Moonlight Sonata 2nd Movement...The Story Continues

[@erandolph84]

"Art is long, life is short" Beethoven is one of the most amazing human beings to ever live. Thank you so much for this discourse. It's so amazing to be able to learn more about this legend every day. I come to appreciate and understand Beethoven more and more with each of your videos. This movement, along with his late bagatelles and his arietta movement resonate within my heart.

[@themusicprofessor]

I'm hoping to do a video about the late bagatelles quite soon, and also about the very very rare unpublished ones...

[@chrissmithers8795]

Thank you for your own analysis of the often-overlooked 2nd movement. It is typical of many movements in the Beethoven piano sonatas which present outwardly conventional, melodic and modest qualities which are overshadowed by the popular dynamic, romantic and passionate pieces that the general public assume is a testament to Beethoven's musical character. This movement, just like many of his most popular works, still contains Beethoven's subtle forward-thinking compositional techniques that always seem to withhold a respect to the traditions of the past but carry forward a new approach to piano music.

[@BenjaminAllen-y2r]

Beethoven who?!?!?! Yikes I realize how little I know!

[@Alix777.]

After 25 Beethoven became not really interesting anymore for me. Anyway I used to always skip this movement because well it's not pleasant to hear, despite the Professor efforts to play it correctly.

[@ultimateconstruction]

​@@Alix777. The only thing that is not pleasant to hear is the entirety of Liszt's output. Beethoven is only interesting to smart people since His music is intellectually composed. Therefore, if you don't like Him, you're the opposite of smart.

[@Alix777.]

@@ultimateconstruction Beethoven is for the classical normie. His harmonic language is so poor.

[@ultimateconstruction]

@@Alix777. Harmony is not the only component that makes music good. He may not be the best harmonist, but He excels in everything else.

[@leonardorodomonte6389]

Very interesting look inside Beethoven’s mind! Looking foward for the third movement video!

[@Bethos1247-Arne]

In Beethoven's first symphony, I do hear Haydn, but not so much in this sonata movement. But your video opened new vistas for me on how to look at this part even now I hear it differently, with a stronger focus on the rhythm. Enlighting video, thank you.

[@matttondr9282]

Wow, what an eye-opening experience this was! I think you’re absolutely spot on with the offset phrasing, and now I’ll never see this movement the same way. Brilliant!

[@arshiaemami673]

I love your videos, please continue analyzing the often overlooked pieces.

[@pogginstone]

I am so enjoying these videos. My wife has musical training, and I have none. The sophistication of thought boggles an aging rock guitarist. Thanks so much.

[@marjrosen1295]

The moon glides between clouds and the musician captures the beauty without words… but always centuries later someone must explain.

[@rwdestefano]

I'm catching up on your past videos, so it may take some time to get through them all. Thank you, Professor. I adore your videos.

[@combatsideels4637]

Thank you for this once again great video !

[@TheRussianGenius]

[@jessebrennan7130]

It's so cool that Loki just chills and listens too ( well maybe not listening) 😂

[@reasoncomposer]

How lovely. I’ve always admired this movement of this sonata for its stark contrast and I love being able to hear more about why exactly I am drawn to it. Thank you for the beautiful and well put together content!

[@galeem713]

Can you imagine how exciting it was when Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Shakespeare and others producing music and theatre and playing it for you! I was born at the wrong time. But thank you for telling his story so wonderfully

[@gerbenbuijze]

You weren’t born at the wrong time. Just think of how easily you’re listening to all of them now

[@dlevi67]

@@gerbenbuijze With antibiotics, sterile eye surgery and all the rest to boot.

[@topsecret1837]

You weren’t born at the wrong time. You’d feel different if you lived in their time

[@JBorda]

Beethoven was the best musician this planet has seen. I went to his home-museum now in heiligenstadt and couldn’t contain my tears when reading the letter while listening to The Tempest. Great analysis here thanks!

[@themusicprofessor]

I've been to his house at Heligenstadt too.

[@harpsitardo]

We all know why good ol Louis wrote that movement - he was so prescient in knowing that it would be the joyous breath of fresh air for us pianists after having been asked to play the 1st movement by casual acquaintances for the one millionth time! 😇 Be honest, how many of us skip the 1st moment and begin at the 2nd when playing for pleasure? 😎

[@JackPrestrud]

Quite right. Same for me, a listener not a player. The 2nd mvt is why I listen to Moonlight.

