The day Beethoven broke G Major
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- Опубликовано: 22 июл 2024
- 🧡 My Patreon page: / musicwithsam
In his 4th piano concerto, Beethoven manages to make a tonic G Major chord feel unstable and unresolved. In this video I analyse the harmonic and motivic forces he employs to achieve this effect, and how this moment ultimately affects the structure and form of the entire movement.
0:00 Intro
0:34 Elements to remember
5:03 Analysis
7:24 Structural consequences
Examples performed by Paul Lewis with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek.
I suspect it's because Beethoven just told us 7 times in the preceding 3 bars that B over G major resolves downwards to A over D major, so we expect him to do it again and he makes us wait for it.
so the idea, that was proposed in this video
@@johnbeuck Couldn't watch it till the end. It felt like a self-indulgent-in-love-with-my-own-voice excercise to say something exhaustively trivial.
Exactly. It's because the B to A movement is louder and more prominent than the chord movement itself. That's what our ear latches onto. So we feel a little uneasy when the pattern is broken.
This music is so much beyond words. There's no way to explain what the music is telling. The simple harmonic structure on one hand and the deep feeling it provokes in the listener on the other. This concerto is such a miracle.
Couldn't agree more
The 4th concerto is one of thebmost underrated concertos out there.
Who underrates it? 👊
@j-dub8399 the 5th is far more popular.
Nicely done. Another element I think you should discuss is the focus on the third scale degree in the melodic line throughout the concerto. I think it's a major enabler of the harmonic instability you point out so revealingly, always softening the impact of the major chord. It's the first melody note we hear (B of the G chord) in the piano, and then it's the pivot to the wonderful B-major response from the orchestra, as you point out. It's a prominent melodic feature of both the first and third movements. The fact that the transition from the second to the third movements is also a descending third (from E minor to C major) and that the first theme of the 3rd movement is centered melodically on the third of the chord are also indications of how significant the use of the third scale degree in the melody is in B's scheme. And the very last chord in the piano part of the finale has the third as its top note! None of that, I'm sure, is by accident.
I think the 4th is his best piano concerto
The quality of your videoes (especially the clear scores that are easy to follow etc.) really makes you stick out. Great work - you definitely earned another subscriber!
I think that what happens when he pauses on G major for an entire bar is that he moves so much from G to D that the D becomes the new tonic of the tonality. In other words, the I-V motion in G becomes a IV-I in D, but in reality, it's just G major.
That’s what my ears hear as well, and there’s such a melodically ingrained tendency at this point for that B to fall a whole tone that it doesn’t feel stable as the upper voice.
But how does he make the plagal cadence a stronger gesture than a proper V-I? That’s definitely done here by means of rhythm.
@JulesStoop movements by a 4th and 5th have the same amount of tension, but the contexts make them feel stronger or weaker. That's why, and yes, rhythm contributes largely as well.
You could look at it this way, but I still don't think D feels like the tonic throughout this passage. When I hear the Gmaj-Dmaj cadence, The upper melody notes (B-A) sounds like Mi-Re or 3-2... which gives the G major chord the feeling that is a part of a 3-chord progression even though there are two chords. I just never hear the D as a tonic, even for a moment.
Nah. G is definitely the tonic. This is just an extended half-cadence.
The D major doesn't really feel comlpetely stable either. Why it feels more conclusive than the G is because that's where the phrase ends the first time. The ending of the phrase is simply repeated over and over again.
The true end of the phrase happens the first time the melody goes D C B B A. The rest of it simply repeats that idea over and over again (first repeating all of the 5 notes, and then only the 2 last notes). D cannot be the tonic here, since D C B B A is harmonized as G/B D7/A G G D. It's a basic half-cadence.
Nothing about the harmony suggests D as the tonic. It uses D7 going to G - a V-I in G major. Again, it's a half-cadence, which is why D sounds more conclusive in the end. That doesn't make it the tonic.
Nice video. I liked your style of discussing only a particular point, rather than an entire piece. And your animations are good.
Fascinating, thank you! I had only ever paid attentation to that key change when the orchestra sets in (which I absolutely love) and hadn’t realized how much is going on right after that
I love your style of analysis in this video. I don't think I have ever understood something so clearly in a video before this. Keep up the good work!
Love the explanation and graphics. Thank you.
There is a c# in the soprano at the beginning of the 1rst Motiv that clearly makes the feel of that final G chord unresolved in a sort of plagal cadence to D Major. You can look at it just as an melodic ornament, but in Beethoven there is never just an ornament.
Brilliant video, thanks for uploading this. Looking forward to more content from you!
