Dudley Moore Beethoven Sonata Parody
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- Опубліковано 2 січ 2007
- In this clip from the 1950's-60s British comedy group "Beyond the Fringe," Dudley Moore plays a very funny but also very musically well-done parody of a Beethoven Piano Sonata, using the famous whistling tune from "Bridge Over the River Kwai" as a thematic subject.
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People often forget that despite all the comedy, Dud was an absolutely superb pianist !
Brilliant! I regularly teach a class on sonata structures, and often mention this sketch to students. I was about 17 when it came out; and 40 years later realise that it's even better than I thought at the time. Quite apart from all the things others have mentioned - virtuosity, superlative musicianship, wit etc. etc. - he could do this only because he also knew the music inside out, understood compositional techniques, and had superb imagination. Wow!!
You must watch Chico Marx ,
You wouldn’t ever know where he got that from.
Harpo once went for a lesson with a maestro of harp music.
The maestro said ‘I don’t know where you learned to play like that , it’s completely un orthodox , and you are a far , far better player than I ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Exactly. Inside and out.
Such a shame he died so young and ill for a long while.
Raised a few eyebrows back in my teens when I bought his album from the Decca" World of" series. Still got it.
And, I mention this for a matter of completeness, it’s funny.
His expressions when even he thinks it's finished but then it carries on are priceless.
Really one of the best musical parodies ever. Dudley pulls out almost every stock ending from the Romantic Period and tries, in vain, to find an ending. Remarkable...and smart...and very funny.
if not for this comment i would never have understood his anguish or the audience's laughter.
The parody is so good that my poor brain is duped into believing Beethoven actually wrote it 😂
Actually, it just shows how crap
Beethoven was (only kidding)
@@vladtepes97 Absolutely.
@@vladtepes97 🤣🤣
I once had lunch with Dud. He was the most charming and witty man I've ever met. He was a musical and comedic genius. He asked me what instruments I played and I said "piano and violin - both very badly". He said, straight away, "Oh just like me then"! He was a brilliant person, and this shows how incredibly good he was at understanding and communicating classical music.
Dudley Moore - Giant intellect, giant musician, giant comedy brain, just a complete hero of entertainment, even before Hollywood discovered him. I am delighted that I was alive at the same time as he was. ✌
I feel our respective times on the planet did not overlap nearly long enough.
I like how throughout the fourth minute towards the end, he gives the impression of being unable to stop playing. Very well performed, and very clever.
Those looks to the audience and over his shoulder during the preposterously long and ridiculously accurate in character Beethovenian cadences upon cadences in the last minute-and-a-half of this grand parody. Oh, Dudley, you left us such a fine legacy!
The Egmont Overture has quite a long coda I think.some of Beethoven’s codas were almost comical!
Sheets do exist for this piece as well as most of Dudley's other compositions. They can be found in the book "The Complete Beyond the Fringe". This piece is actually entitled "And the Same to You".
The glorious desperation during the coda! So sorely missed. RIP Dud, Xxx
Glorious desperation indeed! And such a marvelous way to describe it!
The theme was used in "The Bridge over the River Kwai" but it was around long before that. The tune was written in 1914 by British bandmaster Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts and was known as "Colonel Bogey". Anyone who grew up in the UK in the in the 1950's / 1960's knew it as the music for a song about the anatomical deficiencies of the Nazi leadership. Dudley Moore would have been familiar with it in that context which is another aspect of the joke that might be missed by some.
Thank you for mentioning this, instead of all the polite references to the River Kwai. :)
♥♥♥♥♥
We all sang “Hitler has only got one --“ in 1958-60, even in foreign lands! (And then listened to Peter Cook and Dudley Moore for years - mixed with ‘This is London’ on the BBC World Service)
@@oliveralexandre3607 We certainly did! Come one - you all know the words.
♫ Hitler has only got one ball: Goering has two but very small; Himmler is very sim'lar, and poor old Goebbels has no balls at all. ♫
@@oliveralexandre3607 .. LOL.. I forgot about that little detail about Hitler's missing ***...
