Copyright by Denise Parr-Scanlin 2005 The Treatise Committee for Denise Parr-Scanlin Certifies that this is the approved version of the following treatise: Beethoven as Pianist: A View Through the Early Chamber Music Committee: K.M. Knittel, Supervisor Anton Nel, Co-Supervisor Nancy Garrett Robert Mollenauer David Neumeyer David Renner Beethoven as Pianist: A View Through the Early Chamber Music by Denise Parr-Scanlin, B.M., M.F.A. Treatise Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts The University of Texas at Austin December, 2005 Dedication To my mother and first piano teacher, Daisy Elizabeth Liles Parr Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge the kind assistance of my treatise committee, Dr. Kay Knittel, Dr. Anton Nel, Professor Nancy Garrett, Dr. Robert Mollenauer, Dr. David Neumeyer, and Professor David Renner. I especially thank Dr. Kay Knittel for her expert guidance throughout the project. I also thank Janet Lanier for her assistance with the music examples and my husband, Paul Scanlin, for his constant support and encouragement v Beethoven as Pianist: A View Through the Early Chamber Music Publication No._____________ Denise Parr-Scanlin, D.M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2005 Supervisors: K.M. Knittel, Anton Nel Our inability to reconstruct what Ludwig van Beethoven must have sounded like as a pianist is one of the more vexing questions of music history. Unreliable sources and his short performing career, in addition to a lack of virtuoso public pieces, have contributed to this situation. However, we can approach the question of how Beethoven played the piano by examining four relatively neglected chamber works: the two Cello Sonatas, op. 5, the Quintet for Piano and Wind Instruments, op. 16, and the Horn Sonata, op. 17. These scores were chosen because we know that Beethoven wrote them for himself to perform, and we know that he did, in fact, perform them. The presumption is that any music Beethoven wrote for himself to play in concert would have been written to highlight the strengths of his playing. This study seeks to add to our knowledge of Beethoven’s technique by focusing on the piano part in these chamber music scores. Chapter One examines the observations of those who heard Beethoven play and how some witnesses actually created barriers to knowledge, contributing more to myth than to understanding. The main portion of this document, Chapters Two through Four, vi explores the individual works with regard to their explication of Beethoven as a pianist through the use of the scores as authority. Chapter Two will focus on piano technique in the op. 5 Sonatas and the significance of Beethoven’s performance of the Sonatas in Berlin with the cellist Jean-Louis Duport. Chapter Three explores op. 16 with a continued discussion of technique and consideration of improvisation, pedaling, and the interaction of the piano with winds. Chapter Four’s treatment of op. 17 emphasizes its placement in a transitional period which began around 1801. A gradual shift from virtuoso performer to an almost exclusive focus on composition was underway. While it is not possible to say with absolute certainty how Beethoven played, this study attempts to elucidate the major characteristics of his playing, getting us perhaps closer to how he may have sounded. vii Table of Contents List of Tables.................................................................................................................................... x List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. xi Introduction.......................................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER ONE............................................................................................................................... 7 Beethoven as Pianist: A View Through Contemporary Observers................................................... 7 Early Recognition .................................................................................................................. 7 Carl Czerny and Ferdinand Ries.......................................................................................... 10 The Beginnings of Mythmaking .......................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 2................................................................................................................................... 20 The Sonatas for Cello and Piano, op. 5 ..........................................................................................20 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 20 Jean-Louis Duport ...............................................................................................................22 Piano Technique from the Scores ........................................................................................ 25 CHAPTER 3................................................................................................................................... 39 The Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat Major, op. 16 .............................................................. 39 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 39 Early Performances..............................................................................................................41 The Harmonie...................................................................................................................... 44 The Harmonie as a Reflection of Viennese Societal Hierarchy........................................... 46 Improvisation as a Facet of Beethoven=s Pianism .............................................................. 52 Improvisation in the Eighteenth Century............................................................................. 53 The Quintet Second Movement as a Window on Beethoven=s Improvisations.................. 55 Improvisation Style in the Fantasy, op. 77 and the Choral Fantasy, op. 80......................... 60 Czerny=s Embellishment..................................................................................................... 67 Characteristic Passage-work................................................................................................ 68 Interaction of the Piano and Wind Instruments ................................................................... 70 Beethoven's use of the pedal in op. 16................................................................................. 74 viii CHAPTER 4................................................................................................................................... 91 The Sonata for Horn and Piano in F Major, op. 17 ........................................................................ 91 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 91 A Social History of the Horn ............................................................................................... 94 A Brief History of Horn Construction and Performance up to the Late Eighteenth Century99 Punto.................................................................................................................................. 102 A Comparison with the Rondino in E-flat, WoO 25.......................................................... 111 The Piano in a Different Guise .......................................................................................... 116 Important New Projects ..................................................................................................... 126 Revealing His Hearing Loss .............................................................................................. 129 CHAPTER 5................................................................................................................................. 132 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 132 APPENDIX .................................................................................................................................. 135 Quotations.......................................................................................................................... 135 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................ 138 VITA… ........................................................................................................................................ 143 ix List of Tables TABLE 1.1 COMMENTATORS.................................................................................................. 17 TABLE 4.1 1799-1801................................................................................................................ 128 x List of Figures Ex. 2.1, Op. 5/1/i, mm. 29-32......................................................................................................... 26 Ex. 2.2, op. 5/1/i, mm. 127-143...................................................................................................... 27 Ex.2.3, op. 5/2/i,