Beethoven 250: Piano Sonata No. 12 "Trauermarsch" (Stephen Kovacevich, 1999)

Karl Wilhelm Bergmüller (1864–1928): A Beethoven Sonata. Étude Magazine, 1930. Reproduction from an oil painting by C. W. Bergmüller, courtesy of Illustrirte Zeitung, Leipzig. 26 x 31.75 cm. From: SJSU King Library Digital Collections: Beethoven Collections. Please click on the image to enlarge it.

Beethoven: The Complete Works (80 CD). Warner Classics / © 2019 Parlophone Records Limited. Also available on Spotify etc. I bought my box set from Fuga at Helsinki Music Centre.
    Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827.
    Beethoven 250 / corona lockdown listening.

From: CD 20/80  Piano Sonatas Nos. 12–15
Stephen Kovacevich, 1999 (Nos. 12–14) and 1998 (No. 15)

Opus 26: Klaviersonate Nr. 12 in As-Dur (1801)
Dem Fürst Karl von Lichnowsky gewidmet.
    Erster Satz: Andante con variazioni, As-Dur, 3/8 Takt, 219 Takte
    Zweiter Satz: Scherzo: Allegro molto, As-Dur, 3/4 Takt, 96 Takte
    Dritter Satz: Maestoso andante (Marcia funebre sulla morte d’un eroe), as-Moll, 4/4 Takt, 75 Takte
    Vierter Satz: Allegro, As-Dur, 2/4 Takt, 169 Takte

Wikipedia: "Aus musikalischer Sicht markiert die Sonate einen konzeptionellen Umbruch in Beethovens Klavierwerk. Standen die vorhergehenden Sonaten noch ganz im Zeichen klassischen Aufbaus, so schließen sich nun mit dieser und den zwei darauffolgenden Sonaten drei sehr experimentelle Klavierwerke an, in denen Beethoven formale Prinzipien des klassischen Sonatenaufbaus verwirft und mit noch nie Dagewesenem überrascht. "

AA: Listening to Beethoven's piano sonatas in chronological order, Klaviersonate Nr. 12 in As-Dur appears as a turning-point. The concept and the structure differ from the predecessors. This piano sonata, and particularly the funeral march, were instantly successful.

The first movement, Andante con variazioni, consists of a theme and five variations. On my CD the first movement is actually divided into six tracks. The variations are laconic, all with a markedly different character. Beethoven elicits great pleasure from the art of the variation. A simple folk melody inspires sophisticated harmonies and a rich array of moods: pastoral, jubilant, dancing, meditative, confrontational, blissful. Beethoven connoisseurs report that Mozart had invented the Variationssatz in his Klaviersonate A-Dur KV 331 (1778), but otherwise this solution was exceptional.

The second movement, Scherzo: Allegro molto, is a pungent transition from the pastoral to the heroic mode.

The third movement, Maestoso andante (Marcia funebre sulla morte d’un eroe), expands Beethoven's register in gravity. It is deeply tragic and without sentimentalism. It has been speculated who the hero is whose death is being mourned. The period was that of the revolutionary wars, but András Schiff says that Beethoven might have been thinking about the funerals of Achilleus and Hector in the Iliad in this piece of noble grandeur that inspired Chopin to compose his own funeral march (le troisième mouvement dit « Marche funèbre » dans la Sonate pour piano no 2 en si bémol mineur, op. 35, 1837). Beethoven also created an orchestral arrangement. It was played in his own funeral.

The fourth movement, Allegro, has been controversial. Romain Rolland thought that the sonata lacked organic unity and was a display of Beethoven's devil-may-care approach. For me Beethoven's concept here evokes John Ford's epics and his way of juxtaposing the sublime with the ridiculous. The hero has been put into the grave, and the funeral band returns home, playing merry melodies. Life goes on.

Besides my "official" Stephen Kovacevich menu I enjoy Sviatoslav Richter and Alfred Brendel's interpretations, András Schiff's Guardian Lecture and Igor Levit's performance on his 2019 box set. It is fresh, original, bright and purposeful.

