Last week, Bluegrass50 told us that the following (30 second clip) is his favorite part of the Beethoven Fifth Symphony.
It's interesting to pull things like this out of context; they become more striking. What's going on there? That's the little segue between the third and fourth movement. Can you feel the tension? Can you feel that something BIG is coming, something climactic?
And do you hear a familiar rhythm in the drums? Da-da-da-DAH...
Today we'll finish our two-part diary on the Beethoven Fifth that we started last week. This week we'll cover the third and the climactic fourth movement (the finale). Feel free to skip back and read/listen to the previous diary if you missed it.
Here's a youtube clip that's cute as hell, but it teaches us something as well. It's a baby air-conducting the final movement of the Beethoven Symphony #5. Watch this kid! He gets it.
Three year old Jonathan conducting the Beethoven Fifth finale
Now. before you dismiss this as the usual Youtube warm-fuzzy frippery, pay attention. He obviously senses the music and the narrative that it's trying to create. He anticipates it in his conducting, as if he knows what comes next and he's telling them what to do -- which is what a real conductor does. His body language, his expressions, are in sync with the music.
You may also notice that he has a sinus drip. Can't keep his hand out of his nose. Gotta work on that part.
The Kremlin Chamber Orchestra was so impressed with Jonathan's Youtube clip that they invited him to conduct some performances. In the clips online of him conducting the KCO, he's four years old, so he's had a lot more time to mature as a conductor.
Dumbo makes trite observations again.
Children should be exposed to classical music early and often, and not just the easy dumb stuff, either. There is something about the minds of children that makes it easier for them to learn some things than it is for adults. For instance, foreign languages. They can pick up second languages without even trying. As people get older, their ability to just absorb such things diminishes, and they end up resorting to things like Rosetta Stone.
Music is a language. I'm not being terribly metaphorical when I say that, either. Music can be parsed following a rule set just like any formal language, be it English or algebra or Perlscript or DNA. It's best to learn how to process all these things young, when it comes naturally to us. Babying babies, in this regard, does them no favors.
If processing the enormous firehose of data that's coming at you in Beethoven's Fifth doesn't come as easy and naturally to you as it does to Jonathan, you now know the reason why.
Join the club. I've been listening to this shit for years, and it both baffled and entertained me at first.
Beethoven's Three Periods
Beethoven's music is generally broken up into three periods, Early, Middle, and Late. The qualify of his early music is variable -- some of it is downright magnificent, like the Moonlight Sonata, for example. Other works, eh... His Late Period music tends to be very quirky, less perfectionist, more willing to be outlandish. Mystical, some have described it. The middle period (and the Fifth Symphony is smack dab in the Middle) is where most of the Beethoven's great works were accomplished.
The beginning of the Middle Period is usually associated with his Third Symphony. It was at about that time that it became clear to Beethoven that he was going deaf and that it was progressive. We'll get into the details of his deafness and how well he coped with it some other time. It must be mentioned, though, to understand what happened to his music. Note this famous quote of him by his student, Carl Czerny:
Beethoven's return to Vienna from Heiligenstadt was marked by a change in musical style, now recognised as the start of his "Middle" or "Heroic" period. According to Carl Czerny, Beethoven said, "I am not satisfied with the work I have done so far. From now on I intend to take a new way."[56] This "Heroic" phase was characterised by a large number of original works composed on a grand scale.
"I am not satisfied." Beethoven was going deaf. He was aware of the shortness of his time left. He was at the peak of his powers. There was a real fire under his ass to do something great. And that's when we began to really break out. Beethoven's works from the Third Symphony forward are, without hyperbole, the crown jewels of the music of Western civilization.
An interesting sub-conversation with Seemabes from last week's diary:
The Fifth is Not Music. (3+ / 0-)
The Fifth cannot be music because the Fourth is music and the Eight is music and Mozart's works are music and Brahms' works are music and the Fifth is so unlike any of these other pieces of music and all other pieces of music that it simply cannot be said to be the same sort of thing. And I'm not speaking specifically of its form or its harmony or its melodies of any other of those things that we usually think of as existing in a piece of music. I actually don't even really know what I am speaking of because I cannot even begin to describe how strange and wild and even downright weird the sound of this THING is to my ears and soul and humanity. It's like it simply bled out of the very core of the earth and the universe for the sole purpose of announcing its indomitable and seemingly everlasting presence. After the sun explodes and we are gone, the Fifth shall also be gone but while I know that is true and accept that it's true, I really don't understand how that can be.
by Seemabes on Fri Oct 14, 2011 at 04:59:36 PM PDT
[ Reply to This ]
After the sun explodes... (1+ / 0-)
The Fifth Symphony will still exist on a gold LP inside the Voyager spacecraft, some gazillion miles from where Earth used to be, floating through the void. It was one of the pieces chosen by Carl Sagan and his group to include on the Voyager. (Ode to Joy made it too, I think.)
