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Roundtable by the 92nd Street Y: Great Composer Pianists, Lecture 2 – Ludwig van Beethoven

August 20 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
https://www.roundtable.org/live-courses/music/great-composer-pianists-mozart-beethoven-chopin-and-brahms

“His improvisation was most brilliant and striking. In whatever company he might chance to be, he knew how to produce such an effect upon every hearer that frequently not an eye remained dry, while many would break out into large sobs; for there was something wonderful in his expression in addition to the beauty and originality of his ideas and his spirited style of rendering them. After ending an improvisation of this kind he would burst into loud laughter and banter his hearers on the emotion he had caused in them. “You are fools!” he would say. “Who could live among such spoiled children?” he would cry…” Mozart may have enchanted his listeners, but Beethoven overwhelmed and frequently disturbed them. While constantly harassing piano makers for stronger instruments and dealing with encroaching deafness, Beethoven created entirely new piano techniques almost by accident as he fought to express his titanic ideas on the instrument.

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Join talented speaker and pianist Rachel Franklin to take a unique look at the monumental keyboard talents of four great composer/pianists, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Fryderyk Chopin, and Johannes Brahms, and how that performing virtuosity influenced the piano works we enjoy today. With a legacy of printed compositions but no recordings, how can we get closer to those white-hot moments of creation when these artists poured out their genius for fortunate and astonished listeners? How did both the composer’s imagination and personal physique relate to developing piano design, and which came first? And did audiences even comprehend what they were hearing?

Franklin will trace Mozart’s beginnings as a harpsichord player to his pivot to pianofortes, ultimately creating new concerto styles that both dazzled and confused his audiences. Beethoven innovated entirely new piano techniques almost by accident as he fought to express his titanic ideas on the instrument while constantly harassing piano makers for stronger instruments and dealing with encroaching deafness. Chopin, meanwhile, is often romanticized as a mesmerizing performer with a revolutionary piano technique and harmony. Finally, Brahms trained intensely as a pianist and all his compositions demand a massive and highly-controlled technique. He, along with his muse Clara Schumann, taught many students whose playing was subsequently captured by early recording, allowing us a tantalizing glimpse into the performing styles of the 19th century.

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