Fuck Everything

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 01:49:45 GMT

Is it bad that the best thing I can come up with to describe it is "his existence annoys me"?

Ok. Tomorrow I'm going to Res Life and getting a new roommate. In complete honesty: before I do something I'd regret.

So...

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 22:58:48 GMT

No more World of Warcraft...... that's a concept......

Angry

Tue, 27 Jun 2006 11:04:57 GMT

Angry.

YAAAAY

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 21:47:48 GMT

Everyone's getting together tomorrow!!! YAAAAY!!!!!!

Weird Dream

Wed, 31 May 2006 09:51:56 GMT

So I had a kind of strange dream last night. Phil (one of my childhood friends who moved to Boston during middle school) I guess was in town. I was talking with him and he brought up that he was going to the concert of Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the Strathmore on July 29. "You're going to that too? Cool! I'm going to that too with my parents and Cheryl... my girlfriend" I added on when I realized he had no clue who Cheryl is. Then he gave me a grin and patted me on the back......... End of dream.

Good story! *clap* Tell it again! *clap*

So I get to go to Silver Spring today with Cheryl and Laura today to get lunch and go see X-men III, and some random other stuff to fill in the time. yup. gonna go entertain myself for a bit then leave to go to the bank to pick up some more moolah then go pick up cheryl. bye.

OH!!!!!!! I'M GETTING A PIANO FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I'm sitting here...

Sun, 14 May 2006 19:58:03 GMT

So yeah... mabye I should write on here? Mabye? Sure... why not... it's another way to procrastinate and put off studying. So... umm... oh, I went to see my first opera yesterday with Cheryl. Mozart's Don Giovanni. It was lots of fun. It was better than I expected. it wasn't fully staged but the music was good. And it helps to have a narrator so you actually know what's going on when they're singing in Italian.

So I have 4 exams this week:
Monday: Music Theory @ 9, Discrete Math @ 12
Tuesday: Computer Science @ 9
Thursday: Music History @ 9

I also have to finish half a semester's worth of listening logs for Music History and print out (mabye edit?) and hand in my Beethoven essay to my English professor. I also have to email people about swing dancing lessons this summer. *grumble grumble* Cheryl and I can't do them because we're going to be gone for the last two lessons because I'm going to the Outer Banks with Cheryl and her parents. But that should be fun. So I guess I can put my Beethoven essay up here if you want... Casey asked for it anyway... might as well let everyone see it... can't guarantee it's an enjoyable read though...

