Oscar Peterson: A Musical Biography

A Musical Biography is first and foremost a celebration of Peterson and his music. Barris, who has known Peterson for over fifty years, adulates his subject as "Canada's greatest gift to the world of jazz" . But while Barris's cheer leading is at times refreshing, the book is poorly organized and edited, and makes little effort to provide a balanced view of Peterson's musical life and career. Organized loosely in chronological order, the book attempts to paint a picture of Peterson's musical career by presenting a deluge of anecdotes from a variety of sources including Peterson himself. Although Barris seems to have had several opportunities to interview Peterson directly, he also relies extensively on third-party reflections and other Peterson interviews. In fact, a large part of the text consists of quotations. There are frequent references to record liner notes, newspaper articles, Peterson's Web site (www.oscar peterson.com), and books such as Gene Lees' Oscar Peterson: The Will to Swing (2000) and John Gilmore's Swinging in Paradise: The Stoty of Jazz in Montreal (1989). But readers who are interested in tracking down Barris's citations and second-hand retelling of stories will be disappointed. There is no exhaustive list of sources either in the form of end notes or a bibliography. 

However, Barris does include an index and an extensive, although not complete, discography. (Peterson's recordings from the late 1940's are missing.) He also includes a List of Permissions which lists some sources, although not in alphabetical order nor always with full citations. (Curiously, Lees' book, while frequently referenced, is absent from this list.) Barris's book was published in 2002. In the same year, Peterson's autobiography A Jazz Odyssey: The Life of Oscar Peterson made its triumphal debut, and the updated version of Lees' invaluable resource appeared only two years before. Comparisons among the books are inevitable; there are considerable similarities in structure and content. A striking difference, though, is what Barris does not include. Whereas Lees delves into Peterson's career and personal life with verve, Barris skips over much discussion of the latter. In a prefatory Author's Note, he explains: To the extent that that is possible, I believe that anybody's private life is his own business, and not ours. Consequently, references to Oscar's personal life are included in this book only where they have some bearing on his musical or professional activities. 

In contrast, Peterson's autobiography does include ample discussion of "Matters Personal," devoting an entire section to it, with references to his failed marriages and other problematic relationships. Both Lees and Peterson address the complicated relationship that Oscar had with his severe father, which Barris bypasses to emphasize only the positive dynamics. Throughout, Barris maintains a genial, colloquial style of writing. This is most successful when Barris recounts his personal association with Peterson. For example, in Chapter 1, "The Joe Lewis of the Piano," Barris shares with pleasure his discovery of Ella Fitzgerald and Peterson jamming in the wings of Massey Hall before an early 1950's concert in Toronto. Similarly, in the chapter entitled "Music and Fun," Barris discusses Peterson's penchant for practical jokes and tells of a goodnatured joke he played on Oscar. Some passages go over the top, however, in their gratuitous praise. Consider the following passage in reference to the album entitled Jousts: What a marvelous idea it was for Oscar (and to give him due credit, Norman Granz) to go into studios in Los Angeles, New York, and even London, England, with these trumpet kings and give us all such joyous jazz. (143) Each of the twenty-eight chapters is loosely guided by a theme, stringing together sometimes disparate stories into a collage of vignettes. For example, in "The Amsterdam Scam," only a small portion directly deals with the issue suggested by the title, namely that the music on the LP called The Oscar Peterson Trio at the Concertgebuow actually comes from a performance at the Civic Opera House in Chicago. After a little more than a page on the so-called scam, Barris spends six paragraphs discussing Peterson's singing on records, both involuntary and intentional, after mentioning that Peterson's voice is heard humming along on one track of the album. After identifying With Respect to Nat as Peterson's second (and last) recording where he sings and plays, Barris detours for a further five paragraphs on Nat King Cole's musical career. Barris does bring the topic back to the first digression of Peterson's singing, but only after repeating in two places that Cole died the same year the LP was issued. An abrupt return to the chapter's main topic is heralded with "To get back to the Concertgebuow CD ...."

However, Barris soon wanders away again, quoting from an interview with Herb Ellis (Peterson's guitarist in his first trio) on the trio's musical interaction, given in the liner notes for a CD reissue. After one more brief mention of musical selection inconsistencies, the chapter fizzles out with a review of Peterson's performances on two other tracks. Inconsistent organization and repetition stemming from atrocious editing plague many sections of the book. On pages 65 and 75, the same extended Ellis quote is used even though the quote in the latter location is only indirectly related to the content.

Barris also writes that Peterson was ready to perform a June 2001 concert as if it had yet to occur (p. 221), but earlier in a different chapter, Barris summarizes how the June concert went (p. 215). The chapter on "Oscar the Composer" is particularly bad in this regard. On page 130, Barris writes "[Peterson] has with age become more of an experimentalist, taking greater risks and attempting greater innovation," but just five lines later he continues ". . . [Peterson] resisted strong pressure from those who wanted him to be an innovator.. . He's been doing it for forty years, and he has prevailed'' (italics added). It also takes nine paragraphs just to get to the main topic: "Oscar Peterson has done his share of composing, too." Immediately following this statement though, Barris cites two paragraph-long remembrances of Oscar's incredible musical memory as a child, before the first substantive discussion of Peterson's compositional activities occurs. These meafderings could at times be considered a plus. For instance, Barris's unexpected interpolation of a four-CD listening guide to Oscar Peterson is, nonetheless, a perfectly valid collection of pivotal recordings. This list (pp. 158- 9) includes Oscar Peterson Beginnings (194549), The Oscar Peterson Trio at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival (1956), Ella and Oscar (1975), and Last Call at the Blue Note (1990). He frequently provides interesting anecdotes about other jazz musicians, and there are extended forays into people prominent in Peterson's life, including his parents, his sister Daisy, Johnny Holmes, Norman Granz, Ray Brown, and Nat Cole. (Cole is discussed with slightly conflicting information in two separate locations.) McNamara in a chapter on her work and influence in Canadian jazz. But "Oscar and the Jazz Lady" is really more about how Barris himself put on a benefit concert to help pay for McNamara's medical expenses resulting from Parkinson's disease. Peterson did participate in the concert, but his role is reduced that of a supporting character. Still, the chapter holds together better than most because Barris simply tells the story instead of tediously relying on other sources. It is clear that Barris has led a fascinating life as a journalist and broadcaster, and could probably write a very interesting autobiography. Alex Barris holds his subject in the highest esteem. The photographs selected for inclusion capture the jazz virtuoso in his glory. But in spite of some engaging passages, Oscar Peterson suffers f?om poor editing, inconsistent writing, and patchy scholarship. Barris does share and celebrate Peterson's public achievements. But aside f?om some personal reflections and reminiscences, he offers little that cannot be found elsewhere.

