Robert Levin: Composing Mozart

Humanitas Visiting Professor in Chamber Music 2012
at CRASSH, University of Cambridge

[@divinodayacap3313]

52:16 Fuck, that fugue could've saved humanity for the past 200 years if it was completed

[@stevemsteven6103]

15:27 He can be a rapper.

[@ludwigvanbeethoven8164]

😂😂😂

[@arindo]

"Fascination of horror"... Loved that expression. Levin's completion of Requiem involving the Amen Fugue is my favorite completion. I wish it was played by more orchestras. His passion on the subject is inspiring to watch for even someone outside the field like myself.

[@MrCinemuso]

Those lucky Harvard music students! Unfortunately I rarely if ever attended a lecture as a former music student in the two biggest conservatories in Australia, that approached this level of intellectual insight, curiosity and mastery. And this costs nothing to attend...

[@profsjp]

Scholarship, virtuosity and passion all together. Great lecture!

[@MrYakkforgottenpass]

Could it be possible to upload the scores on the slides and put the link to them in the description? I think many of us would enjoy reading the scores in this highly informative lecture.

[@MrInterestingthings]

Levin really knows mozart's style and has done enogh research to be able to answer the question what makes Mozart great and what is good versus creative composition.wow .a brilliant pianist .his take on the pathetique too , just fascinating.recapitulation as self-recognition. this man knows the meanings behind music. wow. ive found my nadia boulanger.maybe this is common with good theory students. i missed out.

[@erikhertzer8434]

Schtadtler is a toddler according to the closed captions

[@credenza1]

Despite the unappreciative comments on this page, some of which may be based on sound knowledge, I enjoyed the forensic examination and illumination of Mozart's processes and left the lecture better informed and entertained.

[@GSHAPIROY]

32:37 With all due respect to Mr. Levin, Mozart actually uses that progression in the first movement of his G Minor Piano Quartet K. 478, m. 162. That being said, in the case of this particular fragment, Levin's solution to replace the ii chord in the major key with the iv chord in the minor key when transposing the progression from B-Flat Major to G Minor is probably better.

[@Kris9kris]

I would argue that the chords might be similar, but the effect is slightly different. Mozart inserts a secondary dominant in a 42 inversion before he goes down a circle of fifth, arriving at a secondary diminished of the V followed by the leading tone diminished. Not to mention the context in which he does it is also different. This person just looked at the V/II in the exposition and figured that he could use a “V/II” in a minor recapitulation. He can’t because the second degree is diminished, as Levin says. The K. 478 is a masterpiece, though; you have great taste. 😎

[@Hermes1548]

Beautiful insights.

Yet another wonderful lecture by Prof. Robert Levin (the American one, not the Norwegian); truly inspiring and an extraordinary insight in Mozart's scores, the way to meet the pieces as both a performer and composer. Bravo!

[@F-Man]

Kristian Oma Rønnes I love Dr. Levin's insight into Mozart and his work. I truly believe Dr. Levin's completion of the C Minor Mass to be one of the greatest modern contributions to humanity.

[@jackvanderheijden375]

REALLY FANTASTIC !!! MANY THANKS❤❤❤❤❤

[@nicodemosmusic]

LOVE THIS !!!!

[@paullin486]

It’s so unfortunate that the recording engineer did such a lousy job to have not documented in good quality of this great lecture,.

[@oscarbasza]

This was great and super helpful when I had to improvise some Mozart on my performance :)

[@lievenseys1073]

Een nieuwe lecture of Robert Levin. Top !

[@Albeit_Jordan]

This is incredible.

[@harald144]

23:09 scared the living daylight out of me

[@solcarzemog5232]

This is fucking amazing! Bravo MAESTRO LEVINE!

[@hallgeirpedersen4331]

Ingenious.

[@lioneldesmeules5041]

Il faudrait qu’un de ses chef occupant le devant de la scène fasse un bel enregistrement de la Messe en ut dans la reconstitution de Robert Levin, avec tout le respect dû à Helmut Rilling.

