Beethoven: Early, Middle and Late - Part 2

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 14,2020)

Beethoven: Early, Middle and Late - Part 2

Theme and Variations

In a theme and variations, the theme is stated plainly, in its entirety, and is usually repeated, so that the listener can have it clear in his or her mind the variations proceed, and thus be able to evaluate and appreciate the changes and innovations made by the composer. In a simple theme and variations, the theme is kept intact and complete, so that it can always be recognized amidst everything else being developed. Often, the bass line is also kept intact, so that harmonic foundation is also solid.

For a young composer, this provides what is sometimes known as “freedom/necessity”. A fledgling painter does not develop creativity by being given a blank canvas and told to paint whatever he feels like. No, he copies the great masters, in sketches at first. It is similar in music. The teacher challenges the student to develop his or her skills and technique. To use Forms that help you develop those skills, and your creativity. Without that level of rigor, what is the standard for creativity? It cannot be whatever you feel like doing!

Beethoven worked with the theme and variations form all of his life, and took it into undreamed-of dimensions.

Following a theme and variations is also a very good way for the listener to develop his or her ability to comprehend musical architecture, and the creative discoveries made within its formal limitations.

Today, we will provide the times of each variation. As we proceed, you should find yourselves both more and more capable of anticipating, and recognizing them, as well as being surprised by them.

1. Early: The second movement of Piano Sonata No. 10 in G major, Op. 14, No. 2, starts with a theme that has 2 parts which repeat. It is humorous for several reasons: one of which is that it does not resolve to the tonic "C", until near the end. You could compare it to a really long sentence with a lot of commas. It is played here by Daniel Barenboim.

Variation 1 begins at 1:38

Variation 2 at 2:56

Variation 3 at 4:23

The Coda (or tail), at 5:08

2. Middle: The second movement of Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57, the "Appassionata", is the calm between two storms. It has a hymn-like solemn quality to it. Again, it has two parts, each of which repeats. It is played here by Maurizio Pollini.

https://youtu.be/kzUGKoMkq4I

Variation 1 begins at 1:31

Variation 2 at 2:45

Variation 3 at 3:55

Variation 4 at 4:54

The 4th variation omits the repeats. Instead of a coda, Beethoven shocks us with a dissonance, which interrupts it at 5:54, and leads directly into a tempestuous third movement.

3. Late: The second, and final movement of Beethoven's last Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111, wins our vote for the most sublime piano music ever composed. After a lifetime of composing, he could now write a different type of theme and variations, that moved in and out of the form, not only without violating it, but transporting it higher, to previously unheard of levels. Again, the theme consists of two parts that repeat. The first part is in C major; the second in A minor. It is played here by Annie Fischer. Our commentary, is of necessity, more detailed.

https://youtu.be/YNUhGuYK5tc

Variation 1 begins at 2:15, It introduces a bit of rhythm into the solemn hymn-like theme.

Variation 2 begins at 4:00 and continues the process. Beethoven, bit by bit, comes to imply the theme, rather than explicitly state it.

Variation 3 begins at 5:31. This is sometimes characterized as an anticipation of "jazz."

Variation 4 begins at 7:42 and lasts until 10:51. It begins to change everything. For the first time the repeats are different. From a low rumble in the bass, they soar up into the stratosphere, into the celestial, at 8:23, and again at 9:43. Is there a theme here? If you know it well enough, try singing the theme, and you will find that you can match it to this ethereal music, note for note. The theme is always implied! At 10:25, this variation grows its own tail, or Coda, as if it were finished!

Variation 5 starts at 10:51. Is this actually a variation? Beethoven settles on a trill, and just the 2 opening notes of the theme. At 11:20 it freezes on a triple trill. What is happening? Have we died and gone to heaven? If so, it outdoes any harp music we know of! The trill keeps rising upwards. At 11:53, a short section pays tribute to Mozart's Fantasy in c minor, K. 475.

Variation 6 begins at 12:40. A full reprise seizes us. It is a complete variation, with the theme once again stated explicitly (although without repeats) but in a triumphant tone, with triplets putting it into full motion.

Coda: Early Codas, or tails, were short and stubby. With Beethoven, the tail now seems to begin to wag the dog. However, a masterwork is not a dog, and increasingly, Coda seems like a misnomer. Beethoven's Coda's not only summarize the work, they take it to a new level, and point to the future.

The Coda begins at 14:00, and takes us once again into the heavens at 14:30. The movement ends, not by lowering us to earthly levels, but establishing that level of the sublime, "on earth, as it is, in Heaven."

Schiller said that he wished his audience leave the theater as "better people than when they went in." What do you feel after working through this movement? Feel free to listen again! One can never tire of it.

Beethoven: Early, Middle and Late: Part 1

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 13, 2020)

On the one hand we dislike dividing Beethoven's works into periods—the man was making progress and discoveries all of the time; On the other hand, no-one ever made progress over himself quite as Beethoven did—and there is a discernible difference between his early, middle and late works.

We have 32 piano sonatas, and 16 String quartets over the years, and we can examine such forms as “theme and variations”, “fugue”, etc, to identify his revolutionary progress. We will start by comparing single movements: today the first movements of 3 piano sonatas. Tomorrow, the 2nd movements (theme and variations), of the same three.

