by Jag Singh
The era is defined by polyphonic music (many melodies) that includes four to five interweaving voices supporting and enhancing each other. The era is represented by Josquin des Prez (1450-1521), a master of the Franco-Flemish school who pioneered the art of matching music to the emotional meaning of the text.
The era is defined by counterpoint where independent stories of multiple characters (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) are woven together creating friction and debate before converging at the end. This differs from the Renaissance polyphony where all the voices make supporting statements. The era is represented by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), a master of counterpoint who died in 1750 when there was nothing more left to explore or evolve in the Baroque counterpoint style.
The Classical era shifted the focus from complex, weaving debate to clarity and structured drama. The era is defined by homophony where a clear, singing melody (the protagonist) is supported by a subordinate accompaniment, moving through a structured story of tension, development, and resolution. The era is represented by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) who, mastered the structure established by Haydn and Mozart and then, pushed far the structural and emotional boundaries to launch the Romantic era.
Each sonata is split into fast-slow-fast movements. Each movement has its own structured story of tension, development, and resolution (the "Classical" Sonata Form).
Beethoven was very deliberate in assigning the Opus numbers to his works, to showcase the evolution of music. Opus is latin for "work", and indicates the formal publication of the work. Early Period (Sonatas 1-11) Demonstrating extreme technical skill while following the tradition, Beethoven publicly made fun of the piano players who could not keep up.| No. | Name / Key / Opus | Movements |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
F minor 2/1 |
Allegro (Fast) Adagio (Slowly) Menuetto (Minuet) Prestissimo (Extremely fast) |
| 2 |
A major 2/2 |
Allegro vivace (Lively) Largo (Broadly) Scherzo (Playful) Rondo (Round) |
| 3 |
C major 2/3 |
Allegro con brio (Spirited) Adagio (Slowly) Scherzo (Playful) Allegro assai (Very fast) |
| 4 |
Grand Sonata Eb major 7 |
Allegro molto (Very fast) Largo (Broadly) Allegro (Fast) Poco allegretto (A bit fast) |
| 5 |
C minor 10/1 |
Allegro molto (Very fast) Adagio molto (Very slow) Prestissimo (Extremely fast) |
| 6 |
F major 10/2 |
Allegro (Fast) Allegretto (Fairly quick) Presto (Very fast) |
| 7 |
D major 10/3 |
Presto (Very fast) Largo e mesto (Broadly and sad) Menuetto (Minuet) Rondo (Round) |
| 8 |
Pathetique (Passionate) C minor 13 |
Grave-Allegro (Solemn) Adagio (Slowly) Rondo (Round) |
| 9 |
E major 14/1 |
Allegro (Fast) Allegretto (Fairly quick) Rondo (Round) |
| 10 |
G major 14/2 |
Allegro (Fast) Andante (Walking) Scherzo (Playful) |
| 11 |
Bb major 22 |
Allegro con brio (Spirited) Adagio (Slowly) Menuetto (Minuet) Rondo (Round) |
| No. | Name / Key / Opus | Movements |
|---|---|---|
| 12 |
Funeral March Ab major 26 |
Andante (Walking) Scherzo (Playful) Marcia funebre (Funeral March) Allegro (Fast) |
| 13 |
Quasi una Fantasia (Like a Fantasy) Eb major 27/1 |
Andante (Walking) Allegro (Fast) Adagio (Slowly) Allegro vivace (Lively) |
| 14 |
Moonlight C# minor 27/2 |
Adagio (Slowly) Allegretto (Fairly quick) Presto agitato (Agitated) |
| 15 |
Pastoral (Rural) D major 28 |
Allegro (Fast) Andante (Walking) Scherzo (Playful) Rondo (Round) |
| 16 |
G major 31/1 |
Allegro vivace (Lively) Adagio grazioso (Graceful) Rondo (Round) |
| 17 |
The Tempest D minor 31/2 |
Largo-Allegro (Broadly) Adagio (Slowly) Allegretto (Fairly quick) |
| 18 |
The Hunt Eb major 31/3 |
Allegro (Fast) Scherzo (Playful) Menuetto (Minuet) Presto con fuoco (Fiery) |
| 19 |
Easy Sonata I G minor 49/1 |
Andante (Walking) Rondo (Round) |
| 20 |
Easy Sonata II G major 49/2 |
Allegro (Fast) Tempo di Menuetto (Minuet tempo) |
| 21 |
Waldstein C major 53 |
Allegro con brio (Spirited) Adagio molto (Very slow) Rondo (Round) |
| 22 |
F major 54 |
Tempo d'un Menuetto (Minuet tempo) Allegretto (Fairly quick) |
| 23 |
Appassionata (Passionate) F minor 57 |
Allegro assai (Very fast) Andante (Walking) Allegro (Fast) |
| 24 |
To Therese F# major 78 |
Adagio-Allegro (Slow and singing) Allegro vivace (Lively) |
| 25 |
The Cuckoo G major 79 |
Presto (German style) Andante (Walking) Vivace (Lively) |
| 26 |
Les Adieux (The Farewells) Eb major 81a |
Adagio-Allegro (Parting) Andante (Absence) Vivacissimo (Return) |
| 27 |
E minor 90 |
Mit Lebhaftigkeit (Lively) Nicht zu geschwind (Not too fast and singing) |
| No. | Name / Key / Opus | Movements |
|---|---|---|
| 28 |
A major 101 |
Etwas lebhaft (Lively) Marschmassig (Marching) Langsam (Yearning) Geschwind (Quickly) |
| 29 |
Hammerklavier (Hammer-Keyboard) Bb major 106 |
Allegro (Fast) Scherzo (Playful) Adagio (Slowly) Allegro risoluto (Resolute Fugue) |
| 30 |
E major 109 |
Vivace (Lively) Prestissimo (Extremely fast) Gesangvoll (Singing) |
| 31 |
Ab major 110 |
Moderato (Moderate and singing) Allegro molto (Very fast) Adagio (Slowly) Fuga (Fugue) |
| 32 |
C minor 111 |
Maestoso-Allegro (Majestic and fast) Arietta (Very slow song) |
The Romantic era is defined by melodic richness and intimate music in a shift away from the large scale drama. The era is represented by Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), the "Poet of Piano", who made piano sing with vocal-like intimacy and emotional expression. This is the apex of the piano music, and the Chopin completition, held every five years, in Warsaw, Poland is considered to be the Olympics of the piano world.