James McGowan University of Rochester 

Overheard at the symphony

 Funniest audience comments at a classical concert

Funniest comments at a classical concert. Picture: Getty/Instagram/Classic FM

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, ClassicFM London

 

‘Chopin? I thought he was taking me shopping!’

As many of us sit at home, missing the days of attending live performances, we thought it might be fun to reminisce about some of the lighter experiences we’ve had while sitting in an auditorium waiting for some Brahms and Beethoven.

Accordingly, we put out this request:

And you didn’t let us down. We got some fantastic anecdotes – and have compiled some of our favourites. Here are the most wonderfully ridiculous comments you’ve overheard at an opera or classical concert...

– [While the orchestra is tuning] “I don’t know the name of this piece, but they always open with it.”

– [Before a performance of Pachelbel’s Canon] “What do you mean there is no cannon? That’s the only reason I came to this thing!”

– [During a performance of Turandot, after ‘Nessun Dorma’]: “The guy playing Pavarotti didn’t even look like him”

– [Before a performance of Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ Symphony] “Are we supposed to clap at the end, or...?”

– [At a Beethoven concert] “And which one of them is Beethoven?”

– [After a concert of Mozart symphonies] “I thought there would be some singing as well.”

– “My husband has a very loud sneeze. We were at a piano concert and when he sneezed, one of the pianists was startled right off the piano bench.”

Orchestra seeks boy who exclaimed 'Wow' after performance of Mozart

Credit: WCRB/Handel and Haydn Society

– [A child at a performance of Rhapsody in Blue] “They stole the airplane commercial music!”

– [A child listening to the Dvořák Cello Concerto] “Daddy, can we go home when the old man has sawed through the box?”

– [A small child in the Royal Opera House foyer before a family performance] “But mummy, will they sing *all* the time?”

– [Woman on the phone during the interval of a concert where Krystian Zimmerman was playing Chopin] “I thought he was taking me shopping.”

– [Boy talking to his mum] “Why do they have to taste the wood thing before they tie it to their instrument? Does it taste good? What flavours do they have?”

– [During a performance of Aida] “A man in front of me slept through the whole thing, woke up right at the imprisonment and loudly asked ‘What happened? Did someone die?’

Triumph for Russian giant Rachmaninov ...

 ...  in the Ultimate Classic FM Hall of Fame

Triumph for Russian giant Rachmaninov in the Ultimate Classic FM Hall of Fame. Picture: Getty / Classic FM

By Rosie Pentreath, ClassicFM London

@rosiepentreath

 

The devilishly difficult but gloriously beautiful Piano Concerto No. 2 takes top spot, whilst the beloved ‘Lark’ soars to second place.

This year, it was the 25th anniversary of the Classic FM Hall of Fame. To mark the anniversary, we presented a ‘chart-of-charts’ just after Christmas, counting down the top 300 most voted-for pieces of classical music in the last quarter-of-a-century of the Classic FM Hall of Fame.

The Ultimate Classic FM Hall of Fame countdown began on Monday 28 December and, five days later, on New Year’s Day, the winner of the coveted top spot has just been revealed.

The piece of music that’s been most popular in the Classic FM Hall of Fame’s 25-year history is Sergey Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

Click here to listen to the Ultimate Hall of Fame Top 300 on Global Player, the official Classic FM app >

A devilishly difficult piece of music, renowned for its hand-splitting chords and the mind-bending virtuosity it demands from the player, it was composed between 1900 and 1901, and 120 years later has lost none of its potency. It’s also an incredibly lyrical and beautiful piece of music.

The piece was No.4 in the Classic FM Hall of Fame countdown in 2020 – and it’s appeared every single year in our chart.

Not only that, but it’s never been voted into the Hall of Fame below the No.4 spot. It was last No.1 in 2011, after which The Lark Ascending knocked the beloved piano work off its perch.

But now The Lark is back down on the second branch, and we have our Ultimate No.1 – congratulations Sergey!

No.3 was Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, No.4 was Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 and at No.5 we had Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

Read more: The Ultimate Classic FM Hall of Fame full top 300 >

The Classic FM Hall of Fame – the largest survey of classical music tastes anywhere on the planet – has been a staple on Classic FM since it started in 1996. A new top 300, made up entirely from listener votes cast beforehand, is revealed every year on Easter weekend.

Classic FM is available across the UK on 100-102 FM, DAB digital radio and TV, on Global Player on your smart speaker (“play Classic FM”), iOS or Android device, and at ClassicFM.com.

Jahrhundertpianist: Alfred Brendel wird 90

Von Rick Fulker, Deutsche Welle

 

Der Österreicher gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Pianisten des 20. Jahrhunderts. Auch nach dem Ende seiner Konzertkarriere lässt Alfred Brendel aufhorchen.

Im Dezember 2008 verabschiedete sich Alfred Brendel endgültig vom Konzertpodium. "Sechzig Jahre Spielen in der Öffentlichkeit scheint auszureichen", kommentierte er den Schritt damals lapidar - und wünschte sich bescheiden: "Es wäre schön, wenn die eine oder andere meiner Aufnahmen auch in Zukunft ihre Hörer fände."

Kurz danach erlitt er einen massiven Hörsturz. Töne nimmt er seitdem nur noch verzerrt wahr. Er übt nicht mehr. Für einen Berufsmusiker gewiss ein herber Einschnitt. Doch Brendel ließ sich das bis zuletzt nicht anmerken. Er wirkte fit, 15 oder 20 Jahre jünger, als er 2015 für ein Geburtstagsporträt des Zweiten Deutschen Fernsehens (ZDF) vor die Kamera trat. "Die Erscheinung täuscht, aber es könnte schlimmer sein", sagt er da mit funkelnden Augen und einem leichten Schmunzeln: "Ich habe den Eindruck, jetzt könnte ich sterben - aber dann kommt immer noch etwas dazwischen". Zum Beispiel der Echo Klassik. Mit dem renommierten Musikpreis würdigte die Deutsche Phono-Akademie 2016 das Lebenswerk des Ausnahmemusikers. 