[@MrInterestingthings]

this pianist knows the choral work,publication and manuscript histories as well as many other things. one wonders how many instrumentalists know their composers as well as mr. levin. geesh, classical music requires much.

[@F-Man]

Have any recordings of his completion of K.427 been released?

[@patriciayeiser6405]

There are recordings of his Mozart concertos with the Academy of Ancient Music. You can get them via amazon.

[@patriciayeiser6405]

Mr Levin is my favorite pianist.

[@jakegearhart]

23:09 Why does it sound like people are screaming in the background or something.

[@user-uz8je4oh1q]

이 동영상 좀 한글 자막 해주실분 계시나요~~ 제발 부탁드려요~~

[@aleksandersaski5387]

Brilliant man. I would love to order a concerto from him.

[@CaloricLeader9Productions]

Mozart the genius of music

[@shnimmuc]

There were many genius composer better than Mozart

[@shnimmuc]

@Prolific Pineapples of course thee is.

[@shnimmuc]

@Prolific Pineapples of course there is.

[@shnimmuc]

@Prolific Pineapples Better is NOT always subjective. Look it up.

[@shnimmuc]

@Prolific Pineapples It is can also be subjective, but it can also technical and scientific.

[@JanPBtest]

Neither the cameraman nor the editor understand any of this. Frustrating to watch, things one needs to see are _constantly_ out of the frame.

[@josephslotnick4516]

23:08 bad mistakes arpeggios left hand

[@vaclavhrebec]

21:56 excuse me, but does anybody know what rhythm is he playing here?

[@garrysmodsketches]

Triplets?

[@youtherbiswas8]

Is there anyway, that Mozart may have been influenced in the composition of his Music, through Vivaldi...? Any resemblance between the Musical structures...

[@F-Man]

Rajiv Biswas Listen to a setting of the Tantum Ergo (K, 197) that's long been attributed to Mozart. Personally, I believe that, if it wasn't composed in its entirety by Vivaldi, that is was at least inspired by him. It bears harmonic resemblance to Vivaldi's "Juditha Triumphans," in particular, the "Salve invicta Juditha formosa" movement and the end of the oratorio.

[@youtherbiswas8]

Ferrariman601 Juditha Triumphans, is a great piece, structurally and the aura of Harmony, around the Oratorio is very symmetrical and structural. Lucio Vivaldi might have improvised it along the lines of Corelli, or Corelli and Vivaldi's work share same structural harmonies, in scale and dimension...maybe, thts because, both were there at the same time, early 1720s-1740s, but Motzart's treatment in Tantum Ergo, K197, is quite similar in scale but slightly varying in some Harmonies, while he uses the same scale of the Oratorio, the harmony used leaves behind the breaks and uses points, and counter points, to jump to the Oratorio...fascinating to hear both the pieces, somewhere i feel, Motzart let tht spirit of Improvisation in this piece, to bundle together his creativeness in using points and counter points..thts wht differs between the pieces...

[@Melox]

This man is a genius! thanks M° Levin!!!

[@alexandrecosta2708]

A pitty the desconextion between sound engineer and cameraman - sometimes hard to follow in detail. Thks anyway.

[@youtherbiswas8]

Strange Mozart leaving something incomplete, because, as per u, in his mind, the structure was constructional and structural which could be recreated if one knows the epilogue of the structure....the switches that are placed, yes, the counter-points, would be the guessing part....real creativity in the counter-point, which makes us, look at his genius with which he does the switch so much easily.... Really this part would be the hardest for anyone to replicate..yeah, we improvise and improvise...and surely..i feel, there was Improvisation required in Minuets and Sonatas...as Mozart must have done..I am sure about it..Thus, i would beg to diagree, here tht Minuets and Sonatas did not need any improvisation..yes, his Fragments, were the pieces of creativity...tht he must have jotted down in different forms of movements for later part of his music...Thts how, Mozart must had worked and put it all together....

