DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (August 25, 2020)
When Dante Alighieri, in his “La Divina Commedia“, told Virgil that he wished to proceed directly to Heaven, Virgil insisted that he must descend into Hell first, and investigate all of its 33 levels, right to the very bottom. Then he must begin the slow ascent, through all 33 levels of Purgatory, before even entering Paradise. Once in Paradise, there are 33 levels to rise above, to reach what Dante calls "The Empyrean"—the highest Heaven of pure light. Without going through that process, "The Empyrean" would be meaningless. How you got there, the voyage, is what counts.
The same goes for the Diabelli Variations (although there is no direct correspondence). Not only would they be meaningless, the final variations could not even exist without their predecessors. We listeners too, have to walk through, at least the bare bones of the entire delightful process. Although the variations do not proceed linearly, there are distinct groupings. So, let us begin with the first ten.
Yesterday we identified 6 motifs, and two inversions. Please review them. In a first approximation, Beethoven often chooses the interplay between two of those motives as the basis of a variation (with assists from others). It gets more complex of course, but it's a starting point (Please, do not let technical capability prevent you from playing one motif at a time, or playing them on another instrument.)
Let's start with Variation 2 (see Pict. 1, since Variation 1 was added later on.) The left hand features motive "B" (Beethoven will make relentless fun of this repetitive chord, first C, then G7th, throughout the work.) The right hand is a sort of variation on motive "A" (The second part of each variation differs in the way that the original waltz does, but we are limiting ourselves to elementary discoveries here.)
https://youtu.be/K-VgMJLoy5o?list=TLPQMjUwODIwMjAmT0EaY6GjCA
Later, Beethoven added Variation I (see Pict. 2 below), for a more dramatic transformation—a march!
Here, the right hand is, once again, based on motive "B", the repeated C major chord. The left hand is a disguised form of motive "C". The notes identified in black ink, are the notes of that motive, C G C. The notes in between are filled in though, so we have C (b a) G (a b) C.
https://youtu.be/TUo8qC9-h08?list=TLPQMjUwODIwMjAmT0EaY6GjCA
There are riches in these first few variations that could occupy one for hours. Professional pianists will be even more amply rewarded.
Before we finish today's post with Variation 9, please listen to variation 10, and see if you can hear how motive "F" is now featured prominently: how he delights in a long trill on a low bass tone E!
https://youtu.be/PKxwGk9WCM0?list=TLPQMjUwODIwMjAmT0EaY6GjCA
Next, variation 9 (see Pict. 3):
The simple turn, identified as motive "A" is relentless in this variation. If you trace out the notes it turns on, you get an implied motive "C" ( C G G C G C, D G D D G D.)
https://youtu.be/9CH7OA3inLM?list=TLPQMjUwODIwMjAmT0EaY6GjCA
