indifferent
universe, they say, but, hey,
this is what we can do, and
do gloriously, while we are
at it
Woody Allen picks up the
purpose in our own recent
20th Century, following in
the earnest footsteps of his
Existential mentor, the much
too dour, I think, Ingmar
Bergman
but that’s another story
entirely
meanwhile, listen
also watch, the conductor here,
a complete delight, is right out
of “Alice in Wonderland“, I
promise you’ll love it
R ! chard
May 11, 2018
Mozart / Haydn piano sonatas
Princess Friederike Luise of Prussia (1714-1784), Margravine of Brandenburg
____________
if you had trouble distinguishing your
Schubert from your Beethoven, you’ll
probably have trouble as well telling
your Mozart from your Haydn, though
you won’t find it difficult, if you listen,
to tell the earlier two from the latter
both the Haydn here, and the Mozart,
were written in 1789, the year of the
French Revolution, something akin
to our 9/11, the world changed from
one moment to the next
the first two were still doing parties,
which is to say, salon music, stuff
for elites, you can hear it, frivolities,
with, however magical, elaborations
– Liberace, I thought – nothing ever
as confessional as the two later
composers, who, with the new
fervour around individual opinion,
in the wake of questions even about
the validity of God, would create the
very Romantic Era
Mozart and Haydn explore songs,
ditties, Beethoven and Schubert
investigate very fundamental
musical constructions, they’re
down to the very essence of
tonal possibilities, something
that happened to the pictorial
arts in the 1950’s, as artists
probed the cerebral implications
of colour, see for instance,
Rothko
their probe itself becomes more
powerful than their apparent
subject, the tune, though the
melody proves to be, ever, the
cement that keeps the meditation
together
what it says, what they say, is
that confronting our destiny,
we remain the only arbiter, its
outcome will be as beautiful
as we make it, for better or for
worse, the creation of
something beautiful, a work
that can be so beautiful, much
like a life, seems to be a reply
that can somewhat, at least,
existentially satisfy a sense
of purpose
what, otherwise
R ! chard
psst: Mozart’s piano sonata was written
for Princess Friederike Luise of
Prussia, pictured above
April 22, 2018
String Quintets – Mozart / Beethoven
“A Path in Monet’s Garden at Giverny“ (1902)
________
concerned about presenting Beethoven’s
Opus 59, the next significant string quartets
of the early 19th Century, too early –
Beethoven had, incidentally, at that point no
rivals – I preferred to establish his credentials,
rather than to enter his next phase, equivalent
to the move from representational art to
Impressionism in painting, a sea change,
people would’ve balked at the very concept
of an alternative vision, and indeed they
were confused
this sea change, I should point out, challenged
the very notions of what not only art should be,
but also music, and literature, indeed very life
perspectives, philosophies
therefore the Romantic Period, when
expressions of personal epiphanies began
to crowd the new democratic environment
after the French Revolution, 1789, all of
which would lead to, eventually, our own
allegiance to, at least in the West, the
concept of human rights
music was already, in other words, talking,
and with Beethoven, indeed vociferously
still adheres to Classical conditions,
but bursts through them emotionally
written only 14 years earlier, one of six
of his
you won’t find them, perhaps, on the
surface, to be very different, wouldn’t
be able to even tell them apart in a
blind pinch
but juxtaposing, as I always urge,
sharpens one’s aesthetic pencil, ask
yourself, in this case, according to
your senses, which of the compositions
is earlier, you’ll find your senses have
already told you
everything flows from that initial
answer, when you ask yourself why
you think that
the hall we’d just entered
she demurred, of course, considering
herself not up to the challenge, despite
several visits together we’d had among
a wonder of other European art galleries
I insisted
she tossed off, okay, Renoir, an easy
answer, though it turned out to be a
Degas, or the reverse, or whatever
but upon reaching the painting, of
course, Degas, she said, knowing full
well it was him, having lacked only the
pluck and the confidence
who’s that, I asked, turning to another
master
Monet, she replied, confidently
and was, as I’d anticipated she would
be, correct, she can now tell her
we know of a lot more than we
think we do
R ! chard
March 15, 2014
Beethoven – piano sonata no 4, in E flat major, opus 7
though Beethoven’s piano sonata no 4,
in E flat major, opus 7 has never been
one of my favourites, I’m finding this
particular rendering completely
enchanting
the opus 7 is, of course, early, when
you consider Beethoven reached into
the late 130s for his opuses, his opera,
not counting his, as bountiful, WoOs,
works without opus numbers
the sonata is steeped in Classical
conditions that are becoming ossified
at this point, about a decade after the
French Revolution, 1796 – 7, and that
have yet to be culturally overturned,
put to rest, you can hear it, you hear
the Classical form – formality, repetition,
congenial tonalities still – in the sonata,
brilliantly displayed by a composer
of ripe and rich imagination, but at
the service of structure rather than
the music itself, style over substance,
a student’s musical submission for a
composition exam
you’ll hear the repeat of the opening air
in the first movement more times than
you think is necessary, though the tune
be ever jaunty, never unpleasant, just
essentially trite, the second movement,
is a largo, a largo indeed, you’ll think,
about to fall asleep, even, at the wheel,
the later movements keep you
entertained in most interpretations,
not much, however, inspired, music to
pass the time, to check your watch by,
it needs what Beethoven will later
deliver in spades, miracles and
majesty, conviction
the opus 7 is long as well, nearly
interminable, I think, second only in
length to the sublime however
“Hammerklavier“, the 106, impudent
therefore, to my mind, if not outright
arrogant, in the mode of lesser artists,
Salieri, Clementi, for instance, who
never manage to transcend their,
however impressive, technical
expertise
but in this commanding account –
maybe I’ve grown into the piece, or
maybe the performance itself is more
inspired – Joel Schoenhals finds
something that’s had me listen for
hours and hours, rapt, mesmerized
Richard
psst: I needed this sonata for a course
I’m taking at Coursera, an Internet
learning site, on the Beethoven
piano sonatas, the opus 7 is the
first one we’re looking at, this
performance was the best one I
could find
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