The Scribbled Manuscript: Meg's Beethoven Blog

As I listen and study Beethoven more and more his impact is becoming even more substantial than I once previously thought. Of course he is one of the greats, one of the masters, but to dig into a score and listen makes this fact apparent even more. Where am I in the state of this course (in this instance where am I in the state of everything!)? I feel a little lost at the moment and I guess this post will be a culmination of topics. First off I would like to begin talking about my individual project. I am going to look at the Op.135 String Quartet. After listening to many of the later string quartets this one stuck out. It is incredibly interesting and I have no doubt Beethoven's physical (deafness) and mental states had an effect on the piece. I will look at the entire piece as a whole as I have been told. At first I wanted to analyze the first and second movements, but found out that the String Quartets movements are overlapping and can be considered as four pieces of a whole. Beethoven uses so many significant compositional devices through the first and second movements alone that it attracted me to this work instantly.

Reflecting back on the First Symphony I must say it really opened my eyes. Score after score, piece after piece I find myself shuffling though composers and their various intents messages, compositional tidbits that make a piece interesting. The first movement (the one I looked at in our group and the most throughout the class so far) has a deceptive beginning, nonetheless leading into these interesting themes ... (Yeah where was I going with this!!!!!)

One of the most amazing experiences I have had so far in this class is my experience with the Kreutzer Sonata. The first few times I listened to the piece I found myself having a hard time listening to it. It wasn't the fact that I did or did not like it, it was more our less wrapping my head around the piece. Maybe it was the environment I was in or whatever was effecting my sound scape at the time but I had a really hard time listening to it, for whatever reason I do not know. I listened to it oh 5 or 6 times at first on my own and such and it never set an impression on me musically. Yes it is technical and virtuosic but thats all I heard. Then in class with the score in front of me I finally broke through.

The first movement to Beethoven's First Symphony begins deceptively. The movement naturally would, Beethoven had a sense of humor and he wasn't afraid to use it. The introduction of this movement is less of a Beethovian style but more in the style of his predecessors Haydn or Mozart. The symphony is in C major, however Beethoven skirts around this key beginning with a deceptive cadence, then in the fourth measure at the subject going into G. Beethoven now has a small section of conversation between the strings and the brass/percussion. One chord is sounded in one section it is responded by another in the other section tiptoeing to the end of the introduction. Beethoven then returns to the tonic chord for a few more bars before going back into G and ascending and descending scalewise. This quick up and down sweep literally drops the listener back into C and into the first theme.

In the Exposition we see the first pull by Beethoven, his personality shows through perfectly though his music either through storm and stress, usage of a lot of sfortzandos, or the harmonic melodic or rhythmic nuances that pull the listener throughout the work capturing their interest. Here we can hear a rhythmic and melodic pull. The first theme is introduced, and the tempo speeds up from Adagio molto in the introduction to Allegro con brio in the Exposition. The first theme begins with some tension, a mini introduction to the tutti theme within the exposition from bars 13 to 30. At bar 30 all parts now play. From bars 30 to 40 is another section where Beethoven tiptoes around the theme creating tension for the release at measure 41 there the majority of the strings go on an upward chromatic, scalewise sweep. More or less the parts sound like a horse race to the finish at measure 53 where the second theme arrives. This theme is lighter as the strings ascend and descend as the flute almost sounds like birds shrilling on top of it. The man focus is then passed to the strings who carry this second period. This quickly changes as Beethoven's storm arrives over this sunny landscape. A rhythmic assult of sixteenth notes and subdivided bowings in the strings contrasts this second theme. Contrasting once again at measure 77 the strings go into rhythmic slower bowings that mellow out the sound overall in G. This section is short lived and then re return to the concluding theme and the exposition repeats.

The Development beings with short outbursts of a full tutti chord then a quick part in the strings then the majority of the orchestra comes in with another outburst. This type of phrasing repeats as the parts ascend. Variations on the main theme of the exposition take place, each of these variations progress stepwise through the scales and opening up more chromaticism. The Development is a short section which like the introduction literally descends and falls into the Recapitulation and the re-introduction to the main theme. The main theme is brief. Then there is the introduction to a back and forth of call and response like section in the strings. This goes into a wave-like pattern of ascending and descending scales. This quick tempo section is followed by the subordinate theme and is almost a replica of the Exposition which follows in the concluding theme until the Coda. The Coda is very chromatic that builds to the loud four chord exclamation ending.

(to be continued into the third movement...)

Playlist:
Pretty much everything from the last list...
Ives, Janacek, and Scriabin basically on repeat while writing/analyzing!
Sigur Ros - Takk, ( ), Agaetis Byrjun
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.1
Orchestra Pieces etc...