[@patriciayeiser6405]

He often left works finished when the commissions had not been paid. At the time of his death, that was the case with the Requiem.

[@patriciayeiser6405]

I meant unfinished.

[@iulianiulian8632]

What is the name of the song ? kzbin.info/www/bejne/e53MmHSknZySers Please let me know if you recognize it! Thanks

[@anandshek06]

Wonder what the person behind the camera is at ..... it takes hell lot of time to focus on the slide when Levin is discussing it. very irritating.

[@FranzKaernBiederstedt]

I agree that Levin calls an impressive amount of deep knowledge about Mozart's Style his own and has a very tasteful and meticulous ability to write music in the style of Mozart. I can perfectly follow his argumentations on Stadler's completion of Mozarts chromatic Minuet. But I have to say that Levin is totally on a wrong path when he comments upon the completion of the g-minor piano sonata and describes the weaknesses of this completion by showing the tension and dramatic sharpening in Beethoven's Pathétique sonata. How can it be that Levin mixes these two composers up so easily? Isn't he aware of the totally different characters of these two creatives? You cannot say, Beethoven does soemthing in a certain way and therefore it has to be in a similar way at Mozart. Beethoven's teleological formal thinking is so different from the more associative and assemblage-like one of Mozart's. I really don't think, that it's adequate to argue about anything in Mozart's music by looking for what Beethoven would have done. That doesn't work at all in my opinion.

[@johnyringo6890]

You are out of your depth. You missed Levin's point entirely. He is giving an example of form, in particular Sonata form, which both Mozart & Beethoven followed. He also mentioned Shakespeare, Levin wanted to give examples of form & using other masterpieces as examples. I'm still holding my head in my hand after reading not just your comment but the many others in this section that are seriously deluded. Levin is a genius on interpretation & putting the pieces together of some of the most complex puzzles in the history of music. What did you do today?

[@FranzKaernBiederstedt]

+Johny Ringo Thanks for your comment on my comment. I agree with you, that Levin is a genius, and when you read my first comment you should notice, that I in fact do hold a huge amount of respect for him, his improvisation and composition skills and his deep insight into classical music. Being a composer, musicologist, music theorist and Music University teacher myself, I'm totally aware of Levin having given an example of Sonata form. The point in my opinion is, that there is not something like THE Sonata form. There is a history of Sonata form and how it developped through the centuries from the early beginnings in baroque Suitensatzform to the middle of the 20th century. And while the Sonata form developped, different composers of different times had a different view on what happens within this form, which philosophical ideas are affiliated to or associated with that form. And it's absolutely true that there is a great shift in the handling of Sonata firm taking place in Beethoven's compositions. The influence, Hegel's dialectical philosophy had on Beethoven's musical thinking, is to be found especially in Beethoven's appraoch to Sonata form and in general in his composition technique. The way, Beethoven carries thematical contrast and conflict and solution of this conflict into Sonata form (thesis, antithesis and synthesis) is something, you hardly find as Haydn's or Mozart's main interest in composing a Sonata form. Also is Beethoven's urge to squeeze as much as possible out of the smallest and incidental idea, to fight with musical material and to emerge from that fight as a victor by outdoing himself with every subsequent bar, something totally unfamiliar to Mozart's musical thinking. Mozart has more delight in throughing as many ideas as possible into his forms and to bind them together by implementing subcutaneous relationships into them,so that the form as a whole doesn't fall apart into a bunch of soundbites without any bondaries. I'm pretty sure that Levin is totally aware of these fundamental differences between Mozart and Beethoven, and that is the reason, why I'm a little bit puzzled by the fact, that Levin takes a Beethoven Sonata as a model to complete a Sonata fragment by Mozart. In my opinion that just doesn't really match up. You're free to disagree with me, but I do have my reasons, knowledge and experience to think the way I do and to express my thoughts in a comment, which by no means is meant to criticize Mr.Levin in an inproper or disrespectful way. I'm sure, Mr. Levin can stand a professional discussion.

