Pathetique

Sonata no. 8 Opus 13 
aka Pathetique

According to Beethoven's letters he did not think this was his best work. Written in Beethoven's revolutionary spirit of the time he would later somewhat distance himself from that spirit. That  distance though may have been caused more by his disappointment in Napoleon than his compositions of the time as such:


Do you mean to go post-haste to the devil, gentlemen, by proposing that I should write such a sonata? During the revolutionary fever, a thing of the kind might have been appropriate, but now, when everything is falling again into the beaten track, and Bonaparte has concluded a Concordat with the Pope--such a sonata as this? If it were a missa pro Sancta Maria à tre voci, or a vesper, &c., then I would at once take up my pen and write a Credo in unum, in gigantic semibreves. But, good heavens! such a sonata, in this fresh dawning Christian epoch. No, no!--it won't do, and I will have none of it.


The name Pathetique was not given by Beethoven himself. As usual the names to his Sonatas were given by the public. An affectionate tribute by his public that is. 


This is a work, which every aspiring piano student would like at least to give a try. A slightly more difficult aspiration as 'Fuer Elise', which still tops this Sonata.


When I walked into a piano shop the other day there was a note attached to the grand piano there saying: 


"If you try to play Fuer Elise on this piano and don't play it until the end, you will be shot!"


There are several approaches to piano teaching. 


One is the idea that all your piano students are little concert pianists to be raised to perfection and accepting many will get stuck in the process. The other is that everything people achieve has to be dreamt about first and imperfect realisation of that dream should not be discouraged by destroying the thought itself.


Did Serge Prokoviev not laugh about his own composition efforts as an 8 year old? But he still had to do it...


Then you will see something as the following, which still is a big achievement for someone who has been learning piano for 1.5 years!





The first movement opens with the famous slow grave. The intention is serious, by no means pathetic! 

Opening Pathetique

Typical for Beethoven is the f - p sequence in the opening chord. There is an interesting way of doing this: 


Play the chord strongly with your sustained pedal pressed. While you release the keys halfway clear your pedal and press the keys again (without the hammer hitting the string) and the sound will change from loud to soft! And then of course continue softly! By all means do count the semiquavers instead of just guessing the length of the notes!

And now the real deal! The opening C stands on its own. You will save yourselves a lot of hassle if you start the E and Bb with fingers 5 and 2 with wrist staccato throwing up your hand taking over finger 4 on F. Then continue with 3-1 and 4-2 followed by 5-1,5-2 and 5-1. And same fingering afterwards. While you practise this there is no need to exhaust your left hand by playing the tremolos, but if you do keep the little finger and thumb close to the keys and involve the wrist. 


Interesting to note is also the dynamic marking. We are still soft here and the temptation is always to give everything away right from the start leaving nothing to build afterwards. 


It is also good to realise this is classical music, so do go for the contrast. The second theme with all the grace notes is one of the most beautiful parts of piano literature and in full contrast with the first theme. 


As many of Beethoven's early/middle period sonatas there are only 3 movements. The second movement is very well-known also. 


I don't like the term 'famous' and always make fun when a student tells me he wants to play something 'famous'. 


'YOU make something famous, there is beautiful music enough to chose from!'.


We live in a time where the powers that be assume they can make anything famous, if only they set the right environment and 'tell' people to accept it. It doesn't quite always work like that, but in the meantime the classical pianist unfortunately is in a disadvantage. 


But not so in China!


Then the third movement. A real rondo for a change and a very catching one at that. We have already in a previous instalment  pointed out that Beethoven keeps developing his material and see whether you notice the connection of the following example from this rondo and the example from the first movement above!

You see?


For further listening you may want to try this version played by Glenn Gould. Not because it is such a good example, rather an example of which pitfalls to avoid! 


Glenn Gould playing Pathetique first movement

Discovery of the Leit Motiv

Sonata no. 7 Opus 10 no. 3

This Sonata is written in 1797, the year Beethoven published his revised version of his 2nd Piano Concerto - already performed once before his 1st in 1895 - and has 2 sharps for D major.


The key for exuberant joy!


Like the other two sonatas in Opus 10 Beethoven still is giving a tribute to Joseph Haydn and in some ways setting an antithesis to the 3 Sonatas in Opus 2. 


