People who don't understand german language usually think that there is no humor in Germany. ;;-). And it is a kind of ritual mocking about germans while playing german music all day long.
I suppose op 49 n 1 was like my debut when i was 11, in front of maybe 1-2000, ie the massive school and their parents and friends. hmmm those were good days!
LECTURE NOTES: Written on May 4th, 1809 for Beethoven's patron, Archduke Rudolph, whom had to flee the city as a result of Napoleon's attack of Vienna. Only piece of program music among the Beethoven sonatas. --------------1st movt: sonata+coda, "Das Lebewohl"--------------- 1. @3:06 starts with a 3-interval(3-chord) motif, resembling horns. Beethoven marked the 3 chords with the three syllables Le-be-wohl ("Fare-thee-well"). 2. @3:38 with the last note, the bass comes in with a deceptive cadence. 3. @4:25 a precedent for this kind of program music: an early Bach piece "Capriccio on the departure of his beloved brother". 4. @5:07 the bass starts a chromatic descent, what they call in 18th centry rhetorics "(if anyone would be kind enough to tell me what Mr. Schiff said here)", heavy passage that foretells tragedy or danger. 5. @6:00 the Le-be-wohl motif will permeate the whole movement. 6. @7:20 the breaking-out allegro sounds like a new theme, but in the bass is an inversion of the Le-be-wohl motif 7. @8:09 in the bass & soprano are respectively a minor version and an inversion of the Le-be-wohl motif, more of the likes are peppered throughout. 8. @9:10 a diminution of the motif 9. @10:04 we have the Le-be-wohl motif in treble, and the quaver motive from the allegro. Textbook musical economy. 10. @11:07 a deconstruction until there remains only 2 notes. Reminds me of Beethoven's "Pastoral", 1st movement. 11. @12:00 a poetic coda 12. @12:31 imagining the horses pulling the Archduke' coach 13. @13:23 Beethoven writes a crescendo on the long C, which is not possible. Ludwig, you big tease😉 --------------2nd movt: "Abwesenheit"--------------- 14. @16:09 in C minor. Beethoven immediately moves away from the C minor chord, leaving you a sense of insecurity. 15. @16:47 reminiscent of Baroque music, a Bach or Handel's recitativo 16. @27:27 like with the "Appassionata" & "Waldstein"(all got nicknames) this movement doesn't close. It leads into the final movement. 17. @17:25 at last we reach the dominant of C minor --------------3rd movt: sonata, "Das Wiedersehen"--------------- 18. @20:38 the theme couldn't be simpler: tonic dominant 19. @20:52 then the theme goes to the left hand 20. @21:03 3rd variation, full orchestra 21. @21:18 similar to the 3rd movt. of the Emperor concerto, which was also dedicated to the Archduke(I'd like to add both pieces were written in F-flat major) 22. @21:53 like all the church bells going in Vienna 23. @22:38 the figurations are straight out of the Emperor concerto 24. @22:44 a very short development with the 3 notes. the whole development stays in pianissimo region. 25. @23:59 a false recapitulation in the sub-dominant 26. @24:10 two bars later we have the real recapitulation 27. @26:26 coda. Reminds us of the 1st movt. cos of the horns we hear. Followed by 2 variations and a finish. I hope anyone who reads this would never have to suffer through the pain of parting with someone we dearly love. And if you happen not to be able to be with all the people you love all at once..my most sincere wishes that it won't be long before you do..unless you prefer otherwise of course☺
I have been binging ST: TOS and ST: TNG and currently busy with ST: DS9, and it never once clicked together until just today. My mom is gonna have a quick giggle at this one.
This man is truly a genius. Bach and Beethoven. My piano teacher when I was 10 gave me a whole box of cassette tapes, Andras Schiff playing Bach complete well tempered clavier both books, partitas and French suits. Gold.
Some 30 years ago I liked this song so much, I loaded the piano part in a sheet music editor, printed it out, and learned to play it. Just came across that printout while cleaning the house. Thanks for the memory!
With Brahms, I generally feel the last movement is better than the first, so I disagree with Schiff on that. Each symphony's last movement is sensational. The piano concerti as well. They're on a smaller scale in many cases, but that does not reflect quality.
Wunderbare Darstellung der besonderen Inhalte dieser Sonate! Wie steht es aber mit der Verbindung des Rondothemas mit dem angeblichen Volkslied. “Seht ihr da die Sau im Garten?”, die dem Satz einen schmunzelnden Charakter gäbe? Ist das authentisch?
Throughout the first movement, it is very apparent that Schiff was nervous during the lecture (voice seemed rushed and breathless at times, and many uncharacteristic mistakes were made)... He also admitted that his heart was pounding beforehand. Never seen this before from him. This just shows the the tremendous respect he has for this piece. What a legend.
