A piano arrangement, presumably by Beethoven, of the Ritterballett (Biamonti 29) above. As one might expect, it works just fine on the piano.
Unheard Beethoven has created a midi version.
Showing posts with label Piano. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Piano. Show all posts
Monday, September 7, 2009
Ballet Music for Piano: "Ritterballet" (1790-1791)
Biamonti 30, Hess 89
A piano arrangement, presumably by Beethoven, of the Ritterballett (Biamonti 29) above. As one might expect, it works just fine on the piano.
Unheard Beethoven has created a midi version.
A piano arrangement, presumably by Beethoven, of the Ritterballett (Biamonti 29) above. As one might expect, it works just fine on the piano.
Unheard Beethoven has created a midi version.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Piece for Piano in C major: "Lustig - traurig" (Merry - Sad) in C & c (1790)
Biamonti 26, WoO 54
Two tiny phrases for piano. As the title suggests, one is happy one is sad. The happy is in C major and triple meter, the Sad is in C minor, still triple meter but with a more Alberti-like bass. Fodder for semiologists who seek meaning in Beethoven's key choice.
Its dating has been the subject of speculation, being put at 1790, 1798 and 1820.
Two tiny phrases for piano. As the title suggests, one is happy one is sad. The happy is in C major and triple meter, the Sad is in C minor, still triple meter but with a more Alberti-like bass. Fodder for semiologists who seek meaning in Beethoven's key choice.
Its dating has been the subject of speculation, being put at 1790, 1798 and 1820.
Friday, August 28, 2009
6 Variations for Piano or Harp in F major: on a Swiss air (1790)
Biamonti 25, WoO 64, Grove 183
A comparison between this miniature set of variations and the previous entry, the Variations on Righini's "Venni, Amore" is particuarly telling. While both themes share a beginning that signals a closing, the approach to the two themes is radically different. The Righini variations take apart the theme in the manner we think of from Beethoven, the melody is lost, but the harmonic framework remains and itself becomes the subject of variation. This set of variations uses instead the shape and nearly entirety of the melody throughout, varying the setting in which it is placed. Almost Mozartean in style, it lacks any sort of surprise element. To call this tiny set of six variations on a miniscule Swiss song inconsequential would be to give it too much credit. It goes through the motions, maybe a little better than some but not many.
A comparison between this miniature set of variations and the previous entry, the Variations on Righini's "Venni, Amore" is particuarly telling. While both themes share a beginning that signals a closing, the approach to the two themes is radically different. The Righini variations take apart the theme in the manner we think of from Beethoven, the melody is lost, but the harmonic framework remains and itself becomes the subject of variation. This set of variations uses instead the shape and nearly entirety of the melody throughout, varying the setting in which it is placed. Almost Mozartean in style, it lacks any sort of surprise element. To call this tiny set of six variations on a miniscule Swiss song inconsequential would be to give it too much credit. It goes through the motions, maybe a little better than some but not many.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Variations for Piano: on "Venni, Amore" by Vincenzo Righini (first version) (1790)
Biamonti 24, Hess 55, (WoO 65, Grove 177)
A set of variations on the Aria "Venni, Amore" by the pedestrian composer, singer and kapellmeister, Vincenzo Righini. Beethoven performed this set, none too delicately, as his debut as a pianist in Vienna. Biamonti 24 refers to what was thought to be an original edition of the work of the same title published in 1802 (Biamonti 299). Biamonti suggests that the original edition of this work was definitive as of 1801, but then lost. The Beethovenhaus-Bonn reports that a copy of this lost original edition was found in 1984 by the duo of Sieghard Brandenburg and Martin Staehelin and further reports that this edition and the more common 1802 edition are quite similar, making this version (biamonti 24) the only version and the latter version (Biamonti 299) an unnecessary duplication.
Musically we have 24 variations in D major on a quirky nothing of a theme. Beethoven seems to be drawn to two particular aspects of this small theme: the Lebewohl to decpetive cadence opening - such that the entire work seems to be the cadential part of a period - and the clash of G-natural versus G-sharp in the final cadential figure of the theme. Throughout, Beethoven plays with a number of topics and even brings about duet-like moments, both with register and meter. Most of the variations are interesting but don't get enough time to do anything extra special, the final few are particularly nice and feature a surprise move to the Neapolitan. Worth seeking out.