[@SoulmateParis]

Wonderful companion ! Very interesting details about the composition ! Enthralling !

[@johnchessant3012]

2:56 7:49 8:52 13:37 13:59 16:14 16:42 I'm loving these, haha

[@cjbowring]

For what it's worth, I notice the four notes played by the bass in the trio match the start of the last movement of the Jupiter.

[@nightowl5395]

That was SO interesting...thank you. I was listening only to start with - as I was doing some art activity at the kitchen table - but just had to stop to watch instead...and to follow the notes when you were playing your recording at the end! I have always liked all three movements (can only play the first 😄) but this has made me appreciate that middle movement all the more. (I have just realised this video was only recently uploaded (?) ....serendipity, as it came up by chance

[@fredhoupt4078]

Terrific musical essay. I wanted to comment on the nature of the music, what it is suggesting. Rather than an abyss....and a flower in between two emotional ovens....I return to what I think Schiff brings in his famous lecture series on B's sonatas. I'm going on memory but I'm pretty sure that Schiff shows that the first movement is a form of "funeral march". It shows up early in the movement in the right hand; see bar 5, 4'th beat. That funeral march motif continues in a few place in the right hand and then finally in the left hand on bars 59-60. If Schiff is right and this first movement is a type of funeral march then who is it in memory of? Remember this fine point: one does not write a funeral march for someone still alive, even if they are contemplating suicide. Is it Beethoven mourning the loss of his beloved hearing sense? There is a lot to mourn. The second movement is a breath of air in the midst of what is to come, a massive 'sturm und drung' explosion. The third movement in contrast to the second is a long loud rage. This is Beethoven's will emerging from a fight that he waged against giving up. His letter to his brothers revealed that giving up meant ending his life. His struggle was to find a reason for living. In the end, the rage was a necessary but temporary use of a psychological weapon, used to keep him alive. From then on, he lived his life entirely in the service of creativity. He would never give up and abandon his God given gifts. He would struggle and he would live. That volcanic struggle feels all the more raw and terrifying coming as it does from a light and airy dance. Ah, but I hope that you will speak about the 3'rd movement (if you haven't already). Beethoven was put off (I don't know why) for the rest of his life with the great adulation his "Moonlight" sonata gave to countless music fans across Europe. He considered it second tier compared to later works (such as the all mighty Hammerklavier, perhaps) . And yet, we can't fall out of love with it. The piece is perfect and epic.

[@themusicprofessor]

Great comment. The funereal topic of movement 1 is discussed here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5vWmWCEj6iKo5osi=Ud8Jenu_wPk2KpWy

[@Alexagrigorieff]

Curiously, Schiff says that the first movement is not in a sonata form. For me, it looks absolutely in sonata form, with clearly defined exposition, development, recapitulation and coda. Did he mean it's a rondo sonata? I don't think that the first theme has a character of the rondo refrain.

[@ericcunliffe8714]

Just found this channel. Loved the first three I’ve listened to. Incredibly informative. Looking forward to 3rd movement analysis.

[@izzyk867]

Yes, we do need him! 😊🐶

[@themusicprofessor]

Loki is indispensable

[@dlevi67]

Found Isaac's comment interesting; I always thought of the Pathétique as Beethoven's expression of feelings about initial hearing loss, particularly the first movement, where I can hear the phrase "Ich kann nicht hören" in the opening theme, and a kind of wistful resignation at the end of the second movement ("Und so werden es sein"). Of course, things only got worse (hearing-wise), so it's perfectly possible that both pieces have echoes of suffering... or not!

[@caterscarrots3407]

I've always thought of the Pathetique Sonata as being a sonata of suffering as well, although perhaps a more dramatic suffering than gradual hearing loss, more like the suffering of physical pain from injury(Grave, those fortes in the Grave sections just feel so painful), knowing that you're not in a safe place to recover and are thus moving fast in spite of the pain(Allegro), recovering(second movement), but still feeling anxious about what's happening(Ab minor episode), and then trying to defeat the threat that caused the injury in the first place(third movement), but being painfully defeated(C minor outburst at the coda)

[@dlevi67]

@@caterscarrots3407 Well, Beethoven did call it "emotional"...

[@CristinaMarshal]

Oh, how I adore this frabjous content, dear sir; please never stop speaking these ideas!