1. Early: The first movement of Piano Sonata No. 10 in G major, Op. 14, No. 2 (composed in 1798–1799), played by Daniel Barenboim. Beethoven's virtuosity and creativity are already apparent.

https://youtu.be/fPsDwKAWN4U

2. Middle: The first movement of the stunning Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57, the "Appassionata", or "Grand Impassioned Sonata" (composed during 1804 and 1805), played by Maurizio Pollini.

https://youtu.be/QAO-TIAXHQk?t=5

The movement poses a puzzle from the beginning. It opens in F minor. Only a few seconds later, the opening phrase is repeated a half-tone higher in Gb major. Beethoven then examines that half-tone difference, alone, and in inversion.This is not standard theory. It is something new under the sun. The level of virtuosity, (the virtue involved in what a single individual can accomplish), is also something new under the sun, and unprecedented. But it is science, not Adrenalin.

3. Late: The first movement of his last Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111 (composed between 1821 to 1822). If Op. 57 opened with a question mark, this one begins with a scientific experiment: a “Keplerian” examination of musical space (compare it to the opening of the String Quartet Op. 59 No. 3). It is not in a key, and does not have a melody. It is part of the C Minor Series, and it investigates the same intervals and their relations as other C minor compositions by Beethoven, and before him, Mozart and Bach. Played here by Annie Fischer.

When a "theme", finally emerges, at 1:50, it is anything but beautiful, and it is stated in bass octaves. Schubert identifies it as holding up the world by yourself and use it in his song, "Atlas." The theme is treated fugally, beginning at 5:37.

Our Farewell to Beethoven's Ninth: Tributes from Other Great Composers

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 12, 2020)

We thank you all for staying with us through the 12-part discussion of the Ninth Symphony. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony inspired many great composers after him, but they were also awed by it. Our audio today, compares the sections of the Ninth that were quoted as tributes by others.

1. The opening of the Scherzo movement, and the opening of the Scherzo from Antonin Dvorak's own Ninth, the New World Symphony.

2. The opening of the first movement, with the opening of Robert Schumann's 4th Symphony, in also in D minor.

3. The Ode to Joy with a surprise passage from the 4th movement of the of Franz Schubert's Ninth Symphony.

4. The opening of the 4th movement of Johannes Brahms' Symphony # 1, which seems improvisational and searching for the idea, as is the introduction to the 4th movement of the Beethoven.

https://soundcloud.com/user-385773006/farewell-to-beethoven

Trail-Markers in the Ninth Symphony:

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 11, 2020)

If you are hiking along the long Appalachian Trail, and you wish not to get lost, you need trail-markers to guide you. The long Ninth Symphony has such trail markers, serving not just as guide-posts, but reminders of the work's unity, as it unfolds in a lawful process of beautiful change.

Today, in this last of 12-part post on the great Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, we are focusing on the included audio file. We have to delve a bit into music theory, but we will make every effort to make it comprehensible to all.

We provide a written description of what the audio discusses, but as an aid, not a substitute. Please listen to the audio, since music is meant to be heard to be understood!

The audio begins with the opening of the first movement. Some of this is repeated from 3 days ago, but it is necessary. Beethoven starts with an octave of A, divided into two intervals, by the tone E. A to E, ascending, is a fifth (A B C D E-five notes). E to A ascending is a fourth (E F G A).

If we invert the process, then a fifth descending gives us the tone D as a dividing point (A G F E D). D to A descending, is a fourth ( D C B A.)

That gives us an ambiguity as to WHETHER THE TONE A, is a TONIC, GENERATIVE TONE, or the FIFTH OF D. Beethoven plays on that irony, and resolves it to D minor.

Beethoven then re-starts the symphony, this time on his newly derived fifth, A to D. If he resolved it in the same way, we would proceed to G minor, G D Bb G. Instead he moves by a DESCENDING MAJOR THIRD in Bb major- D Bb F D Bb. This time, the irony is not whether the tone D can be both a tonic and a fifth, but A TONIC AND A MAJOR THIRD.

Those two changes come up in two interventions in the third movement. The first centers around the interval of the fifth, in this case, Eb, Bb, and F. The play is on the tone, Bb. Is it the fifth of Eb, or is F the fifth of Bb?

The second intervention adds a DESCENDING MAJOR THIRD Eb, Bb, F F Db.

The same process is utilized in the fourth movement on the words, " Und der Cherub steht vor Got!" (and the Cherub stands before God!) A D, E A, A F. It goes one step further. F becomes the fifth of Bb major, for the Turkish March.

If you like, play or sing the following tones, DD GG AA D A-D E-A A-F F-Bb

The opening interval of a fifth comes into play often in the fourth movement, on the words Freude (Joy), and Gotterfunken (God's sparks.)

https://soundcloud.com/user-385773006/trail-makers-in-the-9th-symphony

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: The Beautiful 3rd Movement

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 10, 2020)

The Ninth Symphony can be compared with Brahms' “Four Serious Songs”, in that each of them has four movements (or songs), which represent a series of advancing hypotheses. Brahms composed his work as his lifelong friend and collaborator, Clara Schumann, was dying.

“The Four Serious Songs” examines the question of our mortality, and our immortality. If we don't wish to come the end of our lives, and wonder what it was really all about, then we have to ask what is it that gives our lives meaning, that lives on after we are gone? The first song tries to find the difference between man and the animals in an existential way. It fails. The second song, in effect, says, "Don't just think about yourself. Look at all the suffering in the world, and think about the future." The third song is a reflection on death, and it leads to the breakthrough in the fourth song, a setting of First Corinthians 13. The work ends with "And now abideth Faith, Hope, and Love, but Love is the greatest of them all." It's beautiful, but if presented alone, it would not have the power it does as a higher hypothesis, in the working out, over four movements, the solution to a problem. The same is true of the Ninth Symphony.