A set of variations on the Aria "Venni, Amore" by the pedestrian composer, singer and kapellmeister, Vincenzo Righini. Beethoven performed this set, none too delicately, as his debut as a pianist in Vienna. Biamonti 24 refers to what was thought to be an original edition of the work of the same title published in 1802 (Biamonti 299). Biamonti suggests that the original edition of this work was definitive as of 1801, but then lost. The Beethovenhaus-Bonn reports that a copy of this lost original edition was found in 1984 by the duo of Sieghard Brandenburg and Martin Staehelin and further reports that this edition and the more common 1802 edition are quite similar, making this version (biamonti 24) the only version and the latter version (Biamonti 299) an unnecessary duplication.
Musically we have 24 variations in D major on a quirky nothing of a theme. Beethoven seems to be drawn to two particular aspects of this small theme: the Lebewohl to decpetive cadence opening - such that the entire work seems to be the cadential part of a period - and the clash of G-natural versus G-sharp in the final cadential figure of the theme. Throughout, Beethoven plays with a number of topics and even brings about duet-like moments, both with register and meter. Most of the variations are interesting but don't get enough time to do anything extra special, the final few are particularly nice and feature a surprise move to the Neapolitan. Worth seeking out.
Monday, August 24, 2009
2 Sonata Movements for Piano in F major (1788 – 1790)
Biamonti 21, WoO 50, Hess 53
Written for Beethoven's friend Franz Gerhard Wegeler, Biamonti 21 consists of a brisk opening movement for piano and a fragmentary allegretto. It took me some time to get my fingers around this awkward first movement, but after doing so, it became rather fun to play. The phrases aren't what you'd expect, and the Alberti bass plays some tricks on you as well - Beethoven puts in a little countermelody at some point. The second sonata movement is a tender pastoral in 3/4. Published in the Ninth volume of the Hess addenda.
Written for Beethoven's friend Franz Gerhard Wegeler, Biamonti 21 consists of a brisk opening movement for piano and a fragmentary allegretto. It took me some time to get my fingers around this awkward first movement, but after doing so, it became rather fun to play. The phrases aren't what you'd expect, and the Alberti bass plays some tricks on you as well - Beethoven puts in a little countermelody at some point. The second sonata movement is a tender pastoral in 3/4. Published in the Ninth volume of the Hess addenda.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Piece for Piano: arrangement of Chr.F.D.Schubart's "Kaplied" by Beethoven (between 1788-1790)
Biamonti 20, Hess 63
About as minor as you can get. This is a reduction and fingering of a small lied of the blasphemous Christian Firedrich Daniel Schubart. The text of the work, written while Schubart was in prison, protests the sale of German citizens to foreign armies. For Beethoven scholars, this work holds a special interest apparently because Beethoven supplied his own fingering.
The folks at Unheard Beethoven have transcribed it for midi.
About as minor as you can get. This is a reduction and fingering of a small lied of the blasphemous Christian Firedrich Daniel Schubart. The text of the work, written while Schubart was in prison, protests the sale of German citizens to foreign armies. For Beethoven scholars, this work holds a special interest apparently because Beethoven supplied his own fingering.