[@p4radigm989]

I'm not a big classical music expert, but I like Mozart's Magic Flute Overture a lot. maybe you can make a video about that if there's anything interesting in it. cheers PS. I especially like the version conducted by Karl Boehm in 1955.

[@nanthilrodriguez]

love these. can't wait for part 3

[@Alexagrigorieff]

Only people who never heard Beethoven (or heard very few selected pieces) would say he was an "abstract" composer.

[@TheGloryofMusic]

In Charles Rosen's book Beethoven's Piano Sonatas: A Short Companion, Rosen discusses strong and weak measures, and I was taken aback when he claimed that a strong measures can be followed by another strong measure (the strong-weak pattern is not absolute). Rosen also said that 'Allegro' indicates an absolute tempo, and not just "fast".

[@themusicprofessor]

Yes, I know the book well. He's always fascinating and perceptive, but although his ideas about tempo are interesting, they can't possibly be absolute! And while I admire Rosen's knowledge and insights, there are many others whose performances and recordings I prefer to listen to!

[@dddglobe36]

For about two or three seconds there in the middle, I swear you were going to start playing Vince Guaraldi’s Linus and Lucy! Maybe it was all those syncopations. After all, Schroeder was into Beethoven. Anyway, I quite like the second movement. Thanks for the wonderful insights.

[@Stashi1808]

2nd mvt reminds me of what Beethoven called himself when he was in his witty mood. "Unbuttoned" free from the reality trials of the outrer mvts I think. The real him underneath all he went through. A nice music loving humanity caring composer. Not closed in by any problems as this sonata protrays. Lovely execution. May I ask what piano techniques you use? Some use Taubman any thoughts on technique? Thanks as always awesome Music Proffesor!❤

[@themusicprofessor]

I wish I could give a simple answer on technique! I have a hedonistic approach really: pleasure of playing, relaxed wrists, utilise arm weight, avoid forcing or unnatural hand positions.

[@Stashi1808]

@@themusicprofessor thanks a lot sir. I've been trying to learn piano on my own. I can play the first mvt of Sonate quasi una Fantasia but it's messy lol. Thanks. Btw I adored your video about Beethoven making swing in his last piano sonata. I would love to be able to play close to as good as you someday. My three loves are Beethoven, Django Reinhardt, and Muddy Waters. I love Beethoven for mixing Mozart, Gyspy Jazz, and Swing.

[@gnoccialpesto]

1st movement, no probs. 2nd movement, can't read/make sense of it. 3rd movement, my fingers don't move fast enough. I'll stick to electric bass then :p

[@ElkoJohn]

Much obliged for this lesson

[@HistoricalPiano1]

I just noticed the Jupiter-theme at the beginning of the trio, lowest voice below the drone. You "play it in" especially crispy, it's beautiful. Yes, it's not that complex contrapunctual elaboration how Haydn (first) and Mozart (later) handled this theme, but it _is_ there. There are no other notes together with it, to make very sure that we hear it clearly. I do not think that after Mozart's symphony Beethoven or anybody could accidentally write this figure if not for a reference (Haydn actually did make this reference in the Seasons). So I am tying to figure out what Beethoven wanted here with this - assumingly deliberate - quote!

[@themusicprofessor]

Interesting. The Jupiter theme is itself a form of 'inverted cambiata' - a sort of contrapuntal ornament which sounds a bit like a bit of plainsong. So, even in Mozart's original finale, it seems to refer to older polyphonic style.

[@richardpetrucci8925]

Fantastic content!

[@BenjaminAllen-y2r]

Yes please!!!!!

[@saibhandari]

Nice one ❤

[@johnlockhart5889]

I’d be seriously disappointed if Loki was banished.

[@themusicprofessor]

He will never be banished. He's becoming the most important contributor to the channel!

[@clarekuehn4372]

Wow!

[@SeanFlanagan-ng7kv]

I love the dog. He’s as bored as my wife and kids will be as I spend the next few years? Trying - learning piano and talking about Beethoven.

[@Blacksquareable]

Ohhh, that beat is interesting. I haven't done this stuff for too long!

[@catrionahall8435]

Always loved the second movement.

[@dabeamer42]

Love those actual photos. 🤔

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

10:21 so that's how Chopin's scherzi work

[@themusicprofessor]

Yes. Chopin was enormously indebted to Beethoven (even though he tried very hard to hide the fact!)

