Beethoven's "Tempest" Sonata last mvt: Struggling with the Score!

[@Bigblackpiano]

Such good timing as I am learning it now. As always I appreciate your straightforward lecture without any pretense!

[@TheIndependentPianist]

Thank you Lauren!

[@wisepilgrim343]

Thanks alot, I really appreciate you taking the time to cover my favourite piano-piece!!

[@TheIndependentPianist]

No problem, thanks for the suggestion!

[@JG_1998]

I like the way the last movement LH sounds without pedal much more than the way people usually saturate it. It sounds far more rhythmic that way, and it adds more texture. Great catch, definitely not obvious at first, but makes more sense musically. I think Beethoven's music in general is filled with spots like this: where the standard practice is to play them in a way that is much less musical than what he probably intended originally.

[@TheIndependentPianist]

I think you are quite right about that. Over time I've noticed that great pieces often times have effects written in that are troublesome or awkward, but if you take the trouble to realize them it results in something really special. Thanks!

[@lala-i7q]

I like this sonata very much，it always touched me deeply. Thanks to Beethoven and thanks to you ❤

[@grahamtwist]

Carl Czerny declared: "This sonata is perfect" - as is your performance of the 'Allegretto' final movement, Cole, which enters hauntingly with an almost hypnotic theme (and, as you remark, is much harder to play than it looks!). I think you have the tempo just right - not too fast, despite the fact that Beethoven is alleged to have composed this after seeing a man galloping by his window on a horse! With my love of Bach, I sense that the section beginning at measure/bar 110 shows that Bach was never far from Beethoven’s mind. The English musicologist, Denis Matthews, felt the predominant character of the movement "is pathetic rather than energetic, the pursued rather than the pursuer, offset by occasional frenzied outbursts" and the tragic feeling in the music continues right to the very end, with the music seemingly disappearing into the void. I find the background story to this Sonata fascinating. The year it was composed, 1802, was a year of despair for Beethoven, even though it was one of his most prolific years. His hearing had been declining since 1796 and he had been consulting doctors everywhere. In mid-1801, he found Professor Johann Schmidt, who became his personal physician until his death in 1809, and Schmidt persuaded Beethoven to leave Vienna and go to the countryside to calm his nerves and care for his hearing. Beethoven decamped to the village of Heiligenstadt, but during this six month vacation, his health didn’t improve. The musicologist, Maureen Buja, wrote that for a composer of Beethoven's stature and creativity, "deafness was the worst insult life could deal him." Between 6 and 10 October 1802, in the depths of his despair, Beethoven wrote out his thoughts. This document, now known as the 'Heiligenstadt Testament', was addressed to his brothers and to the public. Its words make it seem that Beethoven was considering suicide. In the document, he blames his incompetent doctors for deceiving him on the real nature and curability of his deafness. His life of isolation was a torment to him, as was the constant reminder of his hearing loss. However, his art held him back from suicide and he wrote: "Ah! It seemed impossible to me to leave the world before bringing forth all I felt in me, and so have I endured this miserable life." Maybe in this context there could be some credence to the Shakespeare link? The Sonata's familiar title, 'Der Sturm' (The Tempest), didn't come from Beethoven, but as you remark, Cole, from a comment he supposedly made to Anton Schindler. Schindler asked Beethoven how to interpret this work and Beethoven told him he should read Shakespeare’s Tempest, and so the work received its nickname, although Beethoven never used it, and we'll never really know the truth of the claim!

[@TheIndependentPianist]

Beautifully put Graham! I have often been intrigued by the idea that there might be some link between my favorite Shakespeare play and this sonata-but I admit to being somewhat at a loss for any kind of 1 to 1 comparison. Certainly it would be possible to imagine a shipwreck, magic spells, spirits etc etc, but that seems a little artificial to me. Perhaps it is merely the overall mood of autumnal wisdom, coupled with feelings of isolation, and the suggestion of great breadths of natural space that makes a more general connection for me. Although as for that something like the "Pastoral" sonata also brings late Shakespeare to mind for me as well. Who knows, maybe Beethoven did say that-perhaps at the time he felt that the Tempest held some kind of emotional key that would unlock the meaning in this work. Impossible to tell with certainty what it might be. For me though, the most likely places for some kind of connection would be in the 1st two mvts-the last mvt doesn't quite seem in keeping with my impression of Shakespeare's play.

[@testchannelone6616]

The man was not galloping. It was his horse.

[@grahamtwist]

@@testchannelone6616 As the full sentence makes clear, if you 'gallop' to read it . . .

[@stevenzeluck]

Thank you for all your hard work. 😀

[@lesterrocks2439]

It’s the other way around. I am referring to the left hand in the third movement. Stress should be on the upper or second note

[@foxfoster1]

Glad to see you covering my first Beethoven sonata movement

[@TheIndependentPianist]

The first one you played?

[@foxfoster1]

@@TheIndependentPianist yeah

[@pgbpriuvnri]

Great video, as always. I'm really enjoying your content. Is there any chance of bringing Scriabin's sonata no.5 in the future?

[@TheIndependentPianist]

Abdolutely! That’s one I know actually, also planning to do some of the other ones. That is weird wonderful stuff!

[@perrycheng6995]

I remember playing this mvmt with pedal at my first lesson years ago without getting past the first page before I spent the next 30 minutes playing without pedal to achieve the slight gallop sound and avoid "soup". It is of course much harder to do that smoothly but much more fun to be able to vary the texture throughout and makes later splashes of pedal more satisfying.

[@TheIndependentPianist]

I completely agree. Who was that teacher if you don’t mind my asking?

[@ulki]

wunderbar hergeleitet!

[@paulmead5832]

Hi Cole, your Beethoven sforzandos seem gentle compared with mine. I really whack mine in order to get that special explosion of colour. Also, your pp playing is exquisite.

[@foodforthought4546]

Glad you mentioned that it was the horse that was galloping. Some interpretations are that it was the man who was galloping. That can't be correct, unless... :-)

[@NH-zh8mp]

how many hours did you practice this mvt 3 only, and how long did it take you to perform that beautifully ?

[@testchannelone6616]

My 2 cents: the notation has more to do with the 5-3-2-1 fingering in the LH in that the low D cannot be held by anyone, even tho that low D is still the most important note in the LH and it can only be sustained with the pedal. I've played this piece numerous times - not that that gives me any greater authority. Looking forward to the rest of your vid.

[@TheIndependentPianist]

That is very much a possibility! Of course one could also argue that if Beethoven intended a certain fingering he could also have simply marked a fingering-which he did in several earlier spots in the Sonatas. The notation here has a peculiarly contrapuntal look, which doesn't seem typical for Beethoven's way of writing most figuration. But, of course it really could be just as simple as you suggest.

[@lesterrocks2439]

My two cents, Beethoven wants a soft down beat

[@notrueflagshere198]

I might never have noticed the difference, but I like the opening bit without the pedal. Beethoven usually sounds better to me with classical clarity than with romantic blur. Unless your just playing it like a madman, which is okay too.

[@TheIndependentPianist]

A madman-like Gould sometimes? 🙂

[@notrueflagshere198]

@@TheIndependentPianist Yes. He was a madman. I was thinking of Horowitz playing Rachmaninoff when I said that. Maybe I shouldn't mix and match composers. But I'm all for the pianist doing it his way, whether I like it or not.