Beethoven’s piano sonata Op. # 3 in E-flat major, “The Hunt,” was written in 1802.
The third of the Opus 31 sonatas is affectionately known as “The Hunt”, a nickname that describes only the last movement – fast, rollicking, and full of “horn calls”. This is one of Beethoven’s most good-natured works, displaying grace, charm, and wit throughout.
British pianist George Harliono recorded this sonata in the “Snape Maltings” concert hall – a repurposed building originally used for brewing beer and now famous for its superb acoustics. [Notes by Margaret Scialdone.]
Schiller Institute author, Hussein Askary, speaks to Nigerians: Africa will become the workshop of the world.
On Feb. 4, Hussein Askary, a Schiller Institute member and co-author of its special report, Extending the New Silk Road to West Asia and Africa – a Vision of an Economic Renaissance, spoke to a webinar in Abuja, Nigeria. The event, sponsored by the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), focused on critical need for railway development across Nigeria. The country’s Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, was unable to attend but sent his remarks, declaring the Buhari administration is looks to build a “functional and industrial transportation backbone [to] aid economic growth.”
Askary broadened the event’s focus stressing the need for African wide transport network integration. This, he said, would lead to what Lyndon LaRouche called for, i.e. development corridors spiraling outward from the rail lines. He showed China’s critical role in nurturing this development and debunked so-called “debt trap” charges. Askary painted Africa’s future, with its young population, as bright, and if given the tools of progress, one in which it will become the breadbasket and workshop of the world. Here is his 15 min. presentation.
To learn more visit our World Land-Bridge page: https://schillerinstitute.com/our-campaign/build-the-world-land-bridge/
We come to one of the greatest sonatas in the entire repertoire, the Opus 31 #2 in D-minor, nicknamed “The Tempest”. From the unsettling eerieness of the opening movement, to the marvelous , orchestra-like setting of the Adagio second movement, and then the “moto perpetuo” Allegretto at the close, this sonata is riveting throughout. The technical demands of this sonata place are overshadowed by its interpretive challenges, so really great performances are hard to come by. [Notes by Margaret Scialdone.]
Beethoven’s Opus 31 piano sonatas began a new path for him.
Beethoven composed his trio of Opus 31 piano sonatas in 1801-1802, after he had remarked to his student Carl Czerny that he was dissatisfied with his compositions so far and was setting out on a new path. Each of the sonatas is strikingly different, and none is reminiscent of the courtly style of Haydn or Mozart. The Opus 31 no. 1, Beethoven’s 16th sonata, is described by one commentator as “a running joke on the excesses of Italian opera”.
That spirit is captured perfectly in this performance by Szymon Nehring:
Beethoven, Franz Schubert: musical dialogue and the C-minor series.
No investigation of the C-minor dialogue among composers can be complete without the astonishing C-minor sonata by Franz Schubert, whose birthday we recognized on January 31. Schubert, a native of Vienna, was 15 years Beethoven’s junior, although he died just one year after Beethoven at the age of 31. In fact, he was one of the pallbearers at Beethoven’s funeral. His C-minor sonata, D958, is often performed together with Beethoven’s 32 Variations on an Original Theme, WoO 80 also in C minor, with which it has obvious affinities. Notes by Margaret Scialdone.
Beethoven’s variations are performed by Sookkyung Cho:
We return to Beethoven with two of his best-known sonatas in C-minor: the Pathétique and the Opus 111. Listen for the development of the theme that Bach put forward in his Musical Offering!
Sonata Pathétique (1st movement) played by Dubravka Tomsic:
We continue the investigation of the C-minor dialogue with Bach’s Ricercar à 6 and Mozart’s sonata K.457. When the elderly J.S. Bach visited his son who was court musician for Frederick II, the king presented the elder Bach with a difficult theme, and challenged him to improvise a three-part and then a six-part fugue. Bach created the 3-part fugue on the spot, but declined the 6-part pending further study. Two months later, Bach sent the king the two-volume “Musical Offering” in which the theme is subjected to every possible permutation in the form of ten different canons, two ricercars, and a trio sonata! After studying the Musical Offering, Mozart composed his C-minor sonata and later the Fantasy (which we heard yesterday) in which he demonstrated the principles used in composing the sonata. In the next days, we’ll see how this theme was developed by Beethoven and Schubert. [Notes by Margaret Scialdone.]
We hear the Ricercar a 6 played by Daniel Martyn Lewis.
The Mozart sonata is performed here by Micah McLaurin.
Any discussion of musical masters in dialogue must acknowledge the towering figure of Johann Sebastian Bach. The C-minor series we are about to explore had as its genesis Bach’s Musical Offering – a set of pieces based on a theme proposed to him in 1747 by Frederick II, King of Prussia. Today we will hear the three-voice “Ricercar” from Bach’s Musical Offering, followed by Mozart’s Fantasy K.475, composed as a prelude to his Sonata K.457 (we will visit the Sonata tomorrow). [Notes by Margaret Scialdone.]
Here, Bach’s “Ricercar à 3” is beautifully performed by Ji-Hyang Gwak:
And now listen to Mozart’s treatment of the theme in the Fantasy K.475, performed here by Mitsuko Uchida:
Notes by Margaret Scialdone. Beethoven ‘s use of thematic material from Mozart was not limited to opera. Note the development of the opening theme of Mozart’s C-minor Piano Concerto, K491, in Beethoven’s C-minor Piano Concerto, Opus 37. (We’ll be looking more at the C-minor key in the coming days.)
First, Mozart’s piano concerto #24, played by Rudolf Buchbinder with the Vienna Philharmonic:
Compare to Beethoven’s third piano concerto, played here by Seong-Jin Cho with the WDR Symphony Orchestra:
Notes by Margaret Scialdone, In 1798, Beethoven turned again to Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute”, this time composing twelve variations on Papageno’s aria, “Ein Madchen oder Weibchen” in which the ridiculous bird-catcher expresses his desperation for a mate. The translation of the words to the Ein Madchen oder Weibchen are:
A maiden or a little wife Is what Papageno wants! Oh, such a sweet dove Would be bliss for me. Then I’d eat and drink with relish, Then I’d feel like a prince, Enjoy life in my wisdom, And be as if in Elysium. Ah, can I find no-one among the lovely girls who likes me? Let just one come to my aid, Or I’ll truly die of grief. If none will offer me love, Then the fire must consume me! But just one kiss, And I’ll be better again.
Mozart’s “Ein Madchen” (performer unidentified)
Beethoven’s’ 12 variations, performed by Mstislav Rostropovich, Vasso Devetzi.
