The Lighter Side of Beethoven (really!)

Joseph Karl Stieler’s 1820 portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven (from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

A couple of weeks ago I made a passing reference to “scowling Beethoven,” representing the hackneyed cliché of a defiant Ludwig van Beethoven doggedly having his own way, in spite of those who lacked the skills to play his music or the auditory perception to appreciate it properly. The above portrait is a perfect example of that cliché, all the way down to his obsessive editing of the score of his Opus 123 Missa solemnis in D major. It often seems as if the very idea that Beethoven might have a sense of humor would defile his iconic status.

Such a fixation unjustly obscures the fact that Beethoven had a generous capacity for wit. He may not have been a particularly good student in his relationship with Joseph Haydn, but he had no trouble recognizing and appreciating his master’s command of witty gestures. Indeed, his defiance of Haydn can be found in examples of efforts to outdo Haydn in raising chuckles from the attentive listener; and Beethoven succeeds in these efforts more often than one might guess in the face of all those deadly serious “press relations.” The fact is that Beethoven never lost his capacity for wit, even as the onset of his deafness became more and more pronounced. He may not have smiled for portrait artists, but it is not hard to detect twinkles in his eye from his earliest compositions to some of his latest.

One of the best ways to appreciate that capacity for wit is through the music Beethoven composed for piano trio. Last night in Herbst Theatre San Francisco Performance presented four of those selections played by the trio of Isabelle Faust on violin, Jean-Guihen Queyras on cello, and Alexander Melnikov on piano. While Melnikov’s demeanor tended toward Russian seriousness, he never tried to conceal the many gestures of playfulness in his keyboard work; and there were any number of moments when Faust and Queyras exchanged smiles over a pleasantly surprising turn of phrase.

The program was organized around the two Opus 70 trios. The first half of the program concluded with the second of these in the key of E-flat major; and the final selection on the program was the first (known as the “Ghost” trio) in D major. The nickname of the first refers to the dark rhetoric of the second (Largo) movement, whose “spooky sound effects” display the same programmatic skills that one encounters in the Opus 68 (“Pastoral”) symphony in F major, written around the same time. However, even in that darkness there is a twinkle in the composer’s eye, almost as if saying “Boo!” would trigger a good belly laugh.

Besides, there is nothing dark about the outer movements of this trio, both of which charge merrily along at a breakneck pace. Indeed, in the final (Presto) movement, the piano part is so enthusiastic about running up the scale that it overshoots the mark with an appoggiatura that must drop back to the concluding note. That tweaking of excessive enthusiasm can also be found in some of the more energetic passages in the E-flat major trio as well. However, the humor reaches its peak in the ternary-from Allegretto movement, whose “A” section is one of the most delicately refined dance forms to have come from Beethoven’s pen. Just as the listener is soothed with the spirit of this gracious drawing room, the “B” section intrudes with foot-stomping assertiveness (probably tracking mud on the drawing room carpet).

This sense of comedy in ineptitude can also be found in the Opus 44 set of variations in E-flat major, which opened the second half of the recital. It would be hard to find a more insipid theme as a basis for variation, and last night’s performers knew how to present it as a reflection of the twinkle in Beethoven’s eye. As might be guessed, the variations themselves quickly transcend that insipidity. However, the ways in which thematic material bounces from one instrument to another underscores the premise that Beethoven composed this music “for the fun of it.”

The first half of the program began with the WoO 38 trio in E-flat major. This was composed shortly before Beethoven left Bonn to study with Haydn in Vienna. Haydn had invited him when passing through Bonn, returning to Vienna after a stay in London. Beethoven was probably familiar with at least some of Haydn’s music and just as probably knew about the master’s capacity for wit.

One can imagine that WoO 38 was conceived to get Haydn’s attention. It probably succeeded, but the teacher-student relationship that ensued was still a rocky one. There is no mistaking that WoO 38 was an early effort; but that did not prevent Faust, Queyras, and Melnikov from giving the music a pleasantly refreshing account, the perfect way to set up the audience for the more substantive offerings that would follow.