The first movement of the symphony presents us with an epic struggle of Promethean proportions. The second introduces playfulness and fun. The third is sublimely beautiful. And in the fourth, Beethoven reveals to us the discovery of joy as the divine spark of creativity. The Ninth Symphony is completely coherent with Brahms' discovery of agape, the highest form of love, as "the greatest of them all." The fourth movement is powerful enough to stand alone, but, like the Brahms, it is much more effective when we hear it as the culmination of the entire work.

Though Beethoven composes double fugues throughout, there are no fugal sections in the third movement. it has something most rare—a double Theme and Variations. Whereas a double fugue has two themes or subjects, say A and B, developing together; a double variations has alternating A and B themes.

Today we do something unusual and post 2 different performances. One is by Furtwangler, who took the movement slowly enough that the running 16th notes that develop later would still sing beautifully. The other is a good modern performance Christian Thieleman, which has the advantage that you may see the orchestra play, and follow the score, with the current measure highlighted. To avoid confusion (we hope), we will identify the changes in the Furtwangler, as usual, by the time in the video. In the Theileman, we will give the measure, score indications, and the time. Please feel free to follow either, or both.

After a short introduction, theme A, in Bb major, begins at:

Furtwangler 0:32

Thieleman Measure 3. 0:29 - marked Adagio Molto e Cantabile (very slow and singing).

After this long theme is completed, the music changes key, to D major, and to a faster, walking tempo. Theme B is then played:

Furtwangler 03:17

Thieleman measure 35-marked Andante moderato 02:49

Next we return to Theme A, and we hear the first variation on it. The melody is now florid, like a good singer.

Furtwangler 04:58

Thieleman: Measure 43-marked Tempo 1 04:17

Next, we return to theme B, and hear the first variation on it, in the key of G. The strings begin to be played pizzicato (plucked):

Furtwangler 07:45

Thieleman Measure 65-marked Andante 06:40

Then, we come to another variation on theme A, but it is different. It is in Eb, and the Pizzicato continues. Are the two themes now beginning to change each other: What are we actually hearing?

Furtwangler 09:17

Thieleman Measure 83-marked Adagio 07:57

After modulating to the improbable key of Cb major(!), the pizzicati lead us back to Bb major, and a time signature of 12/8. This should be a variation on theme B, but it is clearly theme A. The first violins sing in running 16th notes, and Furtwangler's slower tempo allows them to soar!

Furtwangler 10:46

Thieleman Measure 99-marked Lo Stesso Tempo 09:32

All of a sudden, a loud intervention occurs, that may remind us of something, but otherwise seems hard to account for.

Furtwangler 13:36

Thieleman Last beat of measure 120 11:50

The theme then just picks up where it left off, until a 2nd such interjection comes along. It is even more powerful, and ends differently

Furtwangler 14:50

Thieleman 13:05

Theme A then returns (with aspects of theme B, and plays sublimely to the end of the movement.

We will leave discussion of these interjections 'till tomorrow, when we examine recurring motives throughout the symphony.

https://youtu.be/3hadR4t9Xjc

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: 2nd Movement

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 9, 2020)

In our discussion of the first movement of the Ninth Symphony, we mentioned that certain characterizations of it as “emerging from the dawn of history” is not totally inaccurate.

There’s a sort of progression in the introduction portion of the fourth movement where Beethoven reviews the first three movements. The first movement have the quality of a titanic struggle. The second movement is much happier, and Beethoven's sketches referred to it as "sport". The third movement is exceptionally beautiful, and the sketches call it "tender, tender". There is a definite progress being made towards "joy" in these three movements, though the breakthrough, the leap into that joy, is still anything but linear. Beethoven is putting each movement forward as an hypothesis, each hypothesis higher than the previous one.

Plato called it "hypothesizing the higher hypothesis." The fourth movement is the higher hypothesis, but you cannot just state it. In order for it to mean something, it has to emerge from a process of progress.

As we have said before, the second movement starts out with the same descending four notes of the main theme of the first movement, D A F D. If you go back to yesterday's episode on the first movement, it emerges at 0:47. Just compare that to the opening of this movement. (Today we provide the recording of Ninth by Georg Szell, and the Cleveland Symphony).

As stated before, that 4-note introduction leads to a short fugal section, which may remind you of the first fugue subject in the instrumental double fugue in the fourth movement discussed. If you listen to the audio provided on May 1st, it starts out with the fugal section of this movement. (We post it again here). At 3:50 you will hear that first fugue subject. Compare, if you like.

A Scherzo is a kind of musical joke. many people think that Beethoven created the form, by making a revolution in Minuet form. As is so often the case, it origins lie with that great genius, Josef Haydn.

A Scherzo has what is known as a "Trio" in the middle. In the original French Minuets, it was, guess what, three instruments! The name stuck, and a lighter instrumentation is customary.

The Trio section in this recording starts at 4:50, and ends at 7:46. The overall movement is in D minor, the Trio is in D major. You will hear premonitions of the “Ode to Joy” theme, throughout the Trio section.

It returns to the main theme, but before ending, teases us with a quick reference to the Trio!

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: First Movement - get out your ruler and compass!

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 8, 2020)

We promised to examine the other three movements of the Ninth Symphony, and we are, starting with the first. As we proceed, it will be necessary to make constant comparisons between movements, because it is one of the most coherent, integrated works ever written. If a composer wishes to unify four movements into a one, then his or her motivic (or motivating idea), has to be an idea of change.