Seither sind Interviews mit Alfred Brendel selten geworden. Nicht dass er sich stumm zurückgezogen hätte. Noch im Dezember 2015 trat er anlässlich der Internationalen Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn auf. Thema seines Vortrags war "Das A bis Z eines Pianisten". Glasklar, launig, weitsichtig, voller Anekdoten und Lebenserfahrung waren seine Gedanken und Einsichten über die Welt der Musik und der Musiker. Und es war klar: Brendel hat nichts von seiner Bühnenpräsenz eingebüßt, sie hat sich nur verändert.

Brendel: "Philosoph am Klavier" 

In seinem Sprachduktus spiegelt sich die Spielweise während seiner langen Pianisten-Karriere. Kritiker priesen dessen Leichtigkeit und Souveränität, zugleich spielte er stets präzise und seriös. Als der "Philosoph am Klavier" - hager, lang gewachsen und mit dicker Hornbrille - stellte sich Brendel mit sparsamer Körpersprache und einer Prise Bescheidenheit in den Dienst der Komponisten. Dennoch war er, wie die Londoner Zeitung "The Guardian" lobte, nie der "passive Befehlsempfänger" oder gar, wie die "Süddeutsche Zeitung ihn einmal nannte, ein "Lordsiegelbewahrer der Klassik".

Kein blindes Vertrauen 

Im Gegenteil: "Ich fühle mich oft als Charakterdarsteller", erklärte Alfred Brendel 2002 in einem Interview mit der Deutschen Welle. "Ich möchte mich - soweit es geht - verwandeln." Er vertraute also doch nicht blind auf den Notentext, sondern brachte stets seine unverwechselbare künstlerische Individualität mit ins Spiel. Warum das so war, auch darauf gab der Musiker eine mögliche Antwort: "Die Jahre, die ich unter Naziherrschaft verbrachte, haben mich immun gegen blindes Vertrauen gemacht."

Die Töne des Pianisten, die auf Schallplatte und CD festgehalten wurden, sind für Generationen von Musikern und Musikliebhabern prägend. "Musik, die nicht gespielt wird, sondern einfach selbständig geschieht": So beschrieb er die Musizierweise seines Lehrers Edwin Fischer und des von ihm verehrten Dirigenten Wilhelm Furtwängler. Die Beschreibung mag auch für sein eigenes Lebenswerk gelten, das weit über 100 CDs umfasst. Und Brendel wäre nicht Brendel, wenn es nicht auch noch dazu einen launigen Kommentar gäbe: "Jetzt bin ich neugierig, ob man alles wieder so hinterlässt, wie es war."

Kosmopolit auf der Konzertbühne

Geboren wurde Alfred Brendel am 5. Januar 1931 in Nordmähren, seine Geburtsstadt liegt heute in der Tschechischen Republik. Der Junge mit deutschen, österreichischen, italienischen und slawischen Wurzeln wuchs an der Adriaküste im heutigen Kroatien auf. Schule in Zagreb, Studium am Konservatorium in Graz, Umzug nach Wien 1950, Übersiedlung nach London 1970, wo er heute noch zu Hause ist: "Ich bin nicht jemand, der Wurzeln sucht oder braucht", sagte Brendel einmal. "Ich möchte so kosmopolitisch wie möglich sein. Ich ziehe es vor, zahlender Gast zu sein. Das ist eine Lektion, die ich im Krieg gelernt habe."

Erstes Konzert mit 17 Jahren, Gewinn des Busoni-Wettbewerbs in Bozen ein Jahr später, bald jahrzehntelange, weltweite Konzerttätigkeit. Die Ernte dafür fuhr er ein: drei Ehrendoktortitel (an den Universitäten von London, Oxford und Yale), zahlreiche Preise (darunter der "Ernst von Siemens" und der "Herbert von Karajan"-Preis) und Auszeichnungen für sein Lebenswerk bei den "MIDEM Classical Awards" in Cannes, bei den "Edison Awards" in Holland - und im Oktober 2016 beim ECHO Klassik: Das sind nur einige Punkte auf der langen Liste von Auszeichnungen, die Alfred Brendel zuteil wurden.

Neben der erstaunlichen Bühnenproduktivität hat er auch zahlreiche Gedichte und Essays verfasst und Bücher veröffentlicht. Im September 2015 erschien sein neuestes Werk: "Music, Sense and Nonsense" (Musik, Sinn und Unsinn).

Einige wenige Komponisten

Er war und ist ein Künstler mit einem breiten Horizont. Dennoch kristallisierte sich für ihn heraus, mit welchen Komponisten er sich vornehmlich beschäftigen sollte. Als Erster nahm er das komplette Klavierwerk Ludwig van Beethovens auf. Zudem bezeichnete ihn der deutsche Musikkritiker Joachim Kaiser schlicht als "den Schubert-Interpreten seit 1950". Haydn, Mozart, Liszt, Busoni und Brahms gehörten ebenfalls zu seinen Lieblingskomponisten. In späteren Jahren konzentrierte sich Brendel auf nur noch einige wenige, und zwar, aus gutem Grund, wie er im Interview mit der DW 2002 erklärte: "Wenn man die richtigen Stücke spielt, mit denen ein Leben zu verbringen sich lohnt, dann sind das Kraftquellen, die ständig neue Energie aussenden und die Kräfte des Spielers regenerieren."

Alfred Brendel in den 1980-er Jahren

Auch in Sachen, die nichts mit Musik zu tun haben, fand und findet der Künstler Kraft und Erholung: "Für mich war es immer ein Bedürfnis, nicht nur zu lesen, sondern auch zu schreiben", erzählt der Pianist, "Ich habe in jungen Jahren auch eine Zeit lang gemalt. Jetzt ist es für mich immer wichtiger geworden zu schauen. Ich gehe in Museen, Ausstellungen, ins Kino und ins Theater."

