On 13 March 2011, [email protected] wrote regarding the Beethoven
Sonata "I had always assumed that this work was for solo horn with piano
accompaniment. I was listening to it yesterday and recalled what Hans has said
about the Mozart work for string and horn, the horn was part of the ensemble.
Is that the case the Beethoven that it is a work as much for piano as it is for
horn?"
The Beethoven sonata, along with his sonatas for cello/piano and violin/piano
are part of the last gasp of a tradition sometimes called the "accompanied
keyboard sonata." In the middle of the 18th century, keyboard sonatas were
often given an "obligato" instrument which accompanied the keyboard. That is,
these were, as Hans points out by given us the original title of the Beethoven
horn sonata, keyboard sonatas accompanied by another instrument and not sonatas
for a solo instrument accompanied by the keyboard (which is how we
conceptualize them today). These were different from a parallel tradition that
involved a solo instrument accompanied by keyboard, in which latter case the
keyboard part was often simply a thoroughbass line that the keyboardist was
expected to realize. Two different views of a sonata involving keyboard and
solo instrument existing side by side in the 18th century.
Having said that, let me add the expected musicological waffling! :-)
1. That a work might be entitled something like "sonata for piano with horn
accompaniment" does not mean that the piano part could be played minus the horn
as a solo sonata. The horn part is obbligato (obligatory).
2. "Accompaniment" did not then carry the negative weight of being a lesser or
merely supporting role. The term would have suggested a partnership--chamber
music.
3. Performers today playing such sonatas therefore should not relegate their
keyboard players to the background reflexively; it's a joint effort. So,
[email protected], the answer to your question is "yes."
4. But in some cases, the musical content DOES indicate a subordinate
relationship of one performer in favor of another, so...it's not a joint effort.
So be aware of these traditions but also look at the music to see if the
composer is communicating a partnership or a lead actor with a supporting
player...and be aware that the supporting player is not necessarily the
keyboard.
One other lesson here: all of this points up the need to know what the
composer wrote. We usually think of this in terms of pitches and rhythms, but
what a composer calls a piece is very often a clue to his intent. An
18th-century sinfonie concertante and a concerto for multiple instruments might
strike us today as seeming like pretty much the same thing, but a composer then
was likely thinking of two different kinds of things when he labeled the pieces
as two different genres. Same way when Wagner has an oveture for Rienzi but a
prelude for Lohengrin--both are instrumental pieces that open operas, but the
terms overture and prelude signal different conceptualizations.
Hope these comments are helpful.
Gary Greene, Ph.D.
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