Beethoven's Farewell To The Piano
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- Опубліковано 6 лип 2023
- In 1824, Beethoven, having completed his ninth symphony, returned to his own instrument, the piano, for the final time. He had signed off on his final piano sonatas the previous year, declaring the piano to be “after all an unsatisfactory instrument”. However, he seems to have been in a happier mood with the Op 126 bagatelles. They were conceived as ‘a Cycle’ of pieces, arranged in a specific order and it seems likely that he intended them to be played together as a complete set. When Beethoven sent them to his publisher, he wrote. “They are probably the best I’ve written.”
This G major bagatelle follows the extraordinary, stormy B minor bagatelle (which we will look at soon in another film). The G major, like its predecessor, makes use of syncopation, but in a wonderfully innocent way, like a lullaby with a slightly surprising sense of swing. The whole piece is written in a 3-part texture, with two low voices (starting in parallel thirds) accompanying the melody in the outer sections, and, in the exquisite central episode, two upper voices (also starting in parallel thirds), with a distinctly Italian character, singing a duet over a rocking barcarolle accompaniment. This passage would appear to have had a marked influence on later Romantic composers, especially Felix Mendelssohn’s ‘Gondellied’ pieces of the 1830s.
Beethoven’s handling of form is, as always, ingenious and unexpected. The opening section shifts unexpectedly to E minor with a half-close on a unison B, which then pivots surprisingly into the C major of the barcarolle middle section. This Venetian episode is also surprising in the way it progresses, from artless simplicity and stillness, into a climactic passage with an increase of harmonic turbulence (as if the gondola is encountering more difficult waters) and then dissolving quite unexpectedly into a tiny refrain of the opening, like a memory.
The score in this video comes from the 1825 first edition. There is a missing tie in the upper staff from bar 12 - 13, and another in bar 19.
Beethoven: Bagatelle in G major Op 126, no. 5.
Pianist: Matthew King.
Another film about the B minor Bagatelle Op 126 can be seen here: • Beethoven’s B Minor Ba...
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Edited by Ian Coulter ( www.iancoultermusic.com )
Produced and directed by Ian Coulter & Matthew King
![Beethoven - 6 Bagatelles, op. 126 (Audio+Sheet) [Kempff]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-zHJQPmDal0/mqdefault.jpg)
As a composer myself, I am even more amazed by the genius of beethoven in composing universally beloved and sentimental music even during of his tinnitus, even during his deafness. He was truly "A man battling against his fate".
Yes, he wasn't going to let the very great difficulties of life get in the way! In all the portraits of Beethoven, you can see the determination in his face. The famous striving quality in his music is therefore understandable, but the intimate, vulnerable element that's also there is really wonderful, and moving.
@@mtv565ranked by who? I love dearly all three of these composers, but to a degree it is subjective as to who is “best” among the three. They all composed during completely different eras and revolutionized music in their own unique ways!
How does one get into composing music
@@downfromkentuckeh
Studying music theory.
Downloading music composition software (DAW).
Creating the first projects within the software.
@@mtv565i truly don't understand why people continue to compare composers. If you mean in contrapuntal way, for sure. Because countrapuntal was the main concern in bach.
My suggestions is that you listen something other then baroque and classical my friend
Beethoven's such a genius he composed an end credits piece for his life.
Lmao
Das ist aber mal schön gesagt!
I feel like the "replacement finale" for opus 130 perfecrly fits that description considering that is was his last full composition.
but this was his credits and farewell for piano solo@@elemusic19
Beethoven is a literal music mastermind...
It's sad that he couldn't have led a happier life.
Happy people make nonsense music tho. Usually just a bunch of chants over the most basic stuff ever.
@@freedustinMozart: 🗿
@@freedustin that is true, but Beethoven didn't deserve what he got.
@@freedustin Even when the often happy Mozart wrote nonsense music it achieved more complexity than the best works of his peers.
@@franz9002 difference was he wasn't just copy pasting something from 200 years ago...and chanting "I'm the best! Sex me up!" for 5 minutes over it!
This is how music analysis should be taught in the institutions.
