Posted on 06/05/2010 8:01:56 PM PDT by starczar66
...Beethoven's life was as complex and outsize as his art—a roller-coaster ride of willful strife, earthy humor, crushing loneliness, explosive rage and spiritual triumph. Similarly, his music "takes at times the majestic flight of an eagle, and then creeps in rocky pathways," as an 1810 review in the Parisian Tablettes de Polymnie reported. "He first fills the soul with sweet melancholy, and then shatters it by a mass of barbarous chords. He seems to harbor together doves and crocodiles."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Opus 69, the middle period sonata, is my favorite. But all five are marvelous. To me, they create a perfect glimpse into B’s First, Second, and Late period pieces. His growth as a composer can be easily traced through the five sonatas.
One would be Mozart. For a few reasons. The breadth of his catalog, the number of compositions, and the quality (in no particular order). The second movement of his 20th piano concerto is just about my favorite piece of classical music.
Beethoven would have to be included
The last spot in my trio would be awfully hard to fill. Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Bach. . . . yikes, so hard to choose. Mozart and Beethoven would be easy choices because there is so much to listen to that it would be a long time before you had to listen to a piece over again. I might choose Borodin for the third, but he just didn’t write enough.
So, Mozart for his beauty, Beethoven for his emotion, the third, I’d really have to think about it.
So you prefer Haydn to Mozart? The latter was primarily a vocal composer and his instrumental music shows it. His music is also wonderully moody and completely lacking in artifice. I don’t see how any future stuff would have ‘blown away’ his best works. They cannot be improved upon.
Thanks for that...great description.
Thirty-seven years since my last music history class. Guess I don’t remember much. :-(
I listen to talk radio at home, but when in Spain I keep it tuned to Radio Espana (Classics). Not knowing the language perfect fully doesn’t matter when they are playing that quality of music.
Wonderful driving through the mountains listening to the classics at full volume.
Well...ya got me. Overall...no. But I do love Papa’s choral music. Mozart was a genius; Haydn was a craftsman. But, taste is still hard to argue. If I were an opera fan, I’m sure Mozart would be Nummer Eins...
Haydn was also a genius and a tremendous innovator.
In other words, who were the ones responsible for moving from Bach and Handel to Haydn and Mozart?
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