The MCO understands the importance of music education, which is why we’ve developed a unique instructional resource for teachers and parents. Written by music educator Beryl Peters, Ph.D, MCO’s Listening Guides provide a clear and thorough analysis of the repertoire featured in our concerts. They offer a perfect primer to the great works of Bach, Beethoven, Britten and beyond for K-8 and 9-12 students — with engaging historical anecdotes and simple theory for younger students, and more complex information for older students. Indeed, just about anyone can learn a thing or two from our MTS Future First Listening Guides … so dig in!

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: PIANO AND VIOLIN SONATA IN F MAJOR, OP. 24, ‘SPRING SONATA’

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is one of the most renowned composers of all time. Besides a significant body of works for orchestra, piano, and small ensembles, Beethoven also importantly contributed to the development of the genre of solo works for violin. The Violin Sonata in F major Opus 24 was an early solo violin work, written in 1801 and dedicated to one of Beethoven’s patrons Moritz von Fries. The name “Spring Sonata” was not given to this work until after Beethoven’s death but the title indicates the beauty of this work and the qualities of spring that can be heard in this music.

FOR EDUCATORS

Manitoba Music Curricular Connections

9-12 Making: The learner develops competencies for listening by listening critically with discrimination and purpose to:

• situate and contextualize music (e.g., cultural/ ideological/historical/social contexts, music style, genre, tradition, or praxis, etc.)
• support enjoyment and understanding of music
• make and interpret music expressively and creatively
• inform analysis, interpretation, judgement, appreciation, and evaluation

K-8 Understanding Music in Context: Demonstrate awareness of the intended meanings and/or purposes of music encountered in own performance and listening experiences

9-12 Connecting: The learner develops understandings about the significance of music by connecting music to diverse contexts.

Here are some ways to help you listen to this work:

1. Music compositions have a certain architecture or musical form. Can you identify the form or organizational structure of this violin sonata? Do you hear that the structure of this sonata is made up of four different sections or movements?

   They are called:

   1. Allegro (fast and lively)
   2. Adagio molto espressivo (slowly played with much expressiveness)
   3. Scherzo: Allegro Molto (light and playful in nature, played very fast)
   4. Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo (A rondo played fast and lively but not too fast)

   Each of the four movements also has a particular form. The first movement Allegro is written in sonata form. Sonata form is made up of sections called exposition, development, recapitulation, and coda. The exposition introduces the main musical themes, which the composer then develops in different ways throughout the movement. The main themes are then re-stated in the following recapitulation. Sonata form typically ends with a short concluding passage called a coda.

   Can you hear two themes introduced by the violin at the beginning of this sonata? The first theme is a graceful, expressive melody and the second flowing theme is announced with a sforzando, syncopated, repeated note call in the violin part followed by a contrasting quiet, staccato descending melodic figure.

   The second Adagio slow movement is a modified rondo form. In rondo form, a main theme is repeated before and after contrasting sections. The repeated theme is called the A section. The contrasting sections are called B, C, D etc., depending on how many different sections the composer decides to compose. In this rondo the repeated theme and contrasting sections create an ABACD form with two very short B and C sections and a D section occurring where the A section would normally be heard. The rondo variation is in the style of an 18th century operatic aria.

   Can you hear the contrasting and repeated themes in this second movement?

   The third movement is a very short scherzo ABA form. A scherzo is typically written in a playful, light style and in Beethoven’s time was contrasted with a middle section (B) called a trio. Can you hear the short, staccato sounds of the scherzo contrasted with the scalic up and down runs of the trio followed by the scherzo again?

   The final and fourth movement is another rondo, but this rondo is more extended than the compressed rondo variation of the second movement. The fourth movement rondo follows the pattern ABACABAD. This means that the main theme (A) is heard 4 times with two different sections (B and C) heard in between the A sections and concluding with a new section D. Can you hear the A theme repeated after each contrasting section?

2. What instruments can you hear in this sonata? Beethoven listed the piano first in his titles for the piano and violin sonatas and up until this time in musical history, the piano typically was the main instrument when paired with the violin. But in this sonata, Beethoven writes equally for the violin and piano. Can you hear how each instrument has an important and independent voice in this sonata?

3. Beethoven uses tempo (the speed of the music), dynamics (the volume of the music), and expression (musical elements that express certain feelings or dispositions) to create drama, contrast, and different moods in this sonata.

   Can you identify the mood Beethoven is trying to create in each movement? Which movements use mostly fast music? Which movement uses mostly slow music? Can you hear when the tempo of the music changes and gets faster or slower? How does that affect the mood of the work?

   Was the music played at all the same volume (dynamics)? When do you hear music played loudly? Quietly? When do the dynamics change and what effect does that create? When does the music get louder (crescendo) or get quieter (decrescendo)?

