All Entries in the "Essays" Category
On Folk Music
[originally a set of program notes]
What is easy to sing, has a highly repetitive modal melody, a small range, simple harmony and is immediately danceable?
Folk music!
It’s easy enough to describe but terribly difficult to define, since, although there are common features, the form folk music takes and the purpose for which it is [...]
Beethoven Piano Sonata Op 111
Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
Maestoso - Allegro con brio e appassionato
Arietta: Adagio molto semplice e cantabile
Beethoven still had five years left to live when he wrote this sonata but in many ways it feels like a definite end. The thirty two piano sonatas has spanned nearly thirty years of his [...]
Beethoven Piano Sonata Op 110
Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110
Moderato cantabile molto espressivo
Allegro molto
Adagio ma non troppo
Fuga: Allegro ma non troppo
On paper, Op 110 is a traditional four-movement sonata. In reality however the work is a further example of the dissolution of sonata form within the outer movements as well [...]
Beethoven Piano Sonata Op 81a ‘Les Adieux’
Sonata in E flat major Op 81a ‘Les Adieux’ (1810/11)
Das Lebewohl: Adagio - Allegro
Das Abwesenheit: Andante espressivo
Das Wiedersehen: Vivacissimamente
In the 11 years between Op 10 and Op 81a, much had changed both for Beethoven personally and in Europe politically. Beethoven had become a household name throughout Europe for his music, the impact of [...]
Beethoven Piano Sonata Op 57 ‘Appassionata’
Piano Sonata in F minor Op 57 “Appassionata”
Allegro assai
Andante con moto
Allegro ma non troppo
The difference in style between the three early sonatas and Appassionata is marked. In the intervening 12 years, Beethoven had written 20 piano sonatas, two cello sonatas, nine violin sonatas, three piano concerti, the first six string quartets, the Triple Concerto [...]
Beethoven Piano Sonata Op 10 No. 2
Sonata in F major, Op. 10, No. 2 (1796-98)
Allegro
Allegretto
Presto
Beethoven made a few minor changes to the standard sonata form in this piece, the first of which occurs in the development of the first movement. Traditionally, the development is a place for the composer to play around with the first and second themes and [...]
Turangalîla-Symphonie - ‘It’s a holy terror, but a hell of a good time’
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) TURANGALILA-SYMPHONIE
I – Introduction
II – Love Song 1
III – Turangalîla 1
IV – Love Song 2
V – Joy of the Blood of the Stars
VI – Garden of Love’s Sleep
VII – Turangalîla 2
VIII – Development of Love
IX –Turangalîla 3
X – Finale
Turangalîla–Symphonie (tour-ahn-ga-lee’-lah) was commissioned by American composer/conductor [...]
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