I like his farewell to Sonatas even more. The second movement of Sonata No. 32 is like an ascention to heaven
No one is going to debate that point! Beethoven's final sonatas contain some of the greatest music ever written by anybody ever.
Great stylistic variety as well, things never heard before given to listeners to look forward to in the future.
I have loved 32 no 2 for over 10 years and then today I discovered this one. What a gift
Yes, very true! It sounds like a happy ending at the end.
@@ericb7937 Yes, his bagatelles are simple but sublime!
can not resist putting in my 2 cents as a composer myself - I love, love, love this kind of writing - it's the kind of music I often like to write - one grows as a composer - one cares less about impressing others - cares less about making grand, dramatic statements - one craves simplicity & intimacy - one knows the music will attract little attention or praise - only listeners in the same state will resonate
Yes. Thank you for your wise comment. Simplicity and intimacy are enormously important and so hard to bring off!
when it is the only thing the composer can do it is not intimacy, it is limitation. So the great things he did is what gives intimacy to this.
@@emanuel_soundtrack truly one of the most bizarre music comments I've ever read
@@VallaMusic does he mean that because Beethoven is known for ‘big’ (great) music, the fact that he is just as adept at this type of intimate music is what sets him apart as a composer??
@@izzyk867 personally i don't want to bother wasting any of my brain time trying to figure it out - and if I start ranting about what I think of the academic world and their opinions of what constitutes 'genius' and 'great' music, then I will get myself too worked up
I am not a good pianist, but I have played some of the late bagatelles, from Op 119. It's astonishing how much he gets from so little material. And at the same time, calling them "Bagatelles". His farewell to the piano is simultaneously dismissing it, and elevating the simplest of music to astonishing heights.
Absolutely right!
"Exquisite skill creates the illusion of utter simplicity". That's exactly what I was thinking: this seems so simple, and yet, it's so marvelously crafted. It reminds me of late Brahms, where he was able to take the most economical raw materials and make consummate masterpieces of them.
Absolutely!
Such a fulfilling farewell. I can imagine beethoven composing this while remembering all of his struggles in the past with tears in his eyes and with a gentle smile on his face...
0:44 this note here hits in the heart omg
Yes!
I could watch hours of music if they were narrated like this. Thank you!
Thank you so much!
Bagatelle: 'a thing regarded as too unimportant to be worth much consideration.' 😅
I think not.
Lovely bit of 🎶
For an artist, the gift of being able to encapsulate the sublime into the simple is one of the rarest of them all. You can search all your life and never find it.
Imagine having such supreme talent and yet being cursed by not being able to hear your own creations. I read that he had the legs cut off his piano so it was close to the ground and he could instead feel the vibrations. That's heartbreaking.
This is awesome! Composers' late works are endlessly fascinating to me
Indeed their stylistic evolution and growth is a joy to see
Late style is an endlessly fascinating topic.
I love Beethoven's music. One of the great composers. Never enough of his music.
I’ll always love Beethoven.
Incredibly gorgeous! Beethoven’s genius could find the incredible beauty in both complexity as well as simplicity!
Exactly!
Love it! Thanks for reminding me of this beautiful piece!
Wonderful 👏
Thank you for making this video
Outstanding. So fortunate to have found this channel. Many thanks.
Thank you for sharing this. I needed to hear this today. Love to all!
Beautiful. Great analysis, thank you
Beethoven is simply a genious
And yet he's just as human as all of us
@@tchaffmanfact
I really enjoy your commentary/notes in this video!
your videos are good. Genuine and to the point.
Simply made my cry with joy
Sublime. Thank you, Prof, for the reminder of this beautiful piece ❤
i like to compose music.
i am teaching myself music theory. it is slow. i listen to other, better artists, and i somehow hope their spirit will descend into my hand.
but i could never reach the heights this man had. he struggled far more than i do now, yet gave us such beauty.
i know it's no good to give up just because others are better. but i just wish i could feel whatever took him over in those moments, with a pen and paper handy at the fortepiano.
Outstanding video and explanation.
Perfect music!❤
Your analysis in the description is excellent
I love your works...thanks Beethoven
wow I hadn't heard this before and I absolutely loved it, and you can totally feel immediately how it inspired the songs without words
Beautiful content! No matter how familiar I am with a piece I will always watch your relevant video and find something new!
