November / Month of the Sonata – 18
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Tag: the Romantic Period
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 9, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 9
Jules Delsart
______
at the end of the Romantic Period, 1886, and
encroaching on the upcoming Impressionistic
Era, César Frank wrote his Violin Sonata in
A major, a musical glimpse into a new age,
this is not Chopin, not Beethoven, not
Schubert, despite obvious, if you’re
listening, homages, references
you’ll note the atonality, musical progressions
that seem askew, eccentric, not as harmonious
as those earlier composers, like a neurosis
taking over
tempo, a second essential element of music
in the West, however changeable might it be,
even within the individual movements, is
recognizable
repetition, the third pillar of Western music
is keeping us on track, bringing us back to
the original statement, to the air each
movement presents at their several
introductions
Frank’s sonata was so appreciated by an
accomplished cellist friend, Jules Delsart,
that he asked if he would transcribe it for
cello, their joint Sonata in A major for
Cello and Piano remains to this day a
stalwart on the cello circuit
compare, an exercise in sharpening your
aesthetic pencil, try it, enjoy
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
October 22, 2019
Piano Concerto no 4, Opus 58 – Beethoven
“Music (Painting and Decoration of a Piano)“ (1915-1920)
Konstantinos Parthenis
__________
like with Shakespeare, some of Beethoven’s
work doesn’t reach the heights I find in their
utter masterpieces, his Fourth Piano Concerto
is, to my mind, such a piece, though it’s not at
all not impressive
my complaint is that the musical motive, the
original theme, the cluster, merely, of notes
that make up the matter of the ensuing
harmonic explorations, in all of the three
movements of the Fourth, is lost in his
excessive elaborations, one is distracted by
the soloist’s dazzling showmanship rather
than by the work’s metaphysical magic, as
is conversely the case rather in Beethoven’s
sister concertos, his One, Two, Three, and
Five
most notably, the Fourth‘s slow movement,
the andante con moto, slow, but not unduly,
passes by in an instant, nearly imperceptibly,
but for the conspicuousness of its plodding
rhythm, you wonder what just happened,
what did I miss
the first movement, the allegro moderato,
or slightly slower than allegro, begins highly
unconventionally with the soloist at the helm,
setting up the conversation, as it were, the
subject of the matter
that an individual, a commoner, would’ve
dared to initiate a dialogue of purported
significance in a culture where subjects
would have known their place, like later,
for instance, a woman asserting her
position in a patriarchal society, would’ve
been shocking, and highly controversial
but Beethoven raps out a rhythm, four
quick notes followed by four quick notes
followed by the same four notes again,
ra ta ta tat, ra ta ta tat, ra ta ta tat, like
someone knocking at a door, however
plaintively, requiring attention, before the
orchestra responds, determinedly and
categorically, though the soloist will ever
remain the prime, and manifest, mover
this is not a tune, this is a statement
this is also the 18th Century’s introduction
to the Romantic Period, where individual
voices were stating their answer to the
question of the disintegration of the
aristocratic as well as the religious
ideals which had prevailed throughout
the earlier Christian centuries, when
their controlling dogmas, however still
entrenched, were being questioned,
and rejected, as evidenced by both the
constitutional dictates of the American ,
and the French Revolutions, which
were installing, codifying for their
progeny, their individual continents,
and for very history, the idea of Human,
as opposed to the traditionally assumed
Divine, Rights
secular voices would consequently
sprout in myriad profusion
throughout the ensuing 19th Century
in order to people with personalities,
as distinct from omnipotent, whether
secular or ecclesiastical, established
figures, to shape the ideologies of the
impending future, for better or for
worse
but I digress, exponentially
the third movement of the Fourth Piano
Concerto reminds me, in all its urgency,
of the finale of Rossini’s William Tell
Overture, of which I suspect it might
have been an inspiration, the work
better known to many of my generation
as the theme to The Lone Ranger
Lone Ranger indeed, Beethoven was