Beethoven’s Life as Reflected in His Piano Sonatas

    Beethoven was a monumental figure in defining classical music. He paved the way from the classical period of music to the romantic period. Beethoven lived from 1770 to 1827 (Kerman and Tyson 73). Residing primarily in Vienna, Austria, Beethoven was a piano virtuoso and an established composer whose main genres of music were symphonies, string quartets, and piano sonatas. All three of these genres, if followed chronologically, illustrate the different stages of Beethoven’s life. The piano sonatas, of which there are thirty-two, are especially meaningful because they are composed for Beethoven’s primary instrument. This sense of musical evolution can be found in the piano sonatas as well as elements and characteristics of style and form that directly relate to events in his life at the time he composed them.
    What defines a sonata is the sonata allegro movement. This movement consists of a specific, three-part form. The movement begins with an exposition in which the first theme is stated in the tonic key. There is then a transition where if the sonata is in a major key, it modulates to the dominant, V, and if the sonata is in a minor key, it modulates to the relative major, III. The second theme is then introduced in the new key and a short codetta at the end of the exposition is optional. The next part of the sonata allegro movement is the development. This section is not firmly rooted in a key. The composer uses different techniques, such as transposition, inversions, augmentation, diminution, repetition, and sequences to develop the themes stated in the exposition. This section eventually ends and leads into the recapitulation. The recapitulation is very similar to the exposition in that it begins by restating the first theme in the tonic key. Then, instead of modulating to a new key, the piece stays in the tonic key. The second theme is then restated in the tonic key, which is usually followed by a coda to finish off the movement.
Beethoven, however, stretched the boundaries of this form. Although his first sonatas mostly conform to this style, his later sonatas expand on the standard form. For example, Beethoven sometimes shrinks the number of movements in the sonata down from the standard four movements, to as little as two movements, as in Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111 (Beethoven). Other times, he stretches the duration of the sonata to massive lengths, as in his “Hammerklavier” Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106 (Beethoven). Also, he sometimes places the sonata allegro movement, which usually appears as the first movement in the sonata, at the end of the sonata, as in his “Moonlight” Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (Beethoven). Beethoven’s expansion of form in not only the genre of the piano sonata, but of other genres as well, was a key characteristic of his works.
    The history surrounding the composition of Beethoven’s Op. 2 piano sonatas begins with his arrival in Vienna in November of 1792 (Kerman and Tyson 75). Beethoven arrived in Vienna at the age of twenty-one after having been born and raised in Bonn. Only weeks after arriving in Vienna, Beethoven began taking performance and composition lessons from Franz Joseph Haydn (76). The compositional side of these lessons stressed the study of counterpoint, as evidenced by “the surviving exercises, which consist of strict species counterpoint” (76). The lessons from Haydn lasted only a year as Haydn left for London in January of 1784. Although the lessons from Haydn lasted for a year, “Beethoven completed hardly anything new [compositionally] under Haydn's immediate supervision" (76). In fact, "It is said that Haydn had hoped Beethoven would append to his name on the title-pages of his earliest works the words 'pupil of Haydn' - a common enough custom - and that Beethoven declined to do so, privately declaring that although he had had some lessons from Haydn he had never learnt anything from him" (78).
After Haydn left for England, Beethoven moved on to another tutor, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, the best-known teacher of counterpoint in Vienna (76). These lessons occurred three times a week and "covered not only simple counterpoint but contrapuntal exercises in free writing, in imitation, in two-, three- and four-part fugue, choral fugue, double counterpoint at the different intervals, double fugue, triple counterpoint and canon" (76). In addition to performance and composition lessons, another main concern for Beethoven was making a name for himself in Vienna as a composer and a virtuoso. At first, his performances were confined to private concerts at private houses for the Viennese aristocracy (77). As his popularity grew, he was given the opportunity to play at public charity concerts in which he played many of his newly composed works. Haydn’s return to Vienna in August of 1795 was marked by a concert by Beethoven including his first three piano sonatas, later published in March of 1796 as Op. 2 (119).
    Dedicated to Haydn, the first movement of Op. 2, No. 1, Allegro, illustrates the standard sonata allegro form. Theme one begins in F minor (Beethoven). It is comprised of two motives: motive a being the arpeggiated F minor chord in measure one and motive b being in the right hand in measure two (Beethoven). After some expansion on the theme, a sequence repeating motive b leads to a modulation to a slightly minor mode of the relative major of A-flat. After a few measures of harmonic changes, theme two arrives at measure thirty-three, firmly rooted in the relative major of A-flat (Beethoven). A short codetta appears at the end of the exposition from measures forty-one to forty-eight (Beethoven). The following development section begins in A-flat major, but quickly moves away from A-flat into several different tonal areas. All of the thematic material used in the development section consists of the themes stated in the exposition. Through the use of sequences, themes one and two are developed. The sequential use of motive b brings the piece back to F minor and the recapitulation begins in measure 101 (Beethoven). The restatement of and expansion of theme one is virtually identical to its counterpart in the exposition. By using new harmonic ideas in measures 116 through 118, the modulation to the relative major is avoided (Beethoven). Harmonic ideas similar to those in the exposition lead to the restatement of theme two in the tonic key. A short coda from measures 146 to 152 leads to the end of the Allegro (Beethoven). This example shows Beethoven’s complete understanding of the standard sonata allegro form.
