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Beethoven / Kant Time and Space By Thomas Mastroianni December 14, 2010 Innovation In his music Beethoven introduced the listener to concepts of space and time which were innovative and daring in his day. Before Beethoven, musical space and time were predictably occupied and propagated by harmonic, melodic or figural fluctuations that flowed beautifully from phrase to phrase.1 (Examples A and B) One phrase was added to another and the accumulation constituted a formal section. This accumulation was not without logic and harmonic cohesion. Contrasts of formal units were delineated by modest changes in key, fresh melodic material or changes in texture. Musical form largely resulted from the amalgamation of this sensory content. And this was true of most art music from earliest times. (See Example C for a sketch of the sections of traditional Sonata Allegro Form). Let us explore how and in what sense Beethoven’s music constitutes a departure from the traditions, expectations and procedures of earlier music. In so doing we will make distinctions between intuitive judgment and sensory content. Keep in mind that music without sensory content could not be earthly experience, and music without intuitive judgment would not be art. Enlightenment (a priori / a posteriori) In Maynard Soloman’s book, Beethoven, attention is focused on the strong influence of the Enlightenment on this famous musical genius born in 1770. In Beethoven’s native city, Bonn, at this time, the works of Rousseau, Montesquieu, Schiller and Goethe were quite popular. Soloman points out that the Bonn… “regime of Maximilian Franz … [reflected]… the attitudes and ideology of his brother, the Habsburg emperor Joseph II, who was a follower of Voltaire, Frederick the Great and the encyclopedists.”2 The famous philosopher Immanuel Kant was well known in Bonn and lectured there during Beethoven’s residence in Bonn. Solomon continues: “Kant’s ideas had their impact on Beethoven…[albeit in]… a popularized conception of Kant…[referring to] ‘the starry sky above me and the moral law within me’.”3 It may be stretching a point to postulate Beethoven’s ideas of space and time upon his understanding of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason in which Kant treats space and time as a priori phenomena.4 There is, however, a compelling parallel between Kant’s treatment of space and time and Beethoven’s treatment of space and time. Whereas Haydn and other earlier composers manipulated sensory content (a posteriori) into phrases which grow into the sections5 which define the form, , Beethoven’s genius lies in his uncanny manipulation of time and musical space as intuitive form (a priori). For Beethoven form is fundamental and primary, and at times the sensory content seems quite trivial (often featuring simple figurations or repeated notes which seem just to occupy space). This assertion derives from an examination of the music itself. The nature of Beethoven’s melody in Sonata, Op 53 is a good case in point. The opening theme of this Sonata in C major (Waldstein) is not an assembly of pleasant sounding intervals that attract the ear and serve to arouse feelings such as Beethoven could do so well in the slow movement of his Opus 13 Sonata. But in the Waldstein how can one even call this opening a melody when the same note is repeated 13 times before concluding in a cadential ornament? It seems more appropriate to suggest that rather than exposing sensory material (a melody), Beethoven is simply defining musical space and time.6 (See Example D.) This is made more evident as Beethoven sets the next phrase in adjacent space in an unrelated key (B flat major). There is no pleasant sounding modulation, no hint of causality or logic in the harmonic environment – just parallel space with the same texture, the same dynamics and the same repeated notes. These two parallel phrases occupy 8 measures of space. The next 5 measures of transition continue the ever present and almost metronomic bass motion under a high register figuration resembling a finger exercise. This short transition leads to a repetition of the opening two phrases of parallel space with three alterations: 1. the range is one octave higher, 2. the figurations flutter and 3. the sudden change of key is upward instead of downward (C to D major instead of C to B flat major). Precise harmonic symmetry is thus created. This arrangement of spatial symmetry and harmonic symmetry in place of functional or organic harmony and melody would almost never have been found prior to Beethoven. Let us listen to Emil Giles play the “first theme area” from this Beethoven Sonata. In Sonata Op 57 (The Appassionata), melody and harmony again serve to fill space (4 measures). Here rather than the reiteration of a single note, Beethoven spells out the tonic chord (the “home base chord”) through two octaves for half of the 4 measure phrase concluding on a cadential trill . This is certainly not a bel canto melody. As in the “Waldstein”, an identical space is devoted to the reiteration of the first theme. Here it occurs on the next higher pitch (G flat). The next eight measures develop the cadential trill part of the phrase and constitute a fragmentation of the space (2 bars + 2 bars + 2 bars) (plus a two measure cadenza), and the following seven measures repeat the opening soft tonic chord motive with three measures of very passionate exclamatory insertions of primary chords. These very powerful chords invade the space of the softer “home base” chords and create a “passionate” effect. Here again is Emil Giles