Classical Style

Haydn and Contemporary Events During the Period 1789–1794

This essay will focus on reflections on contemporary events and their influence on Haydn and his music during the period 1789–1794 by analysing the relationship between the French Revolution and works such as Symphony no. 88, L’anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice, Symphony no. 99 and Symphony no. 100.

Haydn was beginning a new stage in his life, having finally become a freelancer in London. Haydn had to deal with environmental, philosophical and religious changes in life in order to attain his goals. He transitioned from the liberty of artistic expression to political constraint in musical expression. The percentage of the pieces Haydn dedicated to contemporary events is balanced, unlike in the case of Mozart, for example, who composed music with banned political librettos, such as Cosi fan tutte among many others. Haydn wrote music that accorded with his emotional status, which appealed to human emotions and which would embrace both dark and light sentiments in order to balance the music's stability. He reflected his inner world and sometimes decided to reflect political issues in his music. As he mentioned to his biographer, Griesinger, he would not restrict himself to the conventional harmonic rules because that would result in ‘works that are all lacking in taste and feeling’. He enjoyed the luxury of composing music and not ‘offending the musical ear’.

Among the events Haydn wanted to take advantage of were those of the French Revolution during the period 1789–1794. The French Revolution represented a sudden, hard blow to the absolutist feudal regime but, at the same time, it represented a path towards the development of a new, modern society. Its fundamental cause was the conflict between the old, medieval aspects of society and the new, modern forces that initiated within the inner feudal system. The aftermath of this conflict was evident in the contradictions between the peasants (ninety-five per cent of the population), the middle-class population and the remaining rich noblemen. 

Besides the obvious examples of Haydn’s works, such as the Mass in Wartime, Te Deum in C major and so on, a few other significant pieces were also directly or indirectly excluded from the usual canon of works. In 1789, by the time Paris was beginning to experience social unrest, Haydn published his Symphony no. 88 there; it was very well received, despite the fact that he did not compose it for a specific audience such as Paris,: ‘in fact, it was one of the few outside London series to get regular performances at all’. Besides this, Haydn mentioned in one of his letters to the Parisian publisher Jean-Georges Sieber, dated 28th August 1789, his intention to write four symphonies, one of which was to be entitled The National Symphony; but, at the same time, in his earlier letter, dated 27th July 1789, Haydn showed concern over his and Sieber’s financial rights, asking Sieber to dismiss Tost from this business. He did not permit the national and revolutionary excitement to stand in the way of his financial interests. In my opinion, Haydn saw in this political event an opportunity to promote one of the four symphonies he talks about, something that might or might not accord with his political orientation but that could guarantee him success. He decided to take advantage of his European prestige and be active in as many places as possible – in this case, in Paris – to maintain it. Consequently, he wrote promotional letters to different publishers in the same period, promising everyone works that he most probably would not be able to complete. This is probably why the four symphonies were never composed in the end. In addition, the fact that he wanted to name one of his future symphonies as a ‘National’ symphony means, I think, that critics should not speculate about Haydn’s political beliefs but rather about his marketing strategies.

1791 saw a new stage of the French Revolution. France became a constitutional monarchy aiming for a division of both social and political powers. On a constitutional basis, the Legislative Assembly was selected and on the 30th September the new Legislative Assembly was officially replaced by a new governing elite. The essence of these transformations emerged by means of a powerful internal conflict. The noble class had the courage to oppose the new legislation, counting on the help of neighbouring countries, and even the King himself, who promised to respect the constitution made a failed attempt to escape Paris. At the same time, Haydn finally a freelancer, made his way to England where he intended to publish his opera, L’anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice. Haydn was one of the propagators of the Enlightenment era by means of this work because it shows maturity, originality and innovation. In turn, the complete change of environment from the Vienna Esterhazy court to the multidimensional environment of London also influenced Haydn’s life and music.

Features of his music appear original and strikingly different. His ardent desire for knowledge, even at the age of sixty, of aspects of his new London environment, from the almost insignificant to the large, reflects his personality and not, ultimately is reflected in the structure of his music. In terms of structure, L’anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice is in four acts, and it has a predilection for choral numbers rather than solo arias. The chorus takes on different roles as dramatic and narrative characters. In the first act, in the T B choruses the harmony shifts from C minor to C major when Euridice is being warned of danger. In the second act, voices of both genders excel, especially the sopranos with their high, beautiful registers so far in the whole opera epitomizing the character of Cupidon. Moreover, the E-flat call-and-response dialogues between the male and female choruses in act three, followed by glamorous four-part singing only towards the last scene, were, according to Heartz, meant to maintain the incoherence of the text. Further, in the fourth act the chorus gains its greatest momentum as it laments in F minor the loss of Euridice, reflecting at the same time the atmosphere in which Orpheus finds himself when he realizes the inevitable death that awaited Euridice. The chorus displays a mixture of counterpoint and expressiveness towards the culmination of the finale by means of the ‘prolonged chord a fortissimo diminished seventh’. Nevertheless, the opera also has beautiful solos. For instance, in act two Euridice’s coloratura is technically demanding and very fast, and Orpheus, in act three, has low-registered, difficult parts. 

The short Cm overture creates a good atmosphere to the opera from the start, which eventually resolves into a presto sonata form lacking recapitulation. In Orpheus' exceptional aria of the second act, falling thirds such as G–E flat and the derived musical themes resound in Orpheus’ lamentation of his loss. Paradoxically, here the music reflects a kind of optimism which is at odds with the text's message: ‘The wife I have no more of every joy’. 

There are several points of view on why this opera was not staged in Haydn's time. Some sources argue that it was because the opera was not yet completely finished. Haydn referred in some of his letters to Prince Anton from Esterhazy that this opera had five acts – ‘the new opera libretto which I aim to compose is entitled Orfeo, in five acts’ – whereas publicly it was declared to have four. At the same time, however, Haydn’s biographer confirms that the piece was almost in its 40th bar in rehearsals when official persons banned its performance under any circumstances with the excuse that ‘the theatre manager failed to secure a licence to stage the opera, which was led by the rival house, the Pantheon’. Not only that, but Haydn did not mention anything about the opera not being completed to anyone in his letters. Even more importantly, he avoided speaking of its unsuccessful rehearsal in his letter to Mr Hayward on the 25th May 1791. It is hard to believe that the premiere of Haydn’s opera was due to exclusively some organizational or administrative vices. The refusal to allow any rehearsals was the King’s command. This shows that this opera was considered a political impediment at the time because, if it had been an organizational one, Haydn would have premiered his opera during his lifetime. 

The notion of justice and fair play does not exist within any human political governmental system. Broken treatises are accepted and nobody condemns lack of verticality and confidentiality which among common rights are equal to falsehood, perjury, betrayal and so on. So, official legal terminologies were invented to mask all these flagrant breaches of common sense. Bearing these circumstances in mind, one can understand the developments in the years following the first revolutionary stages in France: the progressive anxieties of the European powers were actually England’s anxieties too. From the time the known European powers such as Prussia, Austria and Spain attacked France, until the very moment of conquering Paris, England’s sympathy towards the revolution probably diminished almost to nothing when the leaders of France got executed. England feared that the democratic and republican spirit, would advance easily on its island too threatening the monarchy. It is highly possible that England also enjoyed the political and popular agitations among the hostile French; there were a few expressions of sympathy and later of neutrality towards those who were rebellious. This did not impress Napoleon Bonaparte much. He interpreted it as duplicity on England’s part; which was waiting for the winner. No European power, including England, could anticipate the sudden shift that was to favour the rebellious class. This civil war which should have divided and bruised France, resulted in a military force that transformed into an empire. It is clear, however, that true neutrality did not exist. Considering the major implications the French Revolution started to generate, it was a matter of course for England to take at least an unofficial part in it. 

