The Meeks Duo - Piano 4 hands | Beethoven 5th Symphony - Happy Birthday mash-up! (piano duet) @TheMeeksDuo | Uploaded 9 months ago | Updated 1 hour ago
Here is our tribute to the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven on his birthday (December 16, 1770) - his Symphony no. 5 (parts of all four movements!) transformed into the Happy Birthday song! Arrangement for piano duet by Scott Meek, performed live by The Meeks Duo (Scott Meek and Clare Yuan) live at the Silk Purse Arts Centre, West Vancouver, BC, Canada, December 2023.
Sheet music available at: themeeksduo.com/sheet-music-store/p/happy-birthday-beethoven
Scott's notes on the composition: I took several themes from each movement, and made the appropriate changes to harmony and melody to fit Happy Birthday, but kept Beethoven's original rhythm and texture. (We had some fun with minor to major key changes too!) This transformation technique is thanks to an assignment in one of my grad school courses, where the professor, Emile Naoumoff made each student transform Bach's C major Prelude into a piece of their choice.
The first movement begins in major instead of minor, but goes back into minor at the end. The second movement theme main theme didn't work too well with Happy Birthday, so I focused on the second theme, which worked perfectly! The third movement also had a perfectly fitting rhythm for Happy Birthday. The transition to the fourth movement in Beethoven's original was one of the most memorable listening experiences for me as a teenager studying for my music history exam. I remember being so shocked at how strange and mysterious it sounded suddenly, and how this created a perfect set-up for the triumph of the last movement.
0:00 1st movement
1:30 2nd movement
2:55 3rd movement
4:00 4th movement
(The ending chord was inspired by Humoresque by Rodion Shchedrin!)
Classical 4-hand scores: themeeksduo.com/sheet-music-store
Anime/Film/Popular scores: themeeksduo.com/musicnotes
Our merch shop: themeeksduo.com/new-merchandise
Our Patreon: patreon.com/themeeksduo
Our website: http://themeeksduo.com
Our discord: discord.gg/a8dbejwdGw
If you’d like to make a donation, we accept etransfer (to themeeksduo@gmail.com) and paypal (paypal.me/themeeksduo). Thank you, we appreciate it! Your support helps our video production and piano performance 😊😊
Thank you to our supporters of the month!
Martha Lou Henley
Mad Piano Life
DP
BY
Adam R
Here is our tribute to the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven on his birthday (December 16, 1770) - his Symphony no. 5 (parts of all four movements!) transformed into the Happy Birthday song! Arrangement for piano duet by Scott Meek, performed live by The Meeks Duo (Scott Meek and Clare Yuan) live at the Silk Purse Arts Centre, West Vancouver, BC, Canada, December 2023.
Sheet music available at: themeeksduo.com/sheet-music-store/p/happy-birthday-beethoven
Scott's notes on the composition: I took several themes from each movement, and made the appropriate changes to harmony and melody to fit Happy Birthday, but kept Beethoven's original rhythm and texture. (We had some fun with minor to major key changes too!) This transformation technique is thanks to an assignment in one of my grad school courses, where the professor, Emile Naoumoff made each student transform Bach's C major Prelude into a piece of their choice.
The first movement begins in major instead of minor, but goes back into minor at the end. The second movement theme main theme didn't work too well with Happy Birthday, so I focused on the second theme, which worked perfectly! The third movement also had a perfectly fitting rhythm for Happy Birthday. The transition to the fourth movement in Beethoven's original was one of the most memorable listening experiences for me as a teenager studying for my music history exam. I remember being so shocked at how strange and mysterious it sounded suddenly, and how this created a perfect set-up for the triumph of the last movement.
0:00 1st movement
1:30 2nd movement
2:55 3rd movement
4:00 4th movement
(The ending chord was inspired by Humoresque by Rodion Shchedrin!)
Classical 4-hand scores: themeeksduo.com/sheet-music-store
Anime/Film/Popular scores: themeeksduo.com/musicnotes
Our merch shop: themeeksduo.com/new-merchandise
Our Patreon: patreon.com/themeeksduo
Our website: http://themeeksduo.com
Our discord: discord.gg/a8dbejwdGw
If you’d like to make a donation, we accept etransfer (to themeeksduo@gmail.com) and paypal (paypal.me/themeeksduo). Thank you, we appreciate it! Your support helps our video production and piano performance 😊😊
Thank you to our supporters of the month!
Martha Lou Henley
Mad Piano Life
DP
BY
Adam R