The modulation to A minor directly from a Dmaj chord is the most striking thing about that passage. Also, that Eb part is interesting, could be seen as the inverted reply to the Bmaj, and/or a typical augmented (flat)6th (implied), resolving down to the V, which is what happens. Also of note throughout the whole concerto is the tritone, a prominent character. By far my fav of Beethoven's concertos.
Fantastic analysis! I love your videos. Keep it up 🙂👍🎵
I've always had this feeling regarding this particular chord, but never knew why. Thank you for this brilliant explanation! You might be the Charles Cornell of Classical Music :D Would love to see more videos like this!
Fantastic analysis!
Thanks for this lovely insightful video. You have created a new view of the fourth which has aleays been one of my favourites.
I've loved this concert ever since the first time I heard it. Thank you for posting this in-depth analysis of the changing keys.
Merci. While it’s beyond my musical levels, you have given food for thought. Actually you’ve provided a feast.
My favorite piece of classical music ! For 50 years. Brings tears to my eyes every time.
It is an interesting take but I'd be hesitant to agree, I do not think it resolves to D major at all and from the isolated harmonic context I doubt anyone would expect a D major, I believe that what makes it so full of tension is primarily the voicing with the third on top meaning we haven't heard the tonic in the melody yet, and then it isn't given to us. The cadence is imperfect and as such it doesn't feel that stable to us, if he were to have voiced it with the G on top it would have sounded like the tonic without a shadow of a doubt, and I believe the "resolution" is found by simply dropping a third down to the tonic in the melody, but he goes on.
I believe this is very clearly demonstrated by listening for the root in the chord, doing this immedietly makes the chord feel less tense, and I certainly feel that the D major chord is much more tense than the G, because it is in this harmonic system.
Again it is an interesting take but I would drag myself to say that this is breaking G major.
It's an extended half-cadence. The true end of the phrase happens the first time the melody goes D C B B A. The rest of it simply repeats that idea over and over again (first repeating all of the 5 notes, and then only the 2 last notes). And because the phrase ended on A on the first time, you expect it to do that same thing when the same thing is repeated over and over again. It just repeats the same half-cadence many times.
I agree that the D major doesn't feel completely stable. But I also don't agree with your explanation that it's specifically about B as the top note being the important thing here. The explanation here comes down to the phrase structure. It would work the same way if the melody went G-F# instead of B-A.
I also agree that this doesn't break G major. It's actually a very standard half-cadence. What it does differently than normal half-cadences is the repetition in the end.
@@MaggaraMarinewell the phrase ends on the G major chord, and the bar preceding it essentially has a dominant function which makes the cadence authentic, but it isn't perfect. It would be perfect should the top voice be the tonic, which it isn't. He probably wanted it to sound less final hence keeping the third on top.
Or I suppose it depends, to me it sounds in the recording like the phrase ends on the G, but if the phrase starts on the G then it'd be a half cadence.
Actually, my apologies, another score I looked up does show the phrase going over the barline and on to the dominant chord. However I do still contend that played with the phrasing in the recording used, the melody going G F# would sound final, and I do believe that was a reason why Beethoven chose to voice the chord like he did. The movement of A B G is so hard coded into us as a perfect authentic cadence that playing it would automatically sound final, but he wants to keep us in the air by not letting the cadence drop.
I think the thing is that the chord sounds like a cadential 6/4 chord even though it's not. When the piano opens with the theme, the tonic chord doesn't sound unstable at all even though it's still the same chord (with B in the soprano). It's indeed the clever use of rhythm that achieves this effect imo
Well done analysis, thanks!
The way you analyse Beethoven provides me a gateway to understanding why I love the music so much. I have some music theory knowledge, but I’m no expert 👍
Same here.
The second phrase containing the tonic substitute (B major harmony) is foreshadowing for the E-flat major local modulation later. The G major harmony transitions to its "B major doppelgänger" in the second phrase by semi-tonal displacement around a common tone. Beethoven holds the B from both harmonies, but lowers the G one half step and raises the D one half step from the G major chord to morph it into the B major harmony.
He invokes a similar change later when the local modulation to E-flat occurs. If one keeps the G from both harmonies, but lowers the B and raises the D one half step each, G major becomes E-flat major. Beethoven had been doing this for quite a while by the time the 4th Concerto was penned. It is an astoundingly impressive work. For more transformations like this, one should study Neo-Riemannian theory and its transformations. When I was introduced to this in my university studies, I found a wonderful world of possibilities that composers have been using since the early 19th century (like Beethoven, and later Schubert, Brahms, etc.). Composers were seeking techniques for more distant key modulations, as the tuning systems now allowed for this evolution.