The folks at Unheard Beethoven have transcribed it for midi.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Rondo for Piano in A major (1783)
Biamonti 5; WoO 49
An odd curiosity that exists in some sort of limbo between rondo and variations, although it is couched within the rhetoric of rondo. Its awkwardness could be the result of the odd phrase structure set up in the opening ABA period group. The A sections: the first eight measures are a clear and well-defined parallel period, while the middle section is more curiously defined 6 measure phrases that also articulate four measure phrase groups through the return of the second half of the first period in its middle. Consequently Beethoven sets up a tension between the regularity of the opening and the irregularity of the middle. Phrases that seem to want to overflow their borders are constrained by their boundaries and others overflow them without balancing out the whole. In many of Mozart's works the phrase structures are similarly off-kilter, but the whole sounds smooth. Here the phrases are off-kilter, but the whole sounds jarring. Biamonti has little to say about this work, remarking only: "Il Manoscritto originale è perduto"
An odd curiosity that exists in some sort of limbo between rondo and variations, although it is couched within the rhetoric of rondo. Its awkwardness could be the result of the odd phrase structure set up in the opening ABA period group. The A sections: the first eight measures are a clear and well-defined parallel period, while the middle section is more curiously defined 6 measure phrases that also articulate four measure phrase groups through the return of the second half of the first period in its middle. Consequently Beethoven sets up a tension between the regularity of the opening and the irregularity of the middle. Phrases that seem to want to overflow their borders are constrained by their boundaries and others overflow them without balancing out the whole. In many of Mozart's works the phrase structures are similarly off-kilter, but the whole sounds smooth. Here the phrases are off-kilter, but the whole sounds jarring. Biamonti has little to say about this work, remarking only: "Il Manoscritto originale è perduto"
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Rondo for Piano in C major (1783)
Biamonti 4; WoO 48
A simple rondo in a solid classical, almost gallant, style. The rondo theme is a forgettable alternation of tonic tones and dominant tones articulating a a steady and predictable phrase pattern. The piece goes through the paces, it has moments in the minor and a slight, very slight development, always keeping the clear phrase divisions of the work. What is interesting is that these phrase divisions can be deceptive, in the theme the strict alternation of four bars is clear, but sometimes it is elided, othertimes it becomes 2+2+2, instead of 2+2+2+2 measures, you'll note this in the first episode. Like several other of these very early works it was published by the influential Bossler in the Blumenlese für Klavierliebhaber, or as the Bethovenhaus so lovingly translates it: “Bouquet of the Finest Flowers for Lovers of the Piano.” Bossler also was responsible for publishing and publicizing the music of Haydn, Mozart and Pleyel.
A simple rondo in a solid classical, almost gallant, style. The rondo theme is a forgettable alternation of tonic tones and dominant tones articulating a a steady and predictable phrase pattern. The piece goes through the paces, it has moments in the minor and a slight, very slight development, always keeping the clear phrase divisions of the work. What is interesting is that these phrase divisions can be deceptive, in the theme the strict alternation of four bars is clear, but sometimes it is elided, othertimes it becomes 2+2+2, instead of 2+2+2+2 measures, you'll note this in the first episode. Like several other of these very early works it was published by the influential Bossler in the Blumenlese für Klavierliebhaber, or as the Bethovenhaus so lovingly translates it: “Bouquet of the Finest Flowers for Lovers of the Piano.” Bossler also was responsible for publishing and publicizing the music of Haydn, Mozart and Pleyel.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Piano Sonata in D major: "Kurfürstensonate" (Electoral) #3 (1783)
Biamonti 2; WoO 47, #3
Throughout his career, Beethoven had a predilection for beginning works in the middle of things, establishing his opening tonality, not with a steady statement of I-IV-V-I as you might find in the opening of a Bach French Suite, but instead beginning obliquely jumping in on the V or the V of V before cadencing on the I. This technique is actually pretty well-known in the world of the Great American Songbook, look at the opening of many of the Gershwin favorites, for instance, but is not something that is generally taught in textbook beginnings. In Beethoven, the most well-known example of this is perhaps the long introduction to his First Symphony, but other examples are equally legion. These include, Beethoven’s first usage of this technique, in the first and last movements of this, the most successful of the Kurfürstensonaten. In the first movement, a jolly pastoral with a strong Mozartean cast, though still an element of pastiche, the theme begins on an upbeat, giving a sense of V-I that is very appealing. In the final, we begin in the middle of a circle of fifths sequence before cadencing on the tonic. Presumably from a semiotic standpoint Beethoven is trying to signal that we are beginning in medias res, and perhaps reflecting in the pastoral of the first movement a more heroic or classical form.
Oddly, until recently this was viewed as an anomaly, an anomaly that L. Poundie Burstein has tried to rectify with his award-winning article of 2005: The Off-Tonic Return in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58, and Other Works. In it, Burstein outlines four different normative strategies for bringing back a theme that doesn’t start on the tonic. The first movement here evidences the technique of using the end of the development as a half-cadence, while the final movement ends the development similarly but takes longer to get to the tonic.
The second movement is a series of variations on a minuet in the greater diminution style that is also appealing. All three movements are pleasurable to play, but not masterpieces in any reckoning.