At the same time, Haydn’s attitude is worth admiring because, in terms of an official political point of view, he maintained his neutrality. Still, there are no decisive accounts that he protested vehemently the unsuccessful event, because for him the battle was already lost. This work had to wait one hundred and sixty years for its premiere. We can therefore consider that Haydn perceived the interdiction as definite and irrevocable, thus continuing with his next works, which he performed publicly without problems.

There are in some ways strong connections between the libretto and the opera, in my opinion. Despite the fact that some critics claim that Haydn probably did not entirely agree with the libretto, it was clear that Haydn still promoted it. Haydn and the librettist were eager to express themselves in the most original way possible and thus adopted an anarchic strategy, going beyond the expectations of the musical critics at the time and even reflecting the contemporary political implications in France, which was probably a reason for the censorship. Based on Ovid’s myth of Orpheus and Euridice, and being without precedent, it is an act of quite daring originality. Badini’s libretto goes beyond the original story and has an unfortunate and strange ending. The fact that, in the last scene of the opera, suddenly, for the first time and the last in this opera, the women singing the Bacchantes chorus appear without being introduced or having been foreseen in the previous acts, could probably be connected to the sudden blow of the French Revolution in 1790 when the false assurance of ‘Liberty, equality and fraternity’ led to a much stronger revolution in France in 1791 and across Europe, which in turn led to the death of the best-known monarchs in Europe: King Louis and Queen Antoinette, represented by Orpheus and Euridice. On the other hand, the fact that a sudden storm of waves drowns the Bacchantes chorus that initially poisoned Orpheus could also show Haydn’s scepticism with regards to the long-term success of the revolutionary operations, because revolutions existed in all countries. And, indeed, it remained the most representative work of the late 18th-century drama per musica because it examines some of the mysterious and, in the end, beautiful trajectories that the Enlightenment had to go through.

Some critics associated this opera with other works by Haydn. Mary Hunter, for instance, argues that L’anima del filosofo might have continuity in Haydn’s other work The Creation, because both epitomize a shift from an old generation to a new one that mirrors the political events in France. James Webster, on the other hand, argues that The Creation and The Seasons seem to be more connected in terms of message, as both contain the same story and they complete each other: the first serves as an introduction and the latter as a conclusion. In my opinion, L'anima del filosofo, whose translation is ‘The Soul of the Philosopher’, might recall the French philosophers' point of view about the revolution, which later on contributed to its evolution too. Indeed, The Creation and The Seasons were the continuity of the optimism of the Enlightenment. The fact that these are Haydn’s first bilingual pieces confirmed the international transition towards a new, artistic era. 

Haydn's Symphony no. 99, on the other hand, coincided with the events of the French Revolution in 1793, when the Queen was beheaded. This piece shows Haydn’s lack of involvement in contemporary events. He did not lament anything in his music but, on the contrary, composed joyous music that had nothing to do with what was happening at that time. According to Caryl Clark, Haydn's symphonies began to propagate a ‘spirit of modernity’, accompanied with abstract notions. One of the factors that proves this is that Haydn’s symphonic works have no description: they were composed solely for the joy of performing them. On the other hand, their lack of meaning and relevance to the times in which they were produced also confirm it. Haydn's obedience to the general symphonic conventions could not have been more at odds with that moment in history. France was the one who laid grounds for the modern democracy first. However, democracy did not promote freedom within musical realms.

In 1794, Haydn was inspired by the Handel Festival he attended in London. He observed the fact that people very much enjoyed Handel’s music, which was popular in the true sense, many years after his death. Therefore, Haydn was inspired to write these two works so that his name would be remembered after his death. Although he was in his sixties at this point, he eagerly wanted to write in a new style, to experiment with a musical style in which he had not yet proved his mastery. Haydn’s project influenced international commercial music and in turn enhanced Haydn’s prestige internationally. 

Eagerness for new music and criticism was the order of the day during the 18th century and Haydn's Military Symphony no. 100, composed in 1794, has also stirred great controversy among critics and numerous audiences because of its sudden use of Turkish music in the second movement. It alternates between an elegant musical touch and a sort of sudden barbarism. The trend at that time was to embody opposing forces in music by means of a specific musical vocabulary. According to Will, ‘composers used programmatic descriptions to highlight dramatic moments of confrontations in their music’. Not only Haydn, but also Beethoven and Philip Emmanuel Bach, as well as others, used programmatic music and ‘semantic clarity’ in order to ‘describe and develop characters to express psychological and emotional states and to communicate moral, comic and political meanings’. In my opinion, Haydn’s symphony reflects a fight between harmonic elegance and barbarism by means of different styles, in his second movement alone using ‘military overtones and recollection of the symphony's second movement’; rhetoric music, description of the conflict with the Turkish enemies; extrinsic music to evoke the noise of war; and moral characters epitomized in music, transmitting the right message to the public. Indeed, he made use primarily of narration in his music so that people would understand it differently. In my opinion, a piece that is not debated is too simple or not significant enough to be talked about. Despite all the disputes over this piece, the second movement had a positive impact on audiences in London and France: ‘Encore! Encore!’. Indeed, Haydn offered constant variety to the public. This particular piece is harmonically simple, and the second movement appealed to the English audience in terms of its noise rather than its music. They could not see more than entertainment in music because of their limited musical understanding. On the other hand, in terms of harmony, Peter Schulz argues that elegance and transcendence in music is not necessarily reflected by coherent, so-called conventional harmonies that would appeal to one’s ears but by, for example, Haydn's imaginative and creative style with sudden key changes, rhythm displacements, different instrumentation, unresolved cadences, contradictory musical conventions such as the ‘unaccompanied trumpet signal at the end of the movement’, sudden, surprising pianissimo followed by sudden fortissimo passages, and omission of aspects that the audience might usually expect, in order to achieve paradoxically humorous effects, juxtapositions, new harmonic chords and types of textures; all of these, according to Charles Rosen, are ‘convincing only if one does not put too high a price upon one's convictions’. 

In conclusion, Haydn led almost his entire life under the protective crystal bowl of music. He was compositionally flexible and, indeed, he was a master of it. Also, his foray to London contributed to his musical evolution despite the political situations. He was influenced not only by financial factors but also by the contemporary events too. In one way or another, his artistic activity before and after his travels to London was connected with politics by means of his services to royalty. The more adulatory seemed, the more challenging these collaborations were. Of course, one cannot consider Haydn as a political refugee. He had the advantage of practising his music at a relatively safe distance from the tumultuous revolutionary events. Contemporary events such as the French Revolution did indeed contribute to the variety of the cultural heritage Haydn left for later generations, who have since studied it repeatedly in all possible ways. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AL-TAEE, Nasser. Representations of the Orient in Western Music: Violence and Sensuality. Burlington and Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, 2010.

BLACK, Jeremy. George III: America’s Last King. New Heaven and London: Yale University Press, 2008.

BRIGGS, Chris. Population, Welfare and Economic Change in Britain, 1290–1834. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2014. 

BROWN, A. Peter. The First Golden Age of the Viennese Symphony: Haydn, Mozart and Schubert. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2002.

CAMPBELL, M. Heather. Advances in Democracy: From the French Revolution to the Present-day European Union. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2011.

CLARK, Caryl. The Cambridge Companion to Haydn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

DOWNS, Philip G. Classical Music: the Era of the Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1992.

GEIRINGER, Karl. Haydn: A Creative Life in Music. California and London: University of California Press, 1982.

GORDON, Peter. Musical Visitors to Britain. London and New York: Routledge, 2007.

