Schubert and Beethoven Flashcards
1
Q
Dances general
A
- Schubert writes many dances but they are not talked about: fall between social history of dance and Schubert scholarship
- Gramit highlights how Schubert’s musical gatherings almost always included dancing and drinking etc but history has ignored this, instead focusing on songs played
- Edward Hanslick writing about dance as problematic/sensual/dangerous. Danger of the popularity of Schubert’s dances
- Ländler, Waltzes
- Schubert’s dance music has confused and contaminated his romantic status
2
Q
Schubert’s dances in Vienna
A
- 8 published collections of dances between 1821-1828, additional ones in anthologies.
- Around 500 dances in total written in 1820s, many more improvised.
- Conviviality of Schubert’s world – friendly music-making by amateurs: part-songs, dances for solo piano etc.
- Musical life revolving around private and semi-public events in Vienna
- Schubert grew up with dance music in Vienna – so composed a lot of social music, but from 1824 onwards he composed more instrumental stuff to try and live up to Beethoven (Gingerich)
3
Q
Margaret Notley on Schubert’s social music
A
- Alfred Einstein differentiated between the serious Schubert and socaible Schubert
- Notley says that some dances show signs of serious Schubert, but it is more interesting to see how the dance forms permeate the serious works
- Composed functional rather than stylized dances - technical constraints of phrase length and structure
4
Q
Schubert dances in late/serious works
A
- Late 18th century dance topics as key to musical meaning. By 19th century very strong will to keep these meanings and boundaries secure but beginning to break down
- B minor movement of Piano sonata in G (‘sinister minuet;)
- Bb sonata 2nd movement: Andante sostenuto in C♯ minor is followed by a deliciously ebullient Scherzo (3rd movement), which itself is interrupted by a Trio of dark, maybe menacing exoticism
- Sonata in A 2nd movement: could be described as ländler – triple metre and moderate tempo is same as descriptions of the dance. And incessant staccatos in accompanying left-hand figure is like pizzicato of bass
5
Q
Vienna in 1820s
A
- Austrian Chancellor, Metternich – made Vienna a place of repression, social control, censorship of the press, spying
- Metternich trying to reinstate the power of Austria on world stage
- Therefore within1820s Vienna (politically controlled space) – dance became a way of showing political freedom
- Great separation of public and private spheres – larger scale works specifically for fee-paying public
6
Q
Bb sonata general
A
- 1828 but not premiered until 1839
- Written months before his death
- Posthumous reception of the piece changes a lot
- Emotionally complex and overwhelming – often linked to his mental state in final year.
- 1820s as looking for meaning/understanding – sphere of musical composition changed
- Platinga: final years as ‘downwards spiral’ – especially with mixture of dance forms and lament in the piece.
- More complex compositions for Schubert – in scale and style
7
Q
Bb sonata music
A
- Very low trill which interrupts first phrase – seems out of place
- People (performers and academics) have obsessed over its meaning
- Signifies darkness, tremor
- BRENDEL links it to memory and nostalgia as it recurs and is modified in different harmonic contexts
- Also relating to his illness (syphilis)
- 2nd movement closer to death – unusual key of C# minor which is extremely remote
- Return to Bb at the end like a ‘lullaby before death’ – WEN
- Third movement mixes scherzo with themes of death
- Questionable if believing that he felt his death imminently as he composed
8
Q
Schubert and time
A
- Tapping into the idea of time and nostalgia as result of rupture and instability of war
- ‘Frühlingstraum’ from Winterreise – protagonist dreams of being in spring but wakes up to harsh reality of being in cold winter environment. Music in style of late 18th century, evoking memory of another time; also in high register to emphasise this.
9
Q
Schubert late style - general
A
- Schubert and Beethoven’s late music seen as exploration of limits of musical expression; self-consciously writing ‘music about music’.
- Wasn’t taken seriously by his contemporaries
- Ian Bostridge claims that everything written after 1823 and syphilis diagnosis is late work – but die schone mullerin is 1823 so..
- Cone says that all music post 1822 is infused with sense of desolation and dread
- Concept of late style a very Beethovenian-driven idea
- 1824 turning point – after failing operatic attempts, he turns to Beethoven’s success with mass, symphony, overture concert.
