LECTURE NOTES: Written on May 4th, 1809 for Beethoven's patron, Archduke Rudolph, whom had to flee the city as a result of Napoleon's attack of Vienna. Only piece of program music among the Beethoven sonatas. --------------1st movt: sonata+coda, "Das Lebewohl"--------------- 1. @3:06 starts with a 3-interval(3-chord) motif, resembling horns. Beethoven marked the 3 chords with the three syllables Le-be-wohl ("Fare-thee-well"). 2. @3:38 with the last note, the bass comes in with a deceptive cadence. 3. @4:25 a precedent for this kind of program music: an early Bach piece "Capriccio on the departure of his beloved brother". 4. @5:07 the bass starts a chromatic descent, what they call in 18th centry rhetorics "(if anyone would be kind enough to tell me what Mr. Schiff said here)", heavy passage that foretells tragedy or danger. 5. @6:00 the Le-be-wohl motif will permeate the whole movement. 6. @7:20 the breaking-out allegro sounds like a new theme, but in the bass is an inversion of the Le-be-wohl motif 7. @8:09 in the bass & soprano are respectively a minor version and an inversion of the Le-be-wohl motif, more of the likes are peppered throughout. 8. @9:10 a diminution of the motif 9. @10:04 we have the Le-be-wohl motif in treble, and the quaver motive from the allegro. Textbook musical economy. 10. @11:07 a deconstruction until there remains only 2 notes. Reminds me of Beethoven's "Pastoral", 1st movement. 11. @12:00 a poetic coda 12. @12:31 imagining the horses pulling the Archduke' coach 13. @13:23 Beethoven writes a crescendo on the long C, which is not possible. Ludwig, you big tease😉 --------------2nd movt: "Abwesenheit"--------------- 14. @16:09 in C minor. Beethoven immediately moves away from the C minor chord, leaving you a sense of insecurity. 15. @16:47 reminiscent of Baroque music, a Bach or Handel's recitativo 16. @27:27 like with the "Appassionata" & "Waldstein"(all got nicknames) this movement doesn't close. It leads into the final movement. 17. @17:25 at last we reach the dominant of C minor --------------3rd movt: sonata, "Das Wiedersehen"--------------- 18. @20:38 the theme couldn't be simpler: tonic dominant 19. @20:52 then the theme goes to the left hand 20. @21:03 3rd variation, full orchestra 21. @21:18 similar to the 3rd movt. of the Emperor concerto, which was also dedicated to the Archduke(I'd like to add both pieces were written in F-flat major) 22. @21:53 like all the church bells going in Vienna 23. @22:38 the figurations are straight out of the Emperor concerto 24. @22:44 a very short development with the 3 notes. the whole development stays in pianissimo region. 25. @23:59 a false recapitulation in the sub-dominant 26. @24:10 two bars later we have the real recapitulation 27. @26:26 coda. Reminds us of the 1st movt. cos of the horns we hear. Followed by 2 variations and a finish. I hope anyone who reads this would never have to suffer through the pain of parting with someone we dearly love. And if you happen not to be able to be with all the people you love all at once..my most sincere wishes that it won't be long before you do..unless you prefer otherwise of course☺
I just discovered this sonata for the first time today, and it's fascinating. Such odd melodies, asymmetric and twisted up like a fossil. Typical for Beethoven the developments seem to be treated mischevously; the first movement has a very short development but then the "coda" turns out to be the true development of the movement, being enormous in length and adventurous in style. The second movement has no development section at all, being almost like binary form (ABAB) from Bach's time, albeit with the harmonic transformations of the sonata form. And then without any warning the third movement crashes into being. The fact that all three movements are all sonata form, and are all in some way weird mutations of the form, is also fascinating.
Just love Schiff's discussion of this Beethoven Sonata, one of my favorites from the 32.
LECTURE NOTES:
Written on May 4th, 1809 for Beethoven's patron, Archduke Rudolph, whom had to flee the city as a result of Napoleon's attack of Vienna.
