Kreutzer Sonata lecture notes
A. to 3:35 Beethoven: backward and forward
1.
Tolstoy in
particular—Janacek—movies, etc.
2.
Music and Romantics
a)
Romantic music replaces the ceremonial with the
personal.
b)
This was the era of the tone poem, program music,
fantastical symphonies, and impromptus. Symphonies were grand, dramatic,
and apocalyptic, as if the composer were reaching toward the heavens to
proclaim the divinity of the self or the sublimity of the individual
genius.
c)
The interrelationship between music and literature
reached its zenith É able to convey what cannot be expressed in words: the
ineffable and metaphysical.
d)
The heightened contrasts and emotions of Sturm und Drang (German for
"Storm and Stress")
e)
Agony and ecstasy—contrary states
(2) Desire
and energy
(3) Tumult
3.
Biographical
a)
Father exploitive violent and unsupportive; loving
mother died when he was 17
b)
Struggled with elementary physical and domestic tasks; angry, touchy,
compassionate, idealistic; a drinker
c)
Romantic notion of ÒgeniusÓ—rockstar
d)
The heroic: triumphs over adversity; true to his
deepest mission, passionate but love and pleasure and wealth and health are all
subordinated to artistic calling—heiligenstadt
testament
(1) Inspiration
through martyrdom, sacrifice, misfortune
(2) Artist
as prophet; visionary seer, mirror and the lamp—not the mirror
(3) Extreme,
maddening tinnitus, kept secret; avoided company to hide it
(4) Tragic and passionate lover all his life—also puritanical;
love and grief.
(a) Engaged
to Theresa von Brunswick for 4 years, but its broken off
(5) Republican
fighting spirit; liberty
(6) Arrogant
and refuses to take off his hat to the prince, while Goethe does and bows
(7) French
Revolution
(a) Beginning
of 19th c. watershed; massive break with tradition
(b) The
divide; the earthquake; the Beethoven experience; new explosive
force—third piano concerto and third symphony; a monster
(c)
Viennese be set free. Names it Bonaparte
(d) Inspired
by FR: Liberty Quality Equality;
(i)
When Napoleon became dictator and crowned himself, he
was horrified; ms of score with scratched out ÒBonaparteÓ; renamed ÒeroicaÓ in premiere in 1805; Austria also at war with
France;
(8) BÕs
religion/spirituality
(a) B.
never joined a church, was bitterly anti-clerical
(b) BÕs
worship of Nature had deeply religious overtonesÉÓevery tree in the forest said
to me, ÔHoly! Holy!Õ In the forest, enchantment! Who can express it
allÓÉAlmighty in the forest! I am happy, blissful in the forest: every tree
speaks through out, O God! What splendor! In such a woodland scene, on the
heights there is calm, calm in which to serve himÓ 219 Beethoven Essays,
Maynard Solomon—quotes and observations based on BÕs Tagebuch—private
journal
(c)
Like many of his contemporariesÉhe becameÉreceptive to
Indian philosophy ÔSpirit of Spirits, who through every part/of space expanded
and of endless time/beyond the stretch of laboring thought sublime/badst uproar into beauteous order start/before heaven
was/thou artÉÕ The suppression of libidal interest in
reality, which is one of the central tenets of Indian thought, had special
appeal to BÉespecially in BÕs last decadeÉa sacrificial elementÉmanifested
itself. 225 É.circumnavigation of the worldÕs
religious systemsÉÓ prayer without dogma.
B. To
3:40 Pt. 1 performance
C. to 3:46 student comment; --what do they hear? Kapilow
comment
D. to 3:50 ÒIn search of BeethovenÓ
2.
Heiligenstadt
testament: minute 32:20
a)
1802; suicide; deafness—only thing that held me
back was my art; prayer—love for humanity; desire to do good; emerged
more defiant
3.
Kreutzer: 34:38—male and female—find
extremes; incredible tension; wildest one; most demanding; tumultuous; marks
that period; so much brewing and boiling
a)
MHH—storms—to 36:00
E.
To 3:55 Background story
F.
For next time—listen and watch—use
earphones and the links