already leaving his indelible, not to
mention generative, mark on our
present, 21st Century, culture
enjoy
R ! chard
August 14, 2019
rhapsodies – Gershwin / Rachmaninov
“Rhapsody“ (1958)
Hans Hofmann
_________
if a sonata is a piece of music with more
than one section, by definition a rhapsody
is not a sonata, a rhapsody has only one
section, only one movement, all that is
required, therefore, essentially, of a
rhapsody, is that it be – a subjunctive
here, incidentally, the mood of aspiration,
high hopes, ideals – that it be, I reiterate,
rhapsodic
in the spirit of juxtaposition, here are two
rhapsodies, the first, George Gershwin’s
“Rhapsody in Blue“, the other
Rachmaninov’s, his “Rhapsody on a
Theme of Paganini“
how are they different, you tell me
I’ll just point out that the one seems, to
my ears, steeped still in the Romantic
Period, the early 19th Century, despite
its publishing date, 1934, the other,
earlier, composition, 1924, sounds like
full blown, in comparison, 20th Century
America, the future
Old Europe, in other words, meets the
New World, however chronologically
counterintuitively
listen, you can hear all of it, both are,
either era, extraordinary, time is what
eventually tells
R ! chard
May 19, 2019
the infinitive in Shakespeare’s “To be, or not to be”
“Philosophy and Grammar“
Gentile da Fabriano
__________
when I referred to Shakespeare’s
perhaps most famous monologue,
To be, or not to be, in my most
recent transmission, in order to
shed light on the idea of tempi,
that it would parallel Beethoven’s
Opus 111 in its philosophical
significance, however might’ve I
done so unintentionally, I was
nevertheless quite spot on, it is
perhaps his most potent
disquisition, as is Beethoven’s
own masterpiece, on existence
but let me extrapolate
to be, or not to be, both infinitives,
which is to say that their form, their
mood, relate to infinity, the infinite,
etymological correlatives, which
means that the actions, thus, are
not localized, not specific, but
belong to all places at all times and
for all people, the very stuff, let me
point out, of philosophy
whether ’tis nobler in the mind to
suffer, infinitive, the slings and
arrows of outrageous fortune, or
to take, infinitive again, arms
against a sea of troubles, and by
opposing end, bare infinitive,
which is to say, without the
preposition to, them
as in
to die, to sleep, infinitives, no more,
and by a sleep to say, infinitive, we
end the heartache and the thousand
natural shocks that flesh is heir to,
’tis a consummation devoutly to be
wished, passive infinitive
you’ll find that the rest of the
soliloquy abounds in infinitives,
the grammatical home, the
territory, of philosophy
with this speech, incidentally,
Shakespeare kicks off, in
literature, the Renaissance, much
as Beethoven with his Opus 111
firmly establishes, in music, the
Romantic Period
compare, meanwhile, thou shalt
not kill, an imperative, the mood,
the tenor, the register, is of
commandments, it differs from
the infinitive in that, though
seemingly universal at first, there
is an exception to its authoritative
span, and that exception is the
speaker, all others are called upon
to abide, this is not philosophy,
this is power
much as in music, see in that context
my earlier text, one can read an awful
lot between the lines
R ! chard
September 8, 2018
Piano Concerto no 1, opus 23 – Tchaikovsky
“The Birth of Venus” (1485)
___________
if there’s a piano concerto that dominates
the 19th Century, it’s Tchaikovsky’s First
Piano Concerto, not even Beethoven’s
Fifth, to my mind, matches its celebrity,
one thinks Romantic Period, one thinks
this iconic masterpiece
Tchaikovsky had the advantage of
absorbing not only Beethoven by this
point in history, but also Chopin, the
narrative power of the former, with
the mesmerizing textures of the latter,
what could go wrong but insufficient
genius
of which Tchaikovsky manifestly had
more than plenty, enough to verily
stop your breath
many towering performers have
challenged this concerto‘s peaks,
some even historically, you’ve
heard them, I won’t reiterate
but listen to what Yuja Wang does with
this challenge, and you tell me if she
doesn’t conquer its tribulations,
despite, or abetted by, her
controversial dress
she is a vixen, manifestly, at least in,
admittedly, her attire, but should a
vixen play as brilliantly, what does
one have to counter her provocative
presentation but her innate femininity,
her, too often castigated, female pulse,
something the world could do with a
lot more of
Venus, with all her allure, was goddess