playing the opening first theme area of the Sonata Opus 57. Time Units and Formal Balance in Sonata Opus 109 Musical space is time. Etienne Gilson gives a good account of parallel elements in the visual and performing arts7. It is more convenient in discussing Beethoven to employ both terms (space and time) since “time” in music is a term that also designates rhythm or tempo. The manipulation, placement and dimensions of spatial/time units defines the genius of Beethoven’s intuitive art. Theoretical rules based on sensory experience might suffice for many other composers. In Opus 109 it becomes clear that a discussion of form carries a spatial connotation. This work is about musical space. In Sonata Opus 109 Beethoven’s a priori spatial intuitions address extreme brevity in the first two movements and expansiveness in the final movement.8 In this sonata the first theme of the first movement is simply one phrase with antecedent and a consequent segments (scarcely 20 seconds of time based primarily on two intervals). And the second theme of the exposition is even shorter (seven bars) and quite improvisatory in nature. Let us listen to Mitsuko Uchida play the opening two themes of Sonata Opus 109. The second movement is an energetic sonata allegro form (normally found as the first movement of a sonata). It occupies about two minutes of musical space. The final movement is an extended variation form based on the same two melodic intervals as the first movement. This movement is nearly 3 times as long as the first two movements combined. The variations in this movement are almost entirely figural. Let us explore for a moment what is the nature of figural music and how does it bear on the issue of time and space? . Figuration Figuration in music is the repetitious presentation of pitch and time relationships occupying adjacent musical space.9 Beethoven regularly fills space with musical figurations, just as a painter might fill space with color often nuanced but often not representational. An analogy might be drawn using numbers to represent the seven pitches of a major scale. A figuration might then be consist of the application of a formula such as “minus 2, plus 4” 3 – 1- 5, 4- 2 - 6, 5 - 3 - 7, 6 – 4 - 1, 7 – 5 – 2 etc. A numeric representation of the figural theme of the Tempest Sonata, Opus 31 #2 would be: (6,5, 5,4, 4,3, 3,2 :// 7,6, 6,5, 5,4, 4,3:// The Moonlight Sonata, Opus 27 # 2 uses a figuration as the foundation for the entire first movement of the work, and a transformation of this figuration is the theme in the third movement of this work. It seems clear that the spatial character of this sonata was largely designed before the first note was written on paper. Figuration as Harmony, Rhythm, Texture and Tempo Not only melody, but also rhythm, texture and tempo are sensory elements that can be sequenced to create musical figurations. The use of figuration involves repetition and extends musical space. Etienne Gilson reports that the painter Delacroix complained of Beethoven’s repetitiveness.10 It is true that repetition of sensory experience can become boring, but if the main issue is not sensory experience, but time, space and form, then the a priori intuitive judgment of the composer is all important. Figuration often implies harmony, and the placement of the harmonic sequences not only extends musical space, but harmonic direction and musical gravitation (modulation). The density of figurations can determine texture and even tempo. Trills in Late Beethoven Sonatas In many of his sonatas, Beethoven uses the trill to extend time and space. In his music the trill is not just an ornament – as it is in earlier music. The prolonged use of trills in Beethoven may be compared to a ringing in the ear which obscures aural sensation and distracts the mind from the sensory world of external experience to something more introspective. Beethoven’s progressive deafness may have led him to a more interior and lofty experience. Particularly in the late sonatas do we encounter this sensory detachment, and in these works trills abound. In a moment we will conclude with some of the final movement of Beethoven’s late piano sonata Opus 109. Before playing this example, a concluding statement about the sonic content which occupies musical space is in order. Sonic Content Defined By Space and Time In each of the examples above, it is important to observe that intuitive judgments about musical space and time are determinants of sonic content. Beethoven’s score which specifies the sonic content, cannot be properly understood without confronting the underlying intuitive judgments. That is to say that Beethoven presents the listener with a posteriori sensory experience generated to an extraordinary degree by intuitive (a priori) judgments of time and space. Other composers may do so as well, but Beethoven’s music does so to an extraordinary degree. Let us conclude by listening to the final moment of Beethoven’s Sonata Opus 109 in which the extended trills of the final variation set up the mood for the lofty hymn-like conclusion. End Notes 1 See Handout, Example A and B Maynard Soloman, Beethoven, Schirmer Trade, Books, NY, 2001, p.48 3 Solomon, Op.cit, p.53 4 Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Penguin Classics, Max Mueller translation 2007, p 63, First published in Germany 1781. 5 See Handout, Example C. 6 See Handout, Example D 7 Regarding the relationship of time and space in painting and music see: Etienne Gilson, Painting and Reality, Princeton University Press, 1968, p. 18n 8 See Handout, Example E 9 See Handout, Example F 10 Gilson, Op. cit., p.42n 2