The opening of the first movement is such an idea of change. Analysis of that opening, unfortunately, usually tends to focus on vague imagery, such as the "dawn of history", or "mankind emerging from the primordial soup". There may be a disguised truth in that, but we require a scientific concept.

You might ask: what scientific proof? We are not making the argument that music is merely mathematics. Not at all! The effort to find such a linear correlation has done much damage to musical performance. Music is however, scientific, and some of the beautiful geometric proportions found in nature shine through great classic composition.

Yesterday’s post discussed both inversions and ambiguity. This work opens with a profound yet fundamental inversion, that depends on the ambiguity in the meaning of a single note! The demonstration is simple, and you don't have to remember any high school geometry to follow it. If you feel a bit lost by terms at certain points, please don't worry, and please stick with it. It will become clear. We are providing an accompanying audio, to help make it all clear.

https://soundcloud.com/user-385773006/beethovens-ninth-get-your-ruler-and-compass-out

Take an octave A, to the next higher A. Add the tone E in between them. The ascending interval A to E, is known as a fifth (five notes up: A B C D E). Continuing up from E to A, we have a fourth (E F G A). The Ninth Symphony begins with just those 2 notes: A and E, in octaves (up to 0:42 in this recording.)

Now, try descending from the higher A to the lower, and maintain the same intervals. A descending fifth gives us the note D (A G F E D), and D to A is a descending fourth (D C B A.).

Beethoven begins the symphony with that elementary change. There are only 2 notes to start, A and E. Then we concentrate on just A (at 0:43). After a breath, we hear the note D, and the main theme emerges, D A F D, in D Minor. That is as much a theme, as a process of generation.

Beethoven is giving you the most fundamental irony and resolution in music as an idea to follow, rather than a melody. It does not stop there. Surprisingly, after a few measures, he returns to the opening (at 1:30). This time he uses the newly generated fifth, D and A. If resolved in the same manner, he would proceed to G. He does not. We go to Bb major (at 2:04). That depends on a different irony. D major is the tonic in D minor, but it is the major third in Bb major. Please do not worry if you are not familiar with the technical terms. If you can hear that a change is happening, then you are good. If you can hear that the change is different the second time, then you have it!

For the rest of the symphony, those two changes will predominate.

THE RECAPITULATION

We analyzed the double fugue in the movement (starting at in this recording at 7:40) a few days ago. It leads into what is sometimes called the recapitulation (a recapitulation being the return to the opening: it emerges at 10:17.) This is one of the most powerful and extended recapitulations in history. It frightens some people though. "New musicologist" Susan McClary, said of it:

“The point of recapitulation in the first movement of the Ninth is one of the most horrifying moments in music, as the carefully prepared cadence is frustrated, damming up energy which finally explodes in the throttling murderous rage of a rapist incapable of attaining release.”

Whew! But, how is it, that for almost 200 years people have been enjoying this music without realizing how "patriarchal" and "oppressive" it is? Didn't Beethoven exalt women in the character of Leonore, a great hero?

A further reading of Ms McClary's writings, reveals either gross musicological incompetence, or, willful distortion.

The "recapitulation" introduces the note F#, which differentiates D minor from D major. We now have the keys which rule throughout the symphony, D minor, D major, and Bb major. They have been generated in such a way though, that they tend to function as a single modality, rather than three separate keys.

Tomorrow, we dive into the 2nd movement of the Ninth Symphony!

Beethoven's Sense of Humor: Part 3

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 7, 2020)

We promised to discuss the first three movements of the Ninth Symphony—and we shall take on the 1st movement tomorrow! First though, we will ask you to join us in a little fun.

Good humor involves having a sense of irony, and appreciation of ambiguities. Shakespeare's word plays, for example, are hilarious, and reveal both deeper and hidden meanings. Therefore, if the reader insist on having only one literal meaning for each word, not only will you not get those meanings,

you will likely only scowl..

Our modern, multicultural approach to achieving the equality of human beings through imposing representation of every ethnic, gender, religious, and physical difference as an "identity", can also easily

become too literal.

"What have you done here?"

"We created an orchestra that is the most identity-representative we have ever seen."

"Good. How well do they play?"

"Didn't ask. That would be too judgmental."

This type of thinking has led to a misunderstanding of Beethoven. His music is too often identified as characterized by anger or rage, even "omnicidal" (a relatively new term). People read anecdotes about him and literally think that they hear his legendary temper in his music!

So please join us in an easy, but fun and enlightening experiment. We have provided a recording of the 4th movement of Beethoven's String Quartet in F Major, Op. 135, by the Cypress Quartet. Please listen to the first minute of it. If it stopped there, how would you characterize it? It seems anguished, does it not?

In the opening of the 4th movement of his Ninth Symphony, Beethoven invited you into his creative workshop. He does the same here. The following line is placed at the beginning of the movement. It is not to be played, just comprehended:

"Der schwer gefasste Entschlusss"— can mean "The difficult decision", but it can also mean "The difficult resolution."

"Muss es sein?"—means “Must it be?”

"Es muss sein!"—means “It must be!”

Musically, Es muss sein is an inversion of Muss es sein. It turns the phrase upside down—creating a resolution. Grave means very slow and solemn. Allegro is a quick tempo. Beethoven is demonstrating that the movement is based on a process of inversion, but why the words? Let us again, address the problem of literalism. Adding the words reminds us that inversion is also a process in science, and in life. Sometimes, we solve a problem by standing it on its head!

