Beethoven’s B Minor Bagatelle - Which Version Is Better?

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Beethoven’s final major work for piano was the set of bagatelles Op 126, published in 1825. 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.”
The stormy B minor bagatelle is the 4th piece in the cycle and immediately precedes the lyrical G major bagatelle, which this channel featured in a recent video (see below for details). The B minor is a very different piece with a fierce and uncompromising character, behind which elements of Beethoven’s gruff humour are occasionally perceptible. It takes the form of a ferocious Presto march, with a terse theme in which the hands play in contrary motion. This contrasts with a second, equally concise phrase in G major octaves. The two ideas pivot, rather obsessively, over a semitone (F sharp to G) and Beethoven keeps hammering away at this semitone throughout the piece. There follows a sort of development section with characteristically groovy syncopations and a modulating canon, before eventually recapitulating the main theme in the tonic minor, darker and more uncompromising than before
The trio section couldn’t be more different: it consists of a simple ‘musette’ with a folk-like melodic line, floating over a syncopated bagpipe-style drone. Beethoven allows this to expand, only interrupting his bagpipe idyll briefly with a mysterious pair of tritones, and a short silence near the end.
Originally, after the return of the march, Beethoven composed a characteristically assertive ending, but then, sensing that it was perhaps overly conventional, he scribbled it out, and replaced it with a return of the musette, which floats along once more, and ends quietly and unexpectedly. The piece was thereby transformed from a simple ABA structure into a dialogue between two utterly contrasting kinds of music: the first impetuous and tightly constructed, the second innocent and harmonically static. The entire piece seems propelled along by Beethoven’s elemental sense of rhythm.
Beethoven: Bagatelle in B minor Op 126, no. 4.
Pianist: Matthew King.
Beethoven’s Bagatelle in G major Op 126, no 5 can be heard here: • Beethoven's Farewell T...
Beethoven’s A minor bagatelle (Für Elise) can be heard in its 1822 revision here: • You've Never Heard Thi...
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#Beethoven #Bagatelle #themusicprofessor
Edited by Ian Coulter ( www.iancoultermusic.com )
Produced and directed by Ian Coulter & Matthew King

Опубликовано:

27 июл 2023

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Комментарии : 60

@BennoWitter 11 месяцев назад

What a wild ride. The beginning reminds me of Händel a bit, but then it is all over the place, swinging, dreamy, aggressive, and more. I can't imagine people were even ready for music like this at the time it was written.

@caterscarrots3407 8 месяцев назад

Yes, Beethoven was very much ahead of his time, especially in his late period. Yes, there are some pieces that are very much in an older style like his Flute Sonata in Bb WoO Anh. 4 that very much resembles a Mozart sonata stylistically, but there are also those pieces that are very much forward looking such as the Op. 111 piano sonata or the Ninth Symphony. And then there's others that are kind of a mix of both, such as Grosse Fuge which is in a sense both modern(for the time) and Baroque.

@KirkWaiblinger 11 месяцев назад

4:47 the beethoven grooving gif is disturbingly accurate

@user-om5co3nd8u 11 месяцев назад

Thank you for popularizing Beethoven among american viewers. He is not a dog!!!!!!! I would be very glad if you'll also detaily explain his Piano Sonata No. 4 mov.3 (Allergo, Minore part). Thank you!

@PuddintameXYZ 11 месяцев назад

Isn't Beethoven already pretty popular for classical listeners in America?

@themusicprofessor 11 месяцев назад

Well, it's a passionate proto-Romantic trio section inside a rather sunny, contrapuntal minuet. In terms of piano writing, there are several trio sections that he wrote around the time that are similar but Op 7 is one of the great masterpieces of Beethoven's early period. The early sonatas are an astonishing achievement!

@Sneakycat1971 11 месяцев назад

Yes we silly Americans have no idea who Beethoven is

@user-om5co3nd8u 11 месяцев назад

@@themusicprofessor Thank you very much!

@user-om5co3nd8u 11 месяцев назад

@@Sneakycat1971I guess, us silly Ruzzian more than

@johnchessant3012 11 месяцев назад

4:47 I need this animation on loop. I could watch it all day hahaha

@jp_charland 9 месяцев назад

Been obsessed with this bagatelle a while now

@themusicprofessor 9 месяцев назад

It's a great piece!

