Beethoven as an American ComposerBeethoven's Bonn: Part 2

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 31, 2020)

Yesterday, we mentioned that Emperor Joseph II’s brother, Elector Max Franz, set out to create an "Apollo-style crash program" to create an enlightened classical culture, which would develop great artists and composers. How did he go about it?

There was the “Lesegesellschaft”, or reading society. Additionally, the Elector created the following:

1. A youth orchestra. At least four composers emerged from that orchestra: Andreas Romberg, his brother Bernard, Anton Reicha and Beethoven. Three good composers and one great one. That is how you end up with a great composer. Educate everyone at the highest level! You don't know who will excel.

2. The National Theater. Bonn had a court theater. Max Franz turned it into a public one. The theater director Gustav Grossman presented both Shakespeare in German, and the world premier of Schiller's play, "Fiesco." The young Beethoven had the complete works of Shakespeare in translation, works that he loved. Grossman also collaborated with Beethoven's piano teacher Neefe (who also worked with Mozart), to create a German language opera.

3. Neefe made sure that the young Beethoven studied all of the Preludes and Fugues in “The Well-Tempered Clavier” of Johann Sebastian Bach. Neefe was also the head of the aforementioned “Lesegesellschaft”, or reading society, which among other things studied writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Here is a Bach-like fugue composed by Beethoven at the age of 14 (fugue in D Major for organ, WoO31), as a requirement to obtain the position of assistant organist at the church where Neefe was the principal organist. Standards were high back then.

4. Visiting Italian opera

The Germans wished to develop their own opera, and knew that the best way was to study what the Italians had done. Beethoven often provided the continuo at the keyboard.This allowed him to study both the composition and the voice.

One opera presented was La Molinara by Paisiello. Beethoven admired the duet, "Nel cor piu mi sento."

Beethoven did what was was then, standard for young musicians, composed a Theme and Variations. As you might expect, his variations are very vocal, though many pianists play them too quickly.

That brings us to an important point. Beethoven is often accused of not knowing how to write for the voice. We will look into that next!

Beethoven as an American Composer:His Remarkable Boyhood in Bonn Part I

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 30, 2020)

How can we call Beethoven an American composer? He never set foot in the United States, and there is very little written by him about America, except a letter saying that he could certainly understand the Americans' demands for independence.

The first thing to comprehend is that the American Revolution was not a local phenomenon, made by one rich group of Europeans against another rich group of Europeans. The late 18th century was one of the most optimistic times; and movements were afoot all over the world for freedom, equality, education, and an end to feudal forms of government and serfdom. They saw the American Revolution as the great hope of the world. Beethoven was five years old when the Declaration of Independence was signed.

The roles played by Russia, Holland, and France in the support of the American Revolution are well known. But did you know that the first act of physical support came from Morocco in 1777? Sultan Mohammed III offered safe harbor to American ships, despite the menacing power of the British navy.

Another source of support was Haidar Ali, Muslim leader of the Kingdom of Mysore. The Mysore Rebellion tied up British troops and ships meant to be deployed to fight the American colonists. During the Revolutionary war, the Continental Congress commissioned a ship called the Haidar Ali.

Unlike the twentieth century, when artists often portrayed reality and showed people how bad everything is, artists of Beethoven’s time were considered to be leaders. The great Percy Bysshe Shelley called poets "The Unacknowledged Legislators of the World". In his poem "The Artists", Friedrich Schiller challenged his fellow artists to live up to the occasion.

“Man's honor is confided to your hand,--
There let it well protected be!
It sinks with you! With you it will expand!”

The young Beethoven saw himself in that way, as an artist who was a committed leader in the fight for freedom. This sonata, WoO 47, # 2, was written by him between the ages of 11 and 12. You can hear in it the same boldness and fiery spirit present in his later works.

https://youtu.be/whcOslx068U

Max Franz' Bonn

The characterization of Beethoven as "A Titan Struggling Against the Gods", might seem respectful, but it mystifies the man. Where did he come from? Will there ever be another? One commentator said: “He was a phenomenon, a force of nature. We are lucky to have had him, but we cannot comprehend or replicate him."

Actually, the opposite is true. The ideas of liberty and freedom at the time affected even some members of the ruling oligarchy. Emperor Joseph II said he believed that all men were created equal, and brought about changes in education, the law, and religious toleration to that effect. He supported the composer Mozart. Joseph has a brother Max Franz, the Elector of Cologne, who decided to turn the city of Bonn into what we might today call an Apollo-style crash program—to create a center of classical culture, and enlightenment, including music. Beethoven was not a mystery. He came out of a project to nurture and educate genii like himself.

Part of this effort was the “Lesegesellschaft”, or "Reading Society". A plaque in the Beethoven House in Bonn Germany describes it:

“Reading societies were to be found everywhere in Europe between 1770 and 1830. As a rule they were started by a group of like-minded persons who were collectively concerned with the acquisition of new literary works. They were characterised by the fundamental ideas, values and aims their members held in common. The general aim was the perfection of both the individual and society; this was to be attained through such ideals as tolerance in religious matters and equality with respect to the different levels of society...The Bonn Lesegesellschaft was a bulwark of the Enlightenment.

“...About a third of the court musicians were members of the Lesegesellschaft. When Elector Max Franz 1791 travelled to Mergentheim, he had 25 court musicians to accompany him; of the 25, 10 were members of the Lesegesellschaft. Beethoven was also there (he was a scullion, on the kitchen staff, and was proud of it). ...The music critic Carl Ludwig Junker published an extensive report about the stay in Mergentheim. The report includes the following: “With the Cologne electorate one was perhaps used to think of a land of darkness where the Enlightenment had not yet dawned. The court of the [present] elector changed this point of view entirely. Especially among the Kapellisten [the musicians] I found thoroughly enlightened men”

“The Lesegesellschaft had 35 founding members. Paragraph 1 of the statutes (Gesetze) declares that there should be no differences in rank in the society. The humanisation of each individual member and as a result of the whole society is defined as an aim. Public education in all sectors – moral, religious, aesthetic, scientific, economic and political – should be the way forward. Concrete aims included the avoidance of prejudice, stupidity and selfishness, the combatting of hypocrisy, disbelief and fanaticism, then the promotion of the capacity to make artistic judgements, the increase of delight in the sciences, the spreading of new ideas and knowledge useful for the good of all, revealing the origins of nature, the development of citizens' rights...”

More to come in Part II

Levels of Consciousness in Fidelio

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 29, 2020)

On June 26, we wrote a post about Beethoven’s only opera, “Fidelio”, and it’s reflection of a real life hero, the American Revolutionary and Political Prisoner, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.

Today’s post continues that topic and discusses the level of consciousness in “Fidelio”. The arias that Beethoven composes for the main characters in Fidelio reveal their different levels of consciousness, not through mysticism, but in their sense of who they are in the world—a different type of spiritual identity.

1. Leonore and Florestan are leaders, with what we might term a world-historical identity. They did what is right for humanity because it needs to be done. For Example, Florestan sings that even though he is imprisoned unjustly, it is sweet comfort to him that he had done his duty, by telling a truth that needed to be said..