Only piece of program music among the Beethoven sonatas.
--------------1st movt: sonata+coda, "Das Lebewohl"---------------
1. @3:06 starts with a 3-interval(3-chord) motif, resembling horns. Beethoven marked the 3 chords with the three syllables Le-be-wohl ("Fare-thee-well").
2. @3:38 with the last note, the bass comes in with a deceptive cadence.
3. @4:25 a precedent for this kind of program music: an early Bach piece "Capriccio on the departure of his beloved brother".
4. @5:07 the bass starts a chromatic descent, what they call in 18th centry rhetorics "(if anyone would be kind enough to tell me what Mr. Schiff said here)", heavy passage that foretells tragedy or danger.
5. @6:00 the Le-be-wohl motif will permeate the whole movement.
6. @7:20 the breaking-out allegro sounds like a new theme, but in the bass is an inversion of the Le-be-wohl motif
7. @8:09 in the bass & soprano are respectively a minor version and an inversion of the Le-be-wohl motif, more of the likes are peppered throughout.
8. @9:10 a diminution of the motif
9. @10:04 we have the Le-be-wohl motif in treble, and the quaver motive from the allegro.
Textbook musical economy.
10. @11:07 a deconstruction until there remains only 2 notes. Reminds me of Beethoven's "Pastoral", 1st movement.
11. @12:00 a poetic coda
12. @12:31 imagining the horses pulling the Archduke' coach
13. @13:23 Beethoven writes a crescendo on the long C, which is not possible. Ludwig, you big tease😉
--------------2nd movt: "Abwesenheit"---------------
14. @16:09 in C minor. Beethoven immediately moves away from the C minor chord, leaving you a sense of insecurity.
15. @16:47 reminiscent of Baroque music, a Bach or Handel's recitativo
16. @27:27 like with the "Appassionata" & "Waldstein"(all got nicknames) this movement doesn't close. It leads into the final movement.
17. @17:25 at last we reach the dominant of C minor
--------------3rd movt: sonata, "Das Wiedersehen"---------------
18. @20:38 the theme couldn't be simpler: tonic dominant
19. @20:52 then the theme goes to the left hand
20. @21:03 3rd variation, full orchestra
21. @21:18 similar to the 3rd movt. of the Emperor concerto, which was also dedicated to the Archduke(I'd like to add both pieces were written in F-flat major)
22. @21:53 like all the church bells going in Vienna
23. @22:38 the figurations are straight out of the Emperor concerto
24. @22:44 a very short development with the 3 notes. the whole development stays in pianissimo region.
25. @23:59 a false recapitulation in the sub-dominant
26. @24:10 two bars later we have the real recapitulation
27. @26:26 coda. Reminds us of the 1st movt. cos of the horns we hear. Followed by 2 variations and a finish.
I hope anyone who reads this would never have to suffer through the pain of parting with someone we dearly love. And if you happen not to be able to be with all the people you love all at once..my most sincere wishes that it won't be long before you do..unless you prefer otherwise of course☺
I just discovered this sonata for the first time today, and it's fascinating. Such odd melodies, asymmetric and twisted up like a fossil. Typical for Beethoven the developments seem to be treated mischevously; the first movement has a very short development but then the "coda" turns out to be the true development of the movement, being enormous in length and adventurous in style.
The second movement has no development section at all, being almost like binary form (ABAB) from Bach's time, albeit with the harmonic transformations of the sonata form. And then without any warning the third movement crashes into being. The fact that all three movements are all sonata form, and are all in some way weird mutations of the form, is also fascinating.
Great lecture-recital series. Taught and demonstrated with such impressive scholarship and just plain old mastery.
....But the Lecture 's GREAT ! THANKS SO MUCH!
according to Mr. Brendel, crescendo on a single note is done by lifting one‘s head and sniffing through the nose.
00:00 - Intro & Mvt I
14:13 - Mvt II
17:57 - attacco subito Mvt III
Titled's WRONG some moment....sorry
unerreicht Beethoven und Sir Andras Schiff