HADDEN, James C. Haydn. Adelaide, London and Washington: Cambridge Scholars Press Adelaide Ltd., 2002.

HEARTZ, Daniel. Mozart, Haydn and Early Beethoven: 1781–1802. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008.

HUNTER, Mary, and Richard Will. Engaging Haydn: Culture, Context, and Criticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

HURWITZ, David. Exploring Haydn: A Listener’s Guide to Music’s Boldest Innovator. New Jersey: Amadeus Press, 2005.

JONES, Derek. Censorship: A World Encyclopedia. London and New York: Routlege, 2015.

MACKENZIE, M. J. Popular Imperialism and the Military: 1850–1950. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1992.

MEYER, B.L. Style and Music: Theory, History, and Ideology. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1989.

MCVEIGH, S.W. Concert life in London from Mozart to Haydn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 

MCVEIGH, S.W. The Professional Concert and Rival Subscription Series in London, 1783–1793. RAMARK, no. 22. Cambridge: Royal Musical Association, 1989. 

MORROW, Mary Sue. Concert Life of Haydn in Vienna. New York: Pendragon Press, 1989.

PAULY, Reinhard G. Music in the Classical. 2nd ed., History of Music Series. Englewood Cliffs and New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1973.

ROBBINS, H.C. Landon. Haydn: The Later Years, 1801–1809. London: Thames and Hudson, 1977.

ROBBINS, H.C. Landon. Haydn: His Life and Music. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1972.

ROBBINS, H.C. Landon. The Collected Correspondence of Joseph Haydn. London: Barrie and Rackliff, 1959.

SCHROEDER, David P. Haydn and the Enlightenment, the Late Symphonies and their Audience. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001.

SHEPPARD, Francis. London: A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 

SISMAN, R.E. Haydn and His World. Princeton and New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2012.

STAPERT, Calvin. Playing Before the Lord: The Life and Work of Joseph Haydn. Michigan and Cambridge: Wm. B. Eerdmaus Publishing, 2014.

STEINGERG, Michael. The Symphony: A Listener’s Guide. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

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WILL, Richard. The Characteristic Symphony in the Age of Haydn and Beethoven. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

WILL, Richard. ‘When God Met the Sinner, and Other Dramatic Confrontations in Eighteenth-Century Instrumental Music’. Music & Letters, 78 (1997), pp. 175–209.

WILLIAMS, Henry S. England, 1642–1791.London: Hooper & Jackson, 1908.

WOLF, Eugene K. ‘The Recapitulations in London’s Symphonies’. The Musical Quarterly, 52.1 (1996), pp. 71–89.

19th Century Opera Music

Verdi’s Macbeth Versus Conventions and Styles of Italian Operas

This essay will discuss Verdi’s opera Macbeth, highlighting some aspects of its relationship with and differences from existing Italian conventions and styles by underlining the realistic romantic influences in his music, libretto and vocal writing, and its cultural context, by comparing some aspects of Una macchia è qui tuttora!,the so-called Sleepwalking scene from the above-mentioned opera, with the Il dolce suono, the so-called Mad scene from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor opera.

 

Verdi, the best-known exponent of the Romantic opera, delighted in receiving great public appreciation dating from his first works. In a world containing Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti, who established the bel canto era and produced the most representative opera buffa works, treating comic and emotional subjects as well as sombre ones with ease, Verdi had the opportunity to be among those composers who, whether they knew it or not, promoted the Romantic era that set his compositional skills free. In contrast to the 'old' Italian conventions, the term Romanticism is applied not only to the musical domain, but also to the literary and the theatrical domains. It does not represent merely a simple style but a wide conception of the world that brings together a multitude of artistic phenomena. One finds romantic playwrights, poets, painters, composers and so on. Since these artists have been in a tangential relationship with all artistic forms that the world could give, the composers of the Romantic era could be considered at the same time poets and playwrights. Patriotic anxieties that were a source of torment in Italian life affected Verdi deeply. All these contextual factors made him into a great romantic fighter for old and new humanist ideas. His conceptions are driven forward in his first sixteen operas and, of them all, Macbeth is, in my view, the most representative of Verdi’s works because it best reflects the new path via which the rigid classical rules were broken and the course of Verdi's inspiration set free. People at that time were slaves of the aesthetic, musical and political perceptions by means of which everything was supposed to have a clear, basic structure. Beautiful artistry could not escape from the influences of these rigorous rules. The general tendency of the human being was that of imposing rules that were hard to follow with the aim of controlling or winning a prestige in a certain domain. Critics were no exception, either, and each of them imposed their personal tastes by enforcing as far as possible their own sets of rules. On the other hand, although the traditional Italian operatic conventions appeared strict, it did not mean that they were respected at all times in practice; as Tim Carter argues, 'their formality allows deviations from them to make a strong effect by subverting audience expectations'.[1] As a consequence, Verdi took inspiration from literary works from across the world, and this was the first time he had used a libretto based on a play in one of his operas. This was Macbeth, composed in 1847,  inspired by Shakespeare's play. From this point onwards Verdi became more selective in choosing the aim of his operas and more engrossed in the development of the characters within the theatrical action. After his correspondence with his librettist Francesco Maria Piave,[2] Verdi set himself the goal of composing something unprecedented in order to attract attention. Indeed, Verdi, both a national figure and a very accomplished composer, influenced the future traditions of Italian opera.

 

Verdi's Macbeth is surprisingly innovative compared to the Italian conventions of the time in terms of its musical and theatrical vocabulary. He reuses basic Italian conventions from his immediate predecessors Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti, but differently. Verdi’s efforts when writing an opera were huge; the reason for the difference between him and his predecessors is that each opera took him longer to compose,[3] as he aimed to create a unique, original work[4] in order to have the impact he desired upon the public. Macbeth’s gloomy theatrical setting is in close rapport with the orchestration, which abounds in unusual timbral colours that appear especially often towards the climaxes. Verdi broke down the boundaries with the spectacular and dared to approach this unusual compositional field, which forced him to abandon some of the common Italian conventions and become harmonically adventurous. Verdi experimented   with new ideas that he didn’t necessarily like but that his strong desire for originality motivated him to pursue. In his letter dated 3^rdFebruary 1865,[5] Verdi expressed his aversion towards rules and conventions, such as those of the fugue, which reminded him of school, admitting that he was not a fan of them; however, thirty years after leaving school, he wrote a fugue in the battle scene in act four, considering it to be a necessary evil. At that time, Donizetti, his competitor in Italy, had already adopted supernatural ideas in his best-known opera Lucia di Lammermoor, not to mention other composers such as Meyerbeer, Wagner and so on. Still, although most of Verdi’s operas lack any supernatural content, in MacbethVerdi approached, in a different way from Donizetti, a fantastic, supernatural world within the metaphoric human mind, that of going beyond its boundaries in a very refined, musical manner. Although the music represents different extremes in action and music, this is achieved by means of flowing, progressive harmony.