No-one told him that was his duty. His sense of responsibility towards mankind led him there. No-one told Leonore that she had to risk her life, and enter the prison to save her husband. They are both courageous souls willing to stake their lives for love—both of each other and humanity.

We published their respective arias on June 26th and April 16th. These arias have something in common. They are each in three sections: an agitated recitative, a slow beautiful aria, and a resolved allegro.

Confronting such evil and danger is terrifying, and each of them, in their recitative, has to organize their mind, to rise above fear.

In her aria, Leonore sings calmy of hope, of arriving at love. Florestan takes comfort in having done his duty.

In the allegro, Leonore becomes totally resolved to act. She is amazing! She sings "Ich wanke nicht. -"I will not waver". (Think of
Adrienne Lafayette's “In this my decision is firm, and nothing in the world can bring me from it”). Leonore ends by taking the word
Gattenliebe (married love) into the stratosphere. Florestan regains his strength and is uplifted by the image of an angel, in the form of his wife Leonore, coming to deliver him to freedom's heavenly realm. In both of these arias, we see an amazing transformation in an individual's mindset.

2. Rocco and his daughter Marzelline have a very different type of aria. They are not bad people. They are basically good, but they are
"little people" who just want to get ahead and stay out of trouble.Their arias do not develop and change like those of Florestan and Leonore. Thus, the arias are stophic, repeating the same music for each verse.

In this video, Rocco's aria begins at 1:05. In the scene we have Rocco, his daughter Marzelline on the right, and Lenore/Fidelio in the middle. Rocco believes they will get married, and is giving them what he thinks is good advice. Notice how excited he gets as he contemplates getting his hands on some gold.

ROCCO
Hat man nicht auch Gold beineben,
Kann man nicht ganz glücklich sein;
Traurig schleppt sich fort das Leben,
Mancher Kummer stellt sich ein.
Doch wenns in der Tasche fein klingelt und rollt,
Da hält man das Schicksal gefangen,
Und Macht und Liebe verschafft dir das Gold
Und stillet das kühnste Verlangen.
Das Glück dient wie ein Knecht für Sold,
Es ist ein schönes Ding, das Gold.

Wenn sich nichts mit nichts verbindet,
Ist und bleibt die Summe klein;
Wer bei Tisch nur Liebe findet,
Wird nach Tische hungrig sein.
Drum lächle der Zufall euch gnädig und hold
Und segne und lenk euer Streben;
Das Liebchen im Arme, im Beutel das Gold,
So mögt ihr viel Jahre durchleben.
Das Glück dient wie ein Knecht für Sold,
Es ist ein mächtig Ding, das Gold.

English Translation:

ROCCO
Unless there is gold to live on,
You will never be entirely happy ;
Sadly life will carry on,
Many a sorrow will set in.
But if in your pockets it tinkles and rolls,
The you will have fate at your mercy,
And gold will provide you with power and love,
And calm your boldest desires.
You can pay for luck to be on your side,
It is a wonderful thing, this gold.

If nothing and nothing is put together,
The total is, and will be small;
If you find only love at table,
You'll be hungry afterwards.
So may fortune prove to you gracious and kind
And bless and guide your striving;
Your beloved at your side, and gold in your purse,
For many a year you may live thus.
You can pay for luck to be on your side,
It is a mighty thing, this gold.

Marzelline's aria is also strophic. Her highest concern in finding a cabin in the countryside with Fidelio. You can see a difference between the two sets of characters in how they approach ideas. For Florestan, doing his duty means doing what is right, even if he is alone, and even if he makes powerful enemies. The prison warden, Pizarro, tells Rocco to muder Florestan, and says it is his duty. Rocco, who is not a murderer, protests. Pizarro then says, OK, I will kill him, you bury him. Rocco thinks about it, and reasons that it does fall within his prescribed duties. He thinks about how to
survive, not change the world.

3. Pizzaro has a third type of aria. This man is evil, and hate-filled. ( His name may be based on Prime Minister William Pitt of England, who had ordered the massacre of a workman’s rally. The Lafayettes both complained about his role in their letters.) For him, joy is the opportunity to kill Florestan, and get his revenge. His aria never gets above rage, is always ugly, and is very forgettable (see if you can remember, or sing any of it later.)

The video below includes the English translation. Hans Sotin captures the villain well!

Beethoven Rarity—12 Contredanses for Orchestra

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 28, 2020)

The 12 Contredanses (WoO 14), were composed relatively early in Beethoven’s musical career, between 1792-1802, after he came to Vienna to study with Haydn. These fun public dances were a large part of Viennese cultural life. Both Haydn and Mozart excelled at composing music for these public dance music (also called Redoutensaal). While these musical masters composed them relatively late in their careers, Beethoven, under the tutorage of Haydn, composed his at the beginning of his composing life.

If Contredanse #7 sounds familiar to you, it’s because it appears in the Finale of the "Eroica" Symphony, as well as in “The Creatures of Prometheus”.

Beethoven Successor III: Franz Schubert

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 27, 2020)

Franz Schubert (January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828), loved and admired Beethoven for all of his life. He was born in Vienna, where Beethoven lived, but was 27 years younger than the master. That, and the awesome power of Beethoven's works, may have intimidated the younger man. It would seem that they never met.

The only concert Schubert ever organized of his own music was on March 26th, 1828, just seven months before his own death. Some accounts of the concert say that he staged it because he needed more publicity to get his works published. That may be true, but they are missing one thing: March 26th 1828 was the first anniversary of Beethoven's death.

Schubert did not know that he would only live for another half year. He felt it necessary to pick up the mantle of Beethoven, as terrifying a prospect as that might be. The concert publicly announced that commitment.

We have already mentioned the way in which Schubert's setting, after Beethoven's death, of the poet Heine's poem "Der Atlas", invokes the main intervals of the first movement theme from Beethoven's piano sonata, Op 111. If Beethoven were an Atlas—holding up the world, then Schubert, after Beethoven's demise, would accept the same burden.

The poet Rellstab gave several of his poems to Beethoven in the hopes that he would set them to music. When Beethoven became too ill to consider it, his secretary Schindler gave the poems to Schubert, who set several of them to music.

Schubert's concert was the world premier of his setting of one of the Rellstab poems, “Auf dem Strom, D943”, for voice, piano, and horn. In it, Schubert employs a direct quote from the funeral (2nd) movement of Beethoven's "Eroica (Heroic) Symphony". Beethoven scratched out his original dedication to Napoleon, and rededicated it to "the memory of a great man." For Schubert, Beethoven clearly was that great man.

This short audio compares the passages:

https://drive.google.com/…/1VSIikrv18kq16b6c76OW2WZPWo…/view

Here is the full "Auf dem Strom”:

TRANSLATION:
Take the last goodbye kisses,
And the blowing, the greetings,
Which I still send to the bank
Before your foot turns sharply!
The current is already rippling
The sailors quickly moved away,
But the [dark eyes] 1 look
Always draws longing back!