[@ultimateconstruction]

​@@themusicprofessor Chopin = Cattle.

[@robertmueller2023]

I took a piano literature identification class in college under my piano professor in 1991. He'd play about 5 seconds of a piece on his turntable and we'd have to identify it.

[@Blacksquareable]

I think the second movt is perfect. It balances out the first and third movts - the emfindsamskeit ideal (did I get that right?). I bet he had this little tune sitting by for a while and thought - oh, that'll do nicely.

[@matthewrippingsby5384]

Really? Interesting idea, but, I'm not sure - I think he would have been mad - really mad - to have composed it as a stand-alone... Nothing it does has a context except to unsettle. I think it would probably have been the final addition to the two movements with the 'Don Giovanni' and 'Hellish flames' motif...

[@Blacksquareable]

@@matthewrippingsby5384 Ah, I didn't mean he had the whole thing written out. Just the basic idea of the melody was rattling around in there waiting for the right moment to develop it into something more substantial.

[@matthewrippingsby5384]

I see - yeah, very possibly.

[@Blacksquareable]

Mm, I don't the the Heiligenstadt as a suicide note. He mentions that he had thought of it but really there is a lot more about coming to terms with his situation for me, there is an element of moving on. More of a testament as to how he has processed the situation.

[@themusicprofessor]

Yes, I agree with you - these lectures are delivered spontaneously so apologies if the terminology isn't always perfect. You're right in saying that the testament is fundamentally about moving forward despite the challenges.

[@matthewrippingsby5384]

For me Heiligenstadt was a drunken evening with the Rhenish flowing after a miserable journey where he exhumed all that repressed misery. He left it in a drawer because the next morning it was like any drunken melodrama - assuaged by sleep, and, however personal, irrelevant to his purposes. Quite probably, he knew the staff would find it and 180 years later, people would use it to understand his state of mind - opaque to many listeners, critics, socialites, and, relatives of his own day!

[@Blacksquareable]

@@matthewrippingsby5384 But he kept sacking his staff... so none of them would have stayed around long enough to find it!

[@matthewrippingsby5384]

@@Blacksquareable 🤣🤣🤣🤣👍 as I understand it it was a guest-house, but, fair point!

[@james088]

Great video 👍.

[@jaydenfung1]

"Abyss -> Flower -> Loki ->" Ha! I love it. I think most of the great composers do have something in common with great teachers in that they recognize a break is needed eventually, here the second movement. It doesn't mean it's uninteresting, though! Another thing I've observed: The great composers seem to love unusual phrases! You find it in Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (as mentioned here), Bach, Vivaldi, and all the other big ones, really. These composers don't really dismiss the rules-they fold them onto themselves, subverting expectations. I don't think Beethoven came into contact with Vivaldi's music. He did with Handel's and Bach's. Bach was directly influenced by Vivaldi, but other than that, Vivaldi was pretty untouched in Beethoven's time, no? But it's when you listen to Vivaldi's late works that you really think, 𝘞𝘰𝘸, 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘉𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. I mean, take the violin concerto RV 278. There are so many similarities in experimentation. Anyway, thank you again for the analysis! Thoroughly enjoyed once again.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you so much. Yes, Vivaldi is fab. But you're probably right that Beethoven wouldn't have known his work - I guess he might have seen Bach's transcriptions but it seems unlikely.

[@jaydenfung1]

@@themusicprofessor It's really unfortunate that the revival of Vivaldi's music came so late and that, even after the revival, only the Four Seasons and maybe L'Estro Armonico are truly known by the average listener. Surely he must be more deserving than four concerti of fame if Bach of all composers transcribed him! I think they're still uncovering new pieces to this day. Johann Pisendel seems to have been a bridge between a lot of the greats in Europe. I've read that he met Torelli, Vivaldi, Graupner, Hoffman, Telemann(?), and Bach. It might have been Pisendel who showed Bach Vivaldi and some other Italian composers. Lots of Vivaldi's concerti are dedicated to Pisendel, who was Vivaldi's pupil for some time, I think. (I think there are some vulgar jokes in Vivaldi's manuscripts aimed at Pisendel, too!) I don't think it's been verified, but maybe Pisendel could have shown Vivaldi some Bach? (I hope so!)