 

Another aspect of Macbeth is the fact that Verdi used motifs that keep appearing throughout the opera, reminding the listener of certain situations, characters or emotions. In the Una macchia è qui tuttora! or the so-called Sleepwalkingscene in scene two of act four, interestingly enough, no mnemonic motif occurs, which is similar to Lucia di Lammermoor’s Mad scene by Donizetti. This scene is one of the most intriguing parts that Verdi added to his opera eighteen years after Macbeth’s premiere in 1847 in Italy. However, this revised version was not very well received by the Parisian critics. Verdi himself recognized the fact that he did not understand Shakespeare and, from my perspective, he probably didn’t even want to.[6] In the introduction of the recitativo in act four before scene two, the Sleepwalking scene, the orchestration has a dramatic effect with both intense texture and high expressiveness in the strings section. The orchestra plays as if it is also telling a story in a very refined manner. Verdi’s mastery here is reflected by the call and response between the evocative, dramatic forte strings section and the innocent-sounding clarinet solo. Moreover, in order to emphasize the drama of the piece, the strings play staccato, running upward and downward in rapid sequences, in contrast to their so-called musical companion, which, throughout the scene, swaps roles with other instruments, playing the same  falling motif as the clarinet, revolving around it for most time of the scene. Towards the end of the introduction, before the vocal part enters, the dynamics and expressiveness diminish a little but the staccato style is maintained. The nearer the introduction section draws to its conclusion, the more that ritardandos are used in order to make the listener curious about what is about to happen next. The music and the setting complement each other very well indeed. By the time the singing starts, a difference in the orchestration is noticeable. It is simpler and more reduced in dynamics than the initial introductory passage.

Secondly, Verdi did not only achieve originality in terms of music, but also in terms of the text he used in Macbeth. The libretto is based upon a spoken drama by William Shakespeare, and most intriguing is the fact that it contains no love story. According to Melanie Krämer,[7] Shakespeare's play was not performed in Italy until 1842. Italian people were not accustomed to the English language. Five years later, Verdi came along with his opera based on Shakespeare's Macbeth,which enjoyed great success in Italy. During the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the inclusion of a love story was common in Italian opera music. On the other hand, it seems the collaboration between Verdi and his librettist was not a harmonious one. It was indeed a challenging task to stick as much as possible to Shakespeare's play and at the same time to exclude or rewrite some of the most eloquent phrases, which presented nothing but difficulty in the attempt to use them as phrases to be sung. Verdi’s suggestions with regard to the libretto were sometimes misunderstood by his librettist and therefore he found himself correcting Piave’s drafts himself.[8] Given the fact that the libretto is based on Shakespeare’s play, from a literary point of view, word games and their structure could suggest a score.

 

Thirdly, Verdi had specific theatrical tastes. He stressed the importance of acting in this particular opera. In terms of characters: whereas the principal character and the chorus in the common Italian conventions had to be heroic, positive and ideal in every respect, here Verdi depicts both as negative characters. In the Sleepwalking scene, Lady Macbeth walks while sleeping and the bloodshed caused by her husband torments her: delirious, she sees her hands as full of blood that cannot be wiped off. The early conventions of the Italian opera were straightforward. Composers looked to provoke passions in their audiences, taking them on an emotional journey. The action in the opera had to be represented in the music using different musical metaphors. Drama in opera was a very strong point indeed. The Sleepwalking scene is a very difficult one from many points of views and that is why it is the most criticized. Barbieri Nini's experience, for instance, makes it clear. She had to practise imitating those who speak while they sleep with motionless lips, something that changes a singer's entire sound and, implicitly, their technique. Singing through the lips will certainly be an impediment to the projection of the vocal sound. Under such circumstances, the technique of a singer changes: they must dedicate extra effort and greater focus to projecting the sound so that listeners in the back row of the opera house hear it, at the same time making sure not to push too hard on the vocal folds so that the voice remains in good condition throughout the entire opera. No wonder Verdi had such representational tastes, as he mostly admired great models or actors, but not necessarily singers, as Bernice W. Kilman emphasizes.[9] Moreover, because the opera is based upon a play, the public’s expectations were very high, especially because it was not just any play: it was Shakespeare's, and the acting details are essential to the intrigue, too. It is no wonder that acting in this opera was challenging; in order to achieve a similar degree of intrigue to that of Shakespeare's plays, one has to have the necessary skills. Geoffrey S. Riggs[10]confirms that Maria Callas was one of the singers who succeeded in this. It is different from the case of the opera seria,which required only elementary acting skills. And this, of course, leads to the most essential part of this essay: that of the style of singing adopted in Macbeth.

 

Ultimately, Verdi committed to the vocal conventions of his time, but he also altered them. For instance, the voice is the centre of attention, but what Verdi did was diminish the orchestration's dynamics and complexity in such a way as to complement the vocal line in a very refined, progressive harmony and not compete with it. The colourful and descriptive orchestration shows Verdi's great interest in the relationship between vocal and instrumental parts. Most of the orchestration plays in response to the vocal line with flowing harmonic progressions; at some points, even, the voice is left singing a couple of bars a capella. From my point of view, the voice leads and the orchestra catches up at some points with harmonic support. In Lucia di Lammermoor, on the other hand, the vocal expressivity is indeed clear; however, the relationship between the voice and the accompaniment is in my view tight. The orchestration mirrors the singer's emotions but the sudden changes of key, rhythm, mood and dynamic intensity represent a significant impediment to proper flow and harmonic progressions. Act five scene one, Fatal mia donna, un murmure contrasts with the common Italian opera conventions; where the bel canto style is all about singing beautiful, light and legato lines throughout, here the vocal dialogue between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth depicts the difference between staccato and legato singing.[11]Similarly, in the Sleepwalking scene, Lady Macbeth is a dramatic, coloratura soprano, demonstrating the opposite of the beautiful singing style the Italian conventions at that time dictated. Moreover, Verdi made use of challenging singing phrases with or without knowing it. For instance, instead of suggesting that the high notes be sung in a falsetto, as expected at that time, Verdi suggested they be sung from the chest. The vocal range, indeed, is the same but the way they need to be sung is different, which is significant. Here, Lady Macbeth is singing in disjointed prose and Verdi combined this style of singing with ‘three lucid, intricately rhymed double quatrains of versi ottonari’,[12] which, in the so-called ‘old’ Italian opera musical vocabulary, were understood as dramatic connotations.[13] In other words, Verdi used a known convention in conjunction with a new one in order to give a more dramatic air to the entire scene. Verdi sought more expressiveness than any of his predecessors in his operas. The vocal part is very expressive and makes full use of the dynamics available by changing suddenly from one extreme to another, while the orchestral part remains balanced. According to the letter from Lenari,[14] Verdi gave specific, detailed preferences as to how the singers had to sing their parts and these took time to be fully grasped. Indeed, the score is full of dynamics and of singing suggestions. At the beginning of the Sleepwalking scene in the second scene of act four, the score mentions in the vocal part singing a voce spiegata in a relatively high register reaching a high A flat. Some of Verdi's preferences might not be achievable. Other interesting features are the dynamics throughout this scene. After a fortissimo passage in a high range, suddenly the dynamics change from a pp to a ppp, which is almost silent. I have listened to different vocal interpretations of this scene but none of the singers could render a phrase that was so silent and so coherent simultaneously, while singing at a convenient p dynamic. According to Verdi's visions, Lady Macbeth's voice has to be 'rough, hallow, stifled'.[15] Here, these vocal suggestions come into conflict with the vocal biological barriers and therefore some phrases are not interpretable. It is clear, then, that the style of singing in this opera is probably more experimental, for the sake of being original. Verdi aspired to create singing and speaking combinations that indicated a new style of representation and a new type of singing. According to Charles Rosen and Andrew Porter,[16] Verdi wanted simple singing and vocal sound effects that could not be played in music but at the same time did not distract attention from the whole representation of the opera.