Hilarious to know this about that tune.. I'm gonna look for the lyrics...
I've always thought that comedy and music is a match made in heaven. Dudley is one of the best at making it work well.
Congratulations to Mr. Moore for the only composition in history in which the coda is longer than the rest of the work.
Not quite. How about Layla by Derek and the Dominos.
Methinks someone has forgotten Hey Jude.
Donovan’s Atlantis
This shows what a truly brilliant musician Dudley Moore was. A masterclass in variations and modulations. Fantastic. It even has a little bit of fugue in it! Beethoven would really love this!
It took me a while to realise it was ‘ Colonel Bogie’ !
Beethoven’s response: ‘Eh? Was sagst du?’
Shame he was deaf..
He was only pretending to be. Can’t blame him.
Yeah the fugue bit near the end. From the Well-Tempered Klavier.
I had no idea how good of a pianist (and composer) Dudley Moore was. Considering that Beethoven's actual themes weren't always that elaborate (cf. the 5th symphony!), this parody becomes even more plausible, in a way. And yes, the fugato part really is the icing on the parodistic cake.
For someone who has listened to Beethoven since very early times in my life, this is astoundingly like Beethoven's style.... as he gets further into the piece, it becomes indistinguishable from Beethoven.. I don't think the greatest living pianist could have done better than this... he uses every trick in the book that Beethoven used at the keyboard...
What a genius. Wish TV nowadays would make more use of talent like this. We're dreadfully shortchanged.
He was one creative, talented, and FUNNY bastard! RIP, Dudley.
I never knew he was such an accomplished pianist !! Wow. And that everlasting finale 😂😂😂
But the point is that he composed this music too. He didn't just play it.
I play and love Beethoven, and this is just the PERFECT Beethoven joke (parody). Genius!
I've never seen a more eloquently presented endorsement for the medical necessity of celebrity cloning. The world needs a few Dudley Moores on every content! Bravo!
Great comment … so true
@@dianecourtney2724 Dudley Moore was so damn awesome. He was a world treasure.
This is amazing... lol :) He was so unbelievably talented...
As Welsh Saddler said, Dudley was classically trained. He initially wanted to be a concert pianist but discovered he had such a talent for comedy that he began doing that and eventually worked his musicianship into his acts like you saw here. He was also a top rate jazz pianist and had a trio that played shows regularly.
The man had some serious musical chops. RIP Dudley.
Love him. Miss him. An adorable genius ❤️
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"...the famous whistling tune from "Bridge Over the River Kwai..."
So famous that people should know its history. The Colonel Bogey March was written in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts (1881--1945), a British army bandmaster who later became director of music for the Royal Marines at Plymouth.
This threw me - his pen-name is Kenneth J. Alford!
Not to mention the alternate set of lyrics to the piece that attached to the melody in WW2, beginning "Hitler... he only had one..." Well, you know...
@@patrickdrazen8411 You are talking bollocks 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@BernieHollandMusic Literally AND figuratively...
My dad (WW2 RAF Regiment, served in India and Burma), had some colorful lyrics for this tune. Went something like “don’t throw the lamp at father, wait ‘til he gets in bed, and grab his …. Bollocks, was all the band could play, bollocks, was all the band could play, …”
This is actually SO GOOD - seriously. I wonder how many viewers are aware of the wonderfully fine little hints at Beethoven present in this parody - there is A LOT more intelectual content here than it seems, more than the obvious overall feeling of Beethovenian pathos and the (hilariously) prolonged coda (LvB didn’t actually write overlong codas, but OK, definitely made the coda weightier)… While listening, I for once noticed the following:
1) Overall a recognizable structure of a crippled sonata form, with principal, secondary and closing „themes”, a „development section” (I’d say beggining at [2:04-]) followed - though without recap - by the „coda” [2:59-]
2) The piece being in the key of - yes! - C minor, I even went to the piano to check :>
3) There’s more: the 1st theme (the River Kwai tune) is in itself practically nothing more than a melodicized tonic chord - perhaps the strongest and cleverest Beethoven reference in this parody… I even came to realize that if Beethoven had magically resurrected in the Sixties, it’s seriously plausible that he would have used this exact theme for something!...
