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Beethoven – The Ninth, Part I

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

You can’t talk about Beethoven without talking about his Ninth Symphony. Just about everyone knows the Ninth, or at least can recognize the Ode to Joy melody. This piece is hands down one of the greatest masterpieces of classical music and where would classical music be without this piece. Its depth of expression defines the ensuing Romantic period that followed its composition, and the choral finale prompted, both advantageously and disastrously, out-of-the-box thinking among later composers. A few composers even attempted to mimic the notion of a choral finale in a symphony, namely Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang and Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony and Eighth Symphony. While Mendelssohn and Mahler were certainly capable of pulling off such feat, as a composer myself, I rather think Beethoven broke the mold when he created the Ninth, and I would most definitely think twice (and probably more times than that) before contemplating the idea of a symphony with choral finale.

The Ninth stands apart from Beethoven’s other symphonies and is quite unlike the rest of them. This is partly due to the expanse of the time between the composition of the Eighth Symphony and the Ninth—nearly a decade, although fragments of the Ninth symphony can be found in sketchbooks as far back as 1811. However, I think the greatest distinction is the overall style of the Ninth compared to the other eight symphonies. The Ninth belongs to that great introspective and expressive style (of which I wrote about in another post on Beethoven) of his late period, along with the late string quartets and the Missa Solemnis.

The opening of the symphony is like none other. The mysterious tremolandi of the strings on an open fifth instantly draw the listener into an unfamiliar and strange world and then the outburst of the D minor triad with the full power of the orchestra confirms the notion that we are in for one wild ride. The development section of this movement is a rare jewel in classical music. The logical direction of the development and the extent to which Beethoven works out the material of the exposition is utterly remarkable. The climax of this movement, at least for me, comes almost at the end starting at measure 513. The chromatic lines of the strings underneath the poignant melody beginning in the horns and oboes is the perfect expression of an artist taking full delight in the wild fantasies of his mind, and it is this brief section that I believe gives the deepest picture into the mind and soul of that great man.

To be continued…

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Beethoven – The Late Quartets

Friday, November 6th, 2009

There’s so much to talk about when dealing with Beethoven, it’s often hard to pick a place to start. So, I think I’m just going to jump into a topic that is particularly one of my favorites when dealing with Beethoven—the late string quartets. If you’re not familiar with them, there are five in all plus the Great Fugue, and to put it modestly, these pieces are some of the greatest treasures of classical music. Sadly, you would have to write a book for each one of these pieces to do them justice.

These pieces are, by far, Beethoven’s most introspective music and reach, not only into the great soul and mind of that man, but, as all great art should do, they reach deep into the minds and souls of its audience. These pieces are an evocation to the noble virtues that far too often lie dormant within us; they are an artistic epistle from one mind to another and a reminder of the great things man is capable of. This, no doubt, was the intention of their creator. Every time I listen to these pieces, I see the world not as it is, but as it should be—a rational, virtuous world. This is the goal of all true Romantic art—the portrayal of what should be in the world and the motivation to aspire to that, not the over-abundance of emotion, and even less, chromaticism, as the term “Romanticism” has come to represent. These works stand among the greatest examples of Romantic art in classical music—the Bach Mass, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Ninth, to name a few.

From a compositional viewpoint, the pieces are a spectacular lesson in form, as well as counterpoint. Of the six quartets, only two, op. 127 and op. 135, are in the standard four movement form, and of those two, the latter is the most regular in form. Each quartet, though, has at least one peculiar aspect that stands out. In the op. 127 quartet, it’s the recurrent Maestoso introduction during the first movement, harkening back to the much earlier Pathetique Piano Sonata. In the op. 130, it’s the further exploration of themes with different tempi and time signatures in a sonata form movement. Op. 131, besides being in seven movements, all played continuously without break, begins with a plaintive, sombre fugue instead of the usual sonata form. Op. 132, is mostly regular in form but it contains the magnificent “Heiliger Dankegesang.” This movement is a wonderful example of the ancient technique of variations on a cantus firmus, but in a Romantic setting. The op. 135 quartet, is unique in its nearly theme-less first movement. Beethoven here relies more on short motives rather than longer melodies for the material of the first movement of this quartet. The piece concludes with “Der Schwer Gefasste Entshluss” or “The Difficult Decision” and it was this movement that Schindler wondered if it was Beethoven’s “serious joke” or “joking seriousness.” Finally, the Grosse Fuge, op. 133, is a beast of a piece and its complexity and technical aspects are the reason why I say Beethoven was as supreme a contrapuntal genius as Bach.

