We have seen how Grieg formed an entire harmonic vernacular for a short piece of music, Klokkeklang (Bells), and how a performance of this piece might be informed by these peculiar characteristics. Here I examine how Beethoven does something not dissimilar in his 20th Diabelli variation. The many differences between Klokkeklang and the Diabelli Variations need not be elaborated […]
Many of the most iconic composers of the 19th century are known to have challenged the conventions of tonality, each in his own way. Berlioz, Wagner, Bruckner, and later Sibelius and Debussy, broke different boundaries cemented in the 18th century, and paved the way for the 20th century in music, when these said conventions were […]
How significant is the tonality of a work of music to our perception of it as performers or listeners? Could a work in D minor have been written in B-flat minor, or is there a sort of nomenclature to keys? The treatises on key characteristics attest to the latter rather than the former, and when […]
The last two entries dealt with how Schumann built his phenomenal F-sharp minor sonata “struggling” throughout with the genre of the sonata. The very precepts of the genre—sonata form and the balance between movements—were called into question by Schumann. This week, however, I will look at perhaps the very opposite of that: how another great […]
The first three movements of Schumann’s F-sharp minor sonata, Op. 11, set the scene of a composer at odds with the genre he is writing in. The fascinating results that arise therefrom—an almost Wagnerian obsession with a held single note—carries immense significance for the narrative of the work as a whole. Thus, the three movements […]
Schumann’s musical output in general, and his early works in particular, contain a fascinating mix of the traditional and the innovative. On one hand, he was staunchly true to the traditions of harmony and counterpoint he inherited from the great composers who came before him, but on the other hand, he seemed to be just […]
Beethoven’s sonata in F major, Op. 10/2, has always been a favorite of mine. It’s almost impossible to not be in a good mood after hearing it, as everything just seems to be there—irreplicable humor, vitality, reconciliation, lyricism, among so many other qualities. One can almost take the joyous mood of Op. 10/2 for granted. Sure, […]
The second movement of Schubert’s A minor sonata, D. 845, is an oasis of calm in the midst of a storm. Whereas the other three movements are all impassioned and tragic, the second movement begins and ends in the affirmative, the poignant C minor variation notwithstanding. What follows, however, is a far cry from the […]
The ending of the first movement of Schubert’s A minor sonata, D. 845, left us with a sense of void, frustration, and dejection. The idea of the rich sonority of the piano we have in mind has been violated by Schubert’s harsh use of the piano’s register, and the jagged phrase structure deprived us of […]
The publication of the Bagatelles Op. 126, in 1825, marked the end of Beethoven’s piano output, and the beginning of the composition of the five late quartets which were his final works. The same year, Schubert wrote the first of six monumental works which pushed the boundaries of the very concept of the piano sonata. […]