 

Most probably, Verdi was trying to compose something different from his competitor, Donizetti, who produced such an opera first, in 1835, but who belonged to a different league: that of the bel canto era. The technical, vocal acrobatics inLucia di Lammermoor are of a high coloratura level. Donizetti has given the soprano the freedom to interpret her parts and add her own trills and ornamentation, in contrast to Verdi, who gave very detailed information about how the vocal parts should be sung. Particularly in the cadenza, the theme of this opera is quite similar to Verdi's. An intriguing scene occurs in act three scene two in Lucia's Il dolce suono, the Mad scene, where she kills the man whom she is about to marry, then has hallucinations about soon marrying the one she loves, Edgardo. There are issues regarding the vocal writing relating to the fact that the piece was originally written in F major. This high original key, however, did not give all sopranos the chance to sing at their best. They could sing it lower, in E flat major.[17] According to Philip,[18] the difficult cadenza and its final fortissimo high note represented a risk for the prima donnas if it were an F. There is a similarity with Verdi’s Sleepwalking scene, where the final note, D flat, is challenging to keep in pitch for long. So, both Verdi and Donizetti composed music for singers in difficult registers, but, still, the difference lies in the fact that Donizetti was flexible and would not require his singers to sing in an unsuitable key, whereas Verdi, as mentioned previously, had very high expectations of how quickly a singer should grasp all the details and effects he wanted to put forward in the opera, which was a reason for his ultimate severe disappointment.

All these innovative factors, in my opinion, probably contributed to the conflicts between Verdi and the cast. As a result of these conflicts, the librettist, the stagehands and the conductor did not take the trouble to do their duties well.[19] After it was revised, the opera was not understood by the Parisian public, either.  Verdi fought for a realistic musical genre. As a consequence, after his retirement, Italian composers adopted a realistic style called the verismo style in their operas, in which the characters were ordinary people, dealing with simple, daily problems, mirroring the social unrest they were living with at that time.

 

To conclude: Shakespeare was indeed the pretext for a new opera with great aspirations. Socially attached to the idea of liberty, Verdi fought for it through music, becoming, probably without knowing it, a promoter of the Enlightenment. Even though he had an affinity for Shakespeare's works, his musical interests went beyond his textual message. Anyway, nothing in his work is the result of chance, although one could not deny the difficulties of the collaboration with his librettist, which could have contributed to the lack of success of the libretto. Macbeth is indeed a work that employs early Italian conventions, as well as bringing a new blast of romanticism, with strong, realistic touches, to his operas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ALBRIGHT, Daniel. Musicking Shakespeare: A Conflict of Theatres. New York: University of Rochester Press, 2007.

ALBRIGHT, Daniel. Berlioz, Verdi, Wagner, Britten: Great Shakespeareans, Volume 11. London and New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2012.

BASEVI, Abramo. The Operas of Giuseppe Verdi. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., 2013.

BUDDEN, Julian. The Operas of Verdi. Washington: Praeger, 1973, Vol. I.

CLAUSEN, Christoph. Macbeth Multiplied: Negotiating Historical and Medial Difference Between Shakespeare and Verdi. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2005.

CARTER, Tim. Understanding Italian Opera. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

FISHER, Burton D. Verdi’s Macbeth. New York: Opera Journeys Publisher, 2001.

GOSSETT, Philip. Divas and Scholars: Performing Italian Opera. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2008.

HARDCASTLE, Robert. Verdi and his Operas. London: Omnibus Press, 2012.

KILMAN, Bernice W. Macbeth. 2^nd ed. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2004.

KIMBELL, David R. B. Italian Opera. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

KIMBELL, David R. B. Verdi in the Age of Italian Romanticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

KRÄMER, Melanie. Die “Macbeth” – Opern von Giuseppe Verdi und Ernest Bloch: ein textueller und musikalischer Vergleich. Germany: Tectum Verlag DE, 2000.

MATZ, Mary Jane Phillips. Leonard Warren, American Baritone. New York: Amadeus Press, 2000.

OSBORNE, Charles. The Opera Lover’s Companion. New Heaven and London: Yale University Press, 2004.

PARKER, Roger, Fedele D'Amico and Gabriele Baldini. The story of Giuseppe Verdi: Oberto to Un Ballo in Maschera. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980.

PERTILE, Lino and Peter Brand. The Cambridge History of Italian Literature. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

RIGGS, Geoffrey S. The Assoluta Voice in Opera, 1797–1847. Jefferson, North Carolina and London: McFarland, 2003.

SHEPPARD, A. L., Giuseppe Verdi and J. G. Prodhome. ‘Verdi’s Letters to Leon Escudier’. Music & Letters, 4.2 (1923), pp. 184–196.

STEEN, Michael. Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor: A Short Guide to a Great Opera. London: Icon Books Ltd, 2012.

 

^[1] Tim Carter, Understanding Italian Operas (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), p. 77.

[2] Julian Budden, The Operas of Verdi (Washington: Praeger, 1973), p. 270.

^[3] David R. B. Kimbell, Verdi in the Age of Italian Romanticism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), p. 178.

^[4] Kimbell, p. 172.

^[5] Kimbell, p. 184.

[6] G. Prodhome, Giuseppe Verdi and J. A. Sheppard, ‘Verdi’s Letters to Leon Escudier’, Music & Letters, 4.2 (1923), pp. 184–196.

^[7] Melanie Krämer, Die “Macbeth” – Opern von Giuseppe Verdi und Ernest Bloch: ein textueller und musikalischer Vergleich (Germany: Tectum Verlag DE, 2000), p. 39.

[8] Krämer, p. 272.

^[9] Bernice W. Kilman, Macbeth, 2^nd ed. (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2004), p. 48.

^[10] Geoffrey S. Riggs, The Assoluta Voice in Opera, 1797–1847 (Jefferson, North Carolina and London: McFarland, 2003), p. 200.

^[11] Charles Osborne, The Opera Lover's Companion (New Heaven and London: Yale University Press, 2004), p. 487.

[12] Bernice W. Kilman, Macbeth, 2^nd ed. (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2004), p. 60.

[13] Kilman, p. 60.

^[14] David R. B. Kimbell, Verdi in the Age of Italian Romanticism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), p. 175.

^[15] Kimbell, p. 54.

^[16] Kimbell, p. 55.

^[17] Philip Gossett, Divas and Scholars: Performing Italian Opera (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2008), p. 352.

^[18] Gossett, p. 352.

[19] Gossett, p.186.

Orchestral Music

1st Movt. from Malagueña from Maurice Ravel’s Rapsodie Espagnole

     In the first movement from Malagueña, Maurice Ravel’s Rapsodie Espagnole, the strings appear to act as the driving force of the whole orchestra. Their primary role could be observed from the accompaniment point of view and the techniques employed. The piece begins with the pizzicato cello and base sounding octaves up followed by the base joined up by the cello now in two octaves in figure one. Bars from figure one contain low and solemn pizzicato accompaniment in the strings section where cellos and contrabasses only utilize a forward moving Spanish rhythm. Three bars after figure two, the divisi second violin and viola parts join in and use a specific technique to the flamenco guitarists: a la guitara, played pizzicato thus doubling and completing harmonically the bassoon part – thus being exploiting the open strings. Such string textures are transformed into interesting orchestral colours when paired with additional instruments such as the clarinet. So far everything is played in pp, and the balance between the strings and the brass instruments has a great effect as this sound combination puts the primary importance upon the alberti bass–such as the principle violoncello and contrabass. The arco moments of the first violins are smoothly filling in the melodic lines of the woodwind players in bars four through to six of figure two whereas the second violins and violas play in sempre pizzicato, doubling the clarinet, giving the movement an energetic feeling. In figure seven, the dream-like, pp sur la touche string passages create a unique texture through their use of glissandi. The high violins are played in unison and tenuto while the rest of them are divisi in order to create a penetrating quality of sound. The French horns are muted — a mellow sound noted in the score as bouche which does not overshadow the strings. Beginning with figure seven we find meticulous articulation in the strings; for instance the up bow when playing the glissandi. Another rising idea is one bar before figure fourteen; where it is shifting the theme Ravel does it in a very different way with the cor anglais and he takes right up in the high A pitched piccolo – in turn underlined by the cellos and double basses at the same pitch in a lower range. The actual rising and falling idea is the main feature of this piece. 

