1st mvt Coda: Hard-Earned Triumph

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From the course by Curtis Institute of Music

Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas Part 2

65 ratings

Curtis Institute of Music

Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas Part 2

65 ratings

Welcome to Part 2 of Exploring Beethoven's Piano Sonatas! I'm delighted to launch another set of new lectures of this course as Part 2. As before, this class is meant for people of all levels of experience with Beethoven's music (including no experience at all!). Remember that you are able to watch the lectures as many times as you like, at whatever pace is comfortable for you. As I’ve done with the first set of Beethoven lectures, I look forward to meeting with students—online and in person, in various cities. The dates and locations will be posted in the Announcements and Events section, as part of the course content. So please remember to check back there for details. In these four new lectures, we will explore the following sonatas: • Sonata Op. 2, No. 3 • Sonata Op. 13 (“Pathetique”) • Sonata Op. 53 (“Waldstein”) • Sonata Op. 90 The Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation supports Curtis’s lifelong learning initiatives.

From the lesson

Op. 53, "Waldstein"

The Op. 53 Sonata, nicknamed the "Waldstein," is a monumental achievement and a cornerstone of the piano repertoire. In this lecture, Mr. Biss explains how Beethoven breaks apart conventions in harmony and form to write one of the most adventurous and thrilling compositions of his middle period.

Rescuing a Masterpiece from Ubiquity3:44

1st mvt: Establishing the Character -- Immediately7:59

1st mvt: Using the Mediant -- and Changing Musical History9:53

1st mvt: Orchestrating on the Piano2:36

1st mvt: The Darkest of Beethoven's Developments, Part 16:46

1st mvt: The Darkest of Beethoven's Developments, Part 24:16

1st mvt Recapitulation: Restoring Harmonic Order7:29

1st mvt Coda: Hard-Earned Triumph5:18

2nd mvt Introduction: Pointing the Way to the Finale, and the Late Period8:01

2nd mvt Introduction: Accentuating the Sonata's "Misterioso" Nature5:49

2nd mvt. Introduction: Towards a Profound Simplicity6:42

2nd mvt: At Last, Harmonic Stability8:29

2nd mvt: Leaving the Reverie, and Returning4:14

2nd mvt: Going Briefly Off-Script7:34

2nd mvt Coda: Taking the Material to its Limit7:41

Meet the Instructors

Jonathan Biss
Neubauer Family Chair in Piano Studies
Performance Faculty

(MUSIC)

Except….not quite.

Because while the recapitulation does go according to plan all the way through, it's not the

conclusion of the movement at all.

It is followed by a coda – an enormous coda, a coda the likes of which has not occurred

in piano music up to this point.

This coda is without precedent in its size and scope, but I don’t think one can rightly

call it a surprise – even if it breaks new ground,

the movement itself simply demands it.

It’s not so much a question of its length: the piece is so dramatic, so bold, and so

complex, it cannot simply end when the recapitulation runs its course – that would be far too

perfunctory, given the expectations the music has created.

This coda begins in the same way as the development: it comes out of that dog-chasing-its-own-tail

passage, which takes us out of C major yet again – far out, this time --

and spurs the piece forward.

(MUSIC)

So far, so normal.

But things get pretty wild almost immediately.

For starters, the fourth bar of the first theme is for the first time shouted,

rather than whispered.

(MUSIC)

And then the emphasis of that same figure is shifted from its first beat to the

second, throwing it further into turmoil.

(MUSIC)

Beethoven has worked himself into quite a lather, but things are just getting

started: this builds towards the greatest climax in

Beethoven’s piano music up to this point.

(MUSIC)

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but that is music of overwhelming excitement, and it

leads to a cadence so massive, it fully resolves not just the music that directly preceded it,

but the harmonic psychodrama of the whole movement: the mediant, the persistent minor

key shadows, all of it.

And when this cadence happens, what does it lead to?

(MUSIC)

The second theme, FINALLY in C major,

from its outset.

This is utter catharsis.

The theme, in this key, and this context, has a warmth

and a centeredness which is newly acquired.

Beginning in that deeper register (MUSIC), and then covering virtually the whole keyboard

(MUSIC)

it is suddenly so generous.

It then grows even more generous, with Beethoven stretching it out rhythmically (MUSIC),

and then hinting at the minor one final time (MUSIC).

And to end, one final appearance of the opening theme, with most every dark cloud

and hint of minor removed.

(MUSIC)

This conclusion is triumphant and thrilling, but don't be fooled –

it was hard won!

It has taken 11 minutes of struggle, of persistent shadows, and of harmonic ambiguity

to get us to this point.

That is why it is so thrilling when it finally arrives: the muscularity was born out of mystery.

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