Matthew Monday: Für Elise

I have not had a Matthew Monday is a while.  He’s always had a love of music and he really loves the piano.  Six years ago I posted how he had his first piano recital at the age of six.  He was taking young kiddy lessons then but unfortunately we couldn’t continue because of one thing or another.  But he has been learning on his own.

He recorded himself with my phone playing the Beethoven piano piece, Für Elise.  Well, the first minute of the piece.  Mind you he is not reading off a music score.  This is pure memorizing from someone who teaches this on the internet.  Here is Matthew playing Fur Elise.

 

Not bad.  I really want to get him lessons.  Covid really threw a wrench in that but now that it has died down I will start looking for a piano teacher. 

Now here is a professional playing the entire piece.

 

I think Matthew captured it pretty well.  But I am his loving father.  ;)

Music Tuesday: Für Elise by Ludwig van Beethoven

Now that I’ve decided to expand beyond blues, let’s play a wonderful little piano piece by Beethoven.  I’m sure a lot of you will recognize it.  What’s amazing is that this piece was discovered after Beethoven’s death.  Who is “Elise” is a bit of a mystery, and you can read about it here. 

 The composition is considered to be a bagatelle, a piece that is “usually short and somewhat whimsical in nature.”  You can read about the composition at another tab on that link.  It may be whimsical and short, but there is a profundity to it.  The key of A minor certainly helps, but I think the recurring moments where a single note is repeated suggests a moment of soul searching.  As the site says the piece is in the form of a rondo, a recurring melody.  Here the form is ABACA, “A” being the recurring home theme.  The “B” and “C” contrasting themes suggest an attempt to break out of this melancholy mood.  “B” theme I think starts at 1:06 in this video and “C” about a minute later.  I can’t quite reach a conclusion to how the piece ends.  Does the mood shift in the last play of the home theme, and therefore come to some sort of resolution, or does the piece end on the same dispirited mood?  I can almost hear both.  What do people think?

 

 

 

No one creates tension like Beethoven!  I don’t know Tzvi Erez, but he plays this beautifully.  I sampled a few videos and I really think his was the best.  You can read about him here.