for centuries before women were
obliterated from the dominant Christian
pantheon, the Father, the Son, the Holy,
I ask you, Ghost, with no equal female
foundational representative
Yuja Wang, a modern day Venus abetted
by her evident attendant muses, the
symbolic, here, orchestra, see above,
could play nude, as far as I’m concerned,
she’d still be transcendent, and I’m not
even heterosexual
girlfriend, I say, however proper, modest,
blushing, get a grip
not to mention that Tchaikovsky is also,
in this outing, once again, astounding
R ! chard
September 7, 2018
“Grand Piano Sonata” in G major, opus 37 – Tchaikovsky
“Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass with a Book“ (1888)
__________
if Tchaikovsky’s 2nd Piano Sonata hasn’t
remained in the canon, if it isn’t one of
the pieces you’ve heard if only through
the grapevine, it’s, I suspect, cause it’s
essentially not an advance on other more
prescient works in the form, other more
oracular compositions
Beethoven had paved the way for the
Romantic Period, nearly invented it,
established incontrovertibly the
dimensions of the sonata, notably its
purpose, its structure, Schubert had,
however belatedly, confirmed it, with
works equal to his, and even, here
and there, superior, listen
but having reached the summit of
what a sonata could say, the form
little by little withered in its several
Romantic permutations, Tchaikovsky
here, for example, and became mere
elaborations upon a waning theme
rather than exciting, and revelatory,
productions
the sonata would survive, but
transformed by another era,
Impressionism, Tchaikovsky would
as well, of course, but not through
his sonatas
his Second, however, is not not
worth a listen, would you pass,
for instance, on a less celebrated,
perhaps, van Gogh, see above
Tchaikovsky’s, therefore, Second
R ! chard
April 22, 2018
String Quintet in C major, D. 956 – Franz Schubert
a monument of Western culture, it’d be
Sant’Agnese fuori le Mura in Rome,
quartets, I couldn’t not next introduce
their very gold standard
written in 1828, it was composed at
the very height of the Romantic
Period, just a little ahead of Chopin,
1810 – 1849, his other significant
counterpart, apart from the ageing
Beethoven, 1770 – 1827, who still
towered above all, despite his
demise, and was universally
admired
but had Schubert lived longer than
his 31 years, I suspect he might’ve
been Beethoven’s equal, Schubert
died even earlier than Mozart did,
at 35, but of something that wasn’t
spoken of until much later, which
is why we haven’t heard about the
loss of this other musical giant
quite as grievously as we have
about his somewhat more senior
counterpart
but listen
it’s even hard to tell him apart from
Beethoven, the passion, the urgency,
the drama, even composing against
the beat, a signature trait in
Beethoven, like Alfred Hitchcock
showing up in his own movies, or
Woody Allen, always introducing a
work of art
a few things
though the frame is immaculately
Classical, tonality, tempo, and
recapitulation are not at all
unobserved, the mood has changed
from courteous, deferential, and
respectful, to urgent, confessional,
and private, the walls are there, but
the furniture has changed, thanks
and to the times
note that Elizabeth Barrett Browning
then, unfettered love poems to her
famous poet, who was remaining
nevertheless, in his own work, more
emotionally punctilious
I noted as well that the tempo in the
second movement, one of the most
beautiful adagios ever, surely,
lurches into an intemperate rebellion,
a second rhythm, up against the earlier
mournful resignation of the poignant
lament – note, in passing, that its
stress of the dominant note is on the
last beat not the first, like a weight
that becomes, at every inching
forward, intolerable, a very path to a
personal Calvary – before returning
to that very fateful, though luminous,
initial, stricken dirge
the next movement, the scherzo, does
the reverse, fast, then slow, then fast
again, to give the work in its entirety
eight rather than the four traditional
tempi
the piece now has episodes, rather
than merely a clockwork display,
drama has replaced the dance
entirely as the subtext for music
Schubert died two weeks after its
publication, for your info, I think
his soul had been talking
R ! chard
psst: there’s a magical film I associate
production, about several elderly
ladies who get stuck in the
wilderness after their tour bus
breaks down in the middle of
nowhere
you’ll never forget it
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