A more interesting question to me is, if the human race no longer exists, does the Symphony #5 still exist? And if you stretch your mind enough to say that it does, then another question is, If humanity had never existed, if somebody named Beethoven had never composed it, would it still exist? And I can argue both ways on that one. If you answer yes, it would exist, then you have left the area of aesthetics and beginning to enter a very interesting but dicey area of metaphysics and religion. For if Beethoven's Fifth exists even without Beethoven, when and how can you cease to exist?
by Dumbo on Fri Oct 14, 2011 at 09:10:12 PM PDT
[ Parent | Reply to This ]
That's deep shit, trippy and profound, eh? The odds are very likely that the Fifth Symphony, in some physical medium form, will long outlast the lifespan of the human race. As for the Platonic metaphysics of it, well, that might be worth digging into in another diary some day.
But... back to the Middle Period. Or the "Heroic Period," as wikipedia also described it. There is a heroic aspect to many of Beethoven's works in the Middle Period, but probably none more so than in his Fifth Symphony, and, in particular, in the final movement, which we are going to hear today. In fact, the Fifth Symphony was so influential that it basically established the format for a slew of symphonies to come in later years of the "Triumph Symphony" format. A grim, serious first movement, contrasting second and third movements, and then VICTORY in the final movement, whatever form that takes. And all the movements linked together by thematic musical motifs, usually in more obvious (but less thorough ways) than Beethoven used in his Fifth symphony.
The great symphony composers of the Romantic period that followed Beethoven are: Brahms, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Bruckner, and... and... Well, it's a short list. Many of the big names of Romanticism, like Wagner and Liszt and Chopin and Mussorgsky, didn't bother composing symphonies (Wagner did compose one as a student) because they thought Beethoven had basically used the symphony all up -- it was no longer fertile ground. They turned their efforts to tone poems and operas and nocturnes and overtures, etc. They were less likely to be compared to Beethoven. When big name composers like Brahms did compose symphonies, they approached it cautiously, emulating Beethoven. For instance, Brahms' First Symphony follows the Beethoven Fifth formula: grim first movement, thematic links, heroic finale. We covered the Tchaikovsky Fourth Symphony in this series a few months back: Same formula. We covered the Shostakovich Symphony #5. Same formula. Very creative works all of them, but the shadow of Beethoven's Fifth symphony lay over them.
And what are we to think of something like this? Don't listen to the whole thing -- just the first thirty seconds.
Mahler Symphony #5 in C#minor, BPO, von Karajan
Holy Moley! Is that Da-da-da-DAH? Goddam right it is. Do you think it's just an accident that Mahler chose to open his Fifth Symphony with the same motif as Beethoven's Fifth Symphony? It's a nice tip-off about what is to come.
So Da-da-da-DAAH is everywhere! Like air. Or Sarah Palin. Or Internet porn.
Da-da-da-DAAH in Beethoven's Fifth -- THE SPOILERS!!!
When I took Music Appreciation back in first year college, I got to listen to the full, complete Beethoven Fifth for the first time. The instructor told us that the whole symphony revolves around the four note motif. He pointed out a few obvious examples of it, but he wasn't very exhaustive, and couldn't be. There are too many. And so many of them are subtle that they will slide by you the first hundred times you listen to it. It's like a musical Where is Waldo! It's like the Easter Eggs in computer games.
So, I thought, hey, why don't I make a spoiler clip of all the instances that leap forward to me after years of listening to it. Here's what you get:
Dumbo's SPOILER clip of Da-da-da-DAH references in Beethoven's Fifth
Most of the examples in the above clip come from the final movement. That would have surprised me when I was a kid. I liked the music, I LOVED Da-da-da-DAH... but I couldn't hear the Da-da-da-DAH in the final movement at all! Well, there's your Da-da-da-DAH, gentlemen! I hope that rather than SPOILING anything for you, it has intrigued you, made you alert. What else have you been missing?