Kurz bevor Alfred Brendel am 18. Dezember 2008 mit seinem Sohn, dem Cellisten Adrian Brendel sein letztes öffentliches Konzert gab, hatte der Pianist noch Beethovens Cellosonaten aufgenommen. Beim Klavierwettbewerb im Dezember 2015 in Bonn gab er allen angehenden Pianisten einen Tipp: "Ihr sollt Kompositionsunterricht nehmen und selber komponieren." Nur so könne man verstehen, wie ein Werk von Anfang bis Ende durchdacht wird. Bis zuletzt reiste Brendel durch die Welt, hielt Vorträge zu musikhistorischen und philosophischen Themen, las aus seinen inzwischen elf Büchern oder trug eigene Gedichte vor.

90. Geburtstag in London 

Seit den 1970er Jahren lebt der in zweiter Ehe verheirate Familienvater in London. "Wien war damals provinziell. Ich sehnte mich nach einer großen lebendigen Stadt", verriet er der Nachrichtenagentur dpa. Hier hatte er sich und seiner Familie im Stadtteil Hampstead ein Häuschen eingerichtet. Gefüllt ist es inzwischen nicht nur mit Musikalia, sondern auch mit jeder Menge Bildern, Büchern, Schallplatten, kurz: Zeugnissen eines überreichen Musikerlebens. Dort feiert Alfred Brendel nun seinen 90. Geburtstag.

Ludwig van Beethoven - a lecture

Ludwig van Beethoven

Von Professor Horst-Hans Bäcker,

Liceo Cagayan de Oro City

 

This day 250 years back, Beethoven was baptized in Bonn. Why baptized? Because at that time there was no registration or paper works but we know the archives of Remigius Church that Beethoven was baptized, until this day. Usually at that time, children were baptized one or two days after they were born.

Now, I think for the younger generation and for those who never visited Europe, for those who only experienced hot weather like in the Philippines, let’s imagine how it was like in 1770, December in Bonn, Germany. For sure it’s very cold, because December, January, and February are the cold months of the year and that also means there’s a lot of snow, probably. In that time there’s no electricity, no gas or oil heating, so life at that time was hard. It’s also the reason why many new babies, unfortunately, didn’t survive directly after they were born. And you could imagine Beethoven was born at that age where electricity wasn’t yet discovered.

 

Ludwig’s Parents

             His parents, Johann van Beethoven and Maria Magdalena Kevenich, were the second-generation people in Bonn because the first generation was Beethoven’s grandfather, same name like Ludwig. So, Ludwig van Beethoven, the grandfather, he was the music director of the Orchestra and Choir in Bonn, and Johann van Beethoven is also part of the two groups, he was hired as a Tenor for the Choir and Violin player for the Orchestra. He married 3 years before Beethoven was born to Maria Magdalena Kevenich.

 

Beethoven’s Geburtshaus

            Let’s have a look at Beethoven’s Birthplace. This is the house, the right side of the house, where the family of Beethoven was living at that time. This picture is quite old. Nowadays, the front house or the big house on the left side is also part of Beethoven’s House in the museum.

            The birthplace or the room, in which Beethoven was born, is this small bedroom in the upper floor. This is the picture of Beethoven’s room by the museum, unfortunately, all the furniture in the room is not present.

 This is what the house looks like to this day and it’s filled with instruments, letters, and loads of Beethoven’s Documents in his time. There is even a digital archive of Beethoven’s work and also archives of his original works and documents but unfortunately the originals are kept safe and not to be viewed. It was purposely placed that way to maintain it’s form for historical purposes. This is the second house where Beethoven lived in Vienna, which is the second part of this life. It is only a small museum. The documents, notes, and originals in that museum were transferred to Bonn for the main museum to have.

  

          You can see official date of Beethoven’s birthday in the plaque at the front of his house. To this day the house is still maintained and behind those windows are the instruments of which were owned by Beethoven and the on right side is the entrance of the museum.

Yes! Some years ago, me and Rudolf were visiting together the museum in Bonn.

 

Family Tree

This upper line are the great grandparents of Ludwig Van Beethoven, marked orange. The second line are the grandparents, third line is the parents, and the lower line on the left, marked red, is Ludwig Van Beethoven and his two only brothers who survived until adolescence because in that time many of the siblings died when they were very young.

 

Chamber music hall of the Beethoven-Haus built in 1989

            To this day, there is the Herrmann-Abs-Kammermusik-Saal in the neighbor house of Beethoven birthplace, which was bought by the museum and it was built in 1989. This wonderful chamber music hall has only 99 seats but wonderful acoustics. The chamber music hall also held many concerts with famous musicians not only just pianist but also string quartets.

 

Beethoven Monument in Bonn

            In Bonn, the post office, is the building from the time of Beethoven. Around about 20 years after he died the people built a monument in his honor. There’s a festival which take place every year in Bonn called Beethoven-Fest. The sad thing about this is that normally as we are now celebrating 250 years of the birth of Ludwig Van Beethoven there would be worldwide concerts with all of his pieces, unfortunately because of COVID 19, concerts are no longer possible at the moment, even this lecture is not possible to be held with an audience but I’m hoping that next year this pandemic will soon pass and if that be to happen, we can have all the concerts scheduled and the whole world will be sounding “Beethoven”.

Ludwig around age of 10

            Ludwig around of age of 10, the painter is unknown, but the reason that there is already a painting means that he was a not normal child or an unknown child like all other children in Bonn. His talent for music was discovered quite early, not so early like the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but like Mozart, Ludwig’s first teacher was his father and his second teacher

 was Christian Gottlob Neefe who taught him composition, counterpoint, was also his piano teacher. And at the age of 11 he had his first concert, which is quite successful, and the critics were praising his talents and the power he had when he performed on stage. His piece was the “Well tempered Klavier” by Johann Sebastian Bach. Unfortunately, at that time Bach wasn’t really that famous anymore because he was no longer modern. But to discover Beethoven’s talents in that successful concert was amazing.