This was Beethoven's last completed work, and many believe that Muss es sein? refers to the impending end of his life: Must it be? Yet, the inversion expresses joy—the joy of knowing that although he is not physically immortal, his music is! It will live on for centuries. It must be!

At about one minute in, the inversion changes the problems into a happy resolution. At 4:25 though, Muss es sein comes back, and it's even more intense, as in life. At 5:02 the inversion, Es muss sein, does not have so easy a time of it. It has to fight its way up from the morass. Again, as in life.

The result? The joy in resolving the problem is even greater. The ending is sublime. After a few slow and questioning repeats of Es muss sein, at 6:35, all four strings start playing pizzicato—plucking the strings, as though they were tip-toeing. If the movement is about how to resolve one's own immortality, then Beethoven faced death by overturning fear, even turning it into joy. If it does concern facing death, then we should all wish that when our time comes, we make our exit so harmonious and happily.

But, we don't know for sure that that is what it is all about. Beethoven never told us. He may not have known it would be his last major work. He may have been sitting back smiling, and enjoying watching us try to figure it out. Thus, we can never fully explain it. Your own interpretation is precious, although it must always follow reason.

One thing is certain: the music is not about rage, or any other fixated state. It is the transformation of our state of mind!

Beethoven’s Wild and Wolly Fugue

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 6, 2020)

As beautiful as Bach's fugues are, the Finale of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59, No. 3, is a totally unprecedented romp!

Beethoven: Great Performances 2–A paradox

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 5, 2020)

Today, we again present a wonderful performance by Pablo Casals and friends from the Prades-Perpignan Festival. This time it presents a paradox: How can classical music portray pure evil, while remaining beautiful? Modern music can portray ugliness, simply by being ugly. If a composer stands by natural law, utilizing the intervals discovered by Kepler in the solar system itself, and developed into the well-tempered system by J.S. Bach; then even though that system may lawfully evolve, it remains based on the beautiful proportions ordained by the universe, and can never be ugly. Yet, it can portray every emotional state, including evil. A paradox indeed!

Here, we present the second movement from Beethoven's Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70 # 1, nicknamed The Ghost, performed by Casals, Rudolf Serkin, and Szymon Goldberg, from the Prades Festival of 1954.

Beethoven was working on making Shakespeare's MacBeth into an opera. He gave it up, because it was becoming "too gloomy." The themes used in this slow movement are said to derive from his sketches for the "Witches Scene" from MacBeth. Some modern scholars, as usual, deny any connection, though they fail to account for the movement's bone-chilling quality, and unnerving restlessness. The bass line should be a foundation—solid ground. Yet here, it is performed on a trill—you are walking on quicksand.

Though the movement does not represent how Beethoven would have set the "Witches' Scene", it does capture the evil of that scene. Some performances of the play treat the witches as a caricature. Others, more accurately, portray the pure evil of the way they manipulate a superstitious MacBeth.

Beethoven, in the 3rd movement, wrenches his listeners upwards, into a happier state. He will not leave you in Hades! Please check out the entire trio and tell us what you think!

Beethoven: Great Performances 1

DAILY DOSE OF BEETHOVEN (May 4, 2020)

Pablo Casals, considered the greatest cellist of the 20th century, ceased all public performance in 1936, in protest of the world's toleration of the subjugation of his native land Spain, by the fascist dictator Franco. It was a great loss for culture, but Casals was a determined and principled man.

In 1950, a group of largely American musicians, pleaded with him not to let the 200th anniversary of the death of his most beloved composer, J.S. Bach, pass by without his participation. Casals said fine, but you must come to me. He lived then in the small French Catalonia town of Prades, close to his beloved Spain. They came, and thus was born several years of the Prades- Perpignan Festival, performing some of the most glorious chamber music ever heard.

You may have noticed an emphasis on our part on historical performances. That is not because we are stuck in the past. Rather we believe as did Giuseppe Verdi: "We should study the past. It will help us move forward." Please listen, and tell us what you hear from such sublime artists.

Here, we present the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 97, composed in 1811, sometimes called the Archduke Trio. It is so named, because Beethoven dedicated it to his friend, patron, and composition student Archduke Rudolf. This is a performance from 1952 in Prades, by Pablo Casals, Eugene Istomin, and Alexander Schneider.

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony Part 8: The Ode to Joy—The Moment of Breakthrough!

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 3, 2020)

The Ninth Symphony

Thanks to all of our readers for sticking with the challenge of visualizing an entire 25-minute movement, that defies all existing characterizations! To have a concept of such a work as a whole, whether visual, aural, or both; is a blessing few enjoy, yet all deserve.

Theorists throw up their hands when trying to categorize this movement, and pronounce it "Free Fantasy Form." Today's episode is a bit longer, but we shall discover that the form of the movement is determined by none other than the central ideas in Schiller's poem, the Ode to Joy. Today we approach the climactic moment—the central idea!

In several previous posts, we have used the inimitable performances of Wilhelm Furtwangler. Today, we employ an excellent modern version conducted by Riccardo Muti, which also benefits from an ongoing English translation.

Let us resume where we left off in part 7. An instrumental double fugue begins at about 12:50 in this recording. A fork in the road is arrived at by 14:12, and Beethoven tests out different possibilities. At 14:41, the most famous statement of the Freude theme takes place, in full voice, and in 6/8 time. it is glorious! Yet, at 15:38, the music is again ripped off, and something strange begins.