4) The 1st theme moves one step up in the second parallel phrase (OK, the harmony being only subdominant, but still I think a clear reference, overall makes an impression similar to the corresponding moves e.g. in the First Symphony, in the "Der Sturm" or „Appassionata” sonatas etc. etc.)
5) 2nd, contrasting „dolce” theme (and everything else too) ‘based’ on the 1st Kwai theme, creating an extreme unification of material, unmistakable Beethoven trait again (compare even 1st mov. of the F minor Sonata Op. 2/1!)
6) Little „fugato” moments in both the „exposition” and „development section” - this is no accident… Very smart!
7) Finally the little modulating fragment at [4:00-4:06] reminds me of the 1st movement of his last (also) C minor Sonata Op. 111, but I might be exaggerating here…
Eventually, one is left wondering who does comedy on such level nowadays…
great analysis!
+Gustawescu I wouldn't say that I am, but I find it refreshing to see an intelligent comment on UA-cam!
+Gustaw Jokiel he rocking that alberti bass
+Dan Harrison King Endless V-I cadences? Absolute pisser!
+Gustaw Jokiel Bravo! If Dudley Moore had parodied JS Bach instead, I could probably do very much the same with copious references to the Bach Werke Verzeichnis. Well done - you are a very perceptive man!
This was a true genius. Is he a wonderful comedian, a wonderful musician or wonderful... both!!
hes also a wonder actor as well :P
+FlashKick all agreed yay or nay?... the yays have it
For conn
commedic virtuosity see Victor Borge's Wagnerian Happy Birthday to Leonard Berstein: ua-cam.com/video/Gw76LWC3UyY/v-deo.html
Astonishing genius, applied to the noble aim of making people laugh. We are fortunate to have had him amongst us.
@@jascar88 Yes, but that's only one style; for a variety (and a finale even Dud might not have been able to do), see the Pesce version: ua-cam.com/video/S75gYhODS0M/v-deo.html
(And you don't have to sit through Victor Borge's very prolonged microphone gag, either.)
One of the perks of working at Bow Street was the fact that they would let us creep up to the back stalls and watch a bit of the show. I never ceased to be fascinated by this performance.
I am constantly amazed at Dudley's creativity & talent in the old audio & videos I have seen in recent years. He could play, compose, arrange & conduct music. Oh yeah, he could write, improvise, act multiple personalities from sketches to stage to recordings (music AND comedy!) movies and TV. I don't need to say anymore. The man was amazing.
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His skill on the piano is second to none
Thank you
absolutely GENIUS !!!!! beyond brilliant!!!!
I read somewhere that Dud was one of Oscar Peterson's favourite jazz pianists. Now that is some praise.
Brilliant, and what a pleasure it was to present this man in concert in New Zealand and Hawaii. His last performances sadly.
Such an amazing and versatile talent! You are missed, Dudley.
And Alan goes...
QI ;)
3:34
from which episode?@@KiwiSpartan01
@@MEKKANNOID
E series, the 11th episode
Well that's why I'm here....
I could sit and watch Dud for hours. Rest his soul. He is missed, but in a better place now
Poughkeepsie?
Saratoga Springs?
@@corndoug2605 I wouldn't call dead a better place.
Bury St Edmunds?
And today we've walked back into the Dark Ages with the backing-track drivel that is The X Factor.
Man alive this is incredibly.
Great! .. I love when he starts hammering out those octaves and looks to the audience with that subtle look of boredom.
Talent. Sheer talent. This man is a genius. The ending is classic.
Good old Ludwig, the ending that never ends. I love how he has to run away from the piano to end!
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Thanks for posting! I knew he was an excellent pianist, and an excellent comedian, but never saw that come together. What talent!
Just listen carefully to a few of Beethoven's own Piano Sonatas. The stunning thing is the deep knowledge of the composer and the sheer artistry and care that must have gone into preparing such a brilliant pastiche. For me, the finest moment is that plaintive look of desperation over his shoulder during the interminable coda. I'm sure that Beethoven would have loved it.