As I said earlier, it’s hard to do these pieces justice in such a short space. However, Beethoven’s Quartets by Joseph de Marliave is an excellent book on all of Beethoven’s quartet if you desire further reading. Also, the CD set by the Emerson Quartet is one of the best recordings of these works.

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Beethoven – The Giant

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Beethoven—the very name brings to mind the sounds of struggle and triumph. The name is practically a household name; whether you listen to classical music or not, you probably know the name of Beethoven. Everyone has probably at sometime seen the painting of Beethoven holding the manuscript of the Missa Solemnis, pencil in hand, and looking off into the distance with a fiery, determined gaze. This is the image that always comes to mind when I think of Beethoven or his music. However, not so much the image per se, but what the image represents—that unwavering determination to create, to fulfill one’s purpose, and to achieve the highest satisfaction in one’s own abilities.

Beethoven is possibly the most influential composer in classical music. At his hands, nearly every major compositional form was expanded, not only in length, but in its capability of infinite variations and depths of expression. Numerous later composers acknowledge their debt to Beethoven. Schubert, who’s career was constantly in Beethoven’s shadow, was greatly admired the elder composer, so much so that Schubert requested to be buried next to him. Schumann, in giving advice to the young Brahms, told him to always remember the openings of Beethoven’s symphonies. Brahms, although somewhat testily, acknowledged the influence of Beethoven’s Ninth on his own First Symphony and furthermore, in addressing the excessive length of time it took him to produce a symphony, he said, “You have no idea how it feels to the likes of us always to hear such a giant (Beethoven) marching behind one.” During the Romantic period, both the New German school led by Liszt and Wagner, and the traditionalist led by Brahms claimed lineage from Beethoven. Even the moderns can’t get away from Beethoven. Charles Ives quoted both the Fifth Symphony and the Hammerklavier Sonata in his own Piano Sonata No. 2, and the eery opening fugue of Bartok’s first string quartet echos the opening fugue of Beethoven’s op. 131 quartet. Indeed, it would likely be difficult to find any composer who has not in some way, directly or indirectly, been influenced by the music of the giant Beethoven.

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Bach’s Goldberg Variations

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

The Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach—one of my absolute favorite pieces, one that would for sure be on my top 10 list of classical music. While the title of the piece is actually “Aria with 30 Variations,” it is not variations on the aria per se, but rather the harmonic framework of it. The piece is a perfect example of the endless possibilities of variation upon mostly diatonic harmony. There’s a story that a Baroque composer named Stölzel wrote a canon to disprove the assertion of an opponent that the possibilities of canon were exhausted. Later on, Marpurg, a student of Bach, produced 477 different variants of the Stölzel canon. In a way, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, while not as numerous as Stölzel’s canon, is a testament to the extreme variety possible even in diatonic harmony.

As a composer, the piece is incredibly interesting and a delight to learn from. The piece contains an example of a canon at every interval of imitation from the unison to the ninth, as well as a brief fughetta. The piece, as a whole, is, for whatever of your style preference in music, a remarkable lesson in variety.

One the best recordings of this masterpiece of classical music is Glenn Gould’s 1981 recording. In fact, I’m listening to this very recording as I speak (er…write). Gould is known for his unique interpretations of Bach and in my opinion, no other performer brings the music of Bach to life as well as Glenn Gould. Gould’s 1955 recording of the work is also quite remarkable but for some reason doesn’t possess the unity of thought that the later recording does. However, either one is a must-have for any collection of Bach’s music.

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