@PLTConductorComposer 11 месяцев назад

Had fantastic fun orchestrating these bagatelles for string orchestra last year - wonderful pieces of music and sitting in the dangerous place of op.126 (right after the 9th symphony). The b minor bagatelle is particularly surprisingly aggressive and enjoyable to both play and listen to!

@themusicprofessor 11 месяцев назад

Yes, they're all marvellous.

@Soffity 11 месяцев назад

Your channel is so interesting, thanks for sharing your wonderful knowledge. Beethoven is one of my favourite composers. Growing up in a very small, Australian, rural town in the 60’s -70’s the only printed music I had access to was the AMEB grade books and the Beethoven sonata books. My dad thought I should play only the pieces I was working on for my next exam so when he and my mum went out on the weekends I’d get out the Beethoven sonata books and spend a few hours in blissful ignorance. Playing the wrong notes and the wrong timings but enjoying myself. To this day I’m still finding passages I play incorrectly due to those lovely weekend dalliances.

@jimhorwath990 Месяц назад

That is one of my favorite pieces which I rediscovered after 40 years. Thanks to You Tube.

@musimedmusi8736 2 месяца назад

A splendid rendition! The piece is trickier to play in certain spots than one might think, as Beethoven can be… unforgiving, sudden jumps with dynamic changes.

@icravecheddar7401 11 месяцев назад

This is my first time listening to Beethoven's last bagatelles and the first theme sounds dark and stormy, with the musette bringing contrast to the main theme. Also this bagatelle itself seem to reference the future of romantic piano music from Chopin's Scherzis because it's the only thing I can compare to this amazing bagatelle, Beethoven truly was a pioneer of romantic music.

@themusicprofessor 11 месяцев назад

You are right: the Romantic generation kept a close eye on Beethoven who was like a sort of godfather figure to them. Chopin always liked to speak rather critically of Beethoven (he said his music was too coarse and rough) but he secretly used Beethoven's piano music as a model. For example, the end of is revolutionary etude is very closely modelled on the end of the first movement of Beethoven's last piano sonata Op 111.

@caterscarrots3407 8 месяцев назад

@@themusicprofessor Yes, and the Revolutionary Etude that you mentioned also has a lot of connections to another Beethoven sonata, no. 23 in F minor Appassionata Op. 57, especially the third movement. The feeling of Presto momentum even though it's only marked Allegro, the prevalence of diminished chords(I know there's going to be that 1 person that says "Actually, it's the dominant chord, not the diminished seventh, but like look at which notes are accented in the descending melodic figures at the opening and you'll see an interleaving of B dim7 and C minor chord tones, with almost no dominant emphasis whatsoever), the bass being very active and melodic, not like the waltz-esque basslines you often see in Chopin, and the prevalence of octaves being very high(staccato in Chopin, a lot of tremolo in Beethoven), those are all connections the Revolutionary Etude has to the Appassionata Sonata. And then there's the subtle connection between Chopin's C minor piano sonata and Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata. And of course Fantasie Impromptu and Moonlight Sonata Presto agitato. Those are the main Chopin-Beethoven connections I've noticed where I can trace something to a specific Beethoven piece. Chopin's nocturnes, dances, no real resemblance to Beethoven at all. Ballades, eh, there's a bit of stylistic resemblance in the first Ballade, but nothing specific to a piece, it's just like general Beethoven middle period style kind of thing, like you have this very lyrical theme with a waltz-esque bassline that's very typical of Chopin and then you get just this bombastic moment lead into by a crescendo and which really does resemble Beethoven from a stylistic standpoint but not any specific Beethoven piece and this lyricism and bombast contrast continues throughout the ballade. But the second and third ballades are much more like long nocturnes than they are what I think of a ballade as, dramatic pieces. Fourth ballade, not familiar enough with it to know of any Beethoven connection. Scherzos, of course there's going to be a resemblance there, Beethoven essentially made the Scherzo what we know it as today, even though there are scherzos preceding him by decades in the music of Bach and Haydn. Even Mozart's later minuets like that of Symphony no. 40 are more like half-scherzos than full on minuets, like having a very minuet-like trio and a very scherzo-like A section.

