When A Man Loves A Woman
~ Percy Sledge ~
Posted on 04/17/2015 5:59:33 PM PDT by AZamericonnie
In memory of his recent death....can I dedicate “When A Man Loves A Woman” by Percy Sledge to our troops?
Howdy Drumbo Thunder! *Hugs*
TGIF!
On occasion, Beethoven liked to write something for sheer fun. This piece isn’t deep, but it’s a blast to listen to. When it’s programmed at a chamber music festival, it fills the hall. He wrote it in 1798 at age 27, and it was an immediate success.
The first movement, marked with his favorite “allegro con brio”, is in sonata format, and the transition between the first and second subjects goes into a remote key in a deep moment. The exposition is repeated. At 5:48 Lou starts his development with the same remote key that he uses for the transitional passage. At 7:10 he recaps. The coda goes into sudden death overtime, and Lou ends it abruptly but with a smile.
The slow movement, marked simply “adagio”, is in E-flat and is one of his great, beautiful love songs. His middle section turns to a dark E-flat minor before the sun comes out again.
Lou wrote a lot of theme-and-variation movements based on his own themes, but he loved taking themes by others that were musical trash and turning them into gold, and the trashier the better. He would write variations on street songs, barroom songs and insignificant little ditties from insignificant operas written by insignificant contemporary composers. It was as though he were saying, as Handel often did, “That tune was too good for him.” In this case he took a little number from a totally forgettable opera by the totally forgettable Joseph Weigl and turned it into a classic.
It’s marked “allegretto”, and Beethoven shows his chops as both a composer and a pianist. The opening theme from Weigl is stated plainly but with humor.
Lou quickly plunges into Variation #1 with the piano playing arpeggios around the theme while the clarinet and cello sit and watch. He wrote this one for himself.
Variation #2 has the cello and clarinet working the variation while the pianist takes a break to rest his fingers.
Variation #3 features the clarinet breaking out into song while the piano accompanies. (This is my favorite variation.) The cello joins the fun and works the theme in tandem with the clarinet.
Variation #4 is the obligatory minor key variation, this time in B-fat minor, one of Beethoven’s “dark” keys.
Variation #5 features the clarinet breaking into song while the piano plays arpeggios around him. Then the cellist joins the fun.
Variation #6 breaks the theme into pieces with the instruments echoing playful phrases off each other.
Variation #7 goes into the minor again with the piano taking the lead.
Variation #8 is a gift for the cello with the others following her.
Variation #9 sounds like a test run for “When the Saints Go Marching In”.
Beethoven executes a Neapolitan trill – that is, one half-tone up – and the audience laughs because they know Lou is about to pull their musical leg. He uses a fermata to signal the pianist to improvise a cadenza, which he does in the same style as Lou’s humor. This leads to Variation #10 in triple time in the style of Mozart where the piano starts off, and then everybody just goes with it. The ending returns to duple time, and he wraps it up hilariously. This is why people pack the hall.
Tomorrow night it’s the first of the Opus 12 violin sonatas.
Dude......
Cool!
My very young students love the arrangements I write for them from Greig’s Peer Gynt.
The tell them that the music was written for a play based upon a Scandinavian Character.
The never heard of the play, couldn’t care less about what it was about, but they sure do love the MUSIC!
I tried for #1.
Good evening, spel, and thank your for the Friday Night Edition of the Salsa Addiction Emergency Room! ((HUGS))
Howdy, Mr. P!
Man, when that piece started, it sounded like a jazz ensemble. LOL!
Dudess! Have you had enough rain yet? It has been raining here for almost a week without even a timeout! I have never heard rolling thunder here the way it has been. It seems that the skies will rumble for five minutes with no let up! ;-)
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TY!
No prob, Ma! ;-)
Waaaaaaaahhhhh! *sniff*
No rain here! You need to share, dude! :)
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Señor Ruiz seems to enjoy the song as much as the audience. You'll see what I mean! ;-)
The fronts, which are coming one after another, are coming from the Austin area. I assumed that you would be getting them, too.
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