[@themusicprofessor]

The Bach/Vivaldi polarity is an interesting one: it's a classic case of the Austro-German/Italian opposition; the former more concerned with structure and a thorough, systematic approach to musical elements, while the Italian tradition is more concerned with the voice, melody, drama, charisma, simplicity of rhetoric and texture. Musicology has always tended to prefer the former but in reality, the Italian tradition is just as important!

[@jaydenfung1]

@@themusicprofessor It's true! Vivaldi himself sums it up in a crude annotation aimed at Pisendel (excuse my language [or Vivaldi's]): "For dickheads". He wrote this above mockingly excessive figured bass, making fun of German "exactness", I presume. Maybe some of this exactness rubbed off on him, though. His late works have such detailed articulation and directions.

[@johnbender5356]

your dog is as laid back as a cat

[@Alcatrazer000]

Great! When can expect the review of the 3rd Movement? :)

[@themusicprofessor]

This Saturday!

[@matthewrippingsby5384]

It's fascinating. Autobiographical and abstract are often seen as separate critical strands to help 'nail' a purpose for a composition. Yet, what do we trace back to the composer's conscious, and, what, the unconscious mind? The process of composition obeys a mandate of, 'final product.' His deafness is unfathomable in the second symphony, but, would have been a constant memory every time he came to the keyboard. 'I do not write for the balcony,' he trilled at some point, and, I believe this moment has several purposes. It owes something, (OK maybe not that much) , to the pastorale in the Xmas Oratorio, and I think he is literally destroying the comfortable beat of even the most sardonic Haydn minuet.' The world is out of joint,' is a good connective rationale for this movement. Like the eighth symphony, no one can quite tell if it's tragedy or comedy. Which must have been how he felt, aware of his duties to be abstract - classical - let's not forget Papa B.'s insistence he learn classical models before. 'messing about on the piano!'

[@matthewrippingsby5384]

Also - sorry to go on, but, you've 'tripped me now,' we have to factor in that, music where the player is the principal listener can often be about rhythmic destabilisation of the thinking process - the ladies sitting alone in their dulled, patronised state would have found glee and excitement, trying their hand at the rhythmic displacement and confusing sforzandi. To be allowed to confuse people with music is a much earlier permission, it seems to me, than with words (though a later development than, with pictorial art?), and, those same ladies are given powerful permission to confuse the listeners before embarking on the 'diabolic' finale - and, boy, am I looking forward to your essay on that, Professor!

[@benjaminclegg7109]

I agree that some of his later chamber compositions may have had strong autobiographical implications. I am not sure though that the period immediately after his Heiligenstein testament and the sea-change in his approach to composition were at least intended by him as autobiographical (no doubt some aspect of current circumstance will always shine through in anyone's work). He seems to have focused in aftermath of hearing loss trauma on the realization that his self-described "gift from God" required him to push forward, and at the same time he had such a strong humanist/revolutionary agenda that he seems to have tried to surreptitiously convey in his music that he later remarked to a fellow composer that "if the authorities knew what I put into my music, I would be behind bars". This hints at a political/freedom/justice focus for his art rather than a dwelling on own personal circumstance at the time.

[@themusicprofessor]

Interesting comment. Actually I think Beethoven's music contains programmatic and autobiographical elements throughout his career. For example, The 'Tempest' sonata seems to me to be wrestling (especially in the 1st movement) with existential questions which are also being discussed in the Heligenstadt Testament.

[@benjaminclegg7109]

@@themusicprofessor Maybe... I mean there are others that clearly are personal - like the Les Adiex sonata. But even from the Heiligenstein testament, what the wrestling with deafness seems to have done was a commitment to use his God-given gift in a serious way rather than for self-aggrandizement. His focus seemed to have shifted towards politics in the context of enlightenment ideals rather than self-obsessed artist in the romantic sense like Richard Strauss.

[@MC-hx6xn]

I didn't realize this video was 20 minutes it felt like 5.

[@themusicprofessor]

Wow!

[@Soffity]

As a pianist. (Pretty average alas despite so much effort) I really enjoy your channel and your dog is a delight, I’ve got a rescue fox terrier who is has a huge sebaceous cyst on his right shoulder which doesn’t worry him in the slightest and at 17 he can keep it, he loves the piano as sits under it. I rescued him after 10 years of being chained up in his back yard. I’m sure dogs enjoy good music the same as humans do.. what do you think.