But on the other hand...
Maybe it's not that good an idea to be TOO focused on the four note motifs. I suspect Jonathan, the three year old air-conductor in the clip way above, wouldn't know what a motif is, or be able to point out all the instances of it. He hears a rising and falling story line. Da-da-da-DAH, inasmuch as it exists for him, is just the glue that holds it together.
Last week we heard the first and second movements. Today we hear the third and fourth (the finale). As I pointed out last week, a symphony is like a four course meal, and, traditionally, before Beethoven, you didn't mix the peas from your entree with the jello from your dessert. Beethoven is about to really shake up that fine division.
After each movement of a symphony, an orchestra usually gets a short breather to stretch a little, pick their nose, change their sheet music, maybe retune their instruments. The first audience that heard the Beethoven Fifth no doubt expected that.
"Oh, look, Martha! They've stopped playing and are picking their noses! That means the third movement is over and they're going to start the fourth!"
In the Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, though, the third movement runs straight into the final Allegro without pause The segue between the movements is that mysterious thirty seconds of music that I posted at the very top of the diary. (Bluegrass50's favorite part.) And it is, mysterious, isn't it? Mysterious, tense, and ultimately, it rises, rises, RISES, reaching...
And that is where the fourth movement begins, with an onslaught of brass instruments. This is heroic music. In fact, if it reminds you a little of the title sequence of Star Wars, that's probably not coincidental.
So here we go! Onward to the music! And since so many people voted for Bernstein last week, we'll use him. You may have to crank up your speaker volume on this because the levels are a bit low.
Beethoven Symphony #5 in C minor, Opus 67, third movement, Allegro, Vienna Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein
Last week, we ended with the second movement, which I described as a warm hug after the struggle-for-life of the first movement. The third movement takes us back to the darker side. This kind of movement is a scherzo, a 6/8 dancing/limping type movement, usually in some symmetrical form like ABACDCABA form. After a mysterious, somewhat ominous opening (the A section) in the cellos, the brass pick up with the main theme of the movement... which just happens to be Da-da-da-DAH in a new incarnation.
At 1:56, the cellos and basses introduce a new idea (the C section), of fast, choppy notes.
At 3:23, the CDC section goes away, and the ABA section comes back, but now, it's very sneaky, quiet this time, like it's on tip-toes, played by the woodwinds. If you don't have your speakers turned up, you might not hear it at all.
At 4:47, the ABA section fades away, and we begin the segue to the final movement, growing out of this quiet which has us with our ears tilted forward, our speakers cranked up to max volume. Our hair is rising on the back of our arms. Da-da-da-DAH, softly on the drums. If you're watching the clip, not just listening to it, it's worth watching Bernstein's face here.
At 5:16, just before this clip ends, the music makes a subtle shift from minor key to major key, This is our first indication that the finale is not take us to the same dark territory that the symphony began with.
Next clip -- and please note, this all runs together.
Beethoven Symphony #5 in C minor, Opus 67, fourth/final movement, Allegro, Vienna Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein
Out of this very soft but tense music, now the strings emerge, RISING, as the music EXPLODES forth -- and now you're hating me for making you crank your speakers up, eh?
This is a Sonata-allegro movement, something we've talked about to death. I'll save myself some typing here and post my graphic that explains every Sonata-allegro movement Beethoven ever composed. This will be the most complicated and longest movement in the symphony.
Exposition first theme (0:20)
The first theme is the very definition of heroic. This could be heroes bursting through castle windows on swinging vines. Musically, though, this section has a number of different rhythmic figures strung out. It's not like the first movement which was very tight in its recycling of the same rhythm. Here we have a number of different musical ideas presented, many of them based on the four note motif or with it cleverly modified and embedded in it somewhere.
The horns come in majestically at 0:54, and this part is worth remembering because it's going to figure into the development and the climax of the symphony. The strings then come in and move us to G major, which means we're about to begin...
Exposition Second Theme (1:23)
In my previous diary on Sonata-allegro, I said that it can all be reduced to Boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets girl back. By that analogy, we've met the boy, and this is the girl. The galloping, tripping, four-note rhythmic figure in this theme will also figure into the coming development section.