 

Beethoven around 1790 before he moved to Vienna

            This gave Ludwig Van Beethoven an opportunity that the elector of Cologne decided to sponsor Beethoven to travel to Vienna, at that time Vienna was the world capital for music and known for it’s famous composers like Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Salieri, and so forth. In 1785, Ludwig Van Beethoven had his first travel to Vienna, which it was sponsored and including the lessons that which he should have with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which was the very famous at the time. Nowadays we don’t know if the two composers actually met. Beethoven was still at the beginning of his career and he composed piano sonatas, which is still famous because the cycle of 32 piano sonatas by Beethoven. It’s called under the view of positions that musical logs that’s the new testament for piano. “The Old Testament” for piano is the “The Well-Tempered Klavier” by Johann Sebastian Bach.

            Beethoven was for sure very excited to see Vienna and to meet Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But unfortunately, they didn’t meet or maybe Beethoven saw one performance of Mozart and was too shy to approach. All in all, it was not proven because I think if the two have met and if Beethoven would have been the student of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for sure there would be some documents. Mozart use to write letters almost every day to his father and other persons, basically it’s like a diary, but never did he mention the name Ludwig Van Beethoven and as we know the big talent of Ludwig Van Beethoven, if Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart would have heard him played or one of his compositions for sure he would have mention him. On the other side, Ludwig Van Beethoven never mentions that he had lessons with Mozart but he had lessons with Joseph Haydn and Antonio Salieri. Joseph Haydn was a composer who developed the beginning of the Classical Period, the Symphony. Mozart was also a big fan or inspired to compose symphonies, so, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed 41 Symphonies, Joseph Haydn about 108, and Ludwig Van Beethoven composed 9 Symphonies. I’ll tell later what’s the difference. Beethoven was very thankful for everything he learned from Joseph Haydn about Symphonies and to Antonio Salieri about how to handle the voices and composing some operas.

 

Ludwig van Beethoven portrait by Joseph Willibrord Mahler 1804/05

 

            Here we have a portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven created by Joseph Willibrord Mahler in 1804-1805. At that time Ludwig van Beethoven was already famous in Vienna because his second travel and definitely moving to Vienna was 1792. So, he decided to stay in Vienna and not go back to Bonn. The reason is that his mother died and for that he got no reason to go back because, unfortunately, his father has some big problems and was always drunk, lost his job too. But I think the main reason is that, rumors were going around that the French army will occupy this part of Germany, where Bonn and Cologne located. And that’s also the reason his brothers followed him to Vienna and lived there. Unfortunately, Vienna, at that time was also affected by the war.

We know that sometimes Beethoven hides in the cellar of his brother Johann’s House because there was some bombing. It wasn’t airplanes of course but canons. Airplanes at that time weren’t invented yet. This might be also the reason why Beethoven’s music is different than Mozart and Haydn’s, for them haven’t been able to experience war and the political situation. So, Beethoven’s music is counted as “Heroic” like his Symphony number 3 which is called “Eroica” but his dedication was first to Bonaparte. Bonaparte is the last name the famous emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte. Who was part of the leaders of the revolution of France but then later he declared himself as Emperor and he finished the first republic of France. Build an Empire. And that was reason why Beethoven scratched the name Bonaparte and said “this symphony is in memory of a great hero”.

 

Ludwig Van Beethoven at the age of 45

 

            Ludwig Van Beethoven, living since 1792 in Vienna, some years later already becoming famous, premieres many works especially piano works, string quartets, Symphonies, Piano Concerti (which means piano with Orchestra), and he earned a lot of money. There are some documents of commissioned works and there was one commissioned work where he got so much money that he could live one year and pay all expenses. Now imagine that every year he’s composing many works and by that he was a quite a rich composer at that time.

            1808, he premiered one of his symphonies, which marks a big change in how Symphonies are composed. In general, I have to say that Ludwig van Beethoven’s works were huge compared to the works that are composed in the Classical Period. The Length of the Symphony was already doubled as the people were used to it before. The critics always said that even the work is too long, because this was part of the critic, the ideas and inspirations of this young composer is so big that it’s capturing their ears. You have to imagine that it’s not only the size of the works or how long it is but in every music is like a drama, the format needs to be constructed in that way so that the people don’t get bored. And now this Symphony No. 5, which is very special, and I think it’s one of the most famous pieces of all times.

(played the first four notes)

            These four notes, I think everyone knows.When we think of how melodies are built and how Symphonies, the melodies are the subject. Usually it’s like this, it starts with the first note and then it’s in a direction to move forward, now, in this case Beethoven is doing something very special, he stop on the fourth note and marked it with a fermata, which is to hold a note more than it’s value, now what can we do after this? Normally you have the hold then it’s very hard to continue after this and so Beethoven is creating a suspense.

(played the whole famous two-part four notes)

            Now, what Beethoven’s doing is repeating these four notes, okay the second one is in the other step, but then again, a hold but longer one. So, let’s say the view of a musician or a composer or even the audience in that time when there was the premiere. I could imagine that they were shocked because the first appearance of these four notes with a hold, maybe they can imagine “okay so this is like a wake up and now the Symphony will start”. So, Beethoven is repeating this and the longer hold which makes the confusion complete  and so the audience in the premiere, I think they were between Joyful, sadness, and all the emotion because they were probably expecting something different. Now, the genius Beethoven showed how a very long Symphony, which is almost one hour with four movements, can be created of these little seats of four notes.

            The following Symphony, the Symphony No. 6, which is we call in music like a program music. The very famous program music was create earlier in the Baroque period by Antonio Vivaldi, who composed the “Four Seasons” and as the title say there is the musical description of every season, there are lot of describing moments like the Viola is playing like a barking dog, things like these, describing something you see through music, is called program music. The Symphony No. 6, Beethoven was quite sure that the people will see this as program music but he said “No it’s not program music, it’s more than painting” because in the Symphony No. 6, the pastoral, he’s describing a journey or a trip to villages outside of Vienna with the mountains in the background. The Symphony No. 7 and 8 were also again growing in size and this is why I said it before, Joseph Haydn composed a bigger number of Symphonies because Symphonies were shorter. Mozart’s Symphonies in the end were longer. But the dimensions of Ludwig Van Beethoven Symphonies when we count the minutes of all 9 symphonies together, it’ll be more than the 41 Symphonies of Mozart’s, so that’s the reason why the total number of Symphonies is small even Ludwig Van Beethoven compared to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was lucky to live longer, unfortunately Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died early. The Symphony No. 7 by Beethoven has very famous 2^nd movement. In Classical Symphony usually the 2^nd movement is a slow movement and this is a very special one because it’s a Funeral March. The Symphony No. 8, the 2^nd movement is dedicated to Mälzel. Mälzel was the one who invented the metronome. For those who are not musicians, it’s like a clock and you can choose which speed you want to play with the music and it’ll give you a ticking sound which is “Tik-tok-tik-tok”. For the first time in music history it was possible that a composer dedicates exactly how fast or slow his composition should be performed. The 2^nd of this Symphony is inspired by Mälzel and Beethoven to show up in music what it is about, made it like this, the wind instruments will play equal notes almost the whole movement and on top of this is the strings they’ll have the melodies.