Thank you. That's a lovely comment!
It is a beautiful little piece!
Sitting here crying at this piece. Thank you for sharing this
Great video on this fascinating piece. I still find this opus so gratifying to play.
It's wonderful. I think Beethoven intended the Op 126 cycle to be a self-contained set, almost an equivalent to a sonata - a different way of doing things. It was a pioneering thing to do. They are marvellous pieces.
@@themusicprofessor I think you're correct about that: not only does it make musical sense, but Beethoven himself seems to have had that goal (he wrote a note on the sketch of the first piece, "Ciclus von Kleinigkeiten", indicating the cyclical nature of the pieces).
The Bagatelles have a special place in my heart although it hadn't occur to that this was his farewell to the piano! Thank you for sharing.
Well, it's not the absolute farewell because there's another bagatelle after it!
This melancholic joy with a happy ache is why I subbed to this channel
Thank you so much! Wonderful comment.
That’s a beautiful description.
This is the type of music that I like. He'll always be an inspiration to me.
I havent even watched the video yet, but I'm shocked by the uncanny timing of this. I'm reading Gödel, Escher, Bach, A Golden Braid, and Just finished the section going over this hidden B-A-C-H at the end of his last piece. Didnt speak it out loud, didn't search for more info, and now I'm recommended a video by a UA-camr I've never seen, talking about this topic. Uncanny.
At some point, we will look at Bach's final contrapunctus in the Art of Fugue, where his name appears as his final unfinished fugue subject... (it is a bit mind-blowing!)
A great book by my favourite author. If you haven't already, you ought to read his book Metamagical Themas (this is a very cute anagram), and read up on his articles of music and pattern and his 'Variations on a Theme is the Crux of Creativity'. They are two fantastic articles on the very nature of 'originality' in ideas and he sheds light on some Beethoven and Chopin in these works. They very much allude to what Beethoven is doing here, especially the 'Variations on a Theme' article!
The simplicity makes it so beautiful 😢
I have recently subscribed and I love your channel. I have discovered several composers I had not heard of before and some music I really like. Even better I like the way you present your material. The comments are very much an addition. It's funny you both seem like a professor and you don't seem like one at all. Also I like the fact the scores are hand written. Thanks much.
Thank you so much for your encouraging comment. Simultaneously 'seeming like a professor and not seeming like one at all' - yes, I think that's very perceptive. I'm glad that's how it comes across.
This score is printed
So glad i discovered ur channel! Your videos are short and right to the point, unlike other channel when i have to watch 40min of nonsense. Keep it up.
And, as a violinist, i hope i can see something related to my instrument. Im sure im not the only one. Something like Brahams, Dovrak or Sibelius violin concerto. That would be one hell of a video
Thank you for the encouragement!
Loving the content on your UA-cam channel!
Thank you so much for posting such high quality visuals alongside the sheet music, it really helps in internalizing and understanding the compositions deeply and from a different perspective.
I Really hope you get 10x the amount of views/subs, it is well deserved!
Thank you so much!
@@themusicprofessor Of course!
Could I suggest a video on maybe the Rebecca Clarke Viola sonata or Joseph Jongen's concertino for viola and piano?
Both composers have some outstanding and underrated works, and I'm sure some people would be interested in discovering such pieces!
Beautiful ❣❣❣
Great video.
All the bagatelles (there are three sets) are gems, or as someone once described ‘chips from the masters workbench’. The final set of bagatelles by themselves are enough, in my estimation, to mark Beethoven as an exceptional composer.
Absolutely. If he'd written nothing but bagatelles, he'd be considered a very significant composer!
I didn´t know this piece, thank you very much.
_How very lovely ... and sad._
beautiful
The masters last bagatelles are supreme art, sublime, simple, compact, perfect gems. Coming into existence right after the mountains of the 9th, it seems like the exhausted and increasingly I'll master seeks to catch his breath, find a little balance. I agree that they greatly influenced the next generation of composers.
Excellent comment. Thank you
Wow, this one is great. Now I know who my favorite composer is.