10
Q
Missa Solemnis general
A
- Premiered in 1824 with Symphony 9
- Met with praise but also confusion
- Reminiscent of Napoleonic era style – part of the confusion
- Chaotic structure, military themes and lots of busy counterpoint
11
Q
Missa Solemnis readings
A
- Adorno: sees it as outlier, aims to alienate
- Mathew: recent work situates in in aesthetic/political world of 1820s
- Kirkendale: places it in historical lineage of church music (ie not really 1820s)
12
Q
Adorno and missa solemnis
A
- Doesn’t sit right in Beethoven’s style
- Only performed twice in his lifetime suggests not important
- Lack of unity or development throughout - constrained by self-imposed rules of archaic forms
- E.g. end of Gloria is a fugue which is copying antique model – makes it confusing to him
- Contrast between warlike and peaceful music e.g. agnus (trumpet calls, tremolo strings) and dona nobis pacem (6/8 peaceful) juxtaposed
- Meaning: confused that he wrote a mass at all – doesn’t fit in his understanding of late style
- Uses archaic music
- Critique: Adorno has nowhere to go except be confused – ignoring the fact that it is part of Beethoven’s style – can’t just eliminate it.
13
Q
Mathew and missa solemnis
A
- Return to Napoleonic public genres (brass and percussion in earlier symphonies)
- Use of brass in credo especially Beethovenian
- Military moments have link to Haydn missa in tempore belli (compositional model)
- Alienating idea as central theme of Romantic aesthetics – philosophers like Friedrich Schlegel
- Situates it in post-war confusion when searching for meaning was encouraged
14
Q
kirkendale and missa solemnis
A
- Historical genesis in church music tradition – does not deal with 1820s context
- Compositional models from church music are root of most musical decisions
- Frames it with idea that music had to be understood to be enjoyed was not a thing anymore in 1820s (but this is sidestepping the issue)
- Importance of battle songs in masses from 16th century onwards
- Similar ritornellos and motifs link gloria and credo (goes against Adorno)
15
Q
Der Doppelgänger general
A
- Part of Schwanengesang
- Someone going back to a place where his beloved used to live; finds himself staring at someone he realises is himself and the terror at that.
- Analysis of it tends to place composer within the role of song narrator
- Also seen as symptom of Schubert’s late style
16
Q
David Bretherton and Doppelgänger
A
- Reflects alienation Schubert felt from his political environment (censorship, surveillance etc of Metternich)
- Artists became ‘obsessed with inner emotions’ (Bretherton) because they were deprived of artistic freedom
- The inner turmoil of the narrator is personified in the haunting confrontation with his mirror-figure – becomes focus of song
- Continuous four bar ostinato figure shows obsessive disposition as a result of unrequited love – response to socio-political aspect of Schubert’s life.
- Inner conflict, alienation and unrequited love as mental responses to Schubert’s environment.
- But this argument makes significant assumptions about Schubert’s personal response
17
Q
Benjamin Binder and Doppelgänger
A
- Represents Schubert in his illness
- Suggests that Schubert saw himself as the protagonist – a ‘self-portrait’
- Other mode of personal projection: frequent semi-tonal shifts and echoed melodies (and bass ostinato) as ‘obsessive look’ at his own lieder style
- Sense of ‘self-critique’ is characteristic of Schubert’s late style
18
Q
Robert Samuels and Doppelgänger
A
- German Romanticism and sublime
- Text and music carry double meanings
- Poem represents the divide in human psyche between cognitive and carnal knowledge
- Duality of B minor and D# major shows sense of opposition
- Doppelgänger literally in right hand echo fragment of melody
- Larger context of doppelgänger motif in 19th century - specific to German 19th century philosophy and gothic literature
- sublime and romantic because doppelgänger is looking back and forward
- This approach treats it as a product of 1820s German Romanticism – larger themes can be seen. More 1820s view.
19
Q
Hinrichsen on Schubert late style
A
1) Definite break after 1824
- shift of focus away from vocal to instrumental
- influenced by Beethoven concert
- marked by harmonic and structural changes e.g. sudden shifts and key relations; modulations through enharmonic keys - Bb mvt 1
2) BUT his early death and influence of Beethoven scholarship means that this has been seen as ‘late style’
- Hinrichsen says that the stylistic traits in later works (evident from 1824) is more a ‘mature middle style’ or ‘new style’
3) opposite of Beethoven - not reflective/consolidating but rather a ‘euphoric departure on a journey which was broken off mid-flight’
