Aesthetically Warranted Emotions in the Theme of the Final Movement of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op.10 No.3

Authors : Kaan Muzaffer BIYIKOĞLU, Eray ALTINBÜKEN

Pages : 26-48

Doi:10.33906/musicologist.1185395

View : 118 | Download : 64

Publication Date : 2023-06-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :In a video commentary, pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(2016); discussed the dangers of verbal descriptions of music by presenting two seemingly contradictory explanations about the ‘meaning’ of the theme of the final movement of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op.10/3 given by pianists Edwin Fischer and Claudio Arrau. We examined the tempo and dynamic fluctuations obtained from the studio recordings of this theme by Fischer in 1948 and 1954, and by Arrau in 1964 and 1985 by using the Sonic Visualiser software insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(Cannam et al., 2010);, and interpreted these results by using Steve Larson’s insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(2012); theory of musical forces, and Robert Hatten’s insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(2018); theory of virtual agency in western music. According to our analyses, the differences in the performances of Fischer and Arrau can be metaphorically correlated with the different meanings these pianists attributed to Beethoven’s theme. We concluded that the seemingly contradictory verbal descriptions of these pianists indicate different aesthetically warranted emotions they aimed to communicate through their performances of Beethoven’s theme.
Keywords : music semiotics, musical meaning, performance analysis, virtual agency, musical forces

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