 

Ludwig Van Beethoven 1823 at the age of 53

 

            Then the final finished Symphony is the Symphony number 9. There were a lot of sketches of the following Symphony number 10 but unfortunately Beethoven died and he could not finish the Symphony No. 10. The finished one is the No. 9 which is again, a milestone in Music History because he introduces the Symphony which is the work for the Symphony Orchestra, he introduces the Choir and Vocal Soloists, in the last movement No. 4 the famous “Ode to Joy”, the lyrics are by Friedrich Schiller, and it’s pressing the wish of Beethoven like many people at that time were wishing that all people were equal and no one is the king and others slaves or so. It’s a very new view of society but in that time, it was a revolution and was described  in music. Let me go back a little bit because I think almost everyone knows that Beethoven was a deaf in the end of his life. This is a very big problem for a musician in general, for a composer, a conductor, and the problems that he was loosing hearing started around 1800 which means after he arrived in Vienna, he started loosing his hearing and in 1802 he wrote a testament which is now known as “Heiligenstädter Testament”. 

He wrote it to his brothers, it’s a very touching document because Beethoven was not only loosing his potential to hear but also had many illness so he had the impression that he will die and that’s why he wrote this testament. He is expressing what he was really feeling and all his emotions and he was even mentioning committing suicide but the art or his art is the only thing keeping him alive because he has so much to say in music. This show us that at his age he already has big problems. Nowadays, we can say that it isn’t really affecting his compositions because he was not completely deaf but anyway he had all the music he created in his mind but the problem is that he could no longer perform, which was a big part of his income to perform and teach, also he’s withdrawing socially because he couldn’t hear the conversation he had to the people. But he started to at least to talk with his brothers and doctors and he started to use books to write down of what he wanted to say and the other person also has to write down what he has to say. To look at the documents today is very interesting because it’s more than a diary and we can know exactly what was going on, how his life was, what he was thinking, composing, and all these things. So, a lot of information starting in 1805 or 1806, the last 20 years knowing exactly what was going on his life. Before, in his life, there are some parts that we don’t know what is happened and there are some musical logs, they said, for example; in Bonn the last 5 years he wasn’t composing, but I don’t think so, he was still composing it’s just that the problem is that compositions in that time in Bonn are mostly lost. Even the compositions we know.

 

The front of one of the houses in Vienna where Beethoven was living

            And this is one the houses where he lived. Beethoven, I think, was never satisfied in his living situation so he moves very often from places to places, during his time in Vienna.

 

The Garden of the same house

            As I mentioned earlier, the instruments, the books, and the notes of Beethoven were transferred to Bonn around about 20 years after his death. And then the museum was installed in his birth place.

 

Beethoven’s Pianos transferred to the Beethoven-Haus Bonn when this became the official museum for Ludwig Van Beethoven.

            There are 3 pianos owned by Beethoven when he passed away. Two of his pianos are in the museum and the other one still functions and is used in chamber concerts. I have to say that these pianos are not like the modern pianos, these are so called Hammer-Klavier or Forte Piano, a very special sound.

 

Beethoven’s Hearing aids, exhibited in the Beethoven-Haus Bonn

            As Beethoven got big problems to his hearing, Mälzel for example built Beethoven this hearing aid but there are much more. It’s just that this is one picture of the exhibition.

 

Funeral procession March 29, 1827 in Vienna 3 days after Beethoven passed away, attended by more than 20,000 people.

            Beethoven died March 26, 1827. The funeral was on March 29, this picture shows the procession and many people said there were about 20,000. Usually you see this in biographies of Beethoven. Sometimes you see the number of 10,000. Anyway, this show the big appreciation of the Vienna people. We have to imagine in that time Vienna was 360,000 people and 20,000 people is quite a lot.

 

The grave of Ludwig van Beethoven

            The grave of Ludwig Van Beethoven was in a small cemetery at first, but after some years, his remains were moved to the Central Cemetery in Vienna. There is a department with all the famous composers and musicians as Vienna, for a long time, became music capital of the world. And there are also the graves of Schubert, Haydn, and other great composers.

 

250 piano pieces for Beethoven

            Let me talk now about this “250” years that we’re celebrating this year. A concert pianist in Bonn, Susanne Kessel,

 at 2013 had the idea to invite composers to compose a piano piece for this year of celebration, since it’s 250 years. For every year there would be one piano piece. As I mention earlier, piano was very important for Beethoven and to all composers following him, and for all the pianist, the 32 piano sonatas. She invited composers around the world to compose a piano piece inspired by Beethoven or inspired by a work of Beethoven, somehow to have a connection with Beethoven.

 

Susanne Kessel & Horst-Hans Bäcker

            This was my first meeting with Susanne Kessel. This is the 250 pieces by Beethoven,  recorded on CDs. They are also in printed version. There are 10 volumes and every volume has 25 pieces.

Niño Tiro & Horst-Hans Bäcker

            We are two people from Liceo, part of these 250 piano pieces, Niño Tiro and myself.

 We have also these pictures of the printed volume.

 

Fantasie über Ludwig van Beethoven

            Now, as you can remember at the beginning, the composition by Niño Tiro was performed. And now we will end the lecture with my composition for this “250 piano pieces” for Beethoven, which is the Fantasie über Ludwig van Beethoven. I was not inspired by the piece of Beethoven but I just translated the letters of his name in to music.