Brilliant ❤❤
That was magical
Thank you!
My favorite bagatelle by Beethoven is the bagatelle that comes right before this one (Op.126, No. 4), for I am a huge sucker to the fast tempo, and intense, militaristic sound. However, this one is very good too!
There will be a video about 'the one before' soon...
Charming
My favorite bagatelle. I have always felt this work ought to be performed with a slightly slower tempo as it suits the composition's contemplative nature. This piece is easy to play but requires refined technique and sensibility to perform.
It seems easy but it's really difficult! I know what you mean about slower tempo, and I certainly used to play it slower. However, I'm convinced that Beethoven's 'Quasi Allegretto' implies a bit more movement than it often receives from pianists.
I'm ashamed that I wasn't aware of this opus... thanks, beautiful
I had never heard it either! So beautiful, playful, relaxing, and pleasant. Like an early morning walk through a meadow
I cried Super hard because this is just.. Sad..
Wow. It’s like all the pain is gone. He’s free.
I could have also said ‘My horse for the score”
Wonderful channel. Thanks for your great work. Very captivating.
Beethoven did with 2 voices what most couldn't with a 100
I played the last Eb bagatelle during my last year as an undergrad as a farewell to college. I went back and did my masters in music and currently teach, research, compose, yet Beethoven's music is STILL so captivating and interesting the older I get - - he just gets better. And let's not forget the man was deaf the last 10 years - - truly an unrelenting man
About 2 weeks ago I heard this piece for the first time and fell in love with it. Now I have a question to @The Music Professor, sir. As I understand, the piano in Beethoven's days sounded a bit different as today's pianos sound. How could he have composed such wonderful marvellous sonatas and pieces? Had he had some better versions of piano sound in mind? And can you make a comparison how a piece sounded in Beethoven's days and how it sounds today?
The fortepiano evolved very fast during Beethoven's lifetime and Viennese makers like Nannette Streicher (who was a close friend of Beethoven's) were adapting their pianos to the performance idioms that Beethoven's music required of the instrument. Even so, the pianos of Beethoven's lifetime had a very different sound and action from a modern Steinway. In many ways, their beautiful, fragile tone, and subtle variety of tone is much closer to Beethoven's imagination than the sound of the modern piano.
Oh, my!
you often find waltzes and other dances in his sonatas, like in pastoral or appassionata. But I think if there's a single Beethoven piece who really foreshadows and inspired the young romantics was his short sonatina op 79, often called Cuckoo, especially the andante... must have caused quite an impression on those kids
You're absolutely right - that little barcarolle had a big impact on Mendelssohn, and it is very similar in character to the middle of this bagatelle.
It's a shame Beethoven never wrote for the guitar. What wonders he would've made with it.
0:54 passage really reminds me of Shostakovich's 2nd Waltz, amazing!
Interesting. Another comment said the same. They are both in C and have a similar momentum but DSCH (being minor) is surely more melancholic.
What is DSCH stand for please?
@@juliannadoyle8976 I think he is refering to Dimitri Shostakovich
Actually, if you just whistle the main melody of this section you'll notice more clearly how similar the melodies are (apart from the harmonies). You can almost take one for the other
Beethoven just wanted to put the piano's music to sleep; or better yet, the piano itself.
Less is only more once you know what more is
you should do a vid on the first bagatelle from that set
OK
0:56 you know what this reminds me of? Shostakovich’s arguably most famous piece, the Waltz from the 2nd Jazz suite.
Ouch
@@orgue2999 why ouch?
I can see what you mean - both tunes share a similar C tonality, and momentum, but Shostakovich's waltz is minor, and generally more melancholic!
@@themusicprofessor oh totally, I agree. I meant also the melodic line and phrasing of the Beethoven, compared with the Shostakovich
1:01 This C# creates a sharp dissonance (augmented octave) and yet it doesn't sound out of place at all!
Great comment! No - it sounds fantastic!
Oh that A sharp..