This is brilliantly clever! People forget just how talented Dudley Moore was.
BTF and Flanders and Swann helped me survive high school. My dad was a theatre reviewer in the 1950s and 60s, so I grew up with the records. Recently found in the attic, press packs, programs from these amazing troupes. Love them always.
My family had all of the same records - played so often that that they were almost worn out. We had memorized every second of each skit and song, though!
For those who don't know Flanders and Swann, you must listen to: Flanders & Swann sing Mozart's Horn Concerto ua-cam.com/video/bkYrj2DQlVc/v-deo.html
A timeless comedy classic and a masterclass in the art of the musical joke.
BRAVO!! As a classically trained musician, this is especially hilarious... love the looong drawn-out ending!!
Well, the last comment was dated 14 years ago, so I'm guessing my comment has already come true. But what I was going to say was. It's sad that such talent will go unseen, because of today's trends. Shame .
It is sad - Dudley Moore was an immensely talented pianist - his jazz playing was quite brilliant - inspired by his hero Errol Garner - his jazz works swing like crazy. As a comedian, his work with Peter Cook was also inspired - the Not Only But Also sketches are wonderful. There was real warmth and friendship to them, even though Pete’s aim every time was to make Dud corpse. Even the early, coarser Derek and Clive tapes are quite superb. Then it all went a bit sour. Pete’s drinking, and jealousy at Dud’s Hollywood stardom caused quite a rift between them, and the friendship was lost. Also Dudley made some questionable films, which is what he is mostly remembered for now, sadly. But, if folks care to dig deeper, there is a rich seam of truly brilliant work from a truly gifted comedian and jazz musician. I love his work - cuddly Dudley!
@@simonhodgetts6530thanks for the insight. This is first class humor -let alone the performance. Looked it up while reading George Martin’s bio, commenting on Beyond the Fringe… Will definitely search for Dudley’s jazz piano music. Indeed wonderfully talented!
It's not really so sad from another point of view. Yes I wish contemporary and future generations would appreciate this. Yes I feel like informing everybody what this is about so that someone under 40 might go 'ahh I SEE!'. Truth is, it's gone. Most people don't even look at nature and what's around them any more, let alone be able to appreciate a brilliant pastiche of Beethoven's tropes using a melody that your common postman used to whistle.
The positive side is that millions DID appreciate this. People WERE informed, knowledgeable and receptive to this. In fact something that Dudley himself would probably shrug about and dismiss as just a bit of fun was gorged upon, celebrated and sustained for quite a few decades (Dudley was still performing this occasionally to millions of laughing people towards the end of his life). It had a MASSIVE impact for something which was bordering on genius but still, just light entertainment. Personally I would say if Beethoven remains on the radar in the future there is always the potential for this to be understood and appreciated. The trouble is that very soon Beethoven will not have so much appeal to a new generation of composers and music afficionados because the parameters his music has will most likely not thrill or allure them enough. Modulation, development, thematic unity...as clever and artistic as all that once was....will be lost on a generation who naturally want to explore the multi-media possibilities of 'music' now. Visuals, sonic mutations, technological ingenuity and the limitless possibilities of sound sources....that's the future. Is it sad? Or would it be not be even more sad to hold people back to hang about studying the centuries-old craft of composition when they can explore a new musical world.
If you and I think it sad that the numbers who can appreciate this are dwindling, consider for a moment what Beethoven and his contemporaries would've thought of Dudley Moore and his distillation of tropes from the Classical period! They would've been appalled. Particularly his merciless repetition of tonic, dominant, tonic, dominant at the end. 😆
Don't get me wrong, I spend most of my time watching, listening to and reading things from the 20th century because it suits me better than anything in the last 25 years. So I feel sad about things disappearing when they were so much better. On the other hand I do realise that both Dudley, his colleagues, his audiences and a generation of comedy did very very VERY well out of this item! Well enough for it not to be sad, really.
This is musical genius and superb humour.
Long live this recording and thanks for this memory Dudley.
Just brilliant!
Dudley Moore was both a great comedian and a first-class pianist.