@selcano0575 11 месяцев назад

This is the kind of video anyone interested in Beethoven's work wants to see and hear. I didn't know about this deletion and indeed, I don't think there are many people who know it. So a big thank you! I also find that the final deleted is a bit conventional.🙏🙏🙏

@themusicprofessor 11 месяцев назад

Thank you for the encouragement!

@JonathanOvnat 11 месяцев назад

Beautiful! Thanks!

@zainmardini9573 11 месяцев назад

Hello again. Thank you for considering my comment and creating a video analysis on this piece. When I had played this piece, I had played it at a considerably faster speed, and a more dramatic tone, considering its position as the last very tremulous piece that Beethoven had ever wrote. However, I do respect the more held-back approach that Mathhew King provides, especially during the B part of the bagatelle (In B Major). One thing that I had observed in this piece, during my study of it, is of the different changes in style that occur throughout the A part, in B minor. Throughout the different various phrases, after the measure long octaves, I like to think that Beethoven was making tribute to the baroque, and classical styles, during these sections of the songs. However, this could be of an account of coincidence, with no very complicated value. Nonetheless, I still prefer the thought of tribute. In terms of the original scrapped ending, I do agree that the original ending was preferrable. The ending in B major is definingly more nuanced, and less cliche, like you had said.

@themusicprofessor 11 месяцев назад

Thank you. Yes, there is no question that Beethoven, in his final decade, opened up his compositional style to the enriching influence of polyphonic music from previous eras, especially Bach and Handel. He also continued to use Mozart and Haydn as compositional models to the end of his life.

@nomnom8378 11 месяцев назад

Fantastic!!!

@andrewbuckley9180 11 месяцев назад

Thank you so much. Over the recent videos you have done on Beethoven, you have re-invigorated my interest and admiration for his compositions. I was brought up on the "standard" stuff, Fur Elise (usual version), Moonlight, Pathetique etc & etc as exam and talent show pieces and lost my way. Struck by the complexity of (JS) Bach I ignored Beethoven for a long while. Yes I knew he was a bit of a renegade (Eroica, 5th, 9th) and had emotional and beautiful bits in the Pastoral but you have opened my eyes, or perhaps ears. Thanks again.

@themusicprofessor 11 месяцев назад

Such a lovely comment! Thank you. Beethoven is amazing.

@alfredocassano3194 9 месяцев назад

fantastic work, thanks for this. I just discovered this piece and I'm obsessed with it. Can't explain to myself how did Beethoven come up with something this crazy, misterious and beautiful

@acrobaticfish 9 месяцев назад

Loved it, thank you professor. Of course, a humble request for all the others for perhaps one of my favorite pieces of music.

@ybaydur 11 месяцев назад

Incredible!

@steffen5121 10 месяцев назад

The sudden pause at 6:07, as if the annoyed pianist looks over to a nuisant listener before resuming, is hilarious.

@themusicprofessor 10 месяцев назад

Isn't it extraordinary!?

@PuddintameXYZ 11 месяцев назад

4:05 More swingy syncopation from Beethoven? Sounds awesome

@JonathanOvnat 11 месяцев назад

Sounds Latin almost.

@TheGloryofMusic 9 месяцев назад

Robert Hatten has explored the semantic content of Beethoven's music and defines "troping" as the juxtaposition of two expressive topics or genres, and which generates a kind of meta-narrative. In this bagatelle there is an opposition of the mercurial opening theme with the insouciant second theme, as though Beethoven is illustrating two approaches or reactions to the vicissitudes of life. These two themes, however, are together juxtaposed with the third theme, which combines the pastoral (musette) and transcendent (use of high register), as if to say, "Look toward the heavens for the right answer".

@themusicprofessor 9 месяцев назад

Fascinating comment. Thank you.

@ComposedBySam 2 дня назад

The rest at around 6:08 cracks me up everytime XD

@garydmcgath 11 месяцев назад

One of my favorite pieces. I see it as humorous rather than furious, even if it's a "Rage over the lost Groschen" kind of humor. The syncopated eighth-note passages and the abrupt interruptions are especially striking. The middle "musette" section makes me think it could have inspired the middle part of the "Dance of the Mirlitons" in Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. When I play it, I try to emphasize the humor. Oh, and I agree that the standard version is better.