Throughout his career, Beethoven had a predilection for beginning works in the middle of things, establishing his opening tonality, not with a steady statement of I-IV-V-I as you might find in the opening of a Bach French Suite, but instead beginning obliquely jumping in on the V or the V of V before cadencing on the I. This technique is actually pretty well-known in the world of the Great American Songbook, look at the opening of many of the Gershwin favorites, for instance, but is not something that is generally taught in textbook beginnings. In Beethoven, the most well-known example of this is perhaps the long introduction to his First Symphony, but other examples are equally legion. These include, Beethoven’s first usage of this technique, in the first and last movements of this, the most successful of the Kurfürstensonaten. In the first movement, a jolly pastoral with a strong Mozartean cast, though still an element of pastiche, the theme begins on an upbeat, giving a sense of V-I that is very appealing. In the final, we begin in the middle of a circle of fifths sequence before cadencing on the tonic. Presumably from a semiotic standpoint Beethoven is trying to signal that we are beginning in medias res, and perhaps reflecting in the pastoral of the first movement a more heroic or classical form.
Oddly, until recently this was viewed as an anomaly, an anomaly that L. Poundie Burstein has tried to rectify with his award-winning article of 2005: The Off-Tonic Return in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58, and Other Works. In it, Burstein outlines four different normative strategies for bringing back a theme that doesn’t start on the tonic. The first movement here evidences the technique of using the end of the development as a half-cadence, while the final movement ends the development similarly but takes longer to get to the tonic.
The second movement is a series of variations on a minuet in the greater diminution style that is also appealing. All three movements are pleasurable to play, but not masterpieces in any reckoning.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Piano Sonata in F minor: "Kurfürstensonate" (Electoral) #2 (1783)
Biamonti 2; WoO 47, #2
This second of Beethoven’s Kurfürstensonaten, or Elector Sonatas, begins with a dramatic dotted rhythm and large chords. It then moves into a pastiche of typical galant gestures; the rapid descending passagework, the Murki bass, the Mozartean tremolando closing figures. We get intimations of famous moments – consider the ascending dyads in measures 11-12 in relation to the Pathetique Sonata for instance. The Sonata form is slightly more assured, he gives us a recapitulation, but the introduction ends up serving as a retransition back to that first theme.
The second movement is more tuneful but overloaded with unfulfilling passagework. Like the WoO 47, #1, it references the material from the first movement, but ultimately I get the sense of a dice game of materials, phrases and gestures tied together with little sense for their overall meaning or any throughline.
This second of Beethoven’s Kurfürstensonaten, or Elector Sonatas, begins with a dramatic dotted rhythm and large chords. It then moves into a pastiche of typical galant gestures; the rapid descending passagework, the Murki bass, the Mozartean tremolando closing figures. We get intimations of famous moments – consider the ascending dyads in measures 11-12 in relation to the Pathetique Sonata for instance. The Sonata form is slightly more assured, he gives us a recapitulation, but the introduction ends up serving as a retransition back to that first theme.
The second movement is more tuneful but overloaded with unfulfilling passagework. Like the WoO 47, #1, it references the material from the first movement, but ultimately I get the sense of a dice game of materials, phrases and gestures tied together with little sense for their overall meaning or any throughline.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Piano Sonata in E flat major: "Kurfürstensonate" (Electoral) #1 (1783)
Biamonti 2; WoO 47, #1
A simple sonatina in the Haydn mode. In his 1949 article Harmonic Aspects of Classic Form Leonard Ratner lays out the now widely accepted notion that sonata form should be as well understood in its harmonic binary-ness as it is in its bithematicism. That is to say, the notion that a Sonata has two conflicting themes or two conflicting theme-groups that reconcile in the work’s recapitulation needs to be balanced by an understanding of a larger scale harmonic progression from the tonic to the dominant and back again or its overall debt to binary form. In a typical binary form, say an Allemande from a Bach French Suite, the harmonic motion is from a tonic to a dominant with a foray into a relative minor in the first half of the B section before returning to the initial tonality. Thematically, it tends to spin out one them. In a Sonata, at its most basic level, we have the same harmonic journey, but add to it (at least) two primary themes, each in its own key. When these themes recur at the end of the work, the second has been altered to match the key of the first.