Sections of this movement illustrate Beethoven’s using what he learned of counterpoint into his own compositions. The transition from F minor to A-flat major from measures 15 through 19 is one example of counterpoint (Beethoven). Two voices are heard simultaneously: one in the right hand and one in the left. The lower voice consists mainly of half notes in the beat. The upper voice contains syncopated half notes. This texture of constant suspensions is an example of fourth species counterpoint. Another example is theme two, in measures thirty-three through forty which has a distinctly contrapuntal texture (Beethoven). The two voices, again in the left and right hands, are melodically very different. The upper voice consists of a descending eighth note passage while the lower voice contrasts that with a bouncing melody of quarter and half notes. These patterns are revisited throughout the development and recapitulation. Clearly, what Beethoven learned as a composition student of Haydn and Albrechtsberger is evident in his piano sonatas.
The history surrounding the composition of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 14, Op. 17, No. 1 in C-sharp Minor, later nicknamed “Moonlight” began in May of 1799 when Countesses Therese and Josephine von Brunsvik arrived in Vienna (Kerman and Tyson 79). They became lifelong friends with Beethoven and through them Beethoven was introduced to their young cousin Giulietta Guicciardi (79). Also, Beethoven was composing this sonata as he was beginning to accept the inevitability of his deafness. He writes in a letter, dated June, 29 1801, to his good friend Franz Gerhard Wegeler of his despondency: “I must confess that I am living a miserable life. For almost two years I have ceased to attend any social functions, just because I find it impossible to say to people: I am deaf. If I had any other profession it would be easier, but in my profession it is a terrible handicap” (80). Although this letter and a similar letter to his friend Karl Amenda, told of his misery, they also tell about the brighter points in his life. He tells of his musical and financial success and in a letter to Wegeler about four and a half months later Beethoven speaks of "a dear charming girl who loves me and whom I love ... and for the first time I feel that marriage might bring me happiness" (80). The girl Beethoven is referring to in this letter is clearly Countess Giulietta Guicciardi.
Dedicated to Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, Beethoven’s Sonata No. 14, Op. 17, No. 1 in C-sharp Minor is full of rich harmonies and fiery emotion (Kerman and Tyson 120). Instead of beginning the sonata with the customary sonata allegro movement, Beethoven begins with an Adagio movement. This movement is contemplative with a very slow moving melody. A marking at the beginning of the movement, “sempre pianissimo e senza sordini” instructs the player to play the entire movement with the pedal (Beethoven). The triplet figure which starts the movement continues until the end as harmonic support and only occasionally takes over the melody. A main theme of the movement, a dotted eighth sixteenth note rhythm on beat four, appears throughout the movement in different forms. The second movement, Allegretto, is a minuet and trio of very standard construction. The finale to the sonata is directed to be played “Presto agitato” (Beethoven). This movement of the sonata is “the true sonata [allegro] movement” (Blom 110). The movement starts out in C-sharp minor, the key of the sonata, and presents theme one, an ascending sixteenth note passage. The piece then modulates to the dominant minor key of G-sharp instead of the relative major key of E which would be expected (Blom 110). The second theme is presented in G-sharp minor at measure twenty one (Beethoven). The development again expands on material presented in the exposition. The recapitulation begins at measure 102 and proceeds normally with theme one, and theme two in the tonic key of C-sharp minor (Beethoven). The sonata ends with an almost harp-like cadenza and an extended coda. Beethoven has clearly expanded sonata form, even this early in his compositional career.
For a time, the dedication of this sonata to Countess Giulietta Guicciardi was evidence to believe that Guicciardi was the ‘Immortal Beloved’ from one of Beethoven’s love letters and that the sonata was a musical counterpart to the letter (Blom 107). However, no defining evidence proves that guess. Beethoven’s realization of his deafness, however, is an explanation of the choice of style of the sonata. The slow-moving Adagio sostenuto reflects Beethoven’s quiet acceptance of his deafness whereas the quick Presto agitato reflects his frustration towards his growing disability. This sonata was composed on the edge between Beethoven’s early and middle periods. The middle period is characterized by lots of symphonic writing and an increase in the expansion of form (Kerman and Tyson 96). This sonata clearly paves the way from the early to the middle period. The addition of the cadenza to the sonata allegro movement and the movement of the sonata allegro movement to the end of the sonata both illustrate a rethinking of standard sonata form.
The history surrounding the composition of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 26, Op. 81a in E-flat Major, nicknamed by Beethoven “Lebewohl” began in March of 1809 with his appointment in Vienna as Imperial Kapellmeister (85). The annuity of four thousand florins attached to this title was paid by three benefactors: Prince Lobkowitz, Prince Kinsky, and Archduke Rudolph (85). Archduke Rudolph had chosen Beethoven to be his piano teacher in the winter of 1803 to 1804 (85). The two became lifelong friends, and Rudolph eventually became Beethoven’s only composition student.
On May 11 and 12 of 1809 Vienna was attacked by a French army (85). The Viennese imperial family, including Archduke Rudolph, was forced to evacuate (85). The city surrendered on May 12 and the subsequent occupation lasted for two months (85). During those hard months, Beethoven spent time copying excerpts from works by various composers to use as coursework for Archduke Rudolph, but spent much time composing the programmatic 'Lebewohl' sonata, which depicts Rudolph's departure from, absence and return to Vienna (85).