The male voices sing in unison, in a slow, forceful, and declamatory way, on the words:

Seid umschlugen, Millionen.

Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt.

Bruder, uberm Sternenzelt,

Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen.

(Be embraced, O ye millions!

Here's a kiss for all the World.

Brothers, above the canopy of stars,

A loving Father must surely dwell.)

Where does this come from? We discovered before that the Turkish March was new, but was also a transformation of the Freude theme. This is totally new, and different. It is not related to the Freude theme. However, It may be new to the symphony, but it is not new to the poem.

We have heard the succession of three verses of the poem. Yet, there is something missing. Between each verse, lies a four line section marked Chor, or chorus (see attached image below). The first Chor section is the 4 lines we just identified. How can you have a chorus in a poem? Are several people supposed to join in to read it aloud? Why did Beethoven wait so long to introduce it in the symphony?

Today we think of a chorus as an ensemble of singing voices both male and female, high and low. The chorus originated in Greek Theater and the word comes from the Greek word for “dance” (as does choreography). Several times in a play, the chorus would slowly dance across the stage, singing poetry, They would locate the actions in the play for the audience from a larger, historical view. Was that Schiller's idea in these Chor sections of the poem? In the introduction to his play, The Bride of Messina:—“On the Employment of Chorus in Tragedy”, Schiller explained his use of an ancient-Greek style chorus:

“The chorus leaves the narrow arena of the action, in order to make statements about the past and future, about distant times and peoples, about what is human in general, to draw the grand results of life and to express the teachings of wisdom.

“While the chorus brings life to the speech, it brings calm to the action—but the beautiful and high calm which must be the character of a noble work of art. The mind of the audience must maintain its freedom even amidst the fiercest passion.

“What the usual judgment tends to fault about the chorus, that it dissolves the illusion, that it breaks the force of the affects, is actually its highest recommendation... By holding the parts apart, and stepping between the passions with its calming reflection, it restores our freedom to us, which would be lost in the storm of affects.”

We do believe that Schiller had that conception of chorus in mind for the Ode to Joy, and that Beethoven understood it that way !

The female voices join in, and sing the second Chor section of the poem, which comes between the second and third verses.

Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen?

Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt?

Such' ihn über'm Sternenzelt!

Über Sternen muss er wohnen.

(Do you feel Him near, O ye Millions?

Do you sense your Creator, World?

Seek Him above the canopy of stars!

Above the stars must he reside.)

At 18:54 in this recording Beethoven introduces an unbelievable tension that lasts for about 30 seconds. He is letting us know that the most important moment approaches. What will it be?

At 19:26 he begins his most important discovery, the great vocal double fugue! One fugue subject is a derivation of the Freude theme, and the other comes from the Seid umschlungen idea.

Beethoven had said that the composer must rise above the poet, and wondered how one could do that with Schiller’s perfect poem. So how does Beethoven rise above the poet? We cannot read two lines of a poem at the same time and be clear. We can, however, sing those lines at the same time, with great clarity. The poem can only alternate between the 8-line sections, and the 4-line "chorus" sections. In music can they be joined, joyously!

After this high point, Beethoven celebrates what has been accomplished. The only text from here on is the 8-line Freude verse, and the 4-line Seid umschlungen. They playfully alternate as the music rushes to a conclusion that does feel as though we had risen "above the stars."

Beethoven's Ode to Joy: Genesis

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 2,2020)

Great masterpieces do not come out of nowhere. Beethoven worked on setting Schiller's Ode to Joy for decades. While serious composition of the Ninth Symphony appears to have begun in 1823, an important preparation took place in 1808.

On December 22, 1808, Beethoven premiered his Fantasy (Fantasia) for piano, vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra, Op. 80, also called the Choral Fantasy, alongside the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, the Fourth Piano Concerto, as well as excerpts of the Mass in C major.

Beethoven commissioned a poet to write words for the composition, which uniquely included orchestra, solo piano and a chorus. If the beautiful words (text and translation below) remind us of the Ode to Joy, that’s because Beethoven acknowledges that the work was a study for setting the Ode to Joy. If the long piano introduction seems like an improvisation, that's because it was! Beethoven improvised it at the world premier. Whatever he set down on paper later probably varies from it somewhat. We might never know.

We include the beautiful performance of this composition by Martha Argerich, conducted by Seiji Ozawa!

https://youtu.be/GjXBKR4iDS8

Text and translation:

Schmeichelnd hold und lieblich klingen

(Graceful, charming and sweet is the sound)

unseres Lebens Harmonien,

(Of our life’s harmonies,)

und dem Schönheitssinn entschwingen

(and from a sense of beauty arise)

Blumen sich, die ewig blühn.

(Flowers which eternally bloom.)

Fried und Freude gleiten freundlich

(Peace and joy advance in perfect concord,)

wie der Wellen Wechselspiel.

(like the changing play of the waves.)

Was sich drängte rauh und feindlich,

(All that was harsh and hostile,)

ordnet sich zu Hochgefühl.

(has turned into sublime delight.)

Wenn der Töne Zauber walten

(When music's enchantment reigns,)

und des Wortes Weihe spricht,

(speaking of the sacred word,)

muss sich Herrliches gestalten,

(Magnificence takes form,)

Nacht und Stürme warden Licht.

(The night and the tempest turns to light:)

Äuß're Ruhe, inn're Wonne

(Outer peace and inner bliss

herrschen für den Glücklichen.

(Reign o'er the fortunate ones.)

Doch der Künste Frühlingssonne

(All art in the spring's sun)

läßt aus beiden Licht entstehn.