They were dedicated to Haydn. 
They were laying the foundation for the ideal! 
Far above what Joseph Haydn did. 

Hayden Browne

Opus 10 is dedicated to a piano student, countess van Browne, but are in itself a tribute to the music of Joseph Haydn. 


In the 3 Opus 10 sonatas Beethoven tries to communicate with a larger audience. Beethoven tries to appeal. Successfully for sure! Like the Opus 2 sonatas they are quite different in character from each other. 


Opus 10 no.1 Dramatic
Opus 10 no.2 Comical
Opus 10 no.3 Enigmatic


But he will compromise and for instance not write all 4 movements of a sonata. But this last Opus 10 sonata does have 4 movements and is its longest.


Always experimenting this sonata has a unison opening. That is all the voices play the same theme. The response is polyphonic. Full of classical contrasts staccato/legato. The unison section raising to the dominant the legato section falling back to the tonic key. 

Presto, but be consoled, it is in 2/4!


The reworking of the opening is brilliant! 


The first four notes with an upbeat descending from Tonic to Dominant is one of the leit-motivs of this sonata. It may very well be that this is the sonata, where Beethoven became aware of the use of leit-motivs and will more and more build his sonatas around such techniques.


Interesting is also the sudden start of the 2nd theme in b-minor in bar 12, whereas the start of the right hand melody here might very well still be perceived in D-major. Too soon for the 2nd theme to start, but then also the 2nd theme is really an idea or leit-motiv, this time ascending and therefore just the reverse of the first four notes. 


In traditional sonata form after the presentation of the 2 themes we have a coda and that's it! But here, we can see that indeed Beethoven is doing something different. After bar 42, when the presentation of the second theme is finished the play with the leit-motiv really starts going! For that reason bar 42 ends in the tonic again. This is SOO not plain sonata-form! 

leit-motiv

The rest of the 'exhibition' then is playing with this leit-motiv as if it were the development section! 




That's revolutionary Beethoven!

The second theme is slow and sad! Very sad. And that's amazing too, because the whole mood of this sonata is so joyful. There are several of these 'Largo e mesto' movements in 6/8 in his later sonatas. 


The minuet and trio is unusual too. The first section - reminding of the opening of this sonata - is traditional enough, but the second section is fugal. The trio - supposed to go to minor - is in major too and is a joyful folks tune! Beethoven rarely repeats himself, but is not entirely above the pressure of music publishers. He will use the same tune in sonata opus 14 no. 2!

Remains the last movement. True: a real rondo! But again Beethoven makes it a vehicle for his leit-motiv and quotes from the first three movements extensively. 


Hence in sonata no. 7 opus 10 no 3 Beethoven discovers the leit-motiv as means of composition, which will supersede that of sonata-form. Not Schumann or Liszt have discovered that!


Beethoven did.


Lecture of Andreas Schiff on Opus 10 no. 3

Want to write a fugue?

So you want to write a fugue?

Glenn Gould once wrote a brilliant spoof on the 'cleverness' and 'nerves' needed to write a fugue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2JFgfc7c70

Constanze Mozart

And you can imagine in the Mozart household, 'frau Mozart' - venting her frustration about the merit of Mozart's (economical) skills - whilst a vase was finding its way through the air towards 'herr Mozart's head: 


"Why don't you ever write a fugue?"


It was such a baroque thing in those days! 


But Mozart finally did in his Requiem, although the end result frightfully resembled Bach's Well Tempered Clavier!

Bach's WTC II a minor fugue

Beethoven though did have the cleverness and the nerves to write fugues. And made the form classical and his own!


Apart from his 2nd piano concerto, which he really wrote before his first, in his Piano Sonatas already in no. 6 he will start using fugal forms and there is nothing baroque-ish about them! 

Opening 3rd movement Opus 10.2

Beware the tempo though and it is good to consider that this Sonata is a tribute to Joseph Haydn and his 2/4 is really to be thought as 4 8's and not in two! There is hence no need to emulate the dazzling speed chosen by most modern pianists, although it seems to be part of the fun! Let it settle over the years! In typical Beethoven manner this final movement is also in Sonata Form and hence is NO  rondo!

Opus 10.2 opening.