The first movement of this early sonata exists in a land somewhat in between. It maps the harmonic journey of the sonata and the second theme recurs in the tonic at the end after a developmental sequence, but the first theme only returns after the repeat, and in the dominant much like a standard work in binary form. This seems to me reminiscent of early Haydn piano sonatas, but I haven’t explored those very much. If we assume that Beethoven knew what he was doing, and I’m not certain that he did – the work seems to bear the sense of being composed left to right – we are probably seeing a transitional mid-century sonata variant akin to some of the types outlined by Rosen in his study Sonata Forms.
Moving on, the Andante demonstrates Beethoven’s lack of skill with its awkward phrase endings and the rondo is a bit more assured with its jolly head motive, but not particularly good or memorable.
A simple sonatina in the Haydn mode. In his 1949 article Harmonic Aspects of Classic Form Leonard Ratner lays out the now widely accepted notion that sonata form should be as well understood in its harmonic binary-ness as it is in its bithematicism. That is to say, the notion that a Sonata has two conflicting themes or two conflicting theme-groups that reconcile in the work’s recapitulation needs to be balanced by an understanding of a larger scale harmonic progression from the tonic to the dominant and back again or its overall debt to binary form. In a typical binary form, say an Allemande from a Bach French Suite, the harmonic motion is from a tonic to a dominant with a foray into a relative minor in the first half of the B section before returning to the initial tonality. Thematically, it tends to spin out one them. In a Sonata, at its most basic level, we have the same harmonic journey, but add to it (at least) two primary themes, each in its own key. When these themes recur at the end of the work, the second has been altered to match the key of the first.
The first movement of this early sonata exists in a land somewhat in between. It maps the harmonic journey of the sonata and the second theme recurs in the tonic at the end after a developmental sequence, but the first theme only returns after the repeat, and in the dominant much like a standard work in binary form. This seems to me reminiscent of early Haydn piano sonatas, but I haven’t explored those very much. If we assume that Beethoven knew what he was doing, and I’m not certain that he did – the work seems to bear the sense of being composed left to right – we are probably seeing a transitional mid-century sonata variant akin to some of the types outlined by Rosen in his study Sonata Forms.
Moving on, the Andante demonstrates Beethoven’s lack of skill with its awkward phrase endings and the rondo is a bit more assured with its jolly head motive, but not particularly good or memorable.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
9 Variations for Piano in C minor: on a march by Ernst Christoph Dressler (1782)
Biamonti 1; WoO 63
Variation sets of this time tend to be the dullest pieces - particularly those that follow the formula of progressive diminution - that is, adding more and more ornamentation to the melody. Eventually these Plateresque melodies fall under their own wieght into either then minor or something completely different. You find this a lot in Mozart's keyboard variations, what with their version of the theme in eighth notes and then triplets and then sixteenth notes, before the whole process begins again in the left hand. The twelve-year old Beethoven's first opus, a surprisingly engaging set of variations on a dull march by the long-forgotten composer Dressler, basically demonstrates just what exactly someone can do with the simple alternation of tonic minor and dominant major harmony. We begin very matter of factly with several variations that don't alter very much of the theme, before the fifth variation appears with its rapid broken octaves, it sort of returns to a diminuted style of variation before the final, ninth variation appears in the major and wipes all the dullness away with a touch of the odd, a strange move to the raised six. A good, if awkward, start.
Variation sets of this time tend to be the dullest pieces - particularly those that follow the formula of progressive diminution - that is, adding more and more ornamentation to the melody. Eventually these Plateresque melodies fall under their own wieght into either then minor or something completely different. You find this a lot in Mozart's keyboard variations, what with their version of the theme in eighth notes and then triplets and then sixteenth notes, before the whole process begins again in the left hand. The twelve-year old Beethoven's first opus, a surprisingly engaging set of variations on a dull march by the long-forgotten composer Dressler, basically demonstrates just what exactly someone can do with the simple alternation of tonic minor and dominant major harmony. We begin very matter of factly with several variations that don't alter very much of the theme, before the fifth variation appears with its rapid broken octaves, it sort of returns to a diminuted style of variation before the final, ninth variation appears in the major and wipes all the dullness away with a touch of the odd, a strange move to the raised six. A good, if awkward, start.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
