Music in the making; Beethoven dynamics

Music in the making. Produced by Millikan university under a grant from the Educational Television Radio Center in cooperation with the National Association of educational broadcasters. The American School of Music presents concert pianist Elizabeth Travice in a recorded consideration of Beethoven dynamics assisting Professor Travis is Louise crimps who will play the musical illustrations. Music without expression. The piece played through piano even worse. Sounds interesting. Let's take the principal subject of the song. Number

three four measures from the book you have just heard to illustrate a point. The stock staccato. So for the upbeat present the sort of scale passage the unadorned fact of the bee was hardly a shading. Let's hear it played without any expression. You see are an interesting and meaningless the sound of the same subject taken in the half piano perscribe by Beethoven culminating in a sudden explosion at the peak of the brace. Plagued us we find in this simple subject suddenly revealed a sense of urgency and determination a kind of repressed excitement which expands and compels our interest. A review of the history of music interpretation reveals a Beethoven's dynamic was the starting point of the florid

19th century dynamic glance of the palace an artist who knows that he uses some 27 different terms. The most frequently used being crescendo diminuendo piano pianissimo forte fortissimo leaps from 40 to piano and from fortissimo to pianissimo a very characteristic and so also is they use what John Doe. The long question no leading to a sudden is almost a mannerism with Beethoven. A sudden hush from fortissimo to pianissimo in the full swing and hurry of the movement is a favorite device of Beethoven and is always effective as we shall presently hear the pasch of the subito piano pianissimo consists in calling the listener's attention to some definite harmonic or melodic peculiarity which unexpectedly appears the element of surprise unanticipated in the harmonic development is thus carried over into the total effect.

Beethoven has made extraordinarily frequent use of this sudden piano in the Sonata we're studying on this program. Beethoven has made use of the fortissimo to pianissimo to introduce a new four bar theme and sequential pairs of half notes repeated with slight change an octave lower and closing into the final measures of the exposition. The ways will play this section first with a dynamic change. Now listen for the dramatic suspense with the abrupt transition of mood. Beethoven portrays as always repeats this with dynamics. You see why as Becker puts it Beethoven's dynamics give the emotional

meaning of the composition in crystallized form. You see how he links up abrupt transitions of mood. How delicate shades of emotion are mirrored in his dynamics. With Beethoven the composer's directions become commands. If we are to recreate his enduring art treasures we must search out the meaning behind his use of dynamics. The people of Beethoven when Beethoven gave me a lesson. He was I might say almost a naturally patient. He would often have me repeat a single number 10 or more times and I left out something in a passage a note or skip which in many cases he wished to have emphasized word when I struck a wrong key. He seldom said anything. Yet when I was at the front was her guarded expression matters of that kind were in the character of a piece. He would grow angry. Mistakes of the other kind were he said due to chance. But these last resulted from want of knowledge feeling or attention. This

quotation gives us a very good idea of the importance Beethoven placed on expression by of all out. I think it will be interesting to look for a moment. I wanted two of the devices the pianist employs to get the namak contrast. First of all the level of piano all before a crescendo is more important than the crescendo itself because the principal requirement for an increase in power is the existence of a point of departure situated lower in the dynamic scale. The same holds good for the necessity of a 40 before dim.. A serious obstacle to the observance of these principles are the subconscious ideas which the mere sight of the crescendo or diminuendo signs awaken in the mind of the performer instinctively. The printed crescendo sign suggests to us above all the thought of the concluding 40 and not of the initial piano. Forty

six and we have an excellent example of a fortissimo. Now let's hear what happens if we start to softly. Now starting at the maximum fortissimo. Following this dim. We have two then two bars of crescendo from a piano forte. Listen. You see how the dynamics stand in stark relief in this matter. 3 Plan out for extreme soft. However in some instances the loudest part is on the strong beat of the measure. In this particular Sonata this effect occurs in the two

measures fifty and fifty one the peak of this phrase is easy. But the question before on the strong beat of the measure thus. Not like this. The matter of the code is conspicuous for its breadth. Intensify the urgency with the first movement.

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Why. Professor Elizabeth Travis assisted by Louise crimps has brought you a record of consideration of Beethoven dynamic. Music in the making was produced by Milliken university under a grant from the Educational Television and Radio Center. This program is distributed by the National Association of educational broadcasters.

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