The most talented of the whole lot!
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I seem to recall someone asking Dudley if he had to choose between acting/comedy and piano, he said something to the effect: piano without question.
Oh my, I’d forgotten this, it’s beyond brilliant and elevates the form to beyond Victor Borge in my book. Good old Dud!
Absolutely brilliant. It's unfortunate that movies never really showcased this side of his talent, as far as I'm aware (as is so often the case with super-gifted people). So glad to have a clip like this ~ thanks for posting!
He got to showcase them in the move "10" and very briefly in "Arthur". Beyond that you're definitely right. ua-cam.com/video/1XOuE4fsqKQ/v-deo.html
Very true. Apparently Jack Lemmon was similarly gifted, and an excellent pianist.
I never get tired of listening to this. I would have loved to see him get together with Victor Borge and create something special.
I love the fact that the comedy was all in the playing of the music! I absolutely adore Borge but he frustrates the heck out of me because, as talented as he was musically, he played so very little in his comedy pieces. But yeah, they were both over-the-top as comedians and as musicians.
@@Chuzini He did a lot of serious work as well. Sadly, the comedy sold better and made more money for the producers. We got what we were given.
Quit so - but could they both fit in the same room at the same time :)
Best. Coda. Ever.
I always remember the multiple chord ending. When we saw it on tv all those years ago the whole family roared.
He played many straight recitals, including duets (I forget who with unfortunately). They're around, and he really shows his talent :)
I wholeheartedly agree with Gustaw Jokiel's fabulous musical analysis of this piece (see below - it's a great summary), but I've always thought not only does this piece succeed as a musical parody, it's hitting on *so* many levels. Like :
- it takes on Beethovan as a piece of musical satire (props)
- it takes the piss out of British "pomp and glory" WWII stuff
- it takes the piss out of "Bridge on the River Kwai", having the "Colonel Bogey" theme go on, and on, and on....
- it takes the piss out of musical performance
- and Moore not only manages to play this brilliantly, but also has fantastic physical comedic nuances in his increasingly frantic looks and twitches
I will never tire of this.
Total brilliance in every way. Such ability, imagination and humour.
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I have a copy of the original "BBC 3rd Program Broadcast" LP, which was the pre-Monty Python group. This toon was labeled "Same To You". A 'March on the River Kawi' Sonata. Actually, scored it (wrote it to sheet music), improvised a couple more stanzas (needed it to be over 5 mins) and performed it at one of my recitals, to the angst of my piano instructor, but to the amusement of the audience. Even after 40 years, my mother still talks about that performance. Can still pull most of it out of my hat...
The "coda: is a blend of codas from three Beethoven sonatas and a piano quartet by Schubert. I haven't seen this in years, and it's not only funny, it's also well-written and played.
i love the fact that he can be hilarious just by playing
The very best genius comedy musician period !!! He is sorely missed by many.
My how we forget how Dudley was a brilliant musician as well as actor & comedian. At the end of his life it was his inability to play the piano that saddened him the most. I regularly play tracks from his albums on my jazz themed radio show.
Brilliant in every way.
Every time I watch this I feel like my head is going to explode trying absorb every nuance in this piece.
I remember that many years ago I watched a documentary about Handel's life and Dudley was the narrator and at least the harpsichordist in one of the Concerti grossi. Truly brilliant!
I am literally IN LOVE with Dudley Moore. Even more so after watching this. Yep, LOVE.
WOW. Such a great comedian, and musician. RIP Dudley Moore, you entertained us greatly.
Solo un genio puede realizar una parodia con altura, calidad y respeto. La musica "Clasica" no es aburrida como muchos creen. Los musicos que nos dedicamos a ella lo sabemos bien y el sentido del humor no esta nunca ausente. Genio Dudley-
Meraviglioso attore e musicista
One of the most loved and lovable men
This is truly wonderful!
I so miss Dudley he was one of the most talented ever musically and theatrically but most of all his musical dexterity skill and mastermind of how classical music can capture and entrance
If he never did anything else, nothing more would have been needed to testify to his comedic and musical genius. Bravo!!