And so the wave carries me
Away with unrequested speed.
Oh, the hallway is gone
Where I found you blessed!
Forever, you happy days!
The lawsuit is empty of hope
To the beautiful homeland,
Where I found her love
See how the beach flees past
And how it pushes me over
Pulls with undeniable gangs,
To land there at the hut
To stay there in the arbor;
But waves of the river hurry
Further, without rest and rest,
Lead me to the ocean!

Oh, in that dark desert
Far from any bright coast
Where no island to look
Oh, how trembling horror seizes me!
To bring tears of melancholy gently,
Can't say a song from the shore;
Only the storm blows cold
Through the gray raised sea!

Can long the eyes longing
No longer take banks,
Now as [view '] I to the stars
[There] in those sacred distances!
Oh with her mild sheen
I first called her mine;
Maybe there, comforting happiness!
There I meet her gaze.

Schubert's concert also included the premier of one of his finest chamber works, the “Trio No. 2 in E-flat major for piano, violin, and violoncello, D. 929”. We include a video of it.

Bach and Beethoven’s Sucessor II: The Mighty Brahms

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 23, 2020)

We could not approach the question of Bach through Beethoven without addressing Johannes Brahms (May 7, 1833 – April 3, 1897). This man took it upon himself, as his personal responsibility, to defend and promote the entire history of music. He composed his Fourth Symphony at a time when music was becoming increasingly irrational and arbitrary.

There may be Bruckner fans amongst our readers, but Brahms characterized Bruckner's orchestral works as "Symphonic Boa Constrictors" (and we do not think it was out of jealousy). Brahms felt he had to establish a new level of bare-bones rigor!

This post does not encounter the complexities discussed in the C Minor Series. Brahms kept it simple, yet profound. The “Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98”, premiered on October 25, 1885 in Meiningen, Germany, is what we might call an experiment in the minimum-maximum principle. In geometry, the circle has that quality, because it contains the maximum area, with the minimum circumference. That circumference maintains a constant curvature, and is known as isoperimetric (always the same perimeter). That's why we make wheels round, and not square. In three dimensions, the sphere contains the most volume, with the least surface area. If you have ever seen a shot tower, they used to pour molten metal from a high tower. By the time it reached the cooling water below, it had taken on a spherical form. Our universe believes in this maximum-minimum principle, and practices it all the time.

In music, arbitrary freedom, to do whatever you please, can lead to chaos. Brahms sets out to realize the maximum freedom and creativity, by accepting the greatest restrictions, in a minimum of thematic material. In life, we often don't have a lot of options, and we have to develop freedom out of necessity. We work with what we have.

The first movement of his Fourth Symphony is based on a simple inversion of two notes—A major third down, B-G, followed by a minor sixth up, E-C. It is followed by another third down—A-F#, and sixth up D#- B. That's it.! That's the theme! How mundane can it be! Or is it?

It's geometric construction is unique and Brahms takes it from the most advanced source, the late Beethoven from the development of the slow movement of Beethoven's Hammerklavier sonata. (See posting of May 21st for the entire movement).

The included short audio compares them: https://drive.google.com/…/16GaUA7B9Xpb1gdJKZs5Gv40v7…/view…

Brahms fourth movement is based entirely on Bach. He revives the ancient form of the “Passacaglia”—a real tour-de-force in maximum-minimum, and freedom necessity. The “Passacaglia” consists of the same short bass line, repeated again and again. The composer must build variations over it. He has a limited sphere in which to operate. It can be an easy out in the hands of a poor composer. To do it well, is the mark of genius.

In an early Cantata No. 150–“Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150”, Bach ends with a “Cicconia” (similar to a Passacaglia). The repeated bass line is A AB BC C DEE' A. Brahms played the Bach for his friend Joseph Joachim one day, and asked him what he thought of it as the basis for the Finale of a symphony. Joachim did not answer. He knew Brahms had already decided to do it.

Brahms changes the key, and adds the Lydian or tritone interval—E F# G A A# B B' E. Those 8 notes repeat at least 30 times, including in E major. (The same audio compares the original Bach with Brahms. Please listen to the audio to follow the discussion.)

Bach and Beethoven were bookends for Brahms. They were his guardian angels. He had a portrait of Beethoven over his piano, looking over his shoulder as he played; and a portrait of Bach over his bed, looking out for him as he slept.

If you wish to have some fun with friends who did not know the work, play the first 3 minutes or so, and ask them if the piece seems to be wandering. They will often answer yes. Once they can access the “Passacaglia” bass line, they will hear it with different ears.

We provide videos of the first and last movements of Brahms' Fourth Symphony.

https://youtu.be/1xZcBqzdhQ8

https://youtu.be/o-PN8yHIAKE

Bach and Beethoven’s Successor I: Robert Schumann

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 22, 2020)

Robert Schumann’s (June 8, 1810-July 29, 1856) Third Symphony captures his love of these two musical giants. When, in his last days of dementia, he was confined to an asylum in Beethoven's native Bonn, he went to visit the statue of Beethoven, Every Single Day!

Schumann and his wife Clara, made a life-long study of Bach. In studying Bach's Concerto for four keyboards, Schumann remarked: "It reminds us what clods we all are." That's respect!

The first movement of the Third Symphony No. 3 in E♭ major, Op. 97, known as “Rhenish” (composed November- December 9, 1850), reminds us of the first movement of Beehoven's Eroica. It's in the same key.

Here is the first movement of the Beethoven:

At the time that Schumann was composing the Third Symphony, the political optimism of Beethoven has become all but impossible to replicate. Nevertheless, Schumann composed a beautiful, powerful, and hopeful symphony. Here is the first movement, in the same key as Beethoven.

Schumann's 4th movement quotes Bach. It could refer to several pieces. We submit one.

Listen to the great double fugue from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, played by Edwin Fischer.

Then hear where Schumann takes the idea!

Bach, Beethoven, and Beyond: Chopin

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 21, 2020)

Fredric Chopin may be the most misunderstood of the great composers. There are several reasons, and we will need to refer to some very old recordings to help uncover them.

1. The modern concert grand piano is not the instrument for which Chopin composed. The Viennese-born keyboard maker Pleyel built instruments especially for Chopin, which the composer called "well-nuanced". Here is a rare 1949 recording of the Nocturne Op. 27, No. 2 in Db Major, performed by Polish pianist Raoul Koczalski on Chopin's personal (restored) Pleyel.

https://soundcloud.com/us…/bach-beethoven-and-beyond-chopin2

Please notice that the instrument plays very softly, and distinguishes the different voice types. Soprano, tenor, and bass, are very clear, even in arpeggios.

The action is lighter and allows one to float above the keys. Moriz Rosenthal, a student of Chopin's student Mikuli, complained that the Steinway concert grand was too heavily weighted and did not allow for such fleeting passages.