I'm composing a leider based from my a favorite poem by Longfellow. It begins in Dm goes thru Bbm and ends in Bb I really want the Bb to sound like this. I thought it'd be easy, but how could Beethoven write such stuff? It's awe-inspiring. I feel the opposite from Beethoven. Writing for voice is easy for me where as piano with voice piano as backup that is, is like "child birth!"lol Is there any book on deconstructing Beethoven bagatelles? If so, which would you recommend? Or any books on "his Musical Majesty's" music. Thanks
It's a good question. It would be good if there was a book called "how to compose like Beethoven" but there isn't! The best way to learn though is to imitate initially. So you might like to look closely at a Beethoven bagatelle and see if you can do the same kind of thing your way...
Thank you! I finished it! And, though I may revise it a few times to come, it's exactly what I wanted. Someday I hope that a baritone and soprano will preform it, for now it is just a voice sound on my free composing app. I'll upload I today.❤
What piano(forte) was this played on? Now and then, it's nice to hear Beethoven's piano music on an instrument for which he may have known the sound.
I have had the great pleasure of playing a Nanette Streicher fortepiano that Beethoven probably played (housed at the Cobbe Collection in the UK) but actually this was recorded on a modern grand piano. I was pleased that, on the recording, it does almost sound like a fortepiano though.
Great presentation! Also, at 1:56 the key signature incorrectly states D instead of G.
The middle section is in D and this is taken from the first edition - I suspect it's an engraver's error.
@@themusicprofessor actually the middle section is in C
Thank you for introducing me to this piece! Now was Beethoven completely deaf when he wrote this?
His hearing was very poor at the end of his life, although I believe he could hear some sounds, and I believe he still made use of ear trumpets when composing.
Beethoven's last word to his piano was a rest
I was expecting the one in F major called literally "Adieu to the piano".
"Adieu to the piano" is a little early Romantic F major piece with a pretty melody. Probably not by Beethoven.
How about the "bagatelle" discovered ~15y ago in his Missa(?) ms...? (or a late 4tet was it...?)
I'm not aware of this...
Does anyone know anything about the authenticity of this piece? I inherited a ton of sheet music as a kid, but this one had "Definitely not by Beethoven" clearly written in the margin. And if you search for this piece on the internet there's plenty of doubt about its authenticity, although it is described as a "popular parlor piece in the 19th and early 20th century" in some places.
Sorry but I think you need to check your sources on this one. The Op 126 bagatelles are as authentic as the 5th Symphony. These are essential late works, with absolutely no query whatsoever of authenticity. His handwritten manuscript can be seen online (on IMSLP) as can the 1st edition, which was published under his supervision in 1825. The manuscript and published materials are all in the Beethoven Haus in Bonn, if you want to check on their reliability! www.beethoven.de/en/work/view/6442185083846656/Six+Bagatelles+for+piano+op.+126
i wrote this
Are you sure you're not confusing this with the Sonatina in G major? That one has dubious authenticity.
@@themusicprofessor How do we know about the authenticity of the 5th symphony though?
I suspect the confusion is with a piece called 'Adieu for the Piano' which is a very pretty Romantic piano piece in F major, published in the 1830s and attributed to Beethoven for commercial reasons. It's a lovely waltz in a moderate tempo, with a charming tertiary shift to A major, that's not unlike the kind of thing Beethoven does on occasion. However, it has a Romantic salon character that Beethoven's music very rarely (if ever) has. It's still a nice piece though and not too difficult to play.
There Are Two Musical Pieces That Could Be Possibly His Last Works:
1) String Quartet No. 13 In B-Flat Major, Op. 130: Negative Reaction To The Work's Final Movement At The First Performance, And His Publisher's Urging, Led Beethoven To Write A Substitute For The Final Movement, A Contredanse Much Shorter And Lighter Than The Enormous Große Fuge It Replaced. This New Finale Was Written In The Late Autumn of 1826, During A Relapse Into Severe Illness, And Is The Final Complete Piece of Music Beethoven Composed Before His Death In March, 1827.
2) Bagatelle In F Minor, Kullack f. 51/52: This Was Written In 1826, A Year After The Six Bagatelles. IMSLP Says This Could Be The Last Composition For Piano, Actually Uncatalogued.