On Monday we were joined by Jonathan Cohen, distinguished professor of philosophy, to talk about the connection between Beethoven and the philosophy of the time and its effect on the composer. One of the first statements Cohen made was that Beethoven possibly misunderstood philosophy. Beethoven was a student of philosophy, he studied it when he went to Bonn university. There is a certain mystique about Beethoven, a great mind with revolutionary ideas, and music. But as I read more about his life, about his emotions, troubles, general living situation I feel as if Beethoven is becoming more humanized to my perspective. Society always throws some sort of greatness onto celebrities or people who stand out of the crowd. Who couldn't over exaggerate the writer of the great nine symphonies. Much like any composer or person, the more one gains knowledge of them the more real they become.

Cohen began with the major Enlightenment thinkers to set the stage and the later connections. Hegel came first with the idea he stole from Schelling of Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis. With the thesis an idea is presented or thought or whatever. Then at one point we will go against this thought to have the antithesis. I will get to the musical connection in a second but first I would like to talk a little about the idea of This Here Now. All three are different and were thought to be very specific, through Hegel they became abstract. This Here Now is basically being in the moment completely where specificity becomes abstraction and vise versa. This is basically what the synthesis is. It hit me in class that basically this process can be placed on anything, situations, ideas, anything! It seems like it fits the idea of learning to a T. In my perspective when one learns something they agree with its idea, but then as the brain processes it the idea progresses to the point of disagreement. After some time and full understanding is gained will the person reach the synthesis where both sides are fully understood. Perspective can still be made, but to understand both sides of anything at the same time is true understanding.

And now for the connection! Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis is to Exposition, Development, Recapitulation. At first I wanted to believe this idea as much as possible it seems like the Hegelian Dialect fits the Sonata form perfectly, or does it! Exposition is the thesis the presentation of the main themes to set the rest of the work. Development tends to stray from its counterpart of Antithesis. The Antithesis is the opposite of the thesis something that is diametrically opposed. I do not feel as if the Development is opposed to the Exposition, it has more or less changed, but has changed with connection. The degree of change matters in the key signatures used in the Development. Yes, there has to be modulation, there has to be change in the development, there just can't be two Expositions! However, through modulation we have scale degrees that connect to the new key. Depending on the two keys the relationship can be close or far. Even though there is change in the new key both keys are connected but the scale degrees they both share. Where is the opposition in that!? The Synthesis does work with Recapitulation but it still doesn't embody the true meaning of both ideas. The Recapitulation would have to have a balance of the Exposition and the Development. So, then I pose the question how does this correlation work? For all intents and purposes it does fit the form in ways but strays after the Exposition. Very interesting connection, especially for the time period, but I question it.

Next, we had Kant and his disagreement with Hume. Kant said that Causation is built like a sandwich in-between Apriori and Aposterior. To Hume it was cause the effect and the after effect, to Kant it was the cause effect and after effect are all one process together as one. After this point there was the debate of Freedom vs. Determinism and how causation leaves no room for freedom. I got confused here, I guess with two structured events such as the cause then the effect and the after effect it is so structured that there can't be any freedom involved it is just those events. Having all those processes as one unified process leaves more room for freedom of other things to happen. With that thought I think of the symphonies and how each of them are one one unified concept with many entities within them.

Last class on Wednesday we looked at Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 1. Here Beethoven is in a way Kant-ian by using motifs instead of full themes, transitory themes instead of just a normal theme. In the first movement it is incredible how he skirts normal form. The first theme uses more motifs than true melodies. It dances upwards and doesn't hold a full melody but rather uses foreshorten phrases the entire way through. The second theme is a transitional theme that is chromatic. The second theme is something that would be found in the development, but no Beethoven uses it in the Exposition to create drama and tension at the same time. In this first movement alone some 40 sforzandos are used along with accents off the beat to create a sense of aggression throughout the whole piece which makes the rhythm the main focus. The second movement finally has a melody. It is a pretty little movement that could be something Mozart wrote contrasting highly from the previous movement. The third movement is a Minuet but it is a somber one in minor and in ABA. At the very end we get something happy to pick us up again in the Trio back to major. The fourth movement is probably the centerpiece here. Here we have the first Sturm und Drang movement from the master of Storm and Stress. Beethoven uses an odd variation of the sonata form with themes that really have nothing to do with the main theme. Beethoven also uses repetition to the point where it becomes irritating and then changes. Beethoven the first minimalist... HA! Far from but we can always joke. When the piece is broken down like we did it in class or when you do it on your own while listening it is absolutely amazing how all the the puzzle pieces come together. I keep on thinking of Hegelian Dialect and the comparison to the Sonata (though still questioning that one) or even to Beethoven himself and how in the end specificity is just abstraction and the reverse. Very interesting...