[@themusicprofessor]

Dogs certainly respond to music. They have very sensitive ears so it certainly affects them. Music is a sonic fabric devised by humans with auditory symbols that dogs probably don't understand but they probably enjoy it in their own way - if they associate it with feeling calm and safe. However, I suspect Loki would probably choose going for a walk or eating a piece of cheese over listening to music any day!

[@kostrahb]

It would be great if you could somehow improve quality of video - currently it is blurred quite often when you're gesticulating quickly and camera has probably some difficulties with ISO/focusing. But otherwise absolutely amazing videos and superb story telling! I would love to have teacher such as you when I was younger.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you! Yes, I understand. We will upgrade our equipment soon...

[@militaryandemergencyservic3286]

Nice dog! This sonata is only worthwhile playing if you couple it with another. I'd suggest ONLY playing it after the Pathetique sonata. That's how I do it - otherwise I'd probably die of boredom from playing the Moonlight.

[@robertmueller2023]

Musicians that rest on their laurels and only explore stuff they already know (the dilettantes) vs. hard-striving musicians (the gourmands)?

[@mikemossey]

You mention the autobiographical nature of some of Beethoven's work. Do you have any plans to do the 4th piano concerto? I've always thought the middle movement represented Beethoven's interaction with his father, the piano being the child Beethoven with all his feelings and musical longings, and the strings in the beginning being the stern, judgmental father. The sadness of the final note is always devastating to me.

[@themusicprofessor]

It's wonderful, isn't it?! That sounds a plausible explanation. I believe there's some documentary evidence that it was inspired by Orpheus's interaction with the furies. But the emotional character is exactly as you describe: implacable stern strings and wonderfully sensitive and human responses from the piano.

[@mikemossey]

@@themusicprofessor Thanks! Great work you do here, by the way. I'm a student of composition and your analyses are informative and fun.

[@JBorda]

Liszt deemed the bright Allegretto between its moodier outer movements “a flower between two abysses.”

[@faustoserra7620]

16:14 In that photo Shakespeare looks oddly similar to Phil Collins

[@MetusalemSeSouffleur]

Love love love your channel. Just... Please... I'm looking forward to the day someone pronounces Händel's name correctly. Hendle. HENdle.

[@Baroquepassion]

I am intrigued as to why all of the other baroque dances fell out of use, apart from the minuet.

[@themusicprofessor]

I think the Suite itself becomes a very old fashioned thing towards the end of the 18th century - when Mozart composed one in the 1780s, it was clearly a backwards-looking exercise, and he abandoned it after the courante. Elements of the dance genres do continue though: the gigue continues in classical 6/8 rondo finales and elements of sarabande are detectable too in Beethoven and Mozart.

[@b9court]

Glenn Gould correlated the triplets of the 1st mvmnt with the triplets of the 2nd.

[@themusicprofessor]

That sounds interesting, although I don't generally like Gould's approach to Beethoven...

[@renhanxue]

I'm loving your lectures, but is there any chance you could improve the speech microphone setup? I have a hard time hearing what you're saying sometimes, the room acoustics produce this muffled quality that blurs everything out. Also the volume levels are quite inconsistent, I have to crank the volume too high really.

[@themusicprofessor]

Yes, sorry! We will gradually improve...

[@garydmcgath]

Aw, but you just barely mentioned the remarkable violation of classical harmony in this "flower between two abysses." I find it fascinating that in the trio he wrote a series of four unprepared tritones, each one half a step down from the one before. I like the idea that the downbeat is on the second full measure rather than the first. The position of the accent isn't a strong argument, though; Beethoven constantly included accents in unexpected places. It just has a bit more of a lilt when thought of the way you describe. I'll have to make a try at playing the movement that way.

[@themusicprofessor]

Absolutely right. The tritones are a marvel - I should have said more. I agree with you about accents in unexpected places, but I also think this one works much better phrased this way - it makes sense of the whole phrase (including the hemiola and the pair of quavers).

[@IainMcIntyre-no2pw]

Interesting that he agreed with his critics and replaced the middle movement (andante favori) of the Waldstein with a remarkable introduction to the finale. Shows how much he moved on.

[@themusicprofessor]

And he listened to critics at the end of his life and replaced the Grosse Fuge with a new finale to his Op. 133 quartet, which I think is a bit of a shame!

[@IainMcIntyre-no2pw]

@@themusicprofessor true. The present movement is a bit lightwieght!

