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BEETHOVEN'S PATH TO THE ARTWORK OF IDEAS
Just as he did with the symphony, the string quartet, the piano trio and the solo piano sonata, Beethoven embarked on the composition of duo sonatas for piano and violin by emulating tried-and-true models, especially the sonatas of Mozart. The order of the two instruments in the titles of his works in this genre, something that may strike us today as rather antiquated, even odd, is not merely a superficial indication of Beethoven's indebtedness to his predecessors. From our standpoint the piano reigns supreme both as a solo and as an accompanying instrument; in the latter capacity, as a multi-voiced "framing" instrument, its name in duo sonatas quite reasonably belongs after that of the "monodic, soloistic" violin. The 18th century, however, held a completely different view of the matter. At least up to Beethoven's time, the piano's dominance in the partnership was absolute, with the violin providing a sort of add-on accompaniment - a relationship made apparent by the designation of the genre and, not infrequently, also by terming the string part "ad libitum" in published scores. These are remnants of a practice whereby the violin part was a mere extension of the piano part - often doubling its top line, sometimes with a certain amount of improvisation.
This explains the habit of critics well into Beethoven's time of judging such works solely by their piano part, or even blithely classifying them as "piano music". Not only did this fate befall the Sonatas op. 12 (1797-98), Beethoven's first publication in this genre, but his opp. 23 and 24 as well, which one contemporary reviewer claimed to have "perused along with a heap of other piano things". Even the last Sonata (op. 96, 1812!) was described by a reviewer as being "estimably written" even if it did not represent "one of this master's finest piano pieces". The absence of the "Kreutzer" Sonata op. 47 is significant in this sketch of how the genre "piano-violin sonata" was perceived, for Beethoven himself described that explosive work as having been "scritta in un stilo molto concertante quasi come d'un Concerto" - a characterization that surely applies to both of the instrumental parts and is related to the work's dedicatee, the French violin virtuoso Rodolphe Kreutzer.
The Sonatas opp. 23 and 24 date from 1800 and 1801 respectively and were published together in the latter year under the single opus number 23. Later they were issued separately and consequently the F major Sonata acquired a popularity - helped along by the apt nickname, not given by Beethoven, of "Spring" - which to this day has detracted from the public's awareness and appreciation of its sister work in A minor.
The "Spring" Sonata op. 24 is Beethoven's first violin sonata in four movements. It owes its poetic name to the largely pastoral nature of the outer movements. The status of the finale in this sonata has been accorded a definite upgrading: it combines elements of rondo, sonata form and variation, which yield a richness of motivic and thematic material as well as of sonority. They make the movement into something far more than the conventional lightweight closing: a genuine finale, the ultimate destination of the entire work. Between these two movements there is an unusually lyrical, almost "aria-like" Adagio, whose mood of intimacy is brusquely terminated by the caricaturing whirl of the waggish Scherzo, with its lurching, rhythmically offset entries.
"One would have to be labouring under a kind of aesthetic or artistic terrorism, or else have been won over by Beethoven to the point of blindness, not to find in this work clear new evidence that this artist has for some time now been trifling with us, that he has not merely been using his splendid gifts of nature and industriousness in the most arbitrary manner, but first and foremost simply in order to be different from other people." The "Kreutzer" Sonata op. 47 is the work under discussion here, and the reason for the reviewer's noticeable irritation can be found in the "new path" forged by Beethoven after the turn of the century. It was here that the step towards the "artwork of ideas" was taken that led to an individualization of musical expression, with a tendency to strive for the eschewing of everything conventional and thus superficially familiar. This individualization reached a first high point in this Sonata and disconcerted both musical amateurs and experts. They perceived an excess of expression that wantonly flouted the limits of what could be contained in a work of art. The motivation behind this judgement was ultimately moral, no longer artistic - no wonder that towards the end of the century Tolstoy made this sonata a sort of "medium" for a moral conflict with a fatal outcome.
And in fact there is already something startling about the slow introduction, which opens with the violin but then immediately turns into a concerto-like interplay. Beginning in A major, the two instruments move chromatically, exposing basic motivic ideas, towards the main section, Presto - but in A minor. This unleashes a storm, the like of which had probably never before been heard in chamber music. It makes the chorale-like second theme seem all the more restrained, though this manages to quieten things down for only a moment. The resumption of the storm, from which a no less aggressive third theme emerges, leads to a development section marked - except for a few lulls in dynamics - by unremitting dramatic tension. Following the recapitulation - for the first time in the violin sonatas - there is a relatively extensive and notably independent coda, in which yet another, clearly summarizing thematic idea is introduced. The middle movement consists of a set of variations on an extraordinarily multilayered theme. The variations are consequently protean in nature: the modern type of "character" variation is interspersed, in a manner difficult to grasp, with basically old-fashioned ornamental modifications which, in the present context, make a truly "fantastic" impression. The finale is unmistakably a point of reference to the opening movement, though more on account of its dramatic tone and the driving motion that both movements share than through motivic or thematic reminiscences. Nevertheless the finale's effect is less aggressive than that of the first movement, thanks not only to its being in the major throughout but also to its jaunty 6/8 metre.
Mathias Hansen (Translation: Richard Evidon) |
Extrák:
- közvetlen jelenetválasztás
- Dokumentumfilm: A Life with Beethoven (58 perc)
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