2. Chopin was such a master of bel-canto singing that he took his students to the opera, and afterwards, imitated different singers at the keyboard, in a way that all could recognize. Many people have heard his Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2. Have you ever heard it sung like an operatic aria, in the way that pianist/composer Sergei Rachmaninoff does here?

https://youtu.be/xp3B19jF4eI

In more recent times, pianist Krstian Zimerman did the same. In 1989, as a youth, he won accolades for best performance of the Chopin concerti. He could easily have been satisfied, but he disliked the mechanistic method of reproducing masterworks and chose to spend ten years building a Polish Festival Orchestra, dedicated to getting these works right. The piano sings, and the orchestra sings.

https://youtu.be/FIackkOX23.

3. Chopin's love of Bach. Bach was Chopin's favorite composer. He studied Bach intensively and composed Preludes in all 24 keys.

His Piano Sonata No. 2 in Bb Major starts out by referencing what we have termed the C Minor Series (read the C Minor Series from June 29-July 16). It opens, like Beethoven's Op. 111, with a diminished 7th interval stated alone in the bass, except that instead of Eb to F#, it is Db to E.

The third movement is the famous Funeral March. The entire sonata appears to be modelled on Chopin's favorite Beethoven Piani Sonata No. 12, including the funeral march. We include just the funeral march from Beethoven's sonata.

https://youtu.be/NRTkAyKDDWc

Chopin's sonata uses Bachian devices such as inversion throughout. The recording is my Martha Argerich. the timings of the three movements are labelled. The development of the first movement begins at 4:00. Chopin has all the themes he has developed so far present.

https://youtu.be/DZMV1qvbBGU

Though it is from 1930, we include the complete performance by Rachmaninoff for those interested. It is well worth a listen. The second movement begins at 5:54. The third at 11:12, and the 4th at 17:23.

https://youtu.be/TrQG-Z5gdfg

Bach, Beethoven and Beyond: Felix Mendelssohn

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 20, 2020)

After Beethoven's death, there are composers who wished to advance the classical tradition and remained true to the compositional method of Bach through Beethoven. That was certainly true for Felix Mendelssohn. We already heard his String Quartet Op. 13, written as a loving tribute to Beethoven after hearing of his death (see May 31st post)—a tribute which quotes three of Beethoven's late string quartets. His dedication to Bach was also lifelong.

In 1828 Mendelssohn organized what was thought to be the first performance of Bach's St. Matthew's Passion in 100 years. Once again, music and science were wed. The great scientist Lejeune Dirichlet was married to Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn's youngest sister Rebecka. All things worked for the Good on the Mendelssohn estate. To quote historian David Shavin:

“When Lejeune Dirichlet, at 23 years of age, worked with Alexander von Humboldt in making microscopic measurements of the motions of a suspended bar-magnet in a specially-built hut in Abraham Mendelssohn’s garden, he could hear, nearby in the garden-house, the Mendelssohn youth movement working through the voicing of J. S. Bach’s “St. Matthew’s Passion.”

Imagine the excitement in the mutual interchange between scientific and artistic thought!

Baron von Swieten had reintroduced Bach to Mozart in 1782. Mendelssohn would now, thirty-six years later, re-introduce Bach to the public. It was a huge success. Bach has been programmed in concerts regularly ever since.

Mendelssohn's crowning personal achievement was his oratorio “Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25”, depicting events in the life of the Prophet Elijah as told in the books 1 Kings and 2 Kings of the Old Testament. It was composed to be sung in English and had its world premier in Birmingham England in 1846. Felix was the grandson of Moses Mendelssohn, the Jewish philosopher who is sometimes credited with founding the Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment (see May 19th post, the Late Beethoven and the New Synagogue). Even his choice of a last name was a revolution. At the time, Jews were not allowed to have a last name. He was supposed to go by the handle: Moses Dessau, i.e. Moses from the town of Dessau. He said "No! I am not Moses, from Dessau, I am Moses, the son of Mendel", thus Mendelssohn.

Though Felix was brought up without religion, then baptized as a Christian at age 7, he remained proud of his Jewish heritage. When his sponsors in England, including his librettist, wanted to "Christianize" the Oratorio by bringing Saints Paul and Peter on stage near the end, Mendelssohn said, "No, this is about my people."

He found that Europe was in a state of moral decay, and wrote:

“I imagined Elijah as a grand and mighty prophet, of the kind we could really do with today – strong, zealous, and yes, even bad-tempered, angry, and brooding – in contrast to the riff-raff, whether of the court or of the people, and indeed in contrast to almost the whole world – and yet borne aloft as if on the wings of angels.”

If that sounds a bit like a description of Beethoven, we should not be too surprised.

Eljah tells the story of a people being punished (in this case by drought), because of their own moral failings (does it sound familiar?). It opens in D Minor with the brass sounding a four-note theme from Schubert's “Death and the Maiden”. The prophet Elijah follows by intoning, with multiple dissonant tritone intervals:

“As the LORD, God of Israel, liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”

Then follows a great fugal overture in D Minor. The theme reminds us of two things:

1. The characteristic intervals of the Cminor series, in this case A- Bb and C#-D.

2. The first movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, in the same key, with similar rhythmic motives. (Example 2.)

Listen to the 2 minute long comparison at the end to hear it. First, a passage from Beethoven's 9th. Second, a passage from the overture to Elijah.

Excerpts from Beethoven's Ninth and Mendelssohn Overture: https://soundcloud.com/user-216951281/bach-beethoven-and-beyond-mend

The overture does not end, but rises into an impassioned choral outbreak of "Help Lord. Help Lord! Wilt Thou quite destroy us?" We include a video of the opening, done by the university of Oklahoma.

https://youtu.be/m6T63kJ9cdY

BACH AND HANDEL

Mendelssohn remained true to these two giants. Compare Handel's " Thou shalt Break Them", with Mendelssohn's "Is not his Word Like a Fire?"

"Thou Shalt Break Them"-Handel

https://youtu.be/ONKHjQE02HY

"Is not his Word Like a Fire?"-Mendelssohn.

https://youtu.be/PZAncL9LOnI

Mendelssohn also quotes Bach's "Es ist Vollbracht" from the St. John's Passion. The words are the last spoken by Christ: "It is finished!", while Ia beautiful duet takes place between viola (in this case cello) and alto voice.

https://youtu.be/EuzYE3E0Nfk

Felix' own take on "es ist Vollbracht" is Elijah's own lament, "It is enough". Elijah has given everything for the people of Israel, yet they still demand his head! For Elijah, life has no meaning without a mission!

https://youtu.be/tEkClendR3s

Fortunately an angel draws Elijah back from suicide, and says: "There are 500 people left who have never bent a knee to Baal. Lead them!" The Oratorio ends happily, and powerfully, on the idea "And then shall your light break forth."

https://youtu.be/Y7XARj0FD9E

Beethvoen Rarity—the Cantata for the Death of Emperor Joseph II

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 17, 2020)

This little known gem, “Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II, WoO 87”, was composed by Beethoven in 1790, at the age of 19! That is a full five years before the performance of his Op. 1 Piano Trios.

The Cantata was intended for the memorial service of Emperor Joseph II, who was a great patron of the arts, especially as a patron of Mozart. This memorial in which Beethoven’s cantata was to be performed, was in Bonn. However, it was considered too difficult at the time, and was not performed until November 1884, a full fifty-seven years after Beethoven's death!