(Lets light flow from both.)

Großes, das ins Herz gedrungen,

(Greatness, once it has pierced the heart,)

blüht dann neu und schön empor.

(Then blooms anew in all its beauty.)

Hat ein Geist sich aufgeschwungen,

(Once one's being has taken flight,)

hallt ihm stets ein Geisterchor.

(A choir of spirits resounds in response.)

Nehmt denn hin, ihr schönen Seelen,

(Accept then, you beautiful souls,)

froh die Gaben schöner Kunst

(Joyously the gifts of high art.)

Wenn sich Lieb und Kraft vermählen,

(When love and strength are united,)

lohnt den Menschen Göttergunst.

(Divine grace is bestowed upon Man.)

The Ninth Symphony Part 7: Beethoven and Bach—The Double Fugue.

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 1, 2020)

The Ninth Symphony

Now, we begin to approach the very heart of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Beethoven is standing on the shoulders of two giants in this work. One we have met—who is Friedrich Schiller. The other is Johann Sebastian Bach.

After Bach's death in 1750, his music was considered old-fashioned; too complex; and thus relegated to obscurity. The trend was a preference for simple melody and accompaniment. Fortunately, this did not apply to all musicians and composers. In 1782, Mozart (then 26 years old), was introduced to the music and Bach and Handel at the salon of Baron von Swieten. Mozart seized upon it powerfully. Such is the case as well with Beethoven. As a boy, Beethoven played all of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. He also composed fugues.

In a fugue, one voice plays a theme, or subject alone. Soon another voice plays the same subject while the first voice goes on to something else. Four voices is standard, but it can go up to six. Fugues are challenging, but rewarding. A double fugue develops two subjects at the same time.

Not everyone cared for Beethoven's double-fugal method. The famous author, Leo Tolstoy wrote, in his What is Art:

“…not only do I not see how the feelings transmitted by this work could unite people not specially trained to submit themselves to its complex hypnotism, but I am unable to imagine to myself a crowd of normal people who could understand anything of this long, confused, and artificial production, except short snatches which are lost in a sea of what is incomprehensible. And therefore, whether I like it or not, I am compelled to conclude that this work belongs to the rank of bad art.”

As we shall see, nothing is confused, or artificial about Beethoven’s fugue. It is totally integrated. The difference is, it does not follow any formula.

There are three double fugues in the Ninth Symphony, the most important of which is a vocal one. We have not got to that yet, but in today's video, we will introduce you to the first two.

If you would like to compare Beethoven's double-fugal writing to that of Bach, we have included a performance of the Prelude and Fugue in C# Minor, played by Edwin Fischer. Bach does not begin both fugue subjects at the same time though. He brings in the 2nd fugue at half-way point. The prelude lasts almost 3 minutes. the fugue begins at 2:50 with a 4-note subject. The 2nd subject enters at 4:48. Listen and tell us if you hear them!

https://youtu.be/-OzD-NrUWIM

The Ninth Symphony Part 6

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (April 30,2020)

We are tracing the amazing development of the 4th movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony step by step, and relating it to the symphony as a whole, as we proceed.

We urge readers to follow and listen to the development of the movement, from the beginning, and more than once (a sheet music version is again posted below as a visual aid). You will find it well worth your while! Many people have followed a play, or a novel all the way through. It is less common with great music, since it is almost a foreign language to many of us. It is however, an enriching experience.

A quick synopsis of what we have done so far:

Part 1: discussed the poem, and creating universal brotherhood through the spread of joy: specifically the joy associated with reason, love, and creativity.

Part 2: compared the work to the Apollo Project, in that it was necessary to provide optimism in a time of great trouble that required new discoveries and breakthroughs. Beethoven has to develop something that had never been done before.

Part 3: discussed how Beethoven shared his method of creative discovery with the world, in his unprecedented introduction to the movement that shared his search for a higher idea.

Part 4: discussed how Beethoven, after that introduction, rather than proceeding with the Ode to Joy theme as perfected, presented it as an hypothesis, to be tested and proven through a set of variations. It ended with a cliff hanger: why did he interrupt the process and return to the opening dissonance?

Part 5: addressed that question by demonstrating that the human voice still had to be introduced. It was something new and revolutionary in a symphony. A one minute recitative by a solo baritone voice, condenses the much longer introduction into a single line of music. Beethoven then proceeds with a set of vocal variations, using the first three verse of the poem, all based on the Freude theme. Again, Beethoven interrupts the process with a powerful change.

All of these parts have been constructed for the sake of brevity. We hope to give the reader a map of the unknown territory the composer is exploring.

Part 6: We begin with the powerful change Beethoven makes on the words, Und der Cherub steht vot Gott (even the Cherub stands before God)—every created being experiences joy, as is presented frequently in the poem. Cherubs are small, rather chubby angels, but they see the face of God! A long fortissimo chord is held on the words Vor Gott! Then comes a long silence. We try to anticipate what will follow, but If we do not know the work, it is totally unpredictable.

We hear a series of quiet grunts in the bassoon on a single note. What is known as a “Turkish March” emerges from it. Everything is different: a new key, new time signature, different orchestration! The tune seems to have nothing to do with the Ode to Joy. There are references to previous sections of earlier movements in the symphony, but it would take a very good memory to grasp them. We will identify them though, because making such connections helps us integrate the work as a whole in out minds: once you have heard it, you are very unlikely to forget it!