[@FranzKaernBiederstedt]

+Franz Kaern I meant "throwing", not "throughing"... sorry for that.

[@simon7342]

+Franz Kaern Hi, I think you should watch that section of the video again and you might realise your mistake. You are wrong to say that he confuses that Mozart and Beethoven and wrong to say that he uses Beethoven as an argument for his completion of the Mozart sonata - he is in any case talking about why he feels the completion he has just played is not quite right. This is what happens in the above video: Levin states very clearly the first reason why he finds the completion of the Mozart sonata he has just played problematic, that in the section immediately before the recapitulation the music lacks sufficient building drama. To illustrate his point he says to the audience that they might want to consider the moments building to the recapitulation in the first movement of Beethoven's Pathetique as a masterful example of what he's talking about. He is using an intentionally extreme but also very well-known example to highlight his argument. It is fair to say that he becomes animated at that point about the music of Beethoven, but he isn't necessarily digressing, he's still talking about how the recapitulation is a very important moment and should be preceded by a sense of anticipation or drama, some sense of building towards to something momentous. He refers, as a further example, to the Aristotelian sense of drama at the moment of self-realisation and claims that Shakespeare employed this technique. So at no point does he use Beethoven's music as an argument for how to complete Mozart's unfinished work, he merely uses it as an example of a specific thing that occurs in most sonatas but he feels is lacking from the completion he has played. To maintain your own argument you would have to say that Mozart does not intensify the drama of the music before the recapitulation. Are you really claiming that Mozart wouldn't be naturally inclined to make the music as dramatic as possible? Or are you claiming that in Mozart's sonatas he does not use any dramatic techniques before the recapitulation to emphasise that moment? I think you must now realise you were mistaken and that is was unnecessary to make such accusations against Levin.

[@charliev906]

this is gonna sound stupid but is that a piano or harpsichord

[@karlpoppins]

It's a fortepiano. Essentially it is a piano in terms of the basic mechanical concept that allows it to have a large range of dynamics, as opposed to its predecessor, the harpsichord, which could only play in one dynamic (simplified). However, this instrument has the note range of a harpsichord, i.e. 4 octaves, as opposed to the one of the modern piano which is is about 8 octaves. Edit: the fortepiano has a slightly larger range than a harpsichord, but still much smaller than a modern day piano.

[@Ekvitarius]

It is a replica piano from the time of Mozart. In those days it was common to refer to the instrument as a pianoforte. Fortepiano is a modern term used to refer to historical instruments to contrast them form their modern counterparts.

[@donaldaxel]

About completing the C-minor mass: From 34:10 (minutes:seconds, gosh free me from auto-complete)

[@donaldaxel]

How nice it would be if we had the slides, in a separate file, to follow his description of-, and what he explains about, the 8 voice fugue called "crucifiction" at apporx. 47:00

[@donaldaxel]

His closing is remarkable, when I compare to the sentiments I have met regarding Süssmaier's completion of the Requiem: Somebody said to me, who cares, the music is wonderful. And, indeed, yes, I would be sad if nobody had worked to complete the requiem, and ALSO this C-minor mass, it really deserves being heard. I am not sure which version is normally played out there. A search on IMSLP gave me several versions. But the taste, the sound example of Robert Levin's fugue (ending the lecture) is wonderful, I think it suited Mozart well, and I could not help think "Yes Mozart, you heard it", and Mozart answering "He did well!"

[@vigokovacic3488]

34:16

[@vigokovacic3488]

@@ludhannsebastivanbachthove4987 I don't remember why I wrote this time stamp down, but I'm sure it wasn't anything about Trump.

[@ElSmusso]

music is not what you think it is these days

[@NelsonClick]

Decomposing Mozart School of Mortuary.

[@josephslotnick4516]

Mistakes left hand 23:09

[@Richard.Atkinson]

He spends the first 20 minutes explaining his theory that Mozart did not complete the minuet, for which there is no evidence whatsoever. His "smoking gun" is that a phrase is slightly changed to start on the tonic rather than the third? Do I have to list the hundreds of examples in Mozart's pieces where one could make the same argument? Also, there are many moments in the music of every great composer that seem "less satisfying" than their usual genius, but that certainly doesn't mean some other lesser composer must have jumped in and written those measures. Levin is extremely knowledgeable, a great performer, and an amazing improvisor, but he's falling into the old musicologist trap of making ridiculous conjectures.

[@dibaldgyfm9933]

I wondered the same for a moment, RA., but then I decided to ignore that menuet-discussion, or rather, take it as a (weird) example of what balance is to Mozart. I have years ago studied two pieces said to be Mozart's examples on how to write and how not to. Kleine Nachtmusik, balance and beauty (and som drama, don't listen to it too many times, though, it can become dull) - and "Ein Musikalischer Spass" (Also known as "Village Musicians" or something). Surprise: Many of my students found the beginning of "Ein Musikalischer Spass" to be OK, in harmony. Like people asking "is it really necessary to tune a piano"! I can't explain to such people without other, better examples. However, for one with built-in rhythm and phraseology the "Spass" beginning is a knife in one's heart.

[@Geopholus]

Richard Atkinson, I always appreciate Your fine insight into music theory, and how it is applied. I think I agree with You, in this case. Although Robert Levin is also a genius, he makes assertions that are really nothing more than surmises. As Levin concludes his idea that Stadler would not go far afield from conventional 'wisdom ' in writing the trio, I would also venture,.. why would he, go far afield in filling in his "own" completion of the minuet? Much more likely Mozart, was being his usual self, and left this fragment in a tweeky sort of state of "non completion". He could have carried on from the chord Levin finds "suspect" just as he perhaps, (very likely)..... DID.. ! Certainly the chromatic, and humorous content of the piece to the point that Levin finds "suspect" could have ended, as it was published, even more chromatic and tweeky, and with the rather surprising couple of chromatic cadenza's,.. or he might have come-up with some other "more satisfying"????? finale,.. edit,.. since it was left... not ready for publication. But as published,.. in it's jarring way,.. it is still very Mozartian! and , I think Levin is unjustified in attempting to discredit it, especially as: How could Stadler be so filled with inventive genius for several bars?, and completely lose that ability for the trio.

[@dantrizz]

I would have to disagree here with your argument quite strongly. I don't think your point that saying 5th root root is not satisfying enough for mozart is necessarily a bad one. I agree that Levin's argument there is less that thorough however, it's an irrelevant point he brings up because if this occurs after the moment that staedler picks up completion then that part of the composition is staedler's hand irrespective of whether it's satisfying or not. It would be him even it was 5th 3rd root as levin suggests would be. However this exact problem which makes his point irrelevant is exactly why your critique of it is also irrelevant. The issue is whether the transitional material in the finished score is the problem as Levin indicates. I think clearly the answer is yes it is a problem. Firstly if you look at minuets written around this time of mozart's life (roughly 1780s) then the version of the transitional material that levin advocates is much more in line than that which staedler has presented. For 2 reasons. Firstly Mozart is big fan of chromatic walk downs from the tonic to the 5th in transitional passages/phrases in recapitulations. This appears in his music very often in this period. Namely just look at the first 2 haydn string quartet minuets and you will see exactly that. One in major and the other in minor but all of those have this type of passage somewhere in them. And they form sequences near enough (makes no difference) the way this minuet would if you took Levin's version. And looking at the levin version it would be D, C#, C, B, Bb, A, exactly how Mozart often does so. And secondly the main thing for me would be that the staedler recomposition of that transitional material starts with an augmented chord built on G. Now I will say at this point, for me it's no really an augmented chord but rather a delay to an E minor chord in first inversion and that is very problematic for me. I can't think of a single example where mozart recomposes the transitional material in the recopitulation and starts on a different chord. And certainly not with a different functioning chord. In levin's version it would be essentially a B minor which relative to D major is tonic function, but the staedler version would be and e minor thus sub-dominant function. This I find extremely hard to believe with respect to what I know about Mozart. Even if you take an example like the 8th piano sonata, the transitional material in the recapitulation of the 1st movement might be totally different from start to finish, but it starts with an a minor chord as it did in the exposition. I say all of this because 1. I wanted to show that there isn't "no evidence whatsoever" (to quote you) as to why this bar is suspicious, and 2. I say this with the greatest respect in the world (I'm sure you're a decent person so it's nothing personal) I think you've picked up on an irrelevant point to critique. And even if you were right to conclude "I've proven Robert Levin wrong and thus this work is definitely is a 100% authentic Mozart piece from start to finish" is itself a logical phallacy. Apologies for the long winded response, I felt very compelled to write comment. I wish you all the best in the future. Regards Dan Triscott

[@mylittleelectron6606]

@@dantrizz I appreciate your insights.

[@dantrizz]

@@mylittleelectron6606 no worries

[@user-ys3qq6rf6z]

why there are not many great jewish composers ???

[@user-ys3qq6rf6z]

@@ludhannsebastivanbachthove4987 two is not a crowd but there are many great polish composers like gorecki , kilar , penderecki , paderewski , wieniawski , lutoslawski and chopin of course polish movies composers are top class always just try music from movies polskie drogi , noce i dnie , janosik but my favorite piece of music is 5 symphony by shostakovich special 2 movement

[@user-ys3qq6rf6z]

@@ludhannsebastivanbachthove4987 ok try noce i dnie and polskie drogi movies polish music

[@garrysmodsketches]

because Jews are and have always been a rather small proportion of european population

[@karlpj1]

having the choice I doubt Mozart would choose that XVIII piano reconstruction instead a modern one. In fact Beethoven started with a piano like that and finished with something a lot more modern.

[@Ekvitarius]

There’s no way to prove that one way or another, but it’s entirely irrelevant because if Mozart had had the instruments of today he would have written very different music for them.

[@iwanabana]

43:00 he's definitely a carnivore

[@weltschmertzz]

The acoustics are quite horrendous.

[@edgenovese]

the audio is so bad I could not listen...Compress this and EQ this so it can be useful rather than painful !!! I appreciate your efforts However at this quality it is for not !! Best...Ed G

[@MrYakkforgottenpass]

***** I don't think this will help much.. the mistake lays in the microphone position and the arrangement of the audio tracks recorded from the mic on Mr. Levin's jacket and the two hypercardiodid microphones in front of the piano. But you are right nevertheless. The audio is very unpleasant in this video...

[@openmusic3904]

As a musician I thought I would enjoy this, but I find Robert Levin's communicative style almost unbearable. There is so much linguistic beating around the bush and needlessly extravagant language, whilst at the same time seeming fragmented and scatty. The overblown and pretentious delivery doesn't help either. I can follow him, but it isn't enjoyable to listen to at all. He feels like a chore to listen to. He really needs to work on his communication style. Obviously topics like these are naturally complicated, so he should endeavor to make it as clear and straightforward as possible where he can. Ockham's Razor, 'Do not multiply beyond necessity'

[@darioteich]

Destroying Mozart. What a shame.

[@mbabb]

How exactly so?

[@crotchet1586]

Dario Teich You don't like detective shows?

[@crotchet1586]

***** And without it we'd all float off into space and die and the planets would crash into each other...think you need another analogy!

[@xmizz08]

See but i don't think he's tearing Mozart down I think he's attempting to shed light on the actual person as a musician and artist. Also he shows how interpretation may have changed how Mozart would have ended the piece if he was still here.

[@xmizz08]

If anything I think he's saying Mozart's music is actually better than most the interpretations that we have today. He was truly incredible

[@copleysq]

at 28 minutes etc he over-sells foolishly.