[@themusicprofessor]

Too much so I think. It's lovely of course but lacks the weight to really end such a diffuse and monumental work. The GF does that superbly.

[@berritandersen288]

🙏

[@tonydarcy1606]

The grave digger scene in Hamlet after everything has gone wrong and Ophelia has died, but which has its own dark humour perhaps ? Or just a foot tapper for a deaf man ?

[@themusicprofessor]

Yes - or the famous porter scene in Macbeth. Beethoven's deafness never got in the way of his marvellous sense of rhythm.

[@TheMotherOfBambi]

what name of the painting in 0:44 seconds?

[@themusicprofessor]

Liszt at the Piano (1840) - oil on wood painting by Josef Danhauser (1805-1845); currently is on display at the State Museum in Berlin, Germany.

[@r.i.p.volodya]

12:00 Surely, if you phrase the piece the "Mozartian" way the then the irregularities are smoothed out? The sf is only 'out-of-place' (surely?) if you treat bar 1 as bar 1...

[@themusicprofessor]

Yes!

[@paulfreeman4900]

'Processing grief' doesn't ring true to me. Although it is the Romantic idea of Beethoven as Hero, I don't agree. Beethoven was an 'Absolute Musician" in the sense that his music's not programmatic. When he entered the room with a piano in it he became a composer, not a hero, revolutionary or whatever. We have only attached this meaning well after his death. Even late in life he was able to write the 'optimism' of the 9th and the sheer 'desolation' of the late Sonatas/Quartets. The slow movement from the 'Hammerklavier' is a case in point. Its gestures are not of any 'emotion' but a purely musical sensibility.

[@themusicprofessor]

The extent to which any composer (Beethoven included) composes their own autobiography is a very complex question. There is pretty broad musicological agreement that the existential challenges that confronted Beethoven in the early years of the century made an impact on his work during that period. No composer (and I speak as a composer) works in abstraction from their own life and the world around them. The late works you mention may not be 'programmatic' (in the sense that Berlioz and Liszt - both disciples of Beethoven - chose to develop that idea) but they are profoundly personal, and Beethoven was explicit about external factors in Op 110, the Missa Solemnis, Op 132 and Op 135 and the 9th Symphony which sets a revolutionary text in the finale. If the Hammerklavier Adagio does not contain emotion then... I'm not sure what emotion is.

[@danielroymakesmusic]

I suppose you have never heard of the Eroica symphony? Or the Tempest sonata? Or “La Passionata” sonata? I would encourage you to do a bit more digging and you will find that Beethoven was indeed very programmatic and conceptual in his writing. In fact you’ll be hard pressed to find any Beethoven compositions that don’t carry a narrative of some kind as opposed to merely pleasant tunes.

[@matthewrippingsby5384]

I agree Beethoven 's commitment to pure music has been overridden by his ' Solomonization' (the eminent professor's brilliant book makes some outrageous and incongruous psychological claims, in the glow of psychoanalysis) and that the piano was not in the final analysis his therapy but his workplace. But Beethoven was not mad but shrewd. He had run his own household, put up with his father, interested himself in politics in a sophisticated way, and, knew what he was trying to do when composing. The only way he could have exploded classicism so masterfully is by knowing it inside-out... He was an 18th century Fred Dibnah😂(British celebrity steeplejack)

[@themusicprofessor]

Love the Fred Dibnah comparison

[@militaryandemergencyservic3286]

I am a student from Beethoven's line. This sonata has some tricky bits in the 3rd movement. I'll post a video on how to overcome them (using my own plus Goldenweiser's ideas).

[@tymime]

Interesting use of AI images

[@oksanapstruk9501]

Для журналістів-може скоріше як пізніше Ви зрозумієте переклад з англійської букву “г” на українську не є то горезвісне pocійське “x”, а таке саме «г» в українській мові. Не одіозне ХЕЛЛОВІН, а ГАЛОВІН! Дайте собі сказати що в українській мові маємо і Г і Г. Надіюся, що не «плюю проти вітру» а почнете шанувати обі і українську і англійку мови. З повагою - Оксана Пісецька Струк.

[@justinmusicandskateboardin9282]

I know you're just demonstrating and this isn't a concert but your tempo is way too fast

[@craiglesuk1]

There’s a reason why nobody knows this movement….🤯

[@berritandersen288]

🙏