@themusicprofessor 9 месяцев назад

Yes - of course you're right. It is humorous. The fury is in a sense comedic. I should have made that observation: it's a kind of self-parody.

@TheseAreMyHooves 4 месяца назад

Haha during the musette my immediate thought was "sims music"... i think its that last leading tone up to the tonic in the end of the phrase

@TheseAreMyHooves 4 месяца назад

Meanwhile i found what it reminded me of... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-r6ovm-eLh8I.htmlsi=82gjMfgq1cjUPH81

@tetraeder8504 11 месяцев назад

Interessante Analyse, auch für Laien verständlich gemacht , kommentiert und perfekt interpretiert. Danke für geistige Bereicherung!

@themusicprofessor 11 месяцев назад

Vielen Dank!

@Sunnythecat_098 7 месяцев назад

I've just realised. I call my French bread "bagatelle" without realizing it sounds as if I'm talking about Beethoven's bagatelle. Lol

@name-ng7mk 11 месяцев назад

A Beethoven piece that always fascinated me was Beethoven’s 27nth sonata, especially the first movement. Maybe you can talk about that piece one day?

@themusicprofessor 11 месяцев назад

Yes of course - it's a wonderful piece. Beethoven is said to have titled the first movement 'a contest between head and heart'. It contrasts in a very remarkable way with the expansive 2nd movement

@Stashi1808 11 месяцев назад

This is amazing! Who is like Beethoven? Thanks for these videos Really helpful, I was struggling with a bass part on my bagatelle I'm composing and this drone thing works perfectly for it! Also Would you ever consider making any videos on Beethoven's Appassionata mvt 2?

@themusicprofessor 11 месяцев назад

Yes - I love it!

@zesideral Месяц назад

Nice! My favourite recorded version of the op. 126 is John Lill's.

@themusicprofessor Месяц назад

Andras Schiff has recently recorded it on a Broadwood fortepiano. Well worth hearing.

@journey3451 11 месяцев назад

It's always interesting to see. Even so, it will be a comment every time, but the editing of the video is wonderful. I will stop by again. いつも興味深く拝見しています。それにしても毎回のコメントになりますが動画の編集がすばらしいです。また立ち寄らせていただきます。

@themusicprofessor 11 месяцев назад

Thank you!

@boundaryconditions1119 11 месяцев назад

Beatific Beethoven is some of my favorite. The third movement of the A minor quartet, Op 132 comes to mind. As he matured, he seems to me to have become more elegaic. Even his earlier sturm und drang type work like the String Trio Op 9 no 3 reveals that his drama was always tempered with optimism.

@themusicprofessor 11 месяцев назад

Yes. Another movement in Op 132 that seems quite close to this bagatelle is the trio section of the 2nd movement, which also features drones, folk fiddle passages and country dance melodies.

@cyn37211 9 месяцев назад

Thank you for sending me the link for this! It’s my favorite of all Beethoven’s bagatelles. The musette seems to raise harmonics off adjoining strings; I have many recordings by various pianists, but mostly Alfred Brendel. I don’t know what piano he used to record this piece, but that’s where I noticed the harmonics. If my RA hadn’t changed my hands so much, I’d be playing this myself (I was training to become a concert pianist, but had to give it up). I love the way you play, do you do recordings?

@themusicprofessor 9 месяцев назад

Thank you very much. Yes Brendel does play it beautifully. It is marvellous music: LvanB, with his ceaseless imagination, was opening new vistas of sound right up to his death. A tragedy he didn't live to do even more but perhaps we'd be overwhelmed if he had! As far as recordings are concerned, currently only these little RU-vid videos. I juggle being a composer and composition professor in my regular working week, and the piano side of things has only become more of a focus since starting this channel!

@maxgregorycompositions6216 11 месяцев назад

There's a passage within Schubert's D.935 Impromptu (No.4 in f minor) that sounds very similar to 4'27'' of this vid during the Beethoven Bagatelle.

@themusicprofessor 11 месяцев назад

Interesting - yes, the Schubert is even more interesting rhythmically. It's quite possible that there was an influence: the Beethoven Op 126 bagatelles came out in 1824, and I believe the late impromptus were written in 1828