Nice job! It makes you want to go listen to the whole concerto.
look forward to seeing what this channel holds for the future
Such an underrated concerto for sure, I listened to Glenn Gould's concerto recordings and somehow the first movement of the fourth concerto stuck out for me
super! you explained why it has always been my favorite piece of music in musical terms. i had always understood it in poetical terms very well... inspired me for decades. and brendal's album also includes 32 variations on a theme in c# minor. that album changed my life.
I've learned more in the last 10 minutes than I ever did at school. Much appreciation!
In the 50s my mother had a 78 rpm recording of this concerto. There was a small bit broken off the outside edge, so the first intact groove was the orchestra entrance, apparently in B major, which modulates to G. I didn’t know the beginning of the story for a few more years. That B chord told me to pay attention to what it becomes-2nd movt e minor.
Charles Rosen’s books are wonderful, as was his playing.
I've been just thinking about how you could make an entire series about uncanny non-dissonant chords in Beethoven. Quite fascinating.
Really beautifully put
Hey Sam, I like this piece and this chord! I would argue that the chord at m. 27, an augmentation of the suspension that began the piece, can be heard as a Dominant harmony because its resolution is the V. I hear an inner-voice Dominant pedal starting at m. 15, weaving from the horns to the basses (mm. 18-19), then to the 2nd Violins and violas (mm. 20-26). The lowest voice in the bass is a result of the counterpoint during the Dominant pedal, and the chord at m. 27 has an "alias" of G-major Tonic, but because of its function as a suspension and its location within a Dominant pedal, I would argue that the function is Dominant. M. 68 is where we return to a structural Tonic in root position, but no sooner. (Yes, there is a fleeting moment of root-position G major in mm. 37-38, but it's within a sequential episode.)
Really well done commentary very insightful analysis of the music, excellent!!!!!!
Beautiful channel ❤ keep it up 👍
Very interesting study of Beethoven. Thanks for the insight into genius.
That's some next level stuff. When that D hits the bottom falls out and everything just floats. To me the rhythmic build in the preceding bars is doing quite a bit of heavy lifting, like Beethoven's idea of a juke. I wonder if putting a C note in the D chord voicing leading up and in resolution would completely ruin the effect. I get jealous looking at music with lots of voices, with guitar you get maybe three good ones or you get forced into a corner and need to employ some serious gymnastics. If your good at playing traditional folk music, you can get that type of thing to happen, a fifth down is what typically happens in my playing (usually by accident).
Thank you for this
Charles Rosen had talked about this effect in his book about the Classical Era and Haydn/Mozart/Beethoven. (Edit: the very book you showed at 6:30) I have used this effect in a critical point in my composition too (although not at the start, but in a transition to the tonic in the development section, in a key previously stably established but now it's time to leave behind)
Nicely done
Thank you - very interesting - you have a new subscriber!
I wore out my record of Clibern with Reiner...love this concerto
The entire concerto is harmonically unstable until the very end where he assures us this has been g major then entire time.
You earned a sub!
I don't hear it resolving to the dominant. It's built tension with all those triplets but when it hits that G/B it's wanting to pass through bass B to A then to G. We get B to A but then it fails to resolve at all.
Yeah beethoven just poorly resolved the phrase, nothing more than that. He never was a genius, what looks to be genius from beethoven is just errors that amateurs constantly make.
Your description of “music that exists in a thought bubble” perfectly encapsulates how I feel about that e minor passage from the Eroica, which is the only place we get respite from the relentless forward motion of the first movement. It’s interesting here that in stabilizing G major in the recapitulation by a same-tone modulation from Eb Major, Beethoven is basically reversing the same-tone modulation from G major to B Major in the introduction.
I'm not an expert in music and I don't know a lot of english either so I'll do my best to explain myself. It doesn't seem surprising to me that first inversion of tonic chord resolves well to a second inversion of the dominant chord. A double step down in the circle of fifths feels resolving anyway (like going from Em to D) so in this case we have a G/B chord working as an Em chord in which the tonic of Em is substituted by the dominant of G/B that doesn't move (all the other notes move a step down and we can strictly say that the D is a consonant anticipation) and, althogh the fact that the chord actually is G (reinforced by the bass) it should feel like a two steps down (from Em to D) which is quite resolving.
I don't know... I'm almost self-taught in harmony.
Broke G Major? Then I don't want to know what Charlie Parker and John Coltrane did to it, and all the other keys.
Love this
The reason that the G Major chord needs the resolution is because the melody is directed toward the A, consequently directing the chord toward D major chord that supports it.
You make me feel as though I'd never actually listened to it. ;)
that Eb to G is nothing short of amazing. how??