The 4 Ballades are songs and stories in music (no lyrics).
The 21 Nocturnes (night pieces) are the ultimate examples of intimate music.
The Modern era is defined by - no more rules! The era is represented by Claude Debussy (1861-1918), who tortured the piano to make it sound like an electronic synthesizer; Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) who tortured the piano player to perform the impossible; and Erik Satie (1866-1925), who went orthogonal to create "furniture music" that leaves the center stage and sits in the background as ambient music.
Ravel wrote Devil of the night in 1908, to translate into music, the nightmares that are narrated in dark poems by Aloysius Bertrand (English translation by Donald Sidney-Fryer):
OndineThe Gibbet...I thought to hear
An obscure harmony enchanting my slumber,
And extending near me a murmur similar
To songs intercut by some voice mournful and soft.
-- Ch. Brugnot, The Two Genies."Listen! Listen! It is I, it is Ondine who grazes with these drops of water the sonorous diamond-shaped panes of your window made resplendent by the mournful rays of the moon; and here, in her gown of watered silk, is the lady chatelaine who surveys from her balcony the gorgeous night bespangled with stars, as well as the beautiful sleeping lake."
"Each wave is a water sprite who swims in the current, each current is a path that meanders towards my palace, and my palace is built all of liquid, at the bottom of the lake, inside the triangle of fire, of earth and of water."
"Listen! Listen! My father strikes the croaking water with the branch of a green alder tree, and my sisters caress with their arms of foam the islands fresh with herbs, with water lilies and with gladiolus, or they mock the willow fragile and bearded that fishes with rod and line!"
*
Having murmured her song, she begged me to take her ring on my finger in order to become the bridegroom of an Ondine, and to sojourn with her at her palace in order to become the king of lakes.
And as I answered her that I loved a mortal woman, who was cold and spiteful, she wept a few tears, sent forth a peal of laughter, and vanished in a burst of showers that ran down, colorless, all along my blue-paned window.
ScarboWhat do I see stirring around this gibbet?
-- Faust.Ah! What I hear, would it be the north wind that whimpers at night, or the hanged man who breathes a sigh, fixed on the forked gibbet?
Would it be some cricket that sings furtively in the moss and the fruitless ivy for him to whom, out of pity, the gibbet's wood is wedded?
Would it be some fly on the hunt sounding its tiny trumpet around those ears now deaf to the fanfares of hunting horns?
Would it be some dung beetle that gathers during its clumsy flight one blood-stained hair fallen from his now hairless cranium?
Or indeed would it be some spider that weaves a half-ell of muslin as a cravat for that strangled neck?
It is the bell that sounds at the walls of some town, beyond the horizon, and it is the carcass of a hanged man that reddens the setting sun.
My God, grant me, at the hour of my death, the prayers of a priest, a shroud of linen, a coffin made of wood from a fir tree, and a dry grave.
-- The Paternosters of Monsieur the Marshall."Whether you die absolved or damned," murmured Scarbo that night into my ear, "you will have for a shroud a cloth woven by a spider, and I shall enshroud the spider with you!"
"Oh! That I should have at least for a shroud," I replied to him, my eyes red from having wept so much, "the leaf of an aspen tree in which the breath from the lake will soothe me."
"No!" jeered the dwarf mocking me. "You would be food for the dung beetle that goes hunting, late in the afternoon, after the tiny flies blinded by the setting sun."
"Then you would rather," I responded, still weeping, "then you would rather that I should be drained by a tarantula with the trunk of an elephant?"
"Well then," he added, "console yourself, you will have for a shroud the little bandages, flecked with gold, made from the skin of a serpent, with which I shall embellish you like a mummy.
"And from the darkened crypt of Saint-Benigne, where I shall put you to bed standing up against the big wall, you will hear at your leisure the little children weeping in limbo."
Furniture music created by Satie that was supposed to be played 840 times non-stop in succession, requiring a total of 24 hours to complete. This recording only repeats 42 times. This is Satie making fun of pretentious music.
There are 3 Gymnopedies and 6 Gnossiennes. Satie invented these words to assert that music is beyond verbal meanings and descriptions. This is transcendental music that expresses itself. Music bypasses the intellect to speak directly to the soul rather than representing reality. Hence the Conclusion.
Satie provided surreal instructions to play the music: 3 Gymnopedies... the effect of music is so very much more powerful and penetrating than is that of the other arts, for these others speak only of the shadow, but music of the essence.