Exposition codetta (1:52)
The woodwinds begin a new theme, a new rhythmic figure (actually you can trace this one back to one a first theme rhythmic figures at 0:41). A cadence is set up here... And then...
Exposition Repeat (2:24)
We repeat everything (da capo in Italian) up to this point. It was good to hear the first time, so it should be just as good the second! We get to familiarize ourselves with the themes, this cast of characters, so to speak, one more time.
I won't repeat the timings and the descriptions. Instead, I'll leap forward to the end of the repeat of the codetta. A cadence is being set up, just like before, on a G7 chord. But now, our expectations having been set, something different happens. And that means we have begun...
The Development (4:31)
There's the G7 chord, setting us up for a return to C, we think. But, NO! We overshoot the mark and we have entered unfamiliar (tonal) territory, A major.
I am deliberately taking great liberties here, but this is dramatic music with intent to tell a dramatic narrative. We might describe this point as "But the plot thickens!" Beethoven now uses many of the different musical ideas (and there were many, far far, more than in the first movement) to work us towards a point of crisis.
We begin this development, now in A major, with the galloping, tripping figure from the second theme. It's very peaceful, happy at first. But at 5:01, the basses drag us down into deeper, more ominous territory.
At 5:10, the horns enter atop this repeating an idea from the first theme. This creative mixture of the two separate musical ideas will lead us towards the climax. Beethoven now takes us through a number of different, shifting, changing alien keys. At 5:24, atop all of this, added into the mix, the kettle drums beat out the Da-da-da-DAH rhythm. Bernstein almost made a second career out of explaining the Beethoven Fifth Symphony, so he knows how important it is to get this part right.
At 5:38, we begin the last rush to the climax, the whole orchestra playing full blast, setting up to bring us back to the home key... And Beethoven briefly OVERSHOOTS THE MARK at 5:52, before back coming down, settling us down.
Here comes the recapitulation... It should be the recapitulation. But it isn't. Not yet.
Having set up this very authoritative climax in G, at 6:09, the music quiets, as if it has hit a sudden air pocket. And now something strange happens.
Oh how bizarre this must have sounded to the first audiences who heard the Beethoven Fifth. They already are confused because the third movement ran straight into the fourth without telling them the third was over.
... And here comes the damn third movement again. At 6:10, in this quiet air pocket, a few woodwinds come back and repeat about 20 seconds of the "sneaky" part of the Da-da-da-DAH theme from the scherzo.
So, really, what's going on here? My explanation is that Beethoven is bitch-slapping his audience with da-da-da-DAH. As if all the many recurrences of it weren't enough, here it is in a form you already heard in another movement in a form you can't ignore. This is very deliberate.
After this sudden, strange, intrusion, like a lunatic skipping through a battle zone, the strings return, rising, and the recapitulation begins!
Recapitulation first theme (6:51)
And we're back to the first theme, just as we heard it the first and second time. And here come the horns again at 7:28, but they take a different course this time, keeping us in C major for the repeat of
Recapitulation second theme (7:59)
Coda (8:35)
Beethoven tends to heavily weight his Sonata-allegro movements towards the coda, saving his best stuff for last.
The coda begins with the codetta theme (8:35), very much the same as we heard it before, but at 8:54, it takes flight.
At 9:04, the galloping/tripping motif mixture from development returns. At 9:21 we seem to be setting up a cadence, a "last word" ending. But, no, it's a head fake; not done yet.
At 10:43, the music accelerates, picking up speed, racing towards the finish line. At 10:51, we race through a speeded up caffeinated version of the opening theme. And the music pounds and batters its way to the finish line. This is a powerful ending, but it's not a graceful ending. It's a fighting ending. And this was a fighting symphony.
THE END.
Next week: Beethoven's Symphony #7. I'm going to break it up into two or three parts; I'm not sure which. Lone1c has offered to do a diary on the Beethoven Symphony #4, after that. And then I'm going to get the Beethoven Symphony #9, including the Ode to Joy done. If we have enough time before the end of the year, expect Beethoven's Pastorale after that, and then in January, we'll finish our "DailyKos Beethoven Festival" with the Beethoven Symphony #3, the Eroica, my fave.
And lest we forget... This coming Monday, ProudtobeLiberal will have a diary about Giancarlo Menotti for his Monday Music Meditations series.