The rythm get more fast and the dynamics louder,
It feels like someone who's trying to say something and nervously gets to the point before they intended to, then second-guesses themself, apologises and changes the subject rather than address what they just said. Extremely evocative use of rhythm, voice-leading and playing on audience expectations.
2:20 he just made a cromathic mediant modulationg they will be very common in the following romantic era.
Chromatic mediant modulation. Is that it?
Or a phrase modulation both often used by beethoven
I'm just an old blind Bebop upright bass player so my ears are broken as to what sounds distant incontinent to many people. But I actually think that the dominant is called dominant for a reason. Because if you look at the natural harmonic series, it is more a dominant chord, not just a major triad that is the first Harmony you encounter
Or maybe think of it as the pieces in D7 and the G is the four chord
subscribed!
It feels a bit like D64-53 situation, but there's G as the root note of the chord. However we oscillate so quickly between G and D that our brains might interpret it this way like the long G chord had D in bass, but it doesn't 😉
the day beethoven broke A-minor
Wonderfull work thank you! I was wating so much to hear the secund theme but it is quite smart not to have put it😅😅 . Btw this kind of paradox makes me think about the final chord of the 13th nocturne of Chopin in C minor. The last three last chords are proper c minor chord and the very last is identical to the two other EXEPT.... he adds a G betwin the two C of the bass octave... so the final chord is more stable in some sens, but as it contrast with the two other by this only adjonction, it make the effect of some kind of ghosty unresolution within the most solid stability possible, and this contrapunctical semi-cadency that is just a ...suggestion, is zlso kind of a question , like why? (Why human are you so stupid doing wars when I (-Chopin, or the nocturne) exist (or existed just now on your ears)😅😅😅😢
The lack of an Authentic Cadence
Another factor that destabilizes the chord is the chromaticism in the orchestral interlude, especially the C-sharps in the bass line. While I tend to agree that the piece has not really modulated to D by the time we hit the chord, the chromaticism has already destabilized tonality away from G to a degree.
What recording is this? I mean who is playing?
Imagine trying to play jazz while getting this elated over basic modal interchange of triads in an adjacent key.
... and I still hear G as the tonic
Because this guy is a quack who knows nothing about music
Ah, the KISS principle.
Keep it simple stupid,
one of my favourite musical tools.
It also applies to almost anything in life.
✌✌
Muito bom. Muito bom. Obrigo.
If you enjoyed Rosen, try Tovey, and, Hopkins!
I think all chords in terms of the mode they represent in the context.
It seems romantic composers thought chords as complete keys.
so the piece had been in d mixolydian the whole time?
Please make videos on Mozart piano concerti.
Melody / voice leading beats harmony, ear has been conditioned to expect (C)-B-A, there could be any fitting chords below...
For me the G chord sounds resolved idk, cool video nevertheless
Imo, i still hear the g chord as tonic but with just a little more energy because the top note is b and not g
I'm not sure I'm hearing the instability
Delayed expectation (of the half cadence)
BEETHOVEN IS GOD!!! 👊🏾🎹😈✨
Ok. But I can not avoid the sensation that if thinking about the names of all those things I am putting together in a composition could lead to a Beethoven's concerto, there would be a lot of Beethoven's concertos being composed every day. I read Beethoven to learn some of his piano sonatas, and that material seems to me something between manually mechanical and graphically geometric. The score tells me how the piece was composed, note by note, even unknowing the names of tonalities, intervals, modes, modulations et cetera. And then, when note by note are ready to repeat like speaking, becomes the time to give them expression. And then, I am sorry, harmony rules are still less useful...
I like the metashift: Beethovens I - V - I sounds so kind of dull/dumb and music is already so advanced, you already can tell its about something else, but still cant tell, whats about to come and this is where the composers beauty shines. That plagal transition to a minor is so great. But without hearing the development section that third time theme doesnt make sense for my ear. And one last thing i want to add: the very opening section is in my opinion meant to psycologically outline the effect of the syntonic and the pythagorean comma. Guess where!
Who's the real genius? (Sam) The Genius or the genius who recognizes and can analyze & understand the true genius? (Sam)
G augmanted?
yes
Can you spell: tonicization
Broke. Another word to add to the list of words the internet isn't using right.
der beethoven war ein architekt, kein melodischer mensch aber einer der grössten komponisten, er konnte noten so zusammenstellen
und so die grössten meisterwerke zusammenbauen die es in der welt der musik gibt, anders als schubert, mein lieblingskomponist, unser franzl halt, Monteverdi, Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, they prepared the way for the following composers, please don´t give me sh... this is only my opinion
"Huge innovation" - ?!?!?
