Summer Project

June 17, 2008 • Quotidian • 0 • Previous | Next

Over the course of her music writing career, Miss Mussel has had occasion to write notes for 109 pieces, 20 of which have been Herr Beethoven’s piano sonatas. You don’t have to be much of a pianist to recognize that this is pretty standard rep. There have been hundreds of program notes written about these pieces, so what could a bivalve who “plays a little when the mood strikes” possibly contribute to the discussion?

Maybe nothing but Miss Mussel certainly got a lot out of the process. Because the set was done over a relatively short period of time, it was like getting to know someone from the inside out. All the little details became clear and with only two hands to follow instead of an entire orchestra, it was much easier to appreciate all the little jokes as well as the piece’s inner workings. All of the sudden, Beethoven made sense.

It would certainly be going too far to say that these notes are seminal works of any sort. They are written for a general concert audience, which limits the depth of analysis quite significantly. On the other hand, you won’t find such line as, “One of his more enterprising servants hired out the horse and it wasn’t until Beethoven received a large bill for fodder that he curtailed the servant’s illicit entrepreneurial activities and got rid of the animal” in any theory textbooks.

Over the course of the summer, Miss Mussel will be publishing some of her favourite sets of notes. The idea is that they will be organized in a fashion at least remotely approximating logical.

First up: Beethoven Piano Sonata Op 2 No.1