We hear so much of his later choral works in this piece. It gives lie to the idea that he did not know the voice.

Music as Science, The C Minor Series No. 11: In a Higher Domain—Beethoven's Late Quartets

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 16, 2020)

In today’s post, we do not seek to analyze the late quartets (although we have discussed a few in the Daily Dose, especially the Grosse Fuge.) Here, we simply wish to identify how the essentials of the C Minor investigation inform so many of these late quartets.

The question investigated—such as the C Minor Series—does not remain neutral, static, and unchanged outside of the process. The discoveries made by investigating the question, change the question itself.

Imagine posing 10,000 years ago the question: "What is justice?" The answer might have been brutal. Subsequent discoveries have changed the answer into something more civilized. Great knowledge has been developed through investigation of the C Minor Series. Different keys are involved. Different intervals are explored. Beethoven is now ready to examine the matter in new ways. For example, our half-tone motions have often surrounded the interval of a fifth such as C to G, in the case of G-Ab, C-B. Now Beethoven examines the interval of a minor sixth.

There are at least three of Beethoven’s late quartets that explore these matters. If Op. 111 took it to a higher level, the late quartets go even higher. We sense that all five of them (six counting the Grosse Fuge as a separate work), are united by the study of a single problem, or complex of problems. For now, we limit ourselves to identifying where Beethoven is pursuing the C Minor Series.

Today, we try a new approach to our use of examples. At various points throughout the 2 pages of scores (see the two pages below), we marked No. 1, 2, 3 etc, to denote the portion of the score under discussion. Since reading string quartet scores can be difficult, we offer a piano reduction. Please let us know if it works for you.

No. 1 and 2: simply show the mirror-image half-steps of C Minor transposed to A Minor.

No. 3: is the opening of string quartet No. 15, Op. 132. It's fugue-like, and upwards half-tones are played against downwards ones, in a manner reminiscent of Mozart's “Jupiter Symphony”.

No. 4: shows how, beginning at measure 75 of that movement, the half-tones, instead of surrounding a fifth A to E (G#-A F-E) now define a sixth F# to D (F-F# Eb-D.)

No. 5: shows that process in the main subject of the Grosse Fuge.

No. 6: shows 5-6 and 8-1 in C# Minor, and

No. 7 shows the opening of the String quartet No. 14, in C# minor, Op. 131. It's a fugue and Beethoven places great emphasis on the fourth note of the fugue subject, in this case the note A (tone 6 of the c# minor scale). Throughout the first movement, the dissonances will grow on the fourth tone of the subject.

Music as Science, The C Minor Series No. 11: Beethoven and Schubert—The Wanderer Fantasy

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 15, 2020)

Franz Schubert was born in Vienna on January 31, 1797. Beethoven was 27-years old and living in the same city. Haydn was 65 and still living there. Mozart had died young there, just 7 years earlier on December 5, 1791. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven: these giants could be daunting shadows to grow up under. However, Schubert accepted the challenge and became one of the world's greatest composers.

But for Schubert, there was another shadow—poverty. His boyhood home in Vienna is now a museum. It looks OK until you realize that 14 families lived in that building! (See photo of the house below). Although they were in the same city, Beethoven and Schubert either never met, or only met briefly. Nonetheless, Schubert idolized Beethoven and learned from his music.

Waldstein/ Wanderer

The C Minor Series expands into other minor keys and their relationship to the tonic major. This included a C major/C minor relationship. Schubert's 1822 “Wanderer Fantasy” is such a unique and amazing work. It is in a dialogue with several compositions.

1. His own song from 6 years earlier, "The Wanderer." Schubert was probably the greatest song-writer who ever lived, composing over 500 "lieder." We include a performance of the song, with lyrics.

The second movement of the “Fantasy” quotes the song directly: 

The other three movements all have references to the song.

2. Beethoven's great Waldstein sonata. Compare the openings of the Waldstein (in C major), and the Wanderer (also in C major). (See photo below of the scores of the two compositions).

Here is a recording of the first movement of the Waldstein: 

3. The C Minor Series: The 4th movement represents one of Schubert's few ventures into fugal writing, and uses the characteristic interval of the dropping “diminished 7th” (major sixth). You will find it in the score provided with this recording of the entire thing by Paul Lewis.

Notice how all of the movements evolve into one another, in the style of a Fantasy.

The second movement begins at 5:43
The third movement begins at 12:12
The fourth movement begins at 16:59

Music as Science, the C Minor Series No. 10: The Mountain Top—Beethoven's Op. 111, Part 2

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 14, 2020)

Yesterday we examined the first measures of Beethoven's “Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111”, where he investigates musical space in the continuous domain.

We include the entire sonata by Mitsuko Uchida, with score, and give the appropriate times.

https://youtu.be/WGg9cE-ceso

A quick review:

1. In the first 5 measures, he examines the three possible double-lydians (or diminished 7th chords), and their relation to the dominant, tonic, and subdominant (5th, 1st, and 4th). He does this without a theme, or a key.

2. For the next 6 measures, he inverts Bach's chromatic descending scale into a rising one. There is still no theme, or key.

3. For the next 7 measures, he situates the opening dissonances on a pedal point of G, building tremendous tension, until he finally arrives at the note C in measure 18. (Example 1)

4. The next 4 measures constitute his moving from the continuous domain to the discrete, with a theme, in c minor. (Example 2, 1:50 in this recording.)

It's an odd theme to say the least. it's very agitated, very low, and in octaves only. Beethoven maintains Mozart's tradition of starting in octaves of C, and proceeding in octaves. We see the characteristic interval of Bach's “Musical Offering”—the “diminished 7th” in measure 20. It's the same two notes—Ab to B, except his time rising—B to Ab (as Mozart did in the third movement of his K475 Piano Sonata No. 14, and his Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K491.)

However, Measure 19 constitutes something different—three tones, C Eb B, with a “fermata” and “sforzando” on the B, which repeats in measure 20. What do those 3 notes do? They synopsize both Bach and Mozart. Play Bach's opening of the “Musical Offering”—C Eb G Ab B, then play only the first 2 notes followed by the last one. You have C Eb B! Play the opening of Mozart's “Fantasy”— C Eb F# G Ab C B, then play only the first 2 and the last one, you have again C Eb B!

The theme of Op. 111 should bring both the Bach and the Mozart to mind. Beethoven is quoting the entire process of the C Minor series, not just one work.

The movement is very agitated and proceeds relentlessly. Franz Schubert had a profound insight into it, and shortly after Beethoven's death, set a poem by Heinrich Heine, "Der Atlas", using the intervals of the main theme in a different key. Heine's poem goes as follows:

DER ATLAS

Ich unglücksel'ger Atlas! eine Welt, (I, the unfortunate Atlas, a World,)

Die ganze Welt der Schmerzen muß ich tragen,
(An entire world of pain I must bear,)

Ich trage Unerträgliches, und brechen (I bear what is unbearable)

Will mir das Herz im Leibe.
(And it will break my heart and body.)

