Chapter 6: Beethoven

It is truly amazing the power music has over emotions. Beethoven was able to comfort a pupil who had lost a child, just as many feel joy, excitement, sadness, suffering, and a vast array of other emotions when listening to music. Playing piano allows me to go to a different place, away from the stresses of daily life, and can often act as an emotional outlet. Pianists, and musicians alike, have the ability to convey their emotions to their audiences and infuse their soul into the music.

In addition to Beethoven’s more gentle and caring side as mentioned above, he also seemed to have a sarcasm about him; a disregard to the norms of society. I laugh when reading the quote from his student when he recalls a story in which, Beethoven, after hearing Daniel Steibelt play a prepared “improvisation” of variations on a theme of his, continued to take Steibelt’s quintet score, turn it upside down, and improvise on it. I agree with Beethoven that one must have integrity in the music they play.

I find Czerny’s quote regarding Beethoven’s pedaling interesting, stating Beethoven…”could scarcely span a tenth. He made frequent use of the pedals, much more frequent than is indicated in his works.” I question if increased pedal use was because Beethoven could not reach a tenth, or simply because he wanted more pedal. I can span a tenth, however, am often asked to add more pedaling when playing Beethoven. This reminds me of what I know about Chopin pedaling, and that he did not clearly mark his pedaling as he thought it was too difficult to indicate on paper. Perhaps, Beethoven had a similar feeling, and did not necessarily indicate all pedal markings he wanted.

"No more metronome! Anyone who can feel the music right does not need it, and for anyone who can’t, nothing is of any use; he runs away with the whole orchestra anyway!” Is having correct and tight rhythm necessary? Yes. But, having an internal sense of rhythm is much more important than strictly using a metronome. If you cannot feel rhythm internally, it can possibly hinder on expression and interpretation. How boring would music be if everything were played completely precise and exact?