Questions tagged [beethoven]
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), composer whose work spanned the boundary between the Classical and Romantic eras.
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Why does Brahms stand next to Bach and Beethoven?
I've often heard the expression, "Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms" as sort of a summary of classical music, or something. I feel that I understand why Bach and Beethoven should serve as pillars of ...
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Why did Beethoven include "in the Lydian Mode" in the title of String Quartet, Op.132 - 3?
Beethoven himself gave a title to String Quartet No.15 in A minor, Op.132 - 3:
A Convalescent's Holy Song of Thanksgiving to the Divinity, in the
Lydian Mode
From the language and context, and ...
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Trill measure 29 3rd movement "Moonlight" sonata (Beethoven op. 27 no. 2)
How do you play the trill in measure 29 of Beethoven's "Moonlight" sonata?
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What makes a piece sound like Beethoven?
I can't seem to find non-harmonic analyses of Beethoven's sonatas. And I'm not a classical music analyzer. That makes it hard to write a sonata in the style of Beethoven when I don't know what ...
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Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3: Last notes played by piano or not?
I have a (probably pretty amateur) question regarding the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3, more precisely the last notes of the third movement. I've listened to different recordings of this piece and ...
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Did Beethoven "invent" ragtime with Piano Sonata No 32 Op 111?
I had an interesting question. It is common knowledge that ragtime came about as a genre with Scott Joplin. However, I am curious if anyone has any information about Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 32 in ...
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E flat or E natural in score of Beethoven String Quartet Op 131?
I have heard recordings of Beethoven's C sharp minor string quartet Op. 131 where, in bar 53 the third crotchet of the first violin part is played as E flat, and at least one recording where it is ...
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Why is there a key signature change in Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata (2nd movement)?
I have listened to the Hammerklavier Sonata many times, sometimes while following the score, and I have noticed that, in the second movement, there is a change in the key signature for just a little. ...
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Why is Debussy's remark brilliant (on going out and smoking, at the start of Beethoven's developments)?
From: Charles Rosen. Critical Entertainments. p. 117 Bottom - 118 Top.
In the same way, attacks on Beethoven could be profound and even persuasive, and would continue to be so after his death ...
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Double basses in Beethoven's Eroica
I have just been listening to Beethoven's Eroica while following a miniature score: Eulenburg score at Amazon.
I was paying particular attention to the double basses and I noticed that frequently ...
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How can I play Für Elise well?
I've always heard that Für Elise is an extremely difficult piece to play well, despite being relatively easy in a technical sense. An added challenge is that it's been extremely over-played (I'm just ...
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Which hands to use for Für Elise by Beethoven?
In Für Elise by Beethoven, in many variations found on the net, starting from bar 13, and as I have seen in many videos playing this part, both hands are used consecutively while most to all of them ...
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Why is Beethoven's tempo so off?
There is one thing that brought me this question. Well 2 actually. First off is Wim Winters and his Authentic Sound channel where he argues that Beethoven is using double beat for his tempos. He ...
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How to play fast and very quietly on piano
So at the moment I'm learning the first movement of the Pathétique Sonata by Beethoven.
The main problem I'm having is with the left-hand accompaniment which is similar throughout much of the piece, ...
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Unplayable turn in Beethoven sonata
Beethoven's piano sonata Op. 2 No. 3, first movement,
bars 179-180 (Henle edition).
The turn decorating each eighth note can be played literally.
Except for the one on bar 179's A sharp, because ...
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How does the performance of "rubato" differ in the classical and romantic styles?
In the movie Amadeus, there's a scene of a chamber orchestra where the conductor uses a large pole and pounds the floor to indicate downbeats in a strict time. And in earlier music, such as Bach ...
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What are these diagonal dashes in the Schnabel Ed. Beethoven Sonatas?
I'm working on Beethoven Sonata No. 1 and have noticed these diagonal dashes in the left hand in movement 2 (see bar 3).
I assume these are editorial markings as I am seeing them in other sonatas in ...
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Beethoven repeated sforzando
In some Beethoven works (e.g. 8th symphony - first movement) there are some parts with repeated sforzando. Are these intended as simple sforzando or sforzando within crescendo? Is there any historical ...
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Is this really better analyzed in G minor than in Bb?
So I have been analysing Rondo a Capriccio by Beethoven and I reached a point where a so called "expert's" opinion and mine differ drastically. It starts at bar 57 and continues to bar 68. After the ...
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Could this Scherzo by Beethoven be considered to be a fugue?
I have listened to the scherzo of Beethoven's Piano Sonata op. 2 no. 3 and it is very fugal in nature. It even has a fugal exposition(though it is dominant, dominant, dominant, dominant of dominant, ...
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Acciaccatura vs Appoggiatura in Beethoven
While studying the 2nd movement of Beethoven's Sonata Op.90, I found these appoggiaturas in bars 28-29.
This is the Henle edition (which I find to be one of the most reliable editions for Beethoven); ...
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Spurious note in "Für Elise" (D in measure 76)?
Back in the olden days, when I walked to school barefoot in the snow uphill both ways, I learned "Für Elise" out of Suzuki Piano School Volume 5. In m. 76 (third measure in the below image), ...
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Cb and Eb in C minor
I'm working on Beethoven's Sonata no 5
I passed by this
I can't figure out how the C and E are flat, as Cb is a B and E is already Flat according to the C minor scale
I'm very new to music reading ...
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What's going on in measures 11 - 16 of Beethoven's Sonata Appasionata?
I'm studying the Neapolitan Chord and the textbook includes the following excerpt to analyze. Up until measure 10 I understand what's happening, but I have no clue how to interpret measure 11 and ...
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Do you always play the melody louder than the accompaniment, unless specified?
