Last week I took a trip to San Jose, California. While the primary reason for the trip was a truly spectacular failure, there were a number of musical points of interest to provide some consolation, particularly for a Beethoven-lover.
On Monday, I visited the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies. They have a lot of interesting things there, including the lock of Beethoven's hair, a page of original manuscript, and a number of first editions. They also have two original fortepianos, and a reproduction fortepiano, harpsichord, and clavichord. Visitors are allowed to play the reproduction instruments, and it was the first time I had ever played any of them.
I made a bit of a fool of myself, since the only Beethoven pieces I had tucked away in my memory were from later periods and exceeded the range of the fortepiano that was there. They had the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata sitting there, so I played through the first few bars of that, but then gave it up and just experimented on the instrument for a while.
I particularly enjoyed playing the harpsichord. They had the C major prelude from the Well Tempered Clavier sitting out, so I read through that, but it was surprisingly difficult because of having to get used to the way a harpsichord plays. You press the key down and at some point there is a little "click" as the string is plucked. It took a while to get a feel for when the note was actually going to sound.
The two original fortepianos were not available to play, but the people working there were more than happy to demonstrate them for visitors. I was the only person in there at the time, and they were extremely kind in talking with me and answering all of my questions. They also knew The Beethoven Reference Site, and so I passed on greetings from all of you! I highly recommend visiting there if you are ever in the Bay Area, and I am most grateful to Patricia Stroh (the curator) and to Kathy Fox for taking so much time to talk with me and show me everything while I was there.
I went back on Wednesday night for a performance there using one of the original fortepianos (the Broadwood) and featuring some soloists and musicians from the San Francisco Symphony. They played the Horn Sonata, the "Ghost" Piano Trio, and three of the Irish folksong arrangements. I was talking with the cellist afterward, and I mentioned how delighted I was that those folksong arrangements had been included, being relatively unknown, and he told me that he himself only became aware of their existence a month before. It's good to see more musicians and music-lovers discovering them!
Then on Saturday I attended the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, in a concert which featured Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3 (excellently performed!), and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25 (Jeremy Denk as soloist).
I also visited the Oakland cathedral and the San Jose cathedral. The Oakland cathedral is truly ridiculous; one cannot even tell it is a church from the outside, and in fact one might mistake it for the cooling tower of a nuclear reactor at a glance. The inside does some interesting things with natural light, but it does not serve the purposes of a church, and it gives a cold and sterile impression in general. It would be hard to imagine a more complete failure of church architecture, and it would be funny except for the incredible expense in building it. The organ is interesting, but unfortunately I did not hear it played while I was there.
The San Jose cathedral is far more interesting. It seems they tried to ruin it through renovations, but most of its original beauty remains intact. They are not supposed to take people up into the choir loft where the organ is, but with my charming personality and way with words I was able to get up there nevertheless. The tracker organ is nice, and I wish I could have heard it. Apparently it is played every Sunday, but not by an expert, which is too bad. The man showing me around was most helpful and informative, and I am grateful to him.
I also took in the art museum and technology museum in San Jose, and did a number of other things, but those are the musical highlights. Perhaps I will post some pictures.
On Monday, I visited the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies. They have a lot of interesting things there, including the lock of Beethoven's hair, a page of original manuscript, and a number of first editions. They also have two original fortepianos, and a reproduction fortepiano, harpsichord, and clavichord. Visitors are allowed to play the reproduction instruments, and it was the first time I had ever played any of them.
I made a bit of a fool of myself, since the only Beethoven pieces I had tucked away in my memory were from later periods and exceeded the range of the fortepiano that was there. They had the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata sitting there, so I played through the first few bars of that, but then gave it up and just experimented on the instrument for a while.
I particularly enjoyed playing the harpsichord. They had the C major prelude from the Well Tempered Clavier sitting out, so I read through that, but it was surprisingly difficult because of having to get used to the way a harpsichord plays. You press the key down and at some point there is a little "click" as the string is plucked. It took a while to get a feel for when the note was actually going to sound.
The two original fortepianos were not available to play, but the people working there were more than happy to demonstrate them for visitors. I was the only person in there at the time, and they were extremely kind in talking with me and answering all of my questions. They also knew The Beethoven Reference Site, and so I passed on greetings from all of you! I highly recommend visiting there if you are ever in the Bay Area, and I am most grateful to Patricia Stroh (the curator) and to Kathy Fox for taking so much time to talk with me and show me everything while I was there.
I went back on Wednesday night for a performance there using one of the original fortepianos (the Broadwood) and featuring some soloists and musicians from the San Francisco Symphony. They played the Horn Sonata, the "Ghost" Piano Trio, and three of the Irish folksong arrangements. I was talking with the cellist afterward, and I mentioned how delighted I was that those folksong arrangements had been included, being relatively unknown, and he told me that he himself only became aware of their existence a month before. It's good to see more musicians and music-lovers discovering them!
Then on Saturday I attended the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, in a concert which featured Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3 (excellently performed!), and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25 (Jeremy Denk as soloist).
I also visited the Oakland cathedral and the San Jose cathedral. The Oakland cathedral is truly ridiculous; one cannot even tell it is a church from the outside, and in fact one might mistake it for the cooling tower of a nuclear reactor at a glance. The inside does some interesting things with natural light, but it does not serve the purposes of a church, and it gives a cold and sterile impression in general. It would be hard to imagine a more complete failure of church architecture, and it would be funny except for the incredible expense in building it. The organ is interesting, but unfortunately I did not hear it played while I was there.
The San Jose cathedral is far more interesting. It seems they tried to ruin it through renovations, but most of its original beauty remains intact. They are not supposed to take people up into the choir loft where the organ is, but with my charming personality and way with words I was able to get up there nevertheless. The tracker organ is nice, and I wish I could have heard it. Apparently it is played every Sunday, but not by an expert, which is too bad. The man showing me around was most helpful and informative, and I am grateful to him.
I also took in the art museum and technology museum in San Jose, and did a number of other things, but those are the musical highlights. Perhaps I will post some pictures.
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