 

    The 1st Movt. from Malagueña is comprised of three main sections. Sections change in figure six, ten and thirteen. The strings effectively anticipate each section by gradually thinning their parts — seen from figure five onwards in the high ranged divisi parts, highlighted by slurs until the next section in figure six. The strings appear to rise and fall, each string part often working independently. Just before figure five the woodwinds ascend and are dovetailed by the strings before being directly taken away. Three bars before figure six is an arco falling idea to pizzicato chords, a very marked contrast, by removing the upper octave groove in the strings. The bassoon and the sarrusophone (now played by the contrabassoon) complete this passage by adding some low pp dynamics to the very high and fragile violins and harp. In figure six the key changes to D major. The mf pizzicato strings assist the trumpets and produce a distinct melody and timbre while the tambourine, triangle and woodwind section confirm the harmonic change. What makes it stand out is the timbre itself which is being covered by the tambourine, triangle and also the key change. Three bars after figure six, there is an imitation or echo between the low and high pizzicato strings.  In figure seven the jazz-like sound and melody of the strings is continued in the cor anglais, eventually helped by the clarinet’s harmonic introduction, but is soon stopped and this gives the piece an angular structure. Figure ten changes key to B major where the trumpets come back again joining the unison and divisi pizzicato and tremolo strings which adopt a tremolo, arco descending passage before figure ten creating a shimmering sound effect. Two bars before figure two there appears to be a ‘failed attempt’ for the cor anglais to imitate the strings' melody being interrupted however at figure twelve the strings end quite abruptly and the cor anglais' solo part enters without any preparation which lasts until figure thirteen. The strings represent a character that influences the overall mood of the piece through structural changes, use of pizzicato and the lush, arco passages. In terms of the relationship with the orchestra, the introductory rhythm in the strings section play as one character. The strings act not only as simple carriers of harmonic conjunctures but as imitators of other instruments too: the harp, for instance, by means of their spread notes. At figure thirteen, the third section is an A flat octatonic scale which alternates whole tones and half tones. The strings are suddenly in pizzicato. For the first time there are three solo instruments: solo violin, solo viola and cello. The effect of these solo instruments is unique — in particular the vibrato is more audible due to the use of mutes. Ravel therefore uses his masterly command of orchestral colour and timbre to create structural changes throughout the movement.

 

    At the end of figure thirteen we have the same key as the beginning; it feigns a return. The end of this section is characterised by a return with perhaps slightly altered melodic passages which were seen at the beginning of the piece. It is not a recapitulation, it is a kind of a developed A section. Ravel arrives at this unusual harmony from a key with five sharps to a key of no sharps and yet, such a key change is artfully masked to the listener so that it is almost imperceptible.  In the four bars before the end of figure fifteen, different textures ensue and are combined with contrasting elements. Ravel does this by using arpeggiation in the clarinets from B to high B leading to a D, and the strings in the scale of C followed by a higher range in the piccolo and flutes assisted by the strings who play in the scale of F. All these are in a very low ppp dynamics and are played very fast. These balanced elements form a unitary, unique sound. It is a combination of a jeté type of idea with the ascending pizzicato which add such an unusual effect to the sound. This formal structural line within the piece is marked by very distinct passages in the strings and the brass sections as seen so far. Indeed whenever there is a key change, Ravel tries to maximise the contrast and the sense of change between sections. 

 

    Ravel wrote music that could be in a sense tangible, clear and yet complicated. Structure and technique are artistically 'irresponsible' but they are entirely subjugated to sensuality.

Oral Cultures

Transition of African Music Traditions

This essay is a critical review of the book entitled ‘World music Traditions And Transformations’^[1]. I would cite it as the most useful to the topic of African musical tradition. Through the lenses of an ancient akan proverb from Ghana called ‘Odomankoma’ or ‘The Creator’ the focus is concentrated upon fundamental key musical Africanisms which through a historical process developed a unique musical shape. These not only became similar to traditions and styles across continents of Africa but to ‘Western-musics’ distinguished with the African diaspora too.

         Performed through different ways, the river and the path of this akan proverb for instance, ‘speaks’ the traditional Akan drumming style. In the royal Akan ensemble called ‘Fontomfrom’, all perform the drums apart from one who plays a steady ostinati  with an iron bell called a dawuro. Typical instruments are the gongon bell, equankoba and dawurowhere the  from plays against the gongon time-line. Drums serve as a drum language too in making particular voicing in the "speech mode" such as ‘Nana bre bre’.[2] The conversation is performed through the exchange of pitch, rhythm, timbre patterns or verbal speech and tonal language. The atumpan is the main talking drum of Akan people; it is the most favored instrument to play the bass part to accompany dancing.

 From mambo through to rock to reggae, the rhythms and textures have African roots. African musicians too, still reshape and redefine the expressive contemporary world music until today.

Beside this, the proverb recalls the use of the West-African traditional complex polyphonic textures. The multiple layered recurring ostinati with varied repetitions[3] and improvisation is a hallmark of sub-Saharan African musical expression. It is reflected in blues, jazz, rap, call-and-response music, dialogue of sound and music, characteristic pitch structures and scales, and not last in ‘timbral’ variety:  performance of different ‘timbral’ effects for example the buzzing of ‘the mbira dzavadzimu’.  Moreover, the most prominent musical instrument known internationally is the kora, preserved in the art of jeliya. This art has a strong impact upon its jeli performers. Their duty is to preserve jeliya's classic repertoire with the price of their lives. But anyone bearing the royal name Keita is forbidden from performing this music professionally in any context. There were individuals who defied these rules too: Seckou Keita for instance in ‘Sabu Nfnima’, ‘Baiyo’ and ‘Dounuya’.[4] In ‘Dounuya’, Seckou's kora playing is the proverbial river that flows according to the message of the song. Also here, he uses a different style of singing called sataro which is more improvisatory, on-the-spot and generally higher in pitch.

   Singer Angelique Kidjo was born in Benin. She accomplished an international career combining her musical style with the diverse European ‘musics’. This book cites directly Bensignor and Aura by the fact that “she has done more to popularize African music than any other music”. Her first hit was ‘Aye’ followed by ‘Oremi’ (1998), which drew mainly upon links between ‘musics’ of Africa and the American Rhythm and blues tradition. Also "Black and Ivory Soul" emphasized the musical and cultural affinity of Africa.

 

Michael B. introduced African music tradition as being perceived through different ways; as a conversation or as polyphonic forms of collective expression, speaking or singing in call-and-response dialogues or simultaneously and through instrumental diversity. These all reflect an exemplar collective ‘voice’ whose influence echoes until today’s modern contemporary music.

 

    [1] Bakan, Michael B, World music Traditions and Transformations, 1^st ed. (The Florida State University, McGraw-Hill Companies 2007) p.188.

    [2] Eyisam Mbensuon. ‘Akan Fontomfrom Music’ from ‘Rhythms of Life, Songs of Wisdom: Akan Music from Ghana, West Africa’. Album 1. US. 1996. SF CD 40463. Track 1 from 1:18-1:24.

 

    [3] Eyisam Mbensuon. ‘Talking drum’ from ‘Rhythms of Life, Songs of Wisdom: Akan Music from Ghana, West Africa’. Album 1. US. 1996. SF CD 40463. Track 4

 

[4] Seckou  Keita. ‘Mali’. ARC Music Productions International Ltd. EUCD, 1779. UK. 2002.