The moonlight sonata 1st movement by Beethoven, for example, has a melody on top with an accompaniment with the left AND right hand (starts at measure 5). People usually say that you play the melody ...
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Ludwig van Beethoven "complete" 722 works in Chronological Order
It is known that "The compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven consist of 722 works".
However,
only about 138 of these works have Op opus numbers.
about 228 (till WoO 228b) have WoO numbers. (...
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How many notes in a trill?
I’m playing a sonata by Beethoven (op. 78. No. 24 in F# major) and there are two of these trills (see the picture I’ve attached) in the left hand. My question is, how many notes should be in this ...
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How does the 3rd movement of Moonlight Sonata relate to moonlight?
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 is also called the Moonlight Sonata. The first movement is smooth, like the moonlight in a quiet and clear night; the second movement is vivid, just similar to the ...
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How should I analyze this passage? As vii°7, V7, or both?
So, I'm doing another Beethoven analysis, this time using the Liszt transcription of Beethoven's Fifth so that I can more easily see the harmonies and form. I am analyzing it passage by passage, first ...
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How to distinguish between piano music by Beethoven and Chopin?
What are some musical characteristics that can be analyzed to tell if a piece of music was written by Ludwig van Beethoven or Frédéric Chopin?
Both are unmistakably present in the concert repertoire ...
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Why are some Beethoven works given names like WoO 40 or Hess 238?
Why is it called WoO 40 or Hess 238?
These are names of Beethoven's symphonies.
They have peculiar names.
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Is there a piece of music that "inaugurated" Beethoven's middle period, and thus the Romantic era?
Since Beethoven's early works are considered part of the Classical era, and his later works are considered part of the Romantic era, is there, by scholarly consensus, a single piece of his that ...
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How is Beethoven able to make so many sudden shifts in key?
I know of 2 very common modulations that classical music composers of all ages have done. Those 2 are relative modulation and parallel modulation respectively. I myself have done those and I see both ...
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Writing error in Beethoven's autograph of "moonlight" sonata?
In Beethoven's op. 27/2 in the autograph, bar 20, in the left hand on musical beat 1, the lower tone seems to be d sharp ("dis").
https://www.beethoven.de/en/media/view/6442239777570816/scan/...
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How accurate is the von Bulow edition of the Beethoven piano sonatas?
I'm wondering whether or not the Hans von Bulow edition is scholarly and accurate or not.I'm aware that Liszt favored it as his students recollect that he only used that edition when teaching the ...
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What is the purpose of the first movement in Moonlight Sonata?
As someone inexperienced in formal music theory, I wonder what the purpose of the first movement of Moonlight Sonata is. Whenever I listen to Moonlight Sonata, I feel like skipping directly past the ...
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Piano: quaver triplets in RH v dotted quaver and semiquaver in LH
Towards the end of the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op 27 No 2 (Moonlight) the right hand is playing triplet quavers while the left has a dotted quaver and semiquaver.
If we are ...
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Did Beethoven really usher in the Romantic Period?
Most people argue that because Beethoven kept pushing the boundaries further and further on sonata form and dissonance that he started the Romantic Revolution. On the other hand, I have heard a few ...
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Playing a fast but quiet Alberti bass
My Alberti bass in the 3rd movement of the "Moonlight" sonata by Beethoven is way too loud, so that the melody in the right hand often vanishes. So I wonder how I can fix it. It should be played piano ...
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Beethoven and parallel minor keys
I read somewhere recently that Beethoven considered the minor and major keys to be "one and the same"
The quote i reference was not referring to the relative minor (ie. Am in key of C), but ...
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Does Sforzando really mean a stronger accent?
I come across sforzando a lot as an arranger and even just as a classical music listener. I was told by my piano teacher that sforzando means a stronger accent than your typical accent mark. But I ...
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1 to Flat-6 to 1 chord progression - Is this a Beethoven thing?
I was fooling around with a song the other day that opened with a C to Ab to C progression, and someone said that it was taken from some composition by Beethoven. Does anyone know if this is true, and ...
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Rootless chords in Beethoven sonata?
Okay, I came across a bit of a wrinkle in the paper as I analyzed the third movement of Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique. It has to do with this passage in the C section(which is in Ab major):
For those ...
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Meaning of the words "Recitativo" and "tutte le corde" in music?
I am trying to understand Romantic music. I came across this extract from Beethoven's Piano Sonata op.110 from the Allegro man non troppo part.
I want to understand what the words "Recitativo" and "...
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Anotations in Beethoven original score of the 9th symphony
I once heard that in the original handwritten score of the first movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony there are references to the creation myth as annotations. However, these were not replicated in ...
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Stopped notes in Beethoven's 2d
In David Zinman's complete Beethoven symphonies with the Tonhalle orchestra, he uses the Barenreiter edition, modern instrument, and fast tempos.
In his performance the first movement of the 2d ...
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Chromatic 7th chords going upwards in Beethoven
This is about how the harmony is working in Rondo a Capriccio by Beethoven. Here is the passage I am talking about:
So starting at measure 291, there is a passage where 7th chords go up chromatically,...
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No connection between two melodies in an opus
I was listening to Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67:
I have noticed that the opus has two parts: the first part with the famous melody we all know, and ...
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Is this note in Für Elise an E or a D?
I've seen two notations for the note progression of Für Elise that goes "E.-C-B-A" at the end. One is "E.-C-B-A", which was the one I heard first, and the other is "D.-C-B-A", which appeared in an RCM ...
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Dotted Rhythm in Dance
The Wikipedia article on Beethoven's 7th symphony talks about how "the work as a whole is known for its use of rhythmic devices suggestive of a dance, such as dotted rhythm" and "[the Vivace] is ...
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