 

Thanking Rudolf Golez

            Okay, now, I want to thank Rudolf Golez who performed in this lecture and I want to say thank you to all those people who made this lecture possible, everyone in the back of the camera, technicians thank you, and thank you to the Liceo de Cagayan, University for this forum to talk a little bit about Beethoven’s 250^th birthday, which we are celebrating this year. Thank you!

 

Interview

           

            Ena: Welcome back to Beethoven Celebrated. This is the last component of Musika Higala. I now have here with me Prof. Bäcker. Hallo Horst, Guten Tag!

 

            Horst: Halo, Ena, Guten Tag!

 

            Ena: Wie geht’s?

 

            Horst: Okay, gut. Wie geht‘s dir?

 

            Ena: Mir geht‘s Gut. *chuckles*. So, I have here a few questions for you, uhmm, during the lecture, I don’t quite remember anything about Beethoven’s wife or kids, was he ever married?

 

            Horst: No, he was not married. 1810, he proposed to Therese Malfatti but the proposal was rejected. Nowadays we know about Therese Malfatti because of the very famous composition by Beethoven, Für Elise. This is quite sure dedicated to Therese because Elise in that time was the shortcut. Like here in the Philippines, you like shortcuts and in Europe there were shortcuts.

So, 1812 when he was in Teplitz, he wrote 10 pages of letter, a love letter, and it’s also very famous, this letter because the title is “To my immortal beloved”.

 

            Ena: Yeah, I know that. There’s movie of that, right?

 

            Horst: Yeah, there is a movie but the truth is that in this letter, Beethoven was never mentioning a name which gives a lot of secrets and generation of historians and musicologist were busy finding out who was this lady but some musicologist they already kind of proved that it was the name of Antonie Brentano and it’s known that Beethoven and Antonie had an affair.

 

            Ena: Antoni? A girl or a boy?

 

            Horst: In 1811 to 1812

 

            Ena: A boy or a girl?

 

            Horst: No, no, they had an “affair”.

 

            Ena: “Affair”?

 

            Horst: Uhh, what do you call-

 

            Ena: Is it a woman?

 

            Horst: No, uh, uh, a relationship.

 

            Ena: Yeah? Antoni?

 

            Horst: Anotoni?

 

            Ena: Is a woman?

 

            Horst: Yeah. It’s like, uhhh, in French, Antionette.

 

            Ena: Ahhhhh, okay. So, I was like Anthony here in my-

 

            Horst: No, no, no, no, no, no it’s not like Anthony *chuckles*

 

            Ena: Hahaha, that’s what I was asking.

 

            Horst: No, no, it’s like Antonie, with I and E in the end.

 

            Ena: That’s it?

 

            Horst: So, that’s it. About child, there was only a few years he had the custody for his nephew Carl then his sister-in-law, the mother of Carl, got the custody back. So, uhm, there is even no official son or daughter.

 

            Ena: That’s a bid sad, you know?

 

            Horst: Yes, that’s sad but uhhh..

 

            Ena: That’s how it is…

 

            Horst: We cannot change it anymore *laugh*

 

            Ena: Okay so I’ll proceed to the next question, oh, wait, before I proceed to the next question, I would like to request the audience to please ask some questions and write it down in the comment section so professor Horst can answer it for you. Okay, so, my next question is “When was the peak of this popularity?”. When did become famous? Like really, really famous?

 

            Horst:             I think around about 1800 when he premiered his first Symphony, and two piano concertos, he was already known or famous in Vienna. For sure it takes a while to become famous outside of Vienna and in other countries, especially in that time where there was no internet, where you could get the information within minutes. But after some years, I think, around 1810 he was already famous all over in Europe.

 

            Ena: Wow… Okay, that’s amazing. So, I have here a question from John Steven Roa. How did Beethoven manage to compose his music with his hearing deficiency?

 

            Horst: Yeah, uhm, as I mentioned earlier the biggest problem when you cannot hear is for sure to perform, to play an instrument, to sing, and to conduct. But the composer has little bit of an advantage because,let’s say, if someone is deaf from birth then I think it’s impossible to compose, but. Beethoven was already, let’s say very advance in composing,  when the level of almost deafness arrived, he could use easily his experience and to prepare all well in his head because normally when you are composing, you hear or you imagine already in your head how it will sound. Even which instruments and so on. So, in this case, it was possible the proof is all the marvelous music and all the great ideas he had, let’s say the last 17 years where, I guess the hearing was only 10% or less, exactly we don’t know nowadays how much deaf he was but when we see that he was, even with, what you call? The cook? The lady taking care of…

 

            Ena: Care giver?

 

            Horst: Care giver. Even with her, he was talking by writing. Which means not much maybe, I don’t know, 5%, I’m not a doctor.

 

            Ena: Does that mean he has this perfect pitch?

 

            Horst: Yeah, if he had not the perfect pitch then he had a very, very good and developed trained pitched. So, that’s almost quite the same like the perfect pitch because, I mean, after 20 or 30 years of being a musician, even if you’re not born with a perfect pitch, you will know where the notes are, so…

 

            Ena: Yeah it’s like in-born or what.. So, he created 9 Symphonies, right? So, which was the one the most famous? Or let’s say that most people listened to?

            Horst: Okay, for sure the most played since his time until now, the most played of the 9 is the number 5. Maybe it’s also the most famous because when you sing ta-ta-ta-ta, everybody knows, yeah? Maybe not everyone knows it’s by Beethoven-

 

            Ena: But when you hear that? You know?

 

            Horst: Yeah, you know it’s classical music or so. For sure 2^nd place would be symphony no. 9 and of the Symphony No. 9, the movement number 4, which is the “Ode to Joy” with choir and vocal soloist, it’s very famous and additional to this, nowadays the European Union anthem is exactly this part, the Ode to Joy. So, any official event or celebration or so, in European Union, we always have this music as a anthem, that’s the official anthem of European Union.

 

            Ena: Okay, that’s great. Okay, so, in this day the younger generations are probably not so inclined with music history, I mean we both know, that right? The kind of music they are listening to right now, so, what makes Beethoven so important?