Western Music

Beethoven, Between Tradition and Innovation

    This essay will focus on Beethoven's unique approach to piano sonatas compared to his contemporaries by means of their form, texture and harmony, by analysing the technical transition between his first and very last relevant piano sonatas that highlight the difference between the inherited techniques and his final authentic and most representative work. Sonata form was the prevalent style in the Classical period and invaded all music genres.

   The piano sonata’s evolution revolved around Beethoven’s innovative spirit. He combined the techniques of Haydn and Mozart with Bach’s and finally infused his own music tastes. Beethoven’s first piano sonata work,  in F minor, Op. 2, No. 1 ^[1], composed in 1795, was built using small and large motifs, just the way Haydn used to. Charles Rosen affirmed admiringly ‘that while less gifted composers needed many themes to sustain a movement, Haydn needed only one’^[2]. On the other hand, Mozart liked to use several themes in one movement but keeping them ingeniously united.

   The revolutionary spirit of Beethoven comes through in this F minor Sonata, a very unusual tonality. Composers wrote music for the audience regardless their personal tastes. Among Mozart’s sonatas, a very pragmatic composer, there is nothing as remote as four flats. Still Beethoven starts his career with this unusual piano sonata, composing it first of all for himself. Like Bach, in the intro, the fermata is linked by Beethoven to a rhetorical spirit; there is a rhetorical language as if reciting.^[3] This was in order to achieve a surprising effect on the listener.^[4] Mozart rarely did this; he imposed himself through his regular but ingenious works. 

   Compared to Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven is the first composer who gives us fairly precise instructions concerning the tempo: Allegro, an ordinary tempo but Alla Breve, a quick tempo as one counts two beats in a bar. He gives us the exact dynamics:  pianissimo, in this case in the intro which is not pianissimo, not whispering but is a soft speaking voice. Beethoven’s harmony is innovative compared to Haydn or Mozart: the bass in E-flat linking the new theme B goes dissonantly against the F-flat in bar 20 (Ex. 1). This theme (Ex.2) is represented in bars 20-22 and 1-3, under an ascending and descending ‘Mannheimer Rakete’.^[5][6] Beethoven thus uses closely-related monothematic themes like Haydn and multiple themes like Mozart to drive the musical energy. The next passage is full of sforzandi, like accents or emphases.^[7]

In bars 33-39 Beethoven marks subito piano; composers often write crescendi or decrescendi to reach a higher or a lower dynamic but Beethoven often writes a subito piano, a sudden change of dynamics rather than a gradual one. In bars 40-45 the third motif is marked as espressivo. In Mozart's scores maybe he means it but does not mark it. Just like the fortissimo in bar 46 (Ex. 3), which we find very occasionally in Haydn's music, but Mozart's dynamics stop at forte. Great extremes are already apparent in the exposition. The key changes to the parallel key A-flat major.

     In the development section the composer really shows that he is truly a master of music. Similarly to Haydn, Beethoven reorders and change the themes. In bar 100 he expresses the same return to the piano present in the beginning of the exposition under a new light in a triumphant, opposing fortissimodynamic. Creatively enough, in bars 92-94 the right hand plays only the tail of the first motif. In Beethoven's imagination this is a great virtuoso but he thinks in terms of an orchestra and ends the movement with a big rhetorical question.

     Beethoven’s innovative style is definite in the following 2nd movement in F major Adagio. Unusually, the four-movement structure is all in the same key just as Haydn’s Sonata in F of his 1773's set. ^[8] It is a very unusual tonality. Beethoven achieves this but with all movements in F major. Haydn has many slow movements marked Adagio whereas Mozart never. He will use an Andante, Andante Con Moto or Andantino.  In bars 24-26 (Ex. 4) there is a sudden explosion in unison, an unexpected fortissimo for the first time in this movement and all sforzando then subito piano followed by a drop of dynamics in bar 34 and finally ending with an unusual perfect cadence.

In the final trio, in two-part counterpoint we have sixth chords in bar 60.  Like the early music movements, here the menuetto is repeated twice, which sounds like Czcherni. The finale of the F minor sonata is extraordinary because it is alla breve and is marked prestissimo: consequently it is extreme and visionary, like one of those ‘perpetual motion’ riding pieces. It is quite shocking because of the left hand's continuous triplet in bars 1-33. Finally the most lyrical part of the movement comes in a very dramatic scenery, going back the same as Haydn usually would have done, to the melody of the very first movement.

      No. 29 in B-flat major, Op. 106[9], composed in 1817, reflects Beethoven’s most monumental work - something unprecedented that would keep music lovers busy. There is still the legend that Liszt’s delivery of this sonata has been one of the miracles in the history of music^[10]. This is the only sonata of Beethoven where he provides metronome marks. Since metronome marks do not make music themselves, these are valid only for the first bar of the piece because Beethoven was fond of interpreting music freely and eloquently. ^[11] ‘Beethoven, who had heard Mozart play, said afterwards that his playing was neat and clear, but rather empty, weak, and old- fashioned.’^[12] This sonata has elements of dance and humour, and this is not a piece in marble: it is incredibly human and alive. For instance in theme A, the opening motif (Ex.5) was written for the left hand alone while the right hand rests. It is very easy to miss and really cheating. It is not an act of sport but Beethoven wants to emphasise tension and portray something impossibly difficult. He took risks, and so trust today’s pianists, too. Josef Kript affirmed that ‘Beethoven’s music aspires to heaven; Mozart’s music was written from there’.^[13] 

    For once, guiding himself under the strict technical devices of Bach, he wrote this fugue in three main voices. Still, it has its liberties while using hallmarks of the Classical style. First of all the traditional concept of tonality is recreated. Harmonic changes to keys third away from the original with striking use of G replace and abolish the role of the dominant. Therefore each movement's theme is based on interval of thirds uniting the work and lunching new ways to romantic sonatas and fantasias. Secondly, modulation in thirds, mark the structure of the Fugue. There are no clear cadences and sectional devices with a few exceptions such as in bars 149-248. The following grand pause is striking because of the continuity of texture before it. With help of the contrapuntal variation too, the sections are continuously connected with each other pondering between rondo and variation form and thus each contrast would be perceives as meaningful. What reinforces this statement, are subject 1, energetic, in the tonic B-flat major; subject 2, in B minor with the dissonant harmonic B natural, B flat clash in bar 160-166, disclosing emotions of sadness and a feeling of loss; and nevertheless subject 3, sudden exclamation in D major in bar 36 (Ex. 6), recalling the manner of the Benedictus from the Missa Solemnis using similar key and based on thirds.

    Beside this, the constant dissonant conflicts between keys is a device infused to transgress traditional forms, reflecting a new seed of sonata form and counterpoint, serving simultaneously as a catalyst of driving force throughout the piece. From the opening theme through to the Finale, this is reappears in the first movement after the recapitulation and not only, but in the second movement too designating a peculiar violence. This gives shape to new structural effects such as the supplanting of the climax toward the end of the recapitulation. All this, to highlight dramaticism balanced within the whole piece. There is another conflict that more or less infuses a sense of tension and strife. We are talking about the rhythmical conflict of duple versus triple time. The movement starts with an upbeat giving a sense of dancing dactyls, like from Bach’s fugues or from the Brandenburg Concertos, something not very ponderous.

