Piano Sonata 25 (Opus 79)

[Joy]

I heard Opus 79 (PS#25) being played on the radio this morning and it was pretty short. About 10 minutes. I realized Beethoven had a couple of other Piano Sonatas even shorter, his Opus 49 No.2 (PS#20) and his Opus 49 No.#1 (PS#19) both written around 1796-1797.
Then I thought some of B's PS have only 2 movements and not three. Was this pretty normal or was Beethoven breaking new ground with this practice?

Joy

[Peter]

Originally posted by Joy:
I heard Opus 79 (PS#25) being played on the radio this morning and it was pretty short. About 10 minutes. I realized Beethoven had a couple of other Piano Sonatas even shorter, his Opus 49 No.2 (PS#20) and his Opus 49 No.#1 (PS#19) both written around 1796-1797.
Then I thought some of B's PS have only 2 movements and not three. Was this pretty normal or was Beethoven breaking new ground with this practice?

Joy

There is no consistent trend in the number and order of movements. The three-movement sequence, fast-slow-fast, predominates; a fourth is often present, but its character and placing vary. The so-called 'Italian plan' in two movements, usually both fast or one fast and one moderate, occurs in about half the sonatas of the main Italian composers from Alberti to Boccherini. There are also many examples of 2 movement sonatas by Haydn which Beethoven must have known.

------------------
'Man know thyself'

[This message has been edited by Peter (edited March 06, 2003).]

[Joy]

Thanks, Peter. That answers my question.

Joy

[jman]

meh, I just wanted to say that I LOVE this sonata...especially the first movement. I've worked with the first movement with my teacher but got the music for movements #2, 3 and played them on my own...I particularly love the sort of waltz theme in the beginning of the 2nd movement...just too bad it wasn't developed more but what can you do??

ANd it's reading posts like this that make me wish that there was a classical music radio station near me!...i can just imagine all the avenues of music that would be opened to me....

[orpheus]

What?...you don't have any radio where you are that plays CM? That's worrying.

In the UK, where I live, BBC radio 3 used to be the envy of the world. But it's really gone down hill in recent years, in my opinion. Does anyone else (from the uk) here agree? They have such unimaginative programmes anymore, and they hardly ever play anything contemporary - which I think should be the main reason for a CM radio station in the first place.

[Rod]

Originally posted by jman:
meh, I just wanted to say that I LOVE this sonata...especially the first movement. I've worked with the first movement with my teacher but got the music for movements #2, 3 and played them on my own...I particularly love the sort of waltz theme in the beginning of the 2nd movement...just too bad it wasn't developed more but what can you do??

ANd it's reading posts like this that make me wish that there was a classical music radio station near me!...i can just imagine all the avenues of music that would be opened to me....

I suppose if it was more developed it would no longer be a 'sonata facile'. From what I typically hear on Classical radio stations you are not missing out on much!


------------------
"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[Peter]

Originally posted by orpheus:


In the UK, where I live, BBC radio 3 used to be the envy of the world. But it's really gone down hill in recent years, in my opinion. Does anyone else (from the uk) here agree? They have such unimaginative programmes anymore, and they hardly ever play anything contemporary - which I think should be the main reason for a CM radio station in the first place.

I suppose you must be right as I never listen to it! Though I don't see why the main reason for a CM station should be contemporary music - what about 16th century music which is just as neglected!

------------------
'Man know thyself'

[orpheus]

Ok, the function of radio should be to introduce new music, or unkown music, rather than to reproduce what we all already have on CD 5 times over. I personally do think radio should encourage people to be interested in new music - contemporary music - more athn anythin else - as the creation of new art is integral to the development of culture and the progess of humanity.

I think we live in a slightly weird time historically. In Beethoven's day people were far more interested - even hungry - in hearing the latest thing, which made them receptive to what he was doing. We sort of live in a "like what I know" society these days. I belive we should still be interested in music of the past too, its just the balance seems to be a bit off these days.

[Chaszz]

Originally posted by jman:

ANd it's reading posts like this that make me wish that there was a classical music radio station near me!...i can just imagine all the avenues of music that would be opened to me....

No crocodile tears, you have no excuse. There are scores, if not hundreds, of classical music stations broadcasting 24/7 on the internet now. Just enter 'classical music internet radio' or some such phrase into a good search engine like Google and try sampling stations that you get back. For starters, you might try my fine local New York City station at www.wqxr.com Click on 'Listen now'. There is also www.naxos.com where you can listen to virtually their entire CD catalog for free. Click on 'Search our Catalogue' at the left, then put in a composer's name or the name of a work, and go. Everything which is underlined with a speaker symbol to the right of it, can be listened to. Just to confirm, I put in 'Beethoven' just now, got back fifty-nine pages of results, and am now listening to the Trio in B flat for Piano, Clarinet and Cello, Op. 11, and it's great.



[This message has been edited by Chaszz (edited April 11, 2003).]

[Joy]

So true, Chaszz! I'm pretty lucky here in Phoenix, our classical radio is just great. And they do play lots of music from the
15th and 16th century which I always find fascinating. Right now this week and next week they are featuring all nine of Beethoven's Symphonies and having commentary on each one which is very interesting. Learned something the other day when they played The Eroica. It seems in a tavern while Beethoven was having his favourite fish dinner he was asked, "what symphony of yours is your favourite?" and he replied, "Ah-ha! The Eroica!" (The 9th hadn't been written yet).

Joy

[OboeKing]

Here in Britain we have a radio station called classic fm. I personally think its great because there are plenty of the old classics as well as some slightly obscurer older ones. This is balanced out by a chunk of more modern classical music (which I don't particularly like, but at least there's variety)

Regards,
Michael.

[jman]

Chaszz: ha, I still got an excuse!!...my computer's speakers don't work. Therefore I have no sound and no one in my family has ever cared enough to get it fixed... I have a laptop which I can hook up to the internet, but A) that's a hassle, and B) the sound quality isn't great on it so...but i'm going to check out naxos anyways to see what you can get...

I actually found out recently that our sattelite dish gets sort of radio stations; so I've got a Chamber music station, a Baroque station and a 'Masterworks' station I can listen to at home, atleast!

But yes, i live out in Canada--almsost in the middle of nowhere but not really actually. It reminds me how much I'm starting to dislike this country...

[mspaceray]

If your going to hate Canada you will have to get in line!

[jman]

lol, okay but let's not make this a political discussion!!!

[mspaceray]

jman,Iknow you say you live in the middle of nowhere in Canada but where ever you live I can assure you Canadians love classical music,if you want to get a good musical education (and have the talent for it)you will get it here.