The first movement likewise is in 2/4 and in typical Joseph Haydn style, watch those little motives so typical of Haydn. Beethoven has stepped down to the level of the general piano player of his days and he will have that player in mind for the foreseeable future. The sonata also has only three movements instead of four, which seemed to have suited Beethoven's desire to please the publishers.  


The second movement is Minuet and Trio, but really Scherzo and Trio and like the first movement shouts Joseph Haydn all over! But as a tribute, not as an imitation of Haydn's music!


Beethoven must have been in a really jolly mood when he started his final movement! But the fugue as form will stay with him and especially in his final period will elevate his music to a level which stands on its own, transcended above any musical style, also without any consideration of a the ability of the pianists to play them...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K9dHNH1Wps  


Barenboim plays the second movement with great drama and then the fugue... starting at 4.14. Don't try that at home! Even he at 5:23 looses a bit of control, well.. hardly!

Grand Sonata

Opus 7

Eb major or C minor is Beethoven's favourite key for sure. Composers do certain things in certain keys and the texture of a work in a certain key often is elaborated upon in later works in the same key. 


Study of the Sonatas, which have 3 flats is an enlightening enterprise in itself. 7 out of the 32 sonatas use that key signature and you can follow the development. Beethoven final sonata will be in C-minor and..... refer back to the Pathetique.


Opus 7 is his fourth Sonata and is a grand sonata. After this sonata Beethoven, during a long period, will scale down the length of his sonatas. Beethoven probably realised it is one thing to write grand sonatas for the piano, but it is another thing for the general public to be able to play them!

Opening Opus 7

The opening of this sonata will be elaborated upon in the famous Pathetique Sonata (no. 8), which also claws back material from sonata no. 5 also in C minor. 

Pathetique

Pathetique final mvnt

Opus 10 Middle Mvnt

Beethoven then keeps building on what he has done in previous sonatas en continues to refer to material already used. That is nothing unusual. That is how composers develop and how you can see that a work is written by a certain composer. 

J.B. Lully Royal Music-standard Enforcer

But in Beethoven's art it goes well beyond what composers do in the baroque period, namely writing the same music again and again. 


Handel is a notorious example. 


Or for instance Jean Baptiste Lully, who at the age of 18 concluded he now had mastered the art and knew it all. And put himself at the head of the Royal controlled art establishment to inspire other composers to do likewise...


Nothing like that in Beethoven's art. Beethoven continues to develop and explore what more can be done with the same material.

Opus 7 mvnt 2

The second movement is absolutely divine and one of my favourites. The long lines and long pauses give it so much momentum that it captivates the listener. "Ah", said the lady sitting next to me in the concert hall, whom I had never met, after listening to this movement. "This is so much better than sex". 


Further down Beethoven will give his staccato left hand above which the right hand plays a beautiful line in legato. An effect he will use very often in his later sonatas. 

Then follows the minuet and trio of which really the trio is remarkable. Presented in Eb minor (6 flats) it is truely captivating. When you hear it the first time, you will stop with what you are doing and drop your pencil in amazement. 


The final movement is Beethoven's first attempt to write a rondo. A real rondo that is, not a sonata form movement. And the simplicity of the form is just not for him! The B-sections deviate into variations and at the end Beethoven does something, which (thank God!) he will never ever do again. 

The Lloyd Webber modulation!

That is: you end in a certain key: just move up a semi-tone and repeat the whole thing a semitone higher. Andrew Lloyd Webber does it all the time, and he should be forgiven, you can't expect BritPop to know about modulation! 


But at least we can say, indeed Beethoven has done it all and isn't it cute he has done one thing in his youth he probably has regretted for the rest of his life?!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqJaLbbDXD4

Barenboim youtube recording stops exactly at the point of above mentioned modulation! Couldn't stand it either?....


But this little experiment by Beethoven, quickly forsaken, has made Lloyd Webber into the wealthy man he now is (apart from using a lot of out of copyright classical themes)...

Learning Curve

Learning Curve 

Apart from the works by J.S. Bach the full cycle of Sonatas by Beethoven is one of the most enlightening paths in understanding the structure and process of composition. 

At least - you may say - for the style of Music they stand for, because every style of Music defines its own rules. 