András Schiff's Guardian Lecture on Beethoven's 12th piano sonata.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: MORE SOURCES:
BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: MORE SOURCES:

http://digitalcollections.sjlibrary.org/cdm/search/searchterm/Portraits%20Beethoven%20Full%20figure/mode/exact/page/2

https://www.beethoven.de/en/archive/view/6559862288809984/Beethoven+playing

Улыбышев так охарактеризовал этот марш:
«    Мелодия еще проще модуляций. В течение шести тактов она дает слышать лишь одну ноту, доминанту ми-бемоль, звучащую как колокол, пробивший последний час жизни героя, в то время как бас рисует фигуру и ритм марша. Догадываешься, что смерть нанесла один из тех ударов, которые колеблют мир и горестно отзываются в сердце народов. Внезапно мажор следует за минором, барабаны грохочут радостно; гобои и флейты отвечают им сверху, криками триумфа... Это ли не крылатый и лучезарный образ славы, который парит над исторической могилой, чтобы освятить её навсегда? Затем минор возвращается и марш начинается снова. Вот подлинно великое, вот возвышенное!    »
https://www.belcanto.ru/beethoven_ps_12.html

Wikipedia: Wilhelm von Lenz
Wilhelm von Lenz (born 20 May 1809 in Riga - died 7 January 1883 in Saint Petersburg) was a Baltic German Russian official and writer. Wilhelm von Lenz was a friend and student of many mid-century Romantic composers, including Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin and Hector Berlioz, Lenz's most important and influential work was an early biography of the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven, entitled Beethoven et ses trois styles (1855), written in response to the disparagement of Beethoven by Alexander Ulybyshev in his Nouvelle biographie de Mozart (1843). Lenz promoted the idea (already suggested by earlier figures such as François-Joseph Fétis) that Beethoven's musical style be divided into three characteristic periods. Lenz's periodisation, with minor changes, is still widely used today by musicologists in discussing Beethoven's compositions.

    Beethoven. Eine Kunststudie, Band 1, Kassel 1855 (Digitalisat)
    Beethoven. Eine Kunststudie, Band 2, Kassel 1855 (Digitalisat)
    Beethoven. Eine Kunststudie, Band 3, Hamburg 1860 (Digitalisat)

Wikipedia: Alexander Ulybyshev

Alexander Dmitryevich Ulybyshev or Alexandre Oulibicheff (Russian: Александр Дмитриевич Улыбышев) (1794-1858) was a wealthy landowner, an influential biographer of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the most important early patron of Mily Balakirev.

Ulybyshev was born in Dresden, the son of the Russian ambassador to the Electorate of Saxony. From 1816 to 1830 he served in the Russian Foreign Ministry, where his duties from 1825 to 1830 included editing the Journal de St.-Pétersbourg. He retired in 1830, with the rank of State Councillor.

He died at his estate in Lukino, near Nizhny Novgorod, on 24 January (Julian calendar; 5 February Gregorian calendar) 1858.

Ulybyshev's three-volume Nouvelle biographie de Mozart (Dresden, 1843) was influential on nineteenth-century perceptions of the composer. It was later translated into German, and into Russian by Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

His views were attacked by Wilhelm von Lenz in Beethoven et ses trois styles (Paris, 1855), to which Ulybyshev retaliated with Beethoven, ses critiques et ses glossateurs (Leipzig and Paris, 1857).

He also wrote a number of articles on music for the Journal de St.-Pétersbourg.

Sources

    Geoffrey Norris and Edward Garden. "Ulïbïshev, Aleksandr Dmitryevich." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 26 May 2010.
    Profile of Ulybyshev, Apr. 4, 2006, by Voice of Russia.

External links

    Nouvelle biographie de Mozart at Google Books.
    Beethoven: ses critiques et ses glossateurs at Google Books.