Dedicated to Archduke Rudolph, Beethoven’s Sonata No. 26, Op. 81a in E-flat Major “is the only Beethoven sonata that may, in fact, be called programme music” (Blom 181). The first movement, titled “Das Lebewohl” (Farewell) starts with a slow introduction, one of the five piano sonatas that does and the only one to use that thematic material elsewhere in the sonata (Beethoven; Blom 184 - 185). The first theme is stated at the Allegro at measure 17 (Beethoven). It then modulates to the dominant key, B-flat major and presents the second theme at measure 35 (Beethoven). After a short codetta, the development starts at measure 70 and again develops the material from the exposition (Beethoven). The recapitulation is unusually long and leads to a coda which incorporates the motive presented in the Adagio introduction (Blom 186 - 187). The second movement, titled “Abwesenheit” (Absence) is slow and reflective (Beethoven). It moves directly into the third movement, “Weidersehen” (Return) without pause (Beethoven). This movement is full of ascending and descending sixteenth note passages which represent Beethoven’s joy of being reunited with Archduke Rudolph.
This sonata is clearly programmatic. The three movements represent Beethoven’s “sorrowful farewell … to Rudolph … his sadness at Rudolph’s absence … and his rejoicing at seeing him again” (Kerman and Tyson 85). Beethoven places the word “Le – be – wohl” above the first three notes in the first movement, immediately signifying the ‘farewell’ mood (Beethoven). Also, the great number of bare, open octaves and chords in this movement reflect the sadness of Rudolph leaving. The second, slower movement does not stay rooted in a key which reflects the uncertainty that Beethoven felt without Rudolph there. The last movement is in a very joyous mood. The running passages and rich harmonies reflect the joy Beethoven felt upon Archduke Rudolph’s return to Vienna. This deeply programmatic sonata illustrates an important event in Beethoven’s life.
The history surrounding the composition of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32, Op. 111 in C Minor begins in 1818 by which time “he was virtually stone deaf” (Kerman and Tyson 90). By this point, conversations had to be carried out using what are known today as Beethoven’s conversation books. He was already working on several other large works such as his mass, Missa solemnis, when he committed to writing his last three sonatas in May of 1820 (91). Although the Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109 was finished by the end of 1820, in 1821, illness as well as continued work on the mass slowed the pace of composing the last two sonatas (91). Although revisions delayed their completion further, the last sonatas were finished in the winter of 1821.
Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32, Op. 111 in C Minor shows a great reinterpretation of sonata form and harmonic language. The first movement begins with a very slow introduction with lots of long pauses and an unusually long sequence of double-dotted eighth thirty-second note rhythm (Beethoven). At measure sixteen, there is a low, written out trill (Beethoven). In measure seventeen, the tempo is doubled and the note value of the low rumble is halved so that the same motion is retained (Blom 237). The first theme is finally introduced in measures twenty and twenty-one, but quickly begins to develop and modulate. The second theme is only touched upon for a very short time in measures fifty to fifty-one (Beethoven). An almost non-existent development is followed by a modified recapitulation (Blom 238). The recapitulation begins with the restatement of theme two instead of theme one (238). After developing theme two for several measures, theme one is finally reintroduced. New melodic material appears for the moderate-sized coda (Beethoven). This modified sonata allegro form is a staple of Beethoven’s late works.
Beethoven’s late period of composition is characterized by the rethinking of standard forms and a very introspective style. These features are clearly evident in this sonata. The numerous pauses and unusual harmonic language reflect the introspectiveness of the work. One explanation for the unusual harmonic language could be that Beethoven’s deafness made him perceive music differently. Whatever the reason, the form of the sonata allegro movement is greatly modified. The long introduction, lack of thorough development, and the switching of themes one and two in the recapitulation, all contribute to the new form. As a whole, sonata form was also rethought. This new sonata form is only two movements long and the second movement is a set of variations, a style not often seen in sonatas (Beethoven). Overall, characteristics of his late style show up in his late piano sonatas.
The unique style and form displayed in these four sonatas gives insight into Beethoven’s life. Beethoven’s three periods of composition show a progressive increase in the expansion of form and harmonic language. The first sonata, Op. 2, No. 1 strictly follows standard sonata form and keeps with a basic harmonic language. Op. 27, No. 2 shows a rethinking of sonata form as a whole. Op. 81a, with its programmatic elements, provides a direct relation between Beethoven’s music and events in his life. His last sonata, Op. 111, has a completely new harmonic language, and shows the introspectiveness of his late period. Beethoven’s piano sonatas are a cornerstone of classical music literature. If one were to perform, or listen to all thirty-two of them in succession, a great insight would be learned of Beethoven’s life and thinking.

So I guess I'd better get off of the toilet now and get back to studying... owww... my butt...... haha... my parents must think I'm really weird... sitting in the bathroom for half an hour blasting Beethoven's 9th on my laptop...

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Sun, 07 May 2006 20:22:00 GMT

UPDATE

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 19:02:45 GMT

Mmmmmm.....

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 09:25:37 GMT

I just have to say that this is getting really childish. That's it.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Thu, 09 Feb 2006 19:27:26 GMT

So I had orchestra today, which is held in the chapel, and before class started I became aware of the fact that I needed to visit the restroom. I knew where the water fountain was in the chapel and I figured that the restrooms had to be somewhere near there. So I walked to the back of the chapel, opened the unusually large door and decended a long set of stairs. at the bottom was a sort of kitchen and a hallway leading from it. I started down the hall that was not very well lit. I eventually found a door on the left marked 'Men'. The lights were not on when I opened the door, so I found the light switch on my left. Above the light switch was probably one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. It was a small note that said:

Please turn off the lights when you leave to conserve the energy of God's creation.

Yeah... That gave me a good laugh...

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