Joseph Haydn

It is a miracle for instance that the first Piano Sonata Mozart wrote has such a mature Sonata form. Written around 1774 it raises some questions. Apart from the fact that this keyboard virtuoso started writing Piano Sonatas so late Haydn, who one has to admit created the foundation for the Sonata Form ,  only after much experimentation became satisfied with the model for the Keyboard Sonata around 1790. 

But Beethoven's Sonatas form one solid path in the development of his art. And when you go through them all, you will discover that Beethoven has done it all. For that reason there is no composer who has done so much for the place of the piano in modern music as Beethoven has done. His Piano sonatas are symphonies and in some odd instances concertos. 

Young Beethoven

At the age of 18 he wrote his first set Opus 2 no. 1,2 and 3. It was a tribute to the fact that he understood the intentions of Joseph Haydn very well. Haydn's music shines through in many Sonata movements, especially when Beethoven writes in 2/4 and this Opus 2 set was dedicated to Joseph Haydn.  

The first of the set no.1 in F major is still my favorite and is of the purest Sonata form ever. It is not otherwise possible for a 'first'. But even there in his last movement Beethoven sets himself apart. He has a free spirit. Normally the last movement in a Sonata - as model created by Joseph Haydn -  is supposed to be a light-hearted lively Rondo, with simple form A B A C A etc.... Right from the start it becomes apparant that he doesn't like Rondos in this form. Beethoven can't handle it and the first Rondo of this type will appear in the Pathetique's last movement. By all means that was Beethoven 8th Sonata! 

Hence Beethoven will write a lively movement as final for Opus 2 no. 1 allright, but it is dramatic, it's in Sonata form and actually a mini Sonata in itself. The development section namely is very cleverly reworked into a slow section! 

Likewise his Opus 2 no. 3 was the foundation for Beethoven's Piano Concertos. Remains Opus 2 no. 2. One of the hardest Sonatas by Beethoven I find. A grand Sonata at that, surely intended to bring a piano Sonata up to the level of a Symphony. 

With Opus 2 then Beethoven has set his style for his entire life and that includes his final period. 

Beethoven will continue to build on what he did in Opus 2 and this we are going to explore in following blogs on this topic.

Two very different interpretations to listen to:
Glenn Gould, Sonata F-minor 1-3

Barenboim Sonata no. 1 F minor 1-2

'At home everything went so well'...

'AT HOME EVERYTHING GOES SO WELL'

Every teacher is familiar with the announcement of the student:

"At home it went so very well".

Apart from the fact that there is really no need for the student to proof anything during a lesson, and that a lesson is also there to set good practise standards and for that reason is practise, I recently ran into a very good explanation of this experience.

Researchers at a University discovered that people tend to forget what they are doing, when they walk into a different room. Entering a different room, the brain seems to allocate and address a different and new part of the brain and for that reason we often forget what we were doing or leaving the previous room for. And hence we have to rethink what was the reason for going into a different room.

Our brain hence, is very much at ease in our practise room at home, and we can reconstruct the things we were practising with ease, but going into the lesson room our brain has to adjust and we have to 'retrain' to some extent what we have practised.

It is therefore a good idea to start the lesson with a practise attitude in mind and less so a performance attitude. Gradually make yourselves comfortable in your lesson environment and you will more easily remember and focus on what you have learned when you were practising during the week.

It is for this reason also a good idea whenever you have a performance to have a rehearsal session in the room, on the stage where you will be performing.

When a couple of years ago the students of a primary school were having a show in the local town hall in the evening, there was one little boy, who in the afternoon walked into the hall, soaked up the atmosphere of the room and got used to the idea that he would be playing there that evening. It was this boy who that evening performed with the most confidence and won the first prize that evening...

In Support of Art

IN SUPPORT OF ART

 

Over the course of nine years of living and working in New Zealand, Art Zegelaar has carved out a nice little niche for himself. His one-man piano-teaching business is flourishing, to the extent that his modest school now boasts a waiting list of potential pupils keen to avail themselves of his services.

The usual measure of a good businessman is the burgeoning of his balance-sheets. By this criterion, Art is not a good businessman, but that’s only because financial gain is far from being his top priority. Art sees what he does as a vocation. Above all else, Art cares – he cares about his students and he cares about Whangarei’s classical musical culture.

