1st Movement: Pulse as a Source of Character

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Exploring Beethoven's Piano Sonatas Part 3

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Curtis Institute of Music

Exploring Beethoven's Piano Sonatas Part 3

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Welcome to Part 3 of Exploring Beethoven's Piano Sonatas! I'm delighted to launch another set of new lectures of this course as Part 3. As before, this class is meant for people of all levels of experience with Beethoven's music (including no experience at all!). Remember that you are able to watch the lectures as many times as you like, at whatever pace is comfortable for you. As I’ve done with the first two sets of Beethoven lectures, I look forward to meeting with students—online and in person, in various cities. The dates and locations will be posted in the Announcements and Events section, as part of the course content. So please remember to check back there for details. In these four new lectures, we will explore the following sonatas: • Sonata Op. 10, No. 1 • Sonata Op. 22 • Sonata Op. 31, No. 2 • Sonata Opp. 78, 79, 81a The Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation supports Curtis’s lifelong learning initiatives.

Из урока

Op. 10 No. 1

Opus 10 number 1: The "c minor Mood"6:06

Opus 10 number 1: Extremes of Tempo and Character1:49

1st Movement: Pulse as a Source of Character9:26

1st Movement: High Drama within the Conventions of the Time2:38

1st Movement: A Development with New Material4:28

1st Movement: Hammer Blows in c minor4:37

2nd Movement: An Adagio Oasis9:36

2nd Movement: A Coda that Expands the Movement’s Scope8:16

3rd Movement: Prestissimo!5:04

3rd Movement: Short-Short-Short-LONG3:16

3rd Movement: Beginning with Defiance; Ending with Mystery7:20

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Jonathan Biss
Neubauer Family Chair in Piano Studies
Performance Faculty

So, enough talking around the piece!

Here is the exposition of the first movement.

(MUSIC)

So. This is extremely powerful, even explosive, music.

From the very beginning, the music is highly propulsive.

Remember op. 2 no. 1,

with its upward arpeggio, "Mannheim rocket" opening?

(MUSIC)

This is similar, but more emphatic.

First of all, it starts with a bang.

(MUSIC)

And the upward arpeggio that immediately follows that bang has this dotted rhythm attached

to it (MUSIC), which makes it a more active, more energetic figure.

Another interesting feature of this opening phrase is how long Beethoven keeps it going.

At first, it seems that this phrase is going to be brief, orderly and symmetrical: 4 bars

plus 4 bars,

2 bars of one character, answered by two bars of another, then repeat.

(MUSIC)

Harmonically speaking, a variant of I to V, V to I.

(MUSIC)

This is just about the most standard, conventional way to begin a piece.

One of so many examples is the first piano concerto.

A four bar phrase, I moving to V (MUSIC),

answered by a second four bars phrase, V moving back to I (MUSIC).

The only difference between that and the opening of this sonata is the mode: Major in the case

of the concerto, minor for the sonata.

Except that in op. 10 no. 1,

rather than tie a bow neatly around the opening phrase in the 8th bar, he keeps extending

it, and extending it, so that it ultimately lasts a humungous 30 measures.

Because just as the end of the first four bar phrase becomes the beginning of the next one,

(MUSIC)

instead of (MUSIC),

the end of the second phrase also dovetails into the next one.

(MUSIC)

instead of (MUSIC).

I say "first phrase" and "second phrase", but again, really, these are just the first

two segments of one immensely long phrase that is still just getting started.

Beethoven keeps the phrase alive, through one rest,

(MUSIC)

a second,

(MUSIC)

and a third,

(PLAY)

and then finally, the reiteration of the opening bars, but now with a proper,

unambiguous resolution.

(MUSIC)

He took his time getting there, but when Beethoven does bring this 30 bar opening phrase to a

close, he really slams the door shut.

One other aspect of this opening that I want to address is the pulse.

The meter of this movement is 3/4, which means that each bar consists of three equal quarter notes;

it’s one of the most common meters, used for many dances,

in addition to so much other music.

Now, when the meter is 3/4, the pulse might be 3 to a bar, obviously,

but it might also be 1 to a bar.

An example of the latter is the "Pastorale" sonata, which we looked at briefly

in the "New Paths" lecture.

(MUSIC)

This is not absolutely black-and-white: one is aware of the 3 beats in each bar (BASS.)

But the basic heartbeat of the piece is the full bar.

(SINGING AND SNAPPING)

In the opening of op. 10, number 1,

the pulse is unquestionably the quarter.

(MUSIC)

In the "Pastorale", there was so little happening inside the bar, harmonically, motivically,

or even rhythmically, there was no reason to feel three pulses.

But in op. 10 no. 1,

the dotted rhythm calls attention to each beat.

(MUSIC)

This is very significant, because it not only makes the pulse seem faster,

but the pace itself.

Played at the exact same tempo, a bar pulse (SINGING AND SNAPPING) will always sound more relaxed

than a quarter pulse (SINGING AND CLAPPING),

where the beats are coming thick and fast.

This is clearly how Beethoven wanted it: he marks this movement "Allegro molto e con brio",

which, according to the brilliant violinist and musicologist Rudolf Kolisch,

was the fastest marking Beethoven gave to his opening movements,

faster even then the occasional Presto.

That’s a little bit speculative, but certainly it’s intended to be very fast.

"Allegro" already means fast, and then both the "molto" and the "con brio"

qualify the tempo upwards.

So, it is very brisk, and the presence of 3 pulses in a bar

is a critical element of that.

So, that opening phrase – a big phrase, mind you, a 30 bar phrase – is the entire

first theme area.

As soon as it’s over we begin a transition – a bridge – towards the second theme.

The outer movements of this piece really are all business that way: there’s very little

expansion of any of the material, very little "in between".

(MUSIC)

You’ll notice that this music is calmer and more settled than the opening, and the

main source of that is the pulse: it's now much more of a bar pulse.

(Just for future reference, another way to say this is that this music is "in one",

rather than "in three".)

It’s not black and white: there still is enough happening within each bar to make us

aware of the smaller pulses.

But the left hand, at the very least, is clearly in one.

(MUSIC)

So here, in the first two paragraphs of music of the piece, there is a very clear demonstration

of pulse and its effect on character.

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