Exploring Beethoven - lifecourses.califecourses.ca/sites/default/files/2018-02/Session Three.pdf · “With all the tragic power of its first movement the D minor Sonata is, ... Cello

Exploring Beethoven

A LIFE Institute CourseSession Three

Bob Fabianhttp://CoursePages4LIFE.ca/Beethoven

First Picnic Location

Session Plan

● Unfinished Business – Jaw Harp● Too many great examples● Beethoven & The Piano

– Evolution of the Piano

– “Tempest” Sonata No. 17

– Cello & Piano Duet No. 3

– Choral Fantasy

– “Emperor” Concerto No. 5

Unfinished Business

How to make a mouth harphttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjC4nBjMUg0

How to play a jaw harphttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrxxed54hcg

Beethoven & The Piano

● Early Fame – Keyboard Virtuoso● Keyboard – Composer's Instrument

● The way for one person to play two (or more) musical lines

● No. 17 (of 32 Piano Sonatas)● No. 3 (of 5 Cello (& Piano) Sonatas)● Choral Fantasy (end of program spectacular)● No. 5 (of 5 Piano Concertos)

Session Approach

Provide more versions for home listening

A (brief) History

Leeds 2012 International Competitionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMxqAKxWMYA

Sonata No. 17 (Op. 31, No. 2)

● Known as “The Tempest” (Der Strum)● Composed in 1801/2● Anton Schindler claimed that Beethoven was inspired

by Shakespear's The Tempest● The banished Duke of Milan plots to restore his daughter to her

rightful place, (using magic)

● Three movements● Largo – Allegro● Adagio● Allegretto

Donald Francis Tovey

● “With all the tragic power of its first movement the D minor Sonata is, like Prospero, almost as far beyond tragedy as it is beyond mere foul weather. It will do you no harm to think of Miranda at bars 31–38 of the slow movement... but people who want to identify Ariel and Caliban and the castaways, good and villainous, may as well confine their attention to the exploits of Scarlet Pimpernel when the Eroica or the C minor Symphony is being played.” (pg. 121, A Companion to Beethoven's Pianoforte Sonatas)

Traditional Performance

Daniel Barenboim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiJjoFQtMvg

Pianoforte Performance

McGill, 2013https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHSOAThYQUM

[start at 27:50]

Recomposing Beethoven

Glenn Gould, 1966https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYvTEOXEU4o

Re-composed “Tempest”

Glenn Gould, 1960https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7zwcTYFgBw

Cello Sonata No. 3

● Written in 1808 (in A major, Op. 69)● Dedicated to Baron Ignaz von Gleichenstein● First performed in 1809

● Nikolaus Kraft, cello● Dorothea von Ertmann, piano

● First cello sonata to give equal importance to both instruments – Steven Isserlis

● Piano really was Beethoven's instrument

Classic Version – Op. 69

Jacqueline du Pre, cello; Daniel Barenboim, pianohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmZqHrJCXAk

More Re-Composing?

Pianist ; Glenn Gould [ 1932 - 1982 ]Cellist ; Leonard Rose [ 1918 - 1984 ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUpBCO4TYfM

Choral Fantasy, Op. 80

● For piano, soloists, chorus and orchestra● 22 December 1808 Benefit Concert

● Fifth and Sixth symphonies● Fourth piano concerto● Mass in C major, excerpts● Combining all forces – Choral Fantasy

● Beethoven: Pianist, Conductor, Composer● Troubled first performance

● Was stopped and then restarted

Following the Musical Lines

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geOdC2EaJA4

As Normally Seen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H287izzj8HM

Full Concert

Triple Concerto, Op. 56Yo-Yo Ma, Perlman, Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim, piano y director.Sala de la Berliner Philharmonie en Berlín-Tiergarten.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kYJZoDrFeQ

[37:30]

Emperor Concerto

● Composed in 1809-1811, Op. 73● Dedicated to Archduke Rudolf● First performed in Leipzig in November 1811● First performance in Vienna, February 1812, Carl Czerny

piano● The last piano concerto of Beethoven● Three movements

● Allegro in E-flat major● Adagio un poco moto in B major● Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo in E-flat major

Classic Emperor Performance

Zimerman, Bernstein, Wiener Philharmonikerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kYJZoDrFeQ

Modern Spectacular

Lang Lang, pianoNDR Symphony Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH63RKQ7OEw

[Concert: 04:24]

Next (4th) Session

● One opera – Fidelio, Op. 72● One solemn mass - Missa solemnis, Op. 123● They remain among the greatest vocal works

ever written.● Great performances on YouTube● How best to approach, how best to appreciate

these great works?

Small Handed Pianists

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93JiXloIhn4

Igudesman & Joo - Rachmaninov had big Hands