Du stolzes Herz! du hast es ja gewollt, (You proud heart! You wanted it,)

Du wolltest glücklich seyn, unendlich glücklich
(You wanted to be happy, infinitely happy)

Oder unendlich elend, stolzes Herz, (Or infinitely miserable, proud heart,)

Und jetzo bist du elend. (And still you remain miserable.)

Here’s a video of Schubert's Der Atlas
https://youtu.be/aLH0mGjBjvA

Beethoven had had to hold up the world by himself, and now it is Schubert's turn!

The first movement of Op. 111 goes into a short fugue, which changes somewhat the intervals. Instead of C Eb B, it is G Ab D B (trill) C. (See example 3, 5:50 in this recording)

Amazingly, Beethoven goes for 4 measures with nothing but “diminished 7th” chords. (See Example 4, 6:10-6:18 in this recording.)

THE LAST MOVEMENT

The beautiful transcendent second movement seems to have nothing to do with the C Minor Series. But wait! A sudden loving tribute to Mozart's “Fantasy” emerges after the triple trill in this recording at 22:30 (see Example 5). Compare the bass line to both the main theme of the first movement of the Op. 111, and to the opening of the Mozart’s “Fantasy”. Then see how the bass line is in canon with the soprano. Ms. Uchida does not get it right. Nobody does.

But we can understand Beethoven’s concept. Because Beethoven’s power to allow us to hear the beauty of the entire process as a unified one has grown!

Music as Science, The C Minor Series No. 9: The Mountain-Top—Beethoven's Op. 111

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 13, 2020)

Recently, some readers have communicated difficulties in comprehending some aspects of the C Minor Series. Even professional musicians are likely to encounter that difficulty, because few are taught to think about music as constructive geometry, but rather as chord progressions. Therefore, we appreciate our readers working through these musical and scientific challenges.

Today, we arrive at the apex of this C Minor idea with Beethoven's “Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111,” and we hope that the power of the music itself will help clarify the idea.

The greatest works of art have a paradoxical quality to them. If you’ve only heard the music of JS Bach, but had never heard Mozart and Beethoven, you might think that it just couldn't get any better; there is a quality of beauty and perfection in his masterpieces. Indeed, there were associates of Bach who made the claim that it was not possible to advance beyond him. Yet when we encounter the next great work in the series, we realize that it does get better!

We have heard several pieces that examine what we termed the "Lydian" intervals in music. (Ft 1) The usual approach to composing a piece of music is to start out with a theme, in a specific key, and then broaden your investigation, working your way up, by developing new themes and keys. We have already seen how Mozart in his “Fantasy”, started out from a more universal musical space, and worked his way down, deriving passing keys from that higher dimension.

In Op. 111, Beethoven begins completely from that higher universal space, in what would be known in physics as the “continuous domain”. He begins in no key, and without a theme.

Today instead of an audio explanation of these matters, we post short sections of the score, alongside a complete performance of the first movement. We encourage our readers to listen to it one step at a time.

Here is the first movement with score, as performed by Mituko Uchida: https://youtu.be/WGg9cE-ceso

Example 1: presents the first 2 measures. It begins with the left hand playing an octave of Eb, followed by a drop to an F# octave. That is the “diminished seventh” interval we have encountered in several of the C Minor compositions. It is followed by F# A C Eb in the right hand, the first of our three “double-lydians”. It resolves tentatively, on G.

Then listen to Example 2: It repeats the same pattern but starts on the tones Ab-B, the “diminished seventh” from the opening of Bach's “Musical Offering”. The right hand follows with Ab D F Ab, the second of our “double-Lydians”, and comes to rest on an unstable C. Now we have covered two out of three of these configurations, and there should be only one left.

If Beethoven repeated the same pattern, he would play Db-E in the left hand, followed by Db E G Bb in the right, coming to rest on F. Then we would have a neat little package of the three double-lydians, as they resolve to C F and G. He almost does that but...The left hand does give us Db-E, and then it moves up to F, while the right hand is a surprise—Db F Bb Db. (See Example 3).

This a Bb minor chord! Why does he do that? We think likely to make the point that the double-lydians, because of their ambiguity, can resolve in many different ways to many keys. Any one of the four tones could be a "leading tone” that resolves upwards by a half-step. Beethoven has opened new pathways for composing!

Is Bach's “chromatic scale” present? Look at example 4 and you will see that Beethoven, like Mozart, has placed it in the bass line. You will also see it is an ascending chromatic scale, which is not so obvious at first. Up until 1:07 in this recording, there is no key established—a full keyless minute. After that, the note G (the dominant of C), grows until the piece actually resolves into a theme (Allegro Brio), and a key (C Minor) at 1:50.

Tomorrow, we will discuss this miraculous transformation.

Ft 1. The term "Lydian interval" comes from the medieval Lydian mode. That mode differs from an F major scale by one note. Whereas F major has a Bb for its fourth term, F G A Bb C D E F, the Lydian mode has B, F G A B C D E F.
Instead of a perfect 4th between notes 1 and 4 of the scale, we have an augmented fourth, a “tritone”. Beethoven explored the properties of the Lydian mode in the slow movement of his String Quartet Op. 132.

Here again is the first movement, performed by Mituko Uchida: https://youtu.be/WGg9cE-ceso

https://youtu.be/WGg9cE-ceso

(Example one)

Beethoven Rarity—Rondo in B flat for piano and orchestra

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 10, 2020)

The delightful and sunny “Rondo in B flat for piano and orchestra, WoO 6”, composed in 1793, was originally intended as the finale of Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto. The “andante” section of this rondo is most likely inspired by the rondo ending of Mozart's “Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat Major”.

The composition was eventually published in 1829 by Beethoven’s student, Carl Czerny.

Here is a wonderful rendition performed by Sviatoslav Richter in 1963.

https://youtu.be/FBkbKbbACKg

Music as Science, The C Minor Series No. 8: The Pathetique Sonata Compared

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 9, 2020)

Now we will compare all three movements of the “Pathetique” Sonata with Mozart's work. Today’s post will rely largely on the audio, with the text as reference.

https://soundcloud.com/user-385773…/beethoven-mozart-c-minor

1. Beethoven is in a dialogue with both Mozart's Piano Sonata in C Minor and his Fantasy in C Minor.

2. Beethoven's slow introduction, which reappears (though changed) in the middle and end of his first movement, synopsizes Mozart's “Fantasy” and integrates it with the sonata, so that it is not a separate piece.

3. This is the first time that we might consider that Beethoven surpasses Mozart, but that does not in any way detract from Mozart's work, which was also a scientific discovery of the first order.

4. Mozart's signature opening of 3 octaves of c is compared to Bach and Beethoven.
5. Beethoven took virtuoso piano playing to a whole new level with this work.

6. A key transition to what is sometimes known as the " development section" is compared in both first movements.

7. Recently, we discussed the existence of three and only three double-lydian or diminished 7th chords:

F# A C Eb , B D F Ab, DbE G Bb.

Beethoven opens by repeating the same idea 3 times, but higher in pitch each time. You might expect him to use all three. He does not. He uses 1, then 2, then 1 again. In the coda though, he uses all 3, making it the most powerful statement of the slow section.