 

            Horst: Yeah, there’s quite a big list of things that make him very important musically, because especially we are talking about musicians, and composers. His compositions were opening wide field and made possible for the next generation to create a new musical period because, okay, he was a composer in the Classical Period, the people in that period never said that I’m now in the classical period because the periods were decided later. But, uhhmm, there was a quite usual standard on how to compose and sure, composers like Haydn they were innovative and to developed Symphony. Mozart was innovative in creating melodies and symphonies, to compose many operas and so, every of this composers, because this was the 3 leading composers in the classical period but Beethoven, he was always a little bit more revolutionary probably because of his surroundings, the environment, there was this revolutionary times, so, he tried to go over the border of the standards. So, the standard of the symphony was like this, I mean it’s too long to explain but if it’s like this then Beethoven would always go, to, to-

 

            Ena: To go out of the box?

 

            Horst: To go out of that, so which makes it possible for totally new sounds, for new standards because the following period, which is the Romantic Period, which have a different standards for the symphonies, then he developed the String quartets to a dimension which is, until 20^th century was the standard. Piano music, the piano sonatas, let’s say before he created the 32 or let’s say the last piano sonatas, they were quite cute and then it becomes, like an explosion, going in all direction and so, then there was a lot of possibilities. Now, another, for me, another thing is very, very important is uhm, I mentioned already that he composed only 9 symphonies that are finished, but because he was not more lazy than the other composer, he was never satisfied when finished something, he always still working on it and so.

Mozart for example, the earlier genius of the Classical Period, when he finished a Symphony or an Opera, that was it. He never touches it anymore but Beethoven change the musical way for composers because he said “No, my music will be for eternity!”. Before, the composers never thought like this. They said “Okay, uhh, I have commission or there will be a performance, I’ll compose for that and that’s it.” And then for another event I will compose something new and so. But Beethoven started, he’s aware that he is a genius and to give the best quality and that’s why he was always trying again and again just to give an example.

The second movement of the 5^th symphony took 8 years to be in that version like we know now and he even, when he premiered the second movement was different but he would say to the publisher “No, wait. I’m not yet done.” So, which means that the composers after Beethoven were following this way so from then on, for every composer it was normal that he will create a work which is forever. If the people like it and so. But sure, we are playing now music by Bach, Händel, Mozart, and so on. The music is still here but it’s also for enternity. But not in the mind of the composers when they’re composing just Beethoven started like this. There’s this funny story, one time in Vienna there’s a big park called “Prater” where he met the emperor of Austria and normally when you see an emperor, you have to bow, but he did not and the emperor said “My dear Beethoven, why are you not bowing?” he was very kind to Beethoven because he knows about his reputation about being a composer and he was also a fan of Beethoven’s music. And then Beethoven said “It’s very easy and simple to explain because you know emperor, we had them in the past, we have them now, we’ll have them in the future but Beethoven will be only one.

 

Ena: Hahahaha. So, would it be safe to say that Beethoven is your favorite or one of your favorite composers?

 

Horst: Nah, let’s say it like this, for Beethoven, we know this because we have the documents, for Beethoven, the greatest composer was Johann Sebastian Bach. So, I will pick, according to Beethoven but not only because I learned many things from the works by Johann Sebastian Bach. And for me there are three leaders in Music History, which is, Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

 

Ena: Speaking of the 3 composers, here’s a question from Jose Ravelo Marzon, in terms of style and approach what are the differences between the 3 musical geniuses? Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven.

 

Horst: First of all the musical period because as they lived in two different musical period but there are still connections because you have to imagine when a musical period is over, it’s not over like a law, the year 2020 is over then we call 2021 is the next year. Or if a government is creating a new law then there is the date and from then on there’s this new law and the old one is no longer valid. So, in music or in arts, you never have this cut, it’s always fluent. So, the last years that Johann Sebastian Bach was living, he has 5 famous sons, musicians and composers, all of them were his students but they told him “Papa, you need to compose modern, you are out” but he didn’t want to change anymore and he was still a baroque composer. Especially the three of his sons, they were already famous  composers, liking the classical period. One of the sons, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, was good friends with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote one letter to his father besides that I’m good friends with Karl Philipp Emanuel, I’m also like a sponge because I ask him everything what his father was teaching him so, by this we can say that Mozart was a student of Johann Sebastian Bach ‘cause he got the information. Okay, so Beethoven was already, let’s say, the second half of his composition time, he was already romantic. Nowadays, we need to make some cuts or so then we say baroque is from 1600 to 1730 or 50 because 1750 Johann Sebastian Bach died, and so baroque period was at the end. So, and then sure, other differences might be that Johann Sebastian Bach was protestant and most of his music was for the protestant church. Mozart and Beethoven where Catholic but they were also a little bit different but coming back, Johann Sebastian Bach was the master to compose Fugues. And Fugues are very artificial but can be also very nice, it’s very difficult to compose a fugue. But we can see that also Mozart was always trying to compose Fugues and not only trying but he composed very nice Fugues and Beethoven, the last 10 years, we know that he is studying again the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and he composed Fugues and so the late string quartets, the late piano works they have included Fugues, even the famous Symphony No. 9 he also included a Fugue in this movement.

 

Ena: hmmm... Okay, so, I don’t think we have more questions from the audience. So, would you like to say a few words before we end this program?

 

Horst: Yes, I’m aware that I mentioned some works by Ludwig van Beethoven but sure not all them. But to the audience, uhmm, I mean we don’t have time to present every Symphony because they are quite long. I wish you to test and walk around in the internet and to listen to some of the Symphonies, if you know them already then much better and you can listen again. And yes, I’m very happy that today we can celebrate the 250^th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven. I hope and pray for this that next year that all the thousands and thousands of concerts that were cancelled because of the Corona Virus, I hope they all will be rescheduled for 2021 or 2022 and then maybe it’s a one positive effect that we will 3 years of celebration for Ludwig van Beethoven.

            Ena: Yes, that would be very, very nice. I hope to have that here also in Rodelsa as well. After covid.

 

Horst: Yes! We’ll try. Immediately, when it’s possible together with people.

 

Ena: Okay, thank you so much, Horst, for this afternoon, for this very educational forum.

 

Horst: I hope I was helping a little bit, hahaha.

 

Ena: Yeah, it was, it was very helpful, I had a great time and so I will be giving out your certificate, let me read the citation.