This is one of my favorite videos on UA-cam! I saw it a few times years ago and started looking for it again today, so happy to have found it yay! makes me happy!
I’m hoping we have a world where everyone learns how to sing, play the piano or at least some instrument and dance. Much more prevalent 100 years ago than it is today. Brilliant man and musician!
I grew up at a time when a good number of homes had a piano and the ability to play was an 'expected', rather than an exception.
We had that world until we got technology and we could let someone else do it! Around 1900, most households had a piano, more than had a bathtub! My journalist father said we were becoming a nation of watchers! He said it would ruin us! Frank Lloyd Wright had all his students at Talieson work each one in a garden patch and every student had to play an instrument! I entirely agree with you! Watching accomplished people play gives many the false idea that observing is the same as playing! Only by doing have we the humility we need for intelligent observation! Constant watching makes us arrogant!
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Awesome! So much talent and humor in once piece! That never ending ending...loved it!
Stunning.
Remnants from a time in which entertainment, sophistication and culture were not mutually exclusive. Absolutely brilliant!
Alan goes 3:34
so lucky to still have this, been remembering it for over 30 yrs!
Too bad this amazing talent wasn't fully utilized! Yahoos for an audience!
Brings back to mind Victor Borge and PDQ Bach. Brilliant use of augmentation too--perhaps the lost cadenza to the 3rd Concerto-someone must write out and publish!
Brilliant. In so many ways.
this guy is a genious!
I loved his joke of a interminable ending like beethoven's ones...
Thank you so much for posting this playlist! He's one of my musician/comedian/actor heroes.
"Very funny" is an understatement! The coda sounds as if Beethoven was trying different approaches to end the piece but couldn't decided which one to use and then just put them all together. Marvelous.
Dudley was very underrated as a musician. He could play jazz as well as classical. Brilliant!
So could Andrew Preview who we also greatly miss
to this day, my all time favorite piano player. it's another animal all together when u add comedy successfully to beethoven
I thought I would never see and hear this again! MOORE's incredible variety of talents were sadly only known to a few. He was reported to have been an amazingly talented JAZZ pianist in his own right. The world has always been replete with dung that is lauded by the masses. It's their loss that they never knew THIS Dudley as well.
He wasn't just reported as a great jazz pianist. He performed not only on TV in UK many times with his trio but made a number of LPs of which I have a couple.
Only known to a few? He did this in the West End and on Broadway for a several years, then on TV, and sold many thousands of records. Spent his declining years touring as a classical pianist.
Only known to a few? He did this in the West End and on Broadway for several years, then a long-running TV show, sold many thousands of records, and spent his declining years touring as a pianist.
The score was published in The Complete Beyond the Fringe, Mandarin ed. I bought a used copy recently.
What talent he had!
Astonishingly brilliant! On so many levels. Thanks for sharing: I've not seen this before.
I HAD not seen this before.
Duane, I know that you did not just correct someone who was using proper British English about an English performer. I just know it.
@@bcdm999 The past perfect tense is the same in American and British English. It is the tense he should have used.
Find classic albums of Beyond the Fringe there are two and they are brilliant insane comedy!
Loved Dudley, he was one of the most talented musicians, comedian actor of our time.
Thank you so much for posting this priceless performance.
Dudley composed this!
+MrKErocks In fact, he did, and it was published about 1 year after this very performance. I love his re-introducing newer audiences to it as well, in the movies Foul Play, Unfaithfully Yours (probably his best use of the never ending ending) , Arthur, etc.
So interesting to compare this recording with his much later one for Parkinson's show. Yes he plays this for laughs but his musical genius shines so much brighter in this earlier version. Tragic that he didn't devote more of his career to music.
Parody or not, it takes talent and discipline to be so good and so silly. Bravo.
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@@greggriffin3422 Not really.
Dudley, you Bloody GENIUS!
From Oz with LOVE
We miss you!
Pure genius.
So talented
I've never laughed at a purely instrumental performance before...
This is comedy at its most pure.
This is musical genius and superb humour.
Long live this recording. Thanks for this laugh and memory Dudley.