   What dynamic level does the first movement begin with? Can you hear a sudden and dramatic loud long note at the end of the first theme? Can you hear how the second theme is introduced with three sforzando (a sudden, strong accent) notes followed by a quiet section? Do you hear other sudden accents or contrasts of dynamics in this first movement?

   What dynamic level is mostly used for the slow second movement? When do the dynamics change and what effect does that create? What dynamic level does the second movement end with?

   What dynamic level is mostly used for the short third movement? The fourth movement uses many dynamic contrasts. Listen for the crescendo and decrescendo sections.

   Do you hear musical sounds that are short sounding (staccato) or very smooth sounding (legato)? The first movement begins with beautiful legato sounds in the violin. Then in the second theme of the first movement, staccato passages can be heard after the sforzando introduction to the second theme. Staccato notes can also be heard in the repeated note sections.

   Where do you hear staccato sounds in the third scherzo movement--in the A or the B section?

   Beethoven also adds expressive qualities to this sonata by the use of ornamentation. Ornamentation involves musical flourishes or decorations to the musical line. In the first movement, can you hear short, decorative bird-like trills in the violin part? Can you listen for trills and other ornamentation in other movements of this work?

4. How is rhythm used in this sonata? Do you hear sections that have a steady rhythm or beat that you could tap to? The classical period in music was marked by a greater variation of rhythm than that used in the previous Baroque period. Beethoven uses a wide range of rhythms in this sonata. Can you make out the rhythmic pattern of the opening theme of the first movement? Do you hear that the theme begins with a long note followed by flowing, faster sixteenth notes? Do you then hear the piano echo the same rhythmic pattern? Where else do you hear this rhythmic pattern in the first movement?

   Can you hear a repeated rhythmic pattern in the second theme of the first movement that might sound like knocking at a door? It can be heard in both the violin and the piano parts. Can you listen for this rhythmic pattern again in the first movement?

   Can you hear a constantly repeated rhythmic pattern in the piano part of the scherzo? Can you hear that this pattern is answered by the violin with an off-beat rhythmic pattern?

   Can you hear dramatic syncopated (off-beat) rhythms in the fourth rondo movement? Can you hear triplet rhythms in this movement? Triplet rhythms are three notes played in the time it normally takes to play two notes. What other rhythmic patterns stand out for you in this sonata? Is there another particular pattern that you can hear repeated between the violin and piano?

5. How is melody or pitch used in this sonata?

   Can you hear that the violin’s opening melody in the first movement begins on a long high note that flows downwards with ornamented and scalic notes to land on a lower, long note a sixth lower? The interval of a descending sixth is a melodic feature heard throughout all movements of this sonata.

   Can you hear the repeated rhythmic and melodic notes in the second theme of the first movement? The same note is repeated 7 times before it moves to the lower note.

   A short three note repeated pattern is heard in both the piano and violin parts of the scherzo. The staccato melody then goes up one note and down the descending sixth (the melodic interval repeated throughout this sonata). Can you hear the contrasting long runs of scales in the B section between the repeated note melodic fragment?

   A repeated note figure is also heard in the fourth movement. It is a melodic fragment that is easy to sing. Can you hear it in the opening violin part after the piano introduction to the fourth movement? The melody begins with a three note ornamented figure followed by four descending notes with the last of the four descending notes repeated three times. What other melodic patterns can you hear in this sonata? Are there any other melodies that are easy to sing?

6. Can you hear different kinds of texture in this work? Musical texture refers to the layers of sound that are heard in the music.

   Can you hear where the texture of this sonata features independent lines or voices played by the violin and piano and exchanged between them? In these sections, the violin and the piano sound like equal partners.

   Can you hear where the texture of the sonata changes so that there is one main melodic voice in the violin accompanied by solid or broken chords in the piano, as for example parts of the second movement Adagio?

7. What kinds of instrumental timbre do you hear? Timbre is the different qualities of sound created by different instruments. For example the kind of sound that string instruments make when they play together is a different quality of sound to that produced by brass instruments like the trumpet or French horn. How would you describe the timbre of the violin? Of the piano? Of the piano playing with the violin? Can you hear different qualities of sound depending on what instrument or instruments are playing? Can you tell which instruments are playing just from hearing them?

FOR EDUCATORS

Reflections and Responses
(K-8 Valuing; 9-12 Responding)

Grades 9-12 Responding

The learner develops and uses critical reflection and thinking for music learning:

• the learner generates initial reactions to music experiences
• the learner critically listens to, observes, and describes music experiences
• the learner analyzes and interprets music experiences
• the learner constructs meanings about music experiences

Grades K-8 Valuing

Students analyze, reflect on, and construct meaning in response to their own and others’ music:

• students analyze their own and others’ musical excerpts, works, and performances
• students form personal responses to and construct meaning from their own and others’ music