8. In the slow movements, Beethoven does not quote Mozart's first theme in Eb, but his second in Ab—giving us a most beloved song.

9. We take the ending of both third movements up to a point of discontinuity, and the return to the main idea. Several key points of similarity are identified. The endings of both third movements are compared. Mozart's is a tour de force.

Some ideas are better transmitted via audio. So please enjoy the audio.

https://soundcloud.com/user-385773…/beethoven-mozart-c-minor

We also leave you with a scored version, performed by Annie Fischer

1st movement
https://youtu.be/kqvBJc9IovI

2nd movement
https://youtu.be/iCL5sHzlDOI

3rd movement
https://youtu.be/Ifj8dwuAzAQ

Music as Science: The C Minor Series No. 7: Beethoven's "Pathetique" Sonata Part 1

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 8, 2020)

We now come to a real gem. Beethoven loved and admired Mozart's music. The challenge of matching it, let alone going beyond it, was daunting. Beethoven’s first great success in meeting that challenge was through his Piano Sonata No. 8, Op. 13, often called the "Pathetique." We examined several aspects of that sonata by itself on April 7-8 posts. Please feel free to revisit them.

Now let us compare it to Mozart. Beethoven's entire sonata is in a loving, and scientific dialogue with the “Fantasy in C minor, K. 475” and “Piano Sonata in C Minor K.457” by Mozart.

The “Fantasy” is often played as a prelude to the “piano sonata”, as done in the recording by Alicia de Larrocha posted on July 1st. Beethoven synopsized the entire Fantasy into a much shorter prelude.

A clear reference to the “Fantasy” is contained in the opening measures. The “Fantasy” opens with just three octaves of C, heavily stated, with middle C being the highest, deriving from Bach’s 6-part Ricercar. Beethoven's opening is also weighty, and straddles those same three octaves, but with the interstices filled out.

Mozart proceeds on to something in the second measure that we did not analyze in the last few days—a puzzling question in the higher voices: F#CEb to GBD, followed by AbCF# to GBG.

Beethoven does the same thing in his first measure, resolving from F#ACEb to GBD, but an octave lower. Just compare F#CEb-GBD, to F#ACEb-GBD. A necessarily provided audiotape helps you to hear it.

Audio: https://soundcloud.com/user-216951281/beetmozcminor1…

Is Beethoven merely quoting Mozart, or is he taking up a scientific problem?

We must examine this Lydian-Tritone question as a geometrical construction If we are to further comprehend it. The true nature of the musical system, as we have seen, had been investigated over the centuries, through a series of “12 half-steps” (chromatic scale), and the “circle of fifths”: a series of major and minor keys moving through a series of up to 12 fifths. Those investigations pushed the limits.

Now, we have something different. If you divide an octave at any but one note, you will get two different intervals. For instance, divide a C octave at G. C ascending to G is a fifth, but G ascending to C is a fourth. Try inverting those intervals. Descend by a fifth, and a fourth. Now the octave is divided at a different tone F. That is an elementary irony, and the development of that process has beautiful implications, which we addressed in our discussion of the very opening of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on May 8th, as "Get out Your Ruler and Compass!"

The Tritone is the only interval that does not invert that way. It divides the octave exactly in half and inverts onto itself.(Ft 1). C ascending to F# is equivalent to F# ascending to C. That opens up different possibilities and ambiguities. Is F# dividing the C octave in half, or is C dividing the F# octave in half? The interval of a minor third divides the Tritone in half. C to Eb, is a minor third, as is Eb to F#(Gb). Keep ascending, and the note A functions that way. F# to a A is a minor third, as is A to C.

That gives you a very unstable configuration. You have two Lydian intervals C-F#, and Eb -A , and four minor thirds. What, if any, is the generating tone? This configuration can open up new pathways (Ironically, it can also be used as a cheap trick). It is also ironic, that when it is represented visually, it is very stable. Construct a circle with each of the twelve tones separated by 30 degrees, like a clock. Connect those points, C Eb F# A and C. You have inscribed a square. (See pic. 1)

Construct another such configuration by moving it up a half-tone. C Eb F# A, becomes Db E G Bb. Move up another half-step, to D F Ab B. Move up another half-step to Eb F# A C, and we have...Wait a minute! Isn't that the first one again? We have covered all twelve tones! There are only three of these things possible (Thank God!). Represent all three on a circle. (See diagram)

Sometimes a visual representation can do wonders. Notice that if we rearrange D F Ab B to B D F Ab, the outside terms, Ab to B, are our diminished 7th interval from the Musical Offering, .

Now we see three different pathways to investigate the actual nature of the musical system in which we live:

1. The investigation of half-steps, and their necessary generation of twelve tones.

C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C, ascending, and C B Bb A Ab G Gb F E Eb D Db C descending. These half steps are anything but self evident.

2. The progression of the “circle of fifths”, which also generates 12 tones. They are also not self-evident, and here, the question of tempering arises once again.

C G D A E B F# Db Ab Eb Bb F C.

3. The investigation of the musical system as determined by the Lydian or Trione interval, including the double Lydian or diminished 7th. This configuration also approaches the 12 tones, but perhaps from a higher standpoint, C Eb F# A, Db F A Bb, and E G Bb Db. Have fun experimenting at the piano with it! (please refer back to the audio.)

The actual higher standpoint though, is how these harmonic systems INTERACT with one another. The best musical compositions examine this. They don't work in isolation.

We shall proceed more quickly in the next few days. An important topic has been breached!

(Ft 1). Why do we call the Tritone the "Lydian' Interval? The medieval Lydian mode went from F to F, but the 4th tone, instead of Bb, as in an F major scale, was B. Instead of a perfect 4th, F to Bb, we have an augmented 4th, F to B. That creates an instability, and a tendency for a modulation to C major to be built into the scale. When Beethoven declared the 3rd movement of his “String Quartet Op. 132” to be in the Lydian Mode, musical formalists simply refused to believe him!

Music as Science, the C Minor Series No. 6: Mozart’s “Fantasy” Part 3

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 7, 2020)

CPE Bach tells us that although a “Fantasy” requires a thorough knowledge of harmony, a written-out work, such as a “Sonata”, requires a far more comprehensive knowledge of composition. Mozart seems to challenge that notion by finding an even higher degree of rigor in an improvisation than in a sonata.

Today, we examine key transitions in the rest of Mozart's K. 475 “Fantasy”. Again, we provide Mitsuko Uchida’s performance with score:

https://youtu.be/Ui9pyxdVX6Y

1. A quick review: Mozart changes Bach’s 5-note theme from the “Musical Offering”: C Eb G Ab B, by adding two tones—F# and another C, to a 7-note theme: C Eb F# G Ab C B. Both of these changes make an important difference. The last four tones, G-Ab C-B, give us mirror image half-tone motifs.

Mozart employs Bach's descending "chromatic" line brilliantly by changing only one note every measure, and placing it in the bass line, so that it determines the harmonic ordering, rather than function as a melody. That descending bass line does not stop at G (the dominant of C Minor), but in measures 15-17, comes to rest on Gb-F#.