 

Art is a not only a dedicated and imaginative teacher, but also an enthusiast, brimming with ideas and possessing the wherewithal to bring these ideas to fruition. His students benefit not just from his teaching, but also from his constant efforts to keep costs within the reach of as many people as possible. On the one hand his fees are more reasonable than most, whilst on the other a goodly proportion of the profits of his “extracurricular adventures” go straight into the pot labelled “Money to Help My Students Pay Their Examination Fees.”

 

An Example

 

A fine example of Art’s extracurricular adventures was his “Beethoven Project”. In 2009, he started a series of lunchtime concerts (proceeds to the aforementioned pot) featuring Beethoven’s piano sonatas. On 16 December 2010, which just happened to be the composer's 240th. birthday, Art finished what turned out to be, to the best of my knowledge, a unique Beethoven piano sonata cycle.

 

Top-flight pianists seem to churn out live and recorded Beethoven cycles like there was no tomorrow. These are all, of course, polished to perfection long before they're allowed anywhere near our ears. However, the unassuming Art boldly went to the opposite extreme. This skilful but otherwise relatively "ordinary" pianist performed this supreme pinnacle of the piano repertoire almost in its entirety – not as a finished product but, remarkably, as "work in progress". If there were any nagging reservations regarding "washing dirty linen in public", these were soon dried out by the unfolding of this ingenious idea.

 

Eavesdropping on Art was a revelatory and ultimately very moving experience. The slick virtuoso, by definition, can show only what comes out, whereas Art, crucially, showed what goes in. Having spent 50 years of my life, off and on, gaining an appreciation of Beethoven's art, in that 15 months I came to appreciate Art's Beethoven!

 

However, it didn’t end there. At the final concert someone remarked on certain dance-like qualities in the sonatas, even going so far as to declare that “Beethoven is Dance”. A minute or two later, Art was asking, “Why don’t we put it to the test?” He took the idea to Alys Hughes and her amateur group, Dance Inc. Northland, and only a couple of months later, at the Capitaine Bougainville Theatre, they staged “Beethoven Dance”.

 

A good experiment doesn’t succeed or fail, but provides new knowledge to guide further progress. The choreographers, both in responding to Art’s question and in picking up Beethoven’s gauntlet, pushed their brave young dancers right out to the edge – which is exactly how it should be. The Beethoven Project was a good experiment, even unto exemplifying the “knowledge/progress” aspect, and exactly the sort of thing that does the culture of a provincial town a power of good.

 

What’s Really Important?

 

Sadly, though, Art’s current lunchtime series, of piano preludes by Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich – again presented as “work in progress” – has been rudely interrupted: Art’s work permit has not been renewed and he is therefore required to depart New Zealand’s shores.

 

Earlier, he had tried to obtain residence through INZ’s Arts and Sports Category, but this had been turned down, apparently because he is not important enough. I am forced to wonder: what is meant by “important”? The rules talk about exceptional talent and international reputation, though arguably, particularly in the field of classical music, the latter implies the former. So, am I to conclude that “importance” equates only to the applicant’s international celebrity? It rather looks like it!

 

If this is the case, then it has to be conceded that people like Art are every bit as important. For, without them to nurture budding talent, the high-profile professors would be starved of their influx of students, and NZ’s opportunities for basking in the direct glory of home-grown talent would subsequently nosedive.

 

“Importance” is thus not limited to those with celebrity status, but should extend to those who are (for want of a better word) useful in supporting the emergence of NZ’s own international celebrities. Such people are useful in terms of the benefits they bring to individuals, to communities, and indeed to the nation as a whole.

 

The other main path to residency is for those who immigrate to fill skills shortages. Art also loses out here, simply because such as “piano teachers” and “lively contributors to local culture” don’t appear on the lists.  But, don’t his full books and waiting list, as well as testifying to his exceptional talents, suggest that there actually is a shortage of people with his skills? 

 

The “bottom line” is that there is more than enough reason for INZ to be actively seeking a way of keeping Art here – simply to send him packing, as dictated by the rigid rulebook, seems plain daft; it smacks of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.

 

Paul Serotsky Classical Music Reviewer for Northern Advocate and Seen and Heard International.