The greatest joy in the Turkish March comes with the realization, of just how close it is to the Ode to Joy theme. It sounds very different, but with a little practice, one can sing the Ode to Joy, note for note, against the Turkish march. Try it!

This section ends, with an instrumental double fugue. Stay tuned, but please review the process up until this point. Think like Beethoven!

Sheet music video, beginning at 9:27: https://youtu.be/D6uPo3MIKPU

Intermezzo: The Cavatina

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (April 29, 2020)

Beethoven remarked that the only piece he had written which moved himself to tears, long after its composition, was the Cavatina from his String Quartet Op. 130.

The great conductor, Wilhelm Furtwangler, knew that an orchestra could not perform such works better than the string quartet that they were composed for. He nonetheless conducted an orchestra performance, because he felt that he had never heard a string quartet do it correctly. This beautiful performance was broadcast in 1940, as WWII was underway.

Beethoven marked the short one-minute section beginning at 5:00, "verklempt", translated variously as "choked -up, unable to speak", even "gasping for breath."

The Ninth Symphony: Beethoven's Great Gift to Humanity- Part 5

The Ninth Symphony: Beethoven's Great Gift to Humanity- Part 5

In part 4, we heard the Ode to Joy theme presented, tested, proven, and celebrated, and then suddenly disrupted by a return to the opening dissonance of the movement. We asked what was lacking. What had we missed?  Well, there is a chorus and four soloists waiting to sing! It was a big deal to introduce singing into a symphony. It had never been done before, and the new additions to the orchestra need to be properly introduced. 

After the dissonance,  a baritone voice sings a recitative, that compresses the entire introduction, with all of its dissonances, quotes from the symphony, and recitative-like sections into one short recitative for voice. This time it does have words, and they are by Beethoven, not Schiller.

O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!
Sondern lasst uns angenehmere anstimmen,
und freudenvollere.
Freude

Oh friends, not these sounds!

Let us instead strike up more pleasing

and more joyful ones!

Joy!

For the first time, we hear the first verse of the Ode to Joy with the words. Beethoven then proceeds to another set of variations, as he intones the first three verses of the poem, which we include, with the words, in the video.

Suddenly, there is another drastic disruption.  We will address that in part 6. 

Ninth Symphony Intermezzo

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (April 26, 2020)

Ninth Symphony Intermezzo

Before getting to Part 5, we wish to answer a question that some readers may be asking after reading Part 4.

"Why on earth would Beethoven need to test out such a simple tune, as a scientific hypothesis?"

It is easier to assume that Beethoven wrote the tune first, then built a symphony on it. Not so! The complex counterpoint of the symphony and the “Ode to Joy” song co-evolved. As one changed, so did the other. Beethoven's sketches demonstrate that clearly. When you compare the finished product to the sketches, the “Ode to Joy” does not seem so simple as one might think. It might be better described as elementary, rather than simple. As such, it is a microcosm that invokes a macrocosm. Simple statements are useful, and necessary, but they should not be simple-minded. Instead, they should open up a world of thought.

The included 2 minute audio, of Beethoven's early sketches, should make us happy that he did not stop with them!

https://soundcloud.com/user-385773006/odesketchesb

Beethoven Intermezzo: Beethoven Art-Song

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (April 25, 2020)

Today, we share with you a simple, but beautiful love song by Beethoven:

I love you as you love me,

At evening and at morning,

No day there was when you and I

Did not share our sorrows.

And for me and you they were,

When shared, an easy burden;

You comforted me in my distress,

I wept when you lamented.

May God then bless you,

You, my life's delight.

God protect and keep you for me,

Protect and keep us both.

For more Daily Dose, go to: www.ffrcc.org

The Ninth Symphony Part 4: Beethoven "tests out" his Hypothesis

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (April 24, 2020)

There is nothing in the fourth movement that is routine. It does not follow any known form such as Sonata allegro, Rondo, Scherzo, etc. Every time we think we might anticipate what Beethoven will do, he surprises us. Every step is about making new discoveries.

Part 3 of this series presented the Introduction to the fourth movement, which ended with a triumphant cadence, preparing the way to finally hear the Ode to Joy theme.

However, that theme is then introduced in an unexpected way, as a single melody, played tentatively and quietly in the the bass instruments—the same cellos and double-basses which had been given us the recitative-like sections! An audience hearing it for the first time would have to wonder about it. They would hear Schiller's words against it, and find that they matched. But, the theme is presented in such a hesitating way, as a lone bass melody, that they might doubt its appropriateness. What is Beethoven doing here? Come back to our idea of the symphony as a sort of Apollo Project.

When sending a man to the moon, do you simply work everything out on paper, and hope that Apollo 11 will succeed? Or, do you launch trial rockets, which sometimes fail, to test out the connections of your theory and your hypotheses, to physical reality? Beethoven presents the Ode to Joy theme as an hypothesis that has to be tested.

For the sake of continuity, the 5 minute video we have provided, begins at the tail end of Part 3’s introduction video, and then walks us through a sort of Theme and Variations: After the theme is presented, alone, as an hypothesis, a set of three variations tests it out, proves it, and celebrates it as victorious.

As we revel in this triumphant idea, the music is suddenly disrupted (it won't be the last such drastic disruption in the movement), and we return to the opening dissonance. Why? Did we miss something?

If you, our readers, have an idea as to why Beethoven does this, please post it!

5-min video on the Theme and Variations:

We again include the sheet-music video of the 4th movement. We recommend following the first six and a half minutes, which combine parts 3 and 4, to help understand them as a unified process.

4th movement with sheet music: