{"id":3236,"date":"2013-07-08T04:21:29","date_gmt":"2013-07-08T08:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/?p=3236"},"modified":"2017-11-24T23:17:57","modified_gmt":"2017-11-25T04:17:57","slug":"spectral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/2013\/07\/spectral.html","title":{"rendered":"Spectral"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At the beginning of Beethoven&#8217;s Opus 7 Piano Sonata, why this particular chord? Why this register, this particular arrangement of voices?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/B71.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3241 alignnone\" style=\"margin: 3px 347px 12px 5px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/B71.jpg\" alt=\"B71\" width=\"253\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nBeethoven: Opus 7 (I)<\/p>\n<p>In other piano music by Beethoven, there are long melodic notes which are\u00a0excited or made to vibrate longer (or differently) by reiterated lower notes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/B281AJ1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3251 alignnone\" style=\"margin: 3px 112px 12px 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/B281AJ1.jpg\" alt=\"B281AJ\" width=\"488\" height=\"108\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/B281AJ1.jpg 488w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/B281AJ1-300x66.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 488px) 100vw, 488px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nBeethoven: Opus 28 (I)<\/p>\n<p>In this passage from the first movement of Opus 28, the long, high\u00a0right-hand melody notes (not particularly sustaining on an early-19th-century piano)\u00a0are made to resonate more as the pitch one octave below is played and repeated. In each case, the lower note provokes the high melody note to vibrate because the higher long-note is\u00a0the first partial (<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Overtone\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">overtone<\/a>)\u00a0above the repeated lower-pitch.<\/p>\n<p>Playing\u00a0a simplification,\u00a0you may more\u00a0clearly hear the effect:\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B281.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3297 alignnone\" style=\"margin: 3px 375px 10px 5px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B281.jpg\" alt=\"B281\" width=\"225\" height=\"101\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B281.jpg 522w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B281-300x133.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You might also try playing the lower notes while silently depressing the long upper-note. This helps me hear what happens at the beginning of Opus 7. (In the first measure of Opus 7, try silently depressing the right-hand notes while playing only the left-hand part.)<\/p>\n<p>In the beginning measure of\u00a0Beethoven&#8217;s Opus 7 Sonata,\u00a0mulitple upper-partial relationships give the sustained melody-chord an enhanced, evolving resonance. The sustained treble-staff E-flat is the third partial of the lowest E-flat played in the bass:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7a.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3263 alignnone\" style=\"margin: 3px 462px 10px 5px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7a.jpg\" alt=\"B7a\" width=\"148\" height=\"144\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7a.jpg 390w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7a-300x292.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 148px) 100vw, 148px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>That same long E-flat is also the first partial of the repeated E-flat played by the left hand:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7b.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3266 alignnone\" style=\"margin: 3px 357px 10px 5px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7b.jpg\" alt=\"B7b\" width=\"243\" height=\"133\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7b.jpg 555w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7b-300x164.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 243px) 100vw, 243px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The long right-hand B-flat is the second partial of the left-hand&#8217;s lower E-flat:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7c.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3270 alignnone\" style=\"margin: 3px 433px 10px 5px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7c.jpg\" alt=\"B7c\" width=\"167\" height=\"152\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7c.jpg 344w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7c-300x272.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 167px) 100vw, 167px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The sustained right-hand G is (approximately) the fourth partial of the lower left-hand E-flat:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7d.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3272 alignnone\" style=\"margin: 5px 446px 10px 5px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7d.jpg\" alt=\"B7d\" width=\"154\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7d.jpg 321w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/B7d-300x291.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 154px) 100vw, 154px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Within the left-hand part, the upper E-flat is the first partial of the lower E-flat. If the dampers are raised, the lowest E-flat\u00a0string resonates more (and differently)\u00a0as a result of the repeating of the higher note.<\/p>\n<p>We think of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spectral_music\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">spectral music<\/a> as a late-20th-century practice, the domain of <a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/jqzukP_BtW8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">G\u00e9rard Grisey<\/a> or Tristan Murail. Well, here&#8217;s precedent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the beginning of Beethoven&#8217;s Opus 7 Piano Sonata, why this particular chord? Why this register, this particular arrangement of voices? Beethoven: Opus 7 (I) In other piano music by Beethoven, there are long melodic notes which are\u00a0excited or made to vibrate longer (or differently) by reiterated lower notes. Beethoven: Opus 28 (I) In this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[47,1165,1154,1159,1160,1162,1163,1167,1164,1158,1166,299,1155,1156,1157,1168,1161],"class_list":{"0":"post-3236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-beethoven","9":"tag-grande-sonate","10":"tag-grisey","11":"tag-harmonic","12":"tag-harmonics","13":"tag-keyboard","14":"tag-ludwig","15":"tag-murail","16":"tag-opus-7","17":"tag-partial","18":"tag-resonance","19":"tag-sonata","20":"tag-spectral","21":"tag-spectralism","22":"tag-spectralisme","23":"tag-sympathetic-vibration","24":"tag-upper-partial","25":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3236"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4600,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3236\/revisions\/4600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}