Adagietto | Ludwig van Beethoven "Für Elise" Bagatelle | Wilhelm Kempff @Adagietto | Uploaded November 2013 | Updated October 2024, 19 seconds ago.
Ludwig van Beethoven "Für Elise", Bagatelle for piano in A minor, nº 25 WoO 59 (Molto Grazioso), 1810.
Wilhelm Kempff, Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft, 1964.
Among enthusiasts of Beethoveniana, the identity of the "Elise" in the title of the composer's most famous piano miniature, Für Elise, is almost as much of an enigma as that of the "Immortal Beloved." (One of the most popular theories is that "Elise" is actually "Therese" -- that is, Therese Malfatti, the longtime object of the composer's affections.) Given the modest technical demands of this work -- it has long been a favorite of keyboard novices -- it is reasonable to conclude in any case that "Elise" was a beginning piano student.
Though usually designated a bagatelle, Für Elise has the form of a compact rondo (ABACA). In spite of its brevity, the work bears the distinctive stamp of its creator. There is a slight hint of brooding in the Slavic-tinged A minor refrain; the B episode, in F major, possesses the yearning, songlike character of so many of Beethoven's slow movements. In the C episode, a very effective modulation from D minor to B flat major is achieved via a simple but very characteristic half-step shift in the bass. Like a tiny cut gem, Für Elise is flawless; even in an effort of such petite proportions, one is reminded of Leonard Bernstein's observation of the "sense of rightness" which pervades all of Beethoven's works.
Ludwig van Beethoven "Für Elise", Bagatelle for piano in A minor, nº 25 WoO 59 (Molto Grazioso), 1810.
Wilhelm Kempff, Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft, 1964.
Among enthusiasts of Beethoveniana, the identity of the "Elise" in the title of the composer's most famous piano miniature, Für Elise, is almost as much of an enigma as that of the "Immortal Beloved." (One of the most popular theories is that "Elise" is actually "Therese" -- that is, Therese Malfatti, the longtime object of the composer's affections.) Given the modest technical demands of this work -- it has long been a favorite of keyboard novices -- it is reasonable to conclude in any case that "Elise" was a beginning piano student.
Though usually designated a bagatelle, Für Elise has the form of a compact rondo (ABACA). In spite of its brevity, the work bears the distinctive stamp of its creator. There is a slight hint of brooding in the Slavic-tinged A minor refrain; the B episode, in F major, possesses the yearning, songlike character of so many of Beethoven's slow movements. In the C episode, a very effective modulation from D minor to B flat major is achieved via a simple but very characteristic half-step shift in the bass. Like a tiny cut gem, Für Elise is flawless; even in an effort of such petite proportions, one is reminded of Leonard Bernstein's observation of the "sense of rightness" which pervades all of Beethoven's works.
![Frédéric Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 2, IV. Finale: Presto | Arturo B. Michelangeli (4/4) [HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OUXt2ihNFac/hqdefault.jpg "Frédéric Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 2, IV. Finale: Presto | Arturo B. Michelangeli (4/4) [HD]
Frédéric Chopins Piano Sonata Nº 2 in B-flat minor Op. 35
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano
I. Grave - Doppio movimento http://youtu.be/Gw7UDd7r7fI
II. Scherzo http://youtu.be/72ch4nC1o44
III. Funeral March: Lento http://youtu.be/oL_HFnnywEU
IV. Finale: Presto http://youtu.be/OUXt2ihNFac
Complete Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw7UDd7r7fI&list=PLF2ayhcb2yRUKn41x0r2wznBFQauB2YFI&index=1
Chopin wrote the Funeral March that became the third of the four movements here in 1837 and composed the other three movements two years later. Almost since it was first heard, this work was looked on not as a sonata in form, but as a collection of four rather diverse pieces the composer assembled under one musical roof, Robert Schumann being the first to make the charge of a lack of cohesion between the various movements. However, several musicologists in the late twentieth century pointed out a number of previously overlooked or at least ignored qualities in this composition that bind the movements as inseparable musical siblings.
The sonata can be viewed as something of a life cycle. The first movement serves as the life force, struggling, loving, and suffering. The ensuing Scherzo enacts demonic forces in the main section and good forces in the lyrical alternate melody of the trio section. When this movement ends with a partial recalling of the second theme, it is not clear which set of forces has emerged victorious. The third movement Funeral March represents death or mourning for the hero of the first two movements. The ghostly finale, with its swirls of dark winds, has evoked many ominous images in the minds of listeners, and serves the life cycle here as a kind of final picture of the deceased, who lies in his quiet grave, with the rustles of the wind the only disturbance above.
There are many thematic and harmonic relationships between the movements, too. The harmonies in the Funeral March can be noticed in all three of the other panels. Also, there is a thematic kinship between the alternate melody in the first movement and the lovely theme in the trio to the Scherzo. Other ties between the first two movements exist: both are stormy and hard-driven at the outset, and each features a lyrical second theme. The structural likeness between the main themes in both these movements is also worth noting: each is built on repeating motifs, the first part of which is presented twice before moving upward on the keyboard to complete the thematic idea.
