Ludwig van Beethoven, about the time the Hammerklavier was written. (Source).
Part IV SERIOUS OPERA
By ERIC WAGNER
Special guest blogger
Special guest blogger
On page 180 Rosen writes, “Tovey has remarked that Beethoven was not insufficiently dramatic but rather too dramatic for the stage: his music compresses into ten minutes the complexity of a three-act opera." This reminds of the equation Pound quotes “Dictung = condensare”, which Basil Bunting found in a German/Italian dictionary, poetry = condensation. Pound thought a short poem could compress the action of a novel. One can see this in something like Robert Browning’s “Fra Lippo Lippi”.
I find it interesting that The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute have remained in the repertoire continuously since their premieres, never needed to get revived. Some of Shakespeare’s contemporaries criticized his blending of genres: his comedies contained serious depths and his tragedies contained farcical humor. I found it odd that the 2006 Will Ferrell film Stranger than Fiction insisted on a rather narrow separation of tragedy from comedy. I like how Rosen shows how Mozart took elements of opera seria and incorporated them into the opera buffa traditions to create his masterpieces.
This chapter serves as a transition from the world of Haydn to the world of Mozart, with a preview of the world of Beethoven. Rosen sees them all working within the world of the classical style, with Beethoven stretching that style into undreamt of territories. In some ways I see this study group as part of our upcoming Schroedinger’s Cat study group. A character in that novel invites a number of concert pianists to a party so she can talk with them about Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata. I like to think of Charles Rosen attending that party and sharing some of the ideas in this book with the host and the other guests, listening the other pianists' notions about the Hammerklavier and having spirited discussions with them.
3 comments:
I'm a little more than halfway through this chapter and find the discussion of drama and music interesting. This sentence: "The evidence for the century's incapacity for tragic art appears to be overwhelming" reminds me of the premise behind Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy as does the return to and valorization of Greek culture. I also like this phrase: "The exercise of taste is often a definite act of will ..."
Although not considered opera, Broadway musicals comes the closest to it with music and drama, in my nonclassical, limited experience. My dad often played the Camelot soundtrack with Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet on our hi fi. My grandparents took me to see the Sound of Music when I was about 7 also with Julie Andrews, I believe. As a teen, I was a fan of Jesus Christ Superstar and had both the stage and film soundtracks of it. The singer for Deep Purple played Jesus in the stage version, if memory serves.
Oz, I listened to "Jesus Christ Superstar" a lot when I was in high school.
"Don Giovanni," "Figaro," "The Magic Flute" and "Cosi Fan Tutti" are all operas that I have seen live at least once, so I appreciated Rosen's attempts to explain why they remain so popular. It sounds like I should finally watch "Fidelio" at least once. It sounds like "Idomeneo" is worth listening to, even if Rosen thinks it fails are drama.
A band that I'm quite fond of, Squeeze, hiliariously titled one of the band's better albums "Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti."
Thank you for your comments. Music and drama have interesting interrelationships. I too love Broadway musicals and Hollywood musicals. Tom, you have seen more Mozart operas than I have. I have never seen one live. The bass player for Throbbing Gristle used the name Cosey Fanni Tutti.
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