The four-hand ensembles by Ludwig van Beethoven: search and gain

Abstract

The original four-hand ensembles by L. Beethoven have not received the proper attention of scientists. The aim of the study is to evaluate the composer’s gain from the standpoint of the searches for new sonority and timbre variety. This approach reveals the process of the mutual influence of the two-hand and four-hand compositions in his piano heritage. The main method was musical analysis, using which Beethoven's notes and scores were examined, and their structure was investigated on the basis of analysis and synthesis. The principles of abstraction, specification and generalization are also used. The result is the semantization of the developed techniques, the modelling of various figurative-playing situations in the march genre, the variety of characteristic means as the ways of varying song melodies, the combination in the variation cycle of the features of amateur music-making and concert style. In conclusions it is shown, that assimilation of the experience accumulated in the four-hand literature and new capabilities of the instrument laid the foundation for a new type of composer thinking. As the example Variations on the Theme of Beethoven for two pianos by C. Saint-Saens are considered.