In the end, this sonata, while unorthodox in some respects, is a painstakingly worked out composition of great subtlety, hardly comprised of a loosely strung-together set of piano pieces. But for all its grand and profound design, it has always been Chopins themes and keyboard writing that have made this work popular. The third movement Funeral March theme is as famous as any ever written, and the compelling nature of the fast themes in the first movements, and their alternate melodies as well, have made this sonata popular the world over.
Sonate pour piano no 2 en si bémol mineur, op. 35, Frédéric Chopin
Sonata para piano n.º 2, Frédéric Chopin
II Sonata fortepianowa (Chopin)
Frédéric Chopins Klaviersonate Nr. 2 b-Moll op. 35")
![Richard Strauss - Vier Letzte Lieder | Four Last Songs | Jessye Norman, Wolfgang Sawallisch [HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RdRq7ynfkHs/hqdefault.jpg "Richard Strauss - Vier Letzte Lieder | Four Last Songs | Jessye Norman, Wolfgang Sawallisch [HD]
Richard Strauss - Vier Letzte Lieder | Four Last Songs | Quatre Derniers Lieder | Quattro Ultimi Lieder | Cuatro Últimas Canciones | Quatro Últimas Canções, o.Op. 150, 1948.
Orchestre de La Suisse Romande conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch. Jessye Norman.
Geneve, Victoria Hall, 19.IX.1979.
Vier Letzte Lieder | Four Last Songs:
00:00 I. Frühling | Spring | Printemps
03:58 II. September | September | Septembre
09:25 III. Beim Schlafengehen | When Falling Asleep | Lheure Du Sommeil
15:00 IV. Im Abendrot | At Sunset | Au Soleil Couchant
Jessye Norman talks about Richard Strauss Vier Letzte Lieder | Four Last Songs | http://youtu.be/o9tx41cP4P8?t=8m05s
Studio Recording | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDoqnjB7Um4
Do you still sing Four Last Songs?
Jessye Norman - I only do them with conducters who really understand whats happening with them. I dont want to say this condescendingly, but so many regional orchestras feel that if I show up, were sound like Sergiu Celibidache in Munich. But thats not quite the way it works. There was one bright, lovely man who was conducting Four Last Songs for the first time, and he had a vision the night before that it would be slower. And I said, I really appreciate that youre having an artistic moment, but its marked Allegretto
How long will you continue to sing?
J.N. - As long as it make sense.
Jessye Norman Interview to Gramophone IX.2010, p.39
Strauss Four Last Songs. For the profundity that is achieved not by complexity but by clarity and simplicity. For the purity of the sentiment about death and parting and loss. For the long melodic line spinning out and the female voice soaring and soaring. For the repose and composure and gracefulness and the intense beauty of the soaring. For the ways one is drawn into the tremendous arc of heartbreak. The composer drops all masks and, at the age of eighty-two, stands before you naked. And you dissolve.
Philip Roth
Strauss Vier letzte Lieder is a set of four songs for soprano and orchestra, composed between 1946 and 1948. The texts for the songs are Im Abendrot by Joseph von Eichendorff, followed by three texts by Hermann Hesse, Frühling, Beim Schlafengehen, and September. For many, these songs are regarded as the pinnacle of Strauss output as a composer of lieder. For the most part, Strauss had composed his earlier lieder with piano accompaniment and refrained from writing orchestral songs, like those Gustav Mahler composed earlier in the century. In terms of style, the music itself continues in the idiom that Strauss used for his later operas, especially Capriccio. The melodies are long and sinuous, with subtle, chromatic harmonies which support nuances in the text. For one, Im Abendrot, Strauss even quotes from Tod und Verklärung when the narrator of the poem expresses intimations of death. In all the settings of the Vier letzte Lieder, Strauss composed subtle music.
Richard Strauss extraordinarily beautiful Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) (1948) for voice and orchestra are among the last music the composer ever wrote. Actually, Strauss did not intend to place the songs into this grouping in which they are best known. The title Four Last Songs was provided posthumously by Strausss friend Ernst Roth, who published the four songs as a single unit after Strausss death. Three of the settings are on texts by Hermann Hesse; the last in the group, Im Abendrot (At Dusk), is a separate setting of a poem by Joseph Eichendorff. (Strauss also left behind another unfinished Hesse setting, Nacht.) Still, given the themes of the Hesse songs - Frühling (Spring), September, and Beim Schlafengehen (Time to Sleep) - the inclusion of the Eichendorff song seems a natural extension of and appropriate end to the cycle.
The Four Last Songs are virtually indistinguishable in technique and musical language from the fine songs Strauss wrote 50 years earlier. They are, in short, rich and fully Romantic, expressive in feeling and symphonic in sound. As such, they might well be thought of as the final masterpieces of the line of German Romantic Lieder that began with Beethovens An die ferne Geliebter. The final words of Im Abendrot are Is this really Death? Here, Strauss inserts the famous yearning theme from his own Death and Transfiguration, providing what can only be regarded as a most fitting epitaph to his own life and work.
Towards the end of Im Abendrot, exactly as the sopranos final intonation of der Tod (death) ceases, Strauss musically quotes his own tone poem Death and Transfiguration, written 60 years earlier. As in that piece, the quoted six-note phrase (known as the transfiguration theme) symbolizes the fulfillment of the soul into death.
Strauss died in September 1949. The premiere was given posthumously at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 22 May 1950 by soprano Kirsten Flagstad and the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler.")