Mozart K 271.
*Terrible resolution of a phrase*
Title: ThE dAy BeEtHoVeN bRoKe G mAjOr
nice kitchen :)
What’s so interesting about that one bar G major chord is that it ‘wants’ to go to in D to begin with, since usually, it’s the other way around from the dominant (D) to the tonic (G). We are in G major, but somehow the passage makes us feel like we’re developing into D only with the use of V-I progressions. It’s probably expectation, but still, why does that G major chord not feel like a resolution? A minor feels like the actual resolution there, which is quite absurd from a music theory standpoint. I geus Beethoven really defied G major and broke music theory along with it
It’s not a tonic, it is a neighbour chord for the dominant, a secondary subdominant you could say, a IV to D major, the V in G. So it is not that special or groundbreaking.
I view it more as an half cadence waiting to resolve on the V
Sure, but the weird part is that we interpret the G chord as an applied subdominant without any harmonic preparation. The reason for that is a combination of the melodic line (which wants to fall through A to G) and the rhythm/articulation, which implies this is a resolution (because in Classical convention, dissonance is often placed on the beat as a appoggiatura). I think that, functionally, the G chord is not a G chord at all, but a cadential 6/4. This would make the chord progression V6/4-5/3 - vi, a pretty normal Classical interrupted cadence. The only problem with this analysis is that a V6/4 should have a D in the root. The G-D motion in the bass is what makes it feel like a plagal cadence.
@@rdd90 well Beethoven is famous for not always following the rules of harmony and counterpoint so i think it's possible that instead of the cadential 6/4 he used a normel root position G chord, also i still hear it as a half cadence personaly o think that the vi chord is just the beginning of another period that overlaps the endig of the sentence before with this analysis the vi chord isn't part of the cadence but could be spimply a phrase modulation.
While 15 million on RUclips here are watching Taylor Swift and whatever, other uber-wealthy, famous nobodies, a few thousand are watching this.
I'm glad to be in the minority, don't you!
Cheers 🥂
This guy has so many gaps in his understanding of music.
There ARE accidentals and modulated cadence.
That must be embarrassing.
i put beethoven down below with mozart. drab uninspired nonsense orchestrated by powdered wigs who know nothing about life. debussy on the other hand, bach, gershwin, van dyke parks. those are the real greats. beethoven is loved because he was born without ears. amazing! what an incredible musician!
What
@@vittoriosommese i mean it. and have stated such since i was a kid. got in trouble time and again with the music teachers insisting its beethoven and mozart who define serious music. no, mozart ate his own poo and beethoven beat women. their music is utter drat and its genuinely frustrating reading all these regressive ignorant conservative comments. gershwin makes beethoven sound like vanilla ice in comparison. bach is the only good powdered wig. the only one worth listening to.
how… unfortunate of a conviction to have
@@jennydeaf9O9 ok, I really hope you're trolling, not because you dislike Beethoven and Mozart (which is possible), but because your motives are absurd
@@jennydeaf9O9 Gershwin had an attention deficit problem with his concert music, didn't develop ideas very well. A few bars of something interesting, then it's on to the next thing, and so on.
Of course it doesn't resolute properly because it has the third on top... What a pointless analysis.
No. I see your point but several pieces end with the third on top and it feels conclusive. It’s not a pointless analysis in any way. Beethoven did do a little bit of a magic trick here and it’s glorious.
Every part of the music save for the actual base note indicates it is a cadential 6/4 chord. Play a G major chord with G on top after the D major chord, and *you will hear* the meaning of the word "tonic"
@@KirkWaiblinger Are you answering to me or the other guy?
@@brunotheiss1 There's no "magic trick". In this context the third on top doesn't resolute properly because there is a cadential passage before it that makes you expect a G on top, it's very simple. People like to glorify and overthink everything the great composers did even when it's something trivial.
@@0xdeadbeef975 I am agreeing with you
One can modulate the mode by vſing phꝛaſing and rhythm and harmonic rhythm. It is a modulation to the relatiue mixolydian.
I actually did ſomething ſimilar is a recent piece I compoſed on my channel: it is Pſalm 1 put to muſicke. It is in C maioꝛ, and without any accidentals in the whole piece, it gradually vſeth harmonic rhythm as well as the melodic rhythm and the half diminiſhed 7th choꝛd on B to end the piece firmly in E Phꝛygian, without any feeling that there needeth to be a reſolution to C maioꝛ oꝛ A minoꝛ. That is what is neat about modulating to relatiue modes: it can be ſo ſubtle that the liſtener doth not euen notice at firſt that a modulation hath occurred.