This is a turning point in the work. The tritone, or "Lydian" interval, which divides the C octave exactly in half (at F#), has been introduced both in the first-measure theme starting from C. and the bass line starting from C. Mozart is investigating a different generating principle of the musical system.

2. For the next few measures, Mozart plays around with B Minor and Major, alternating D natural and D #. The tone F# always bears a crucial role. After a lot of questions, that tone F# is isolated as the fifth of B Minor. At measure 24, F# repeats, alone, then becomes the third of D major. That is a magical, but lawful moment! It emerges between 2:50 and 3:03, in this recording (right around the repeat sign, or measures 22-26 in the score.)

3. After a long melodic section, the half-tone motions reappear at about 5:33. We hear E to F in the bass again and again. We are now in A Minor, and E to F corresponds to the same interval as G to Ab in C Minor. A few measures later, at 5:43, a turn marked P, on the notes A Bb G# A, A Bb G# A, reminds us again of the opening.

At 6:02, we wander into F major. It is a very simple idea. But again derives from the theme. The right hand plays on C and D, then descends to F-E. In F major, C and D are tunes 5 and 6 in the scale, and F and E are 1 and 7. That in turn, proceeds 5-6 and 1-7. The last 4 tones of the theme, G Ab C B were 5-6,and 1-7 in C Minor. The left hand also reflects it a bit.

Starting at 6:18, for about one minute, A Major change is prepared by a bass line descending in half-steps! A long “Andantino” in Bb follows, and at 9:30 climaxes in a “Piu Allegro” section reminiscent of the Bach’s “Prelude in C Minor” from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I. This section fills CPE Bach's recommendation that at some point the improviser proceed through a part of the Circle of Fifths. Since the days of Pythagoras, investigating that circle had been a means of trying to determine the true nature of the musical universe. Proceed as the bass line does here, G to C to F to Bb, to Eb to Ab etc. If that were done 12 times you would end up back at G.

Mozart almost does that but his concern is to lead us back to the opening. At 10:00, he continues to move through this circle, and gradually introduces more of these "Lydian" or tritone intervals. At about 10:41, a few measures before the opening returns at "Tempo Primo", he contrasts two rising tones, with two descending ones. What are they? The descending tones are C-B, and Ab-G, over three octaves! After a long pause, we feel fully prepared to hear that powerful opening once again.

But is it an exact repetition? Of course not. It's Mozart. This time though, it really does behave like C Minor and it comes to a glorious end in that key.

This “Fantasy in C Minor, K475” became the "meat and potatoes" for future composers. They all studied it. His revolutionary use of the Lydian mode will be the basis for an intense, continuous dialogue, particularly with Beethoven, who also recognized the central nature of Bach's “Musical Offering”, thus composing particularly his Op. 13 "Pathetique" Piano Sonata in C Minor, as well as his last Piano Sonata Op. 111, in which Beethoven explicitly "quotes by paraphrase" Mozart's “Fantasy” just after the famous "double trill" section.

We shall go to Beethoven’s innovation in the next days. In the meanwhile, we leave you with a seldom-heard work: the then sixteen year-old Franz Schubert's Fantasy in C Minor. See if it rings a bell!

https://youtu.be/5JjMTf-7lgI

Music and Science, the C Minor Series No. 5: Mozart’s Fantasy—Part 2

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 6, 2020)

In the last C Minor Series post, we traced the first 25 measures of Mozart’s “Fantasy in C Minor”, and found ourselves even in that short time, in terra incognita (certainly for 1785), as we worked through the implications of Mozart’s treatment of Bach's discoveries.

Here again is Uchida’s performance of the Fantasy with score:

https://youtu.be/Ui9pyxdVX6Y?list=RDUi9pyxdVX6Y

“Fantasy” meant something different back then than it does now. “Fantasy”, or “Fantasia”, and “Fancy” all referred to free improvisation—a free flight of the imagination, but guided by rigour, rather than "doing whatever one felt like." In 1753, J.S. Bach's son, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (CPE Bach), wrote a book called "Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments''. Joseph Haydn swore by this book. In the last chapter called "Improvisation: The Free Fantasia," he tells the reader how one goes about improvising such a work:

“It is quite possible for a person to have studied composition with good success...without having any gift for improvisation. But, on the other hand, a good future in composition can be assuredly predicted for anyone who can improvise, provided that he writes profusely, and does not start too late.”

CPE Bach states that the “Fantasy” will proceed through more keys than usual, and that the player would do well to limit his bass lines to the scales of the keys he is passing though.

Here we provide an example: A “Fantasy” by CPE Bach, who was the most famous improviser of his day. Listen to as much or as little as "Suits your Fancy."

https://youtu.be/LOT_nUPvE98

Such "Flights of Fancy" usually do pass through several keys, and produce very different ideas, often unrelated. CPE Bach highly recommends what is sometimes known as the "double Lydian", or diminished 7th chord, as an aide to change keys. Mozart uses them in a very different way.

Compare Mozart's “Fantasy”, with CPE Bach's.

We already seen how Mozart challenged CPE's advice about bass lines, and took the bold move of employing J S Bach's descending half-tones as his bass-line, leading into a process of constant ambiguity of key. We can hear how Mozart is advancing over CPE Bach.

The comparison would be easy, had we left out CPE's father. Now, listen to J.S. Bach's “Chromatic “Fantasy in D Minor”, as performed by the great Bach scholar and artist, Rosalyn Turreck:

https://youtu.be/rZmfRM4WH8s

Progress among human genii is not so linear! Kepler was a unique genius and contributed a huge breakthrough that allowed JS Bach to make that next huge leap in innovation, and now, its Mozart’s turn. This progress is not linear. It would not be human, were it otherwise.

What is it about JS Bach's “Chromatic Fantasia (and Fugue)”? This work is probably composed between 1717-1723. We get the sense of anger, expressing dissatisfaction that the breakthroughs he had so long sought in the Well-tempered System had yet to occur. Could that be so? He never composed anything like it, before or after. It is a unique moment in a great mind. When in the 1800s, Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann were asked to submit a piece of scientific music to the University of Gottingen, this was their choice. We wonder if they were hoping the scientists would help them figure it out.

We will return in the next installment for the remainder portion of Mozart's great work.

Beethoven Rarities: Civilized BBQ Music

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 4, 2020)

Normally, we are not fans of Classical music as background music. But Beethoven did also had to make a living out of his music. In his time, a “Serenade”, like a “Divertimento”, was meant to be light entertainment, and was often performed outdoors. We can imagine some paying close attention while others chatted. We can also imagine the chef loving every minute while chopping vegetables.

We offer two versions, a civilized modern one, and a recording taken straight from vinyl, with all the noises. That may bring an element of nostalgia to some, and it features the great Marcel Moyse on flute, so we could not resist. If you are too young to remember vinyl, just pretend it's hamburgers sizzling. 😉

https://youtu.be/RcAUUH1-pD8

https://youtu.be/LNkrwWPC2JY

Happy Fouth of July!