3) Instrumental Draft, Biamonti 849: Written In 1827, It Contains Sketches For The Last Movement of His String Quartet No. 13, Op. 130. According To An Annotation By The Highly Unreliable Anton Schindler, These Are The Last Notes Written By Beethoven, Ten or Twelve Days Before His Death. Based On Its Location, This Fragment Is Indeed One of The Very Last Musical Writings, If Not The Last, Of The Composer, And Cannot Date From Any Earlier Than November 1826. The Intended Instrumentation Is Unclear, But Since It Appears On Two Staves Piano Was Conjectured. This Item Has The Final Biamonti Number.
There is also a sketch for an unfinished string quintet and several incomplete sketches for a 10th symphony. I recall that Beethoven also spoke, near the end of his life, about wanting to compose a requiem and an overture on the theme B.A.C.H.
1:09 How did it inspire a genre? Barcarolles have been popular since at least the 1770s. And Mendelssohn's Venetian gondola songs are very different in tone
In the 1820s Mendelssohn studied late Beethoven more than any other composer.
I seem to be the only one that is not convinced that Beethoven wrote this. It is nothing like the style of any of his late works.
erm...given that we have it in his manuscript and he had it published in 1825, I'm not sure how to convince you further. Actually the style is similar to several passages I can think of. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagatelles,_Op._126_(Beethoven)
I really enjoy and appreciate your content, as it reminds me of the importance of learning the actual history and story behind each composer's piece, with which to imbue one's own performance of it. Thank you for enhancing both my own performance of pieces and my appreciation of them!
Thank you so much. Wonderful to hear that it's helpful. Yes -it's so important to know the context of the music we play: it makes it all come alive!
@@themusicprofessor Totally. It's what we're all taught by our music/instrument teachers but when we move on, as I have, a lot of us forget that and just interpret a piece and it's story solely from what we hear. Historical study is integral to musicianship, not just the act of performance.
Lo es
La Romanesca.
There seems to be a mistake at the end of the score, 'cause you're playing in G major but the score is in D major. 1:58
Yes - it's the first edition from 1826. The key signature is wrong.
I don’t understand why do you say it’s his farewell to the piano? please explain thank you
If you read the video description, below the video, it gives a very clear explanation! This is the 5th piece in Beethoven's final set of Bagatelles Op 126, his last major piano composition.
Was this a French bagatelle?
Okay, now I'm sad. 😢
Beethoven's too life-affirming to be too sad.
It's been known for many years that Beethoven was dead though.
Plz can someone give me the opus and number?
It's on the video description
If Bach had written this, the melodic gesture in the right hand in bar 2 and elsewhere would be an obvious example of the Kreuz (cross) motif, and the parallel thirds and 3-part writing would be candidates for Trinitarian symbolism. What are your thoughts on whether Beethoven intended these to be Christian symbols?
It's difficult to know - he's not explicit about it. He is explicit in the great sonata Op 110 in which the finale appears to be a symbolic representation of death and resurrection.
Erstens: Hätte, hätte, Fahrradkette.
Zweitens: Wenn Bthvn nichts darüber gesagt oder geschrieben hat, dann wissen wir rein gar nichts darüber, was er gedacht haben könnte. Er könnte eben durchaus an die duftenden Bratkartoffeln mit Zwiebeln, die es um 18 Uhr zum Nachtessen geben sollte, gedacht haben.
I wonder what Ludwig would have been happy with the modern pianoforte.
Hard to know. The fortepiano of his time was a very different instrument.
That Bethoven guy, did he dieded?
The most amazing thing about beethoven was that he was a tiny, wee man. Vertically challenged, one might say. Yet he had large hands, and arms like an ape. So he was an oddly proportioned fellow. That would have made him genetically odd, too. I've always suspected that he was a throwback to our Neanderthal ancestors, with an oversized occipital bun full of the ancestral memories of the species, and a big, fat imagination, where all manner of odd things took place.
Intriguing idea.
0:47 Tchaikovsky)))
Interesting. Which piece?
@@themusicprofessormy guess is Waltz of the Flower. Could be wrong but that's the closest one
Letzer Musikalischer Gedanken ?
Name of piece?
Bagatelle Op.126 No.5