   Beethoven added the first two notes that complete the first measure after the sonata was finalized and on its way to be published highlighting the dramatic development. Also, Beethoven uses the two tied notes to indicate change of fingerings in bar 165, thus making out of it a new device. Beethoven used here unisons (a comic striking section in bars 384 – 387, usually never used in fugues) (Ex.8), and diminished-seventh chords, the tragedy present in the beginning until the final Picardy third is achieved with a victorious A flat enharmonic with B natural. This constancy of implementing new compositional paths, is explicit from the introduction of the piece itself. The opening motif goes through an arpeggio in A major, modulates in intervals of thirds, of course ranges over each key's register and inverts down to the smallest units in bars 243-247 (Ex. 7). The pillar notes of these arpeggios, F and A, form the beginning of the fugue. Thus the interval of a third interlinks the themes in the whole work. Initially sketched as a minuet, turns in bar 85 to be sounding like a scherzando, a device created by Beethoven. In the finale, the two inverted and normal motifs, played simultaneously achieve the goal by fixing on the tonic key. Thus the early key conflicts resolve in the last movement by means of a new tonal and rhythmic procedure that reshapes the opening theme and the fugue as a whole.

   These analytical views on Beethoven’s sonatas reflect a genius who risked to use and at the same time to abide these incontestable technical devices inherited from his contemporaries that proved to be stretching the absolute barriers of music, in such a skilful manner to create an authentic, new form of music. Compared to Haydn, he proves to be not only a creator of a new genre of sonata but a very good performer too.^[14]  He experienced with the listener’s expectations and he succeeded; his music is alive today, and will be in the future generations too, because all of his works have hidden, interesting meanings and a lot of new features that our generation is probably yet to discover.

 

 

Bibliography

BESTE, Thomas. S. The Sonata. 1^st ed. Cambridge University Press. 2011.

BLACKWELL Albert L. The Sacred in Music. Canada, Westminster John Knox Press. 1999. p.124.

FABIAN,Dorottya. Bach performance Practice, 1945-1975. Aldershot: Ashgate. 2003

 

HEARTZ, Daniel. Mozart, Haydn and early Beethoven, 1781-1802. UK: Norton & Company. Incorporated, W.W.   

2008. 2008. 411

 

ROSEN, Charles W. The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. London: Faber & Faber. 1971. p.467.

ROSENBLUM, Sandra P. Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music: Their principles and Applications

Reprint ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1988. p. 368.

 

SCHINDLER, Anton F.  Beethoven As I Knew Him. Canada: General Publishing Company. 1996.  p. 213, 225.

 

SWAFFORD, Jan Anguish and Triumph 1^st ed. US: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2014

KURT von Fisher.  Die Beziehungen von Form und Motif in Beethovens Instrumentalwerken. Reprint ed.

Straßburg und Zürich: Hildesheim 19.  2001.  p. 145.

 

KEILLER, Allan R. Liszt and Beethoven: The Creation of a personal Myth. Vol.12. University of California Press. 

1988. p. 116-131.

 

KULLAK, Franz. Beethoven’s Piano Playing. New York: T. J. Little & Co.  1901.

 

^[1] Ludwig Van Beethoven, F minor, Op. 2, No. 1, Reprinted ed. New York: Dover Publication, 1920. p. 444-453.

^[2] Charles W. Rosen, The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, (London: Faber & Faber, 1971), p.467.

^[3] Sandra P. Rosenblum, Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music: Their principles and Applications, Reprint ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press),1988, p. 368.

^[4] For example in Hob. 46/i/17, 23, exposition

^[5] Kurt von Fisher,  Die Beziehungen von Form und Motif in Beethovens Instrumentalwerken, Straßburg und Zürich: Reprint: Hildesheim 19, 2001, pp. 145

^[6] A similar ‘Meinheimer Rakete’ could be heard in Mozart’s Finale in his 4^th Orchestra Symphony.

^[7] sforzando can mean different things; in forte is something different compared to a piano territory.

^[8] A similar structure can be found in Beethoven’s Pastoral Sonata op. 28 or in the String Quarted Op. 59 No. 2.

[9] Ludwig Van Beethoven, F minor, Op. 2, No. 1, Reprinted ed. New York: Dover Publication, 1920. p. 511-556.

^[10] Allan R. Keiller, Liszt and Beethoven: The Creation of a personal Myth, Vol. 12, (University of California Press, 1988), p. 116-131.

^[11] Anton F. Schindler, Beethoven As I Knew Him, (Canada: General Publishing Company 1996), p. 213, 225.

^[12] Franz Kullak., Beethoven’s Piano Playing, (New York: T. J. Little & Co.  1901), p. 10.

^[13] Albert L. Blackwell, The Sacred in Music, (Canada, Westminster John Knox Press, 1999), p.124.

^[14] Daniel Heartz, Mozart, Haydn and early Beethoven. 1781-1802, (UK: Norton & Company. Incorporated, W.W. 2008), p. 411

Music Business

Promoting music on YouTube - benefits and downsides of using this marketing platform.

 

Benefits:

- YouTube is a great platform where to reach big audiences. It is ranked as the second search engine. Any musician can upload different videos of their performances from poor to high quality videos. These can be easily accessed by everyone globally.

- It is free

- The uploaded video could be viral if it has appealing content.

- YouTube is strongly supported by Google. Google provides YouTube links in its search engine.

- Record Labels and in general people would better watch a video of the artist's performance on YouTube rather than reading his CV because a video would tell more about the artist.

 

Downsides

- There is no guarantee that the uploaded video might reach a high audience.

- Since all types of users can access YouTube, a musician can receive poor or negative reviews on their videos and thus could damage one’s reputation.

 -  So far it was enough to just upload the music videoclip on YouTube when releasing a single. But since YouTube has become a big marketing company, where:

 - over one billion fans join YouTube every month

-  45% of all YouTube content consumed in the UK is watched on mobiles and tablets

- An unsigned artist should consider working on a video hard in order to make it captivating and interesting during the first 5 seconds, having in mind the harsh competition on YouTube because there are billions of other users which are uploading similar if not even better material on YouTube. (very good title, tags, video thumbnail, high definition video quality)

- From what country is the video uploaded? (the IP address of one’s computer gives all the geographical details of its exact place) YouTube monitors all videos in each country and it can restrict from known or unknown reasons the exposure of the videos to the main audience.  I have done different tests by uploading some videos from Germany, UK and Romania.  The videos uploaded with an IP address from Germany have reached more views than from the other countries. The video uploaded from Germany reached over 2 million views whereas a similar upload video from Romania, did not get similar exposure to the audience. It has similar title and tags as the 2 million views video but has only over 20.000 views.

- Being a strong marketing platform, people now pay in order to get exposure to the big audience.

- YouTube launched Google preferred in October 2014 - it identifies the top five percent of You Tube’s most popular channels by means of something called preference score by analyzing the amount of comments, shares, how long people watch and the passion people have for these. And this allows advertisers to get to know what audience they need to target and on which channel to advertise most.

- True View - it helps an artist to get his music to a bigger audience. This permits the artist to organize promoting campaigns of his own adverts on YouTube. It also gives the opportunity to the viewer to choose to watch the advert or not. This works in a similar manner as TV adverts. It works on all YouTube videos in order to attract and expose someone's YouTube channel more to the desired audience. If the people do not choose to watch your ad until the end and skip after 5 sec, you are not charged with money.

- Although it is hard to believe, millions of people choose to watch ads every day. And these ones are more likely to share your YouTube content or subscribe to your channel.

- 2 types of True View ads: In-stream and in-display.

-  Users who choose to watch your ad entirely, are Its target is based on demographics, geography, affinity audiences and topics. The add can be how long you want it to be, 50 sec, 3 min or hours long. Those who release a new single would make a short advert and use this add in order to get popularity, selling themselves providing the iTunes or other websites where the single is available for sale or to be watched accompanied by a short fraction of the music videoclip in the background.

Using Google preferred and True View at once - Google preferred used for knowledge and True View for action. (consideration)

- Combining both, will allow the advertiser to deliberately pursue the clients to watch their adverts and thus enhance their own video exposure.