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Topic: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday  (Read 3525 times)

Spatula

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Well whadda know?  Everyone on this forum (exaggeration) seems to have said something about the Pathetique (what a weird name for a song....the pathetic song lol ) but anyways...

Yesterday was my first time hearing that ... and I recognized the 2nd movement ... but the 3rd seemed kinda like the tempest I suppose...

I want to do this piece for grade 10 but its probably overplayed and overkilled like the Fur Elise...is it? 
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Offline fnork

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Re: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday
Reply #1 on: November 03, 2004, 01:23:32 AM
It's not that overplayed, I think. Moonlight first movement is far more overplayed...
You can give the second movement a try. This is a tricky sonata though - although none of beethovens most difficult. But as my teacher says, playing beethoven is always difficult....

Offline Ludwig Van Rachabji

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Re: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday
Reply #2 on: November 03, 2004, 01:54:23 AM
Well whadda know?  Everyone on this forum (exaggeration) seems to have said something about the Pathetique (what a weird name for a song....the pathetic song lol ) but anyways...
Yesterday was my first time hearing that ... and I recognized the 2nd movement ... but the 3rd seemed kinda like the tempest I suppose...

I want to do this piece for grade 10 but its probably overplayed and overkilled like the Fur Elise...is it? 

Wow! I didn't know that Beethoven wrote a song called the Pathetique too!  :o

But... It's a wonderful piece! I don't think it's overplayed, it's just really well-known. I think every pianist should learn it at some point.

Music... can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable. Leonard Bernstein

Offline donjuan

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Re: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday
Reply #3 on: November 25, 2004, 03:58:54 AM
Well whadda know?  Everyone on this forum (exaggeration) seems to have said something about the Pathetique (what a weird name for a song....the pathetic song lol ) but anyways...
Yesterday was my first time hearing that ... and I recognized the 2nd movement ... but the 3rd seemed kinda like the tempest I suppose...

I want to do this piece for grade 10 but its probably overplayed and overkilled like the Fur Elise...is it? 

Wow! I didn't know that Beethoven wrote a song called the Pathetique too!  :o
haha - ZING!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

I like the Pathetique- very powerful..very difficult for the LH.  The 2nd movement of this sonata was the first piece of classical music that drew me away from pop and rock and towards classical.  Now I look down on pop with comtempt and snobbery as I believe it is what closed my eyes all those years.

donjuan

Offline waldstein

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Re: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday
Reply #4 on: November 25, 2004, 11:45:33 AM
The first movement has 2 tricky sections

1. Right hand going up in chromatics and left going down - (second half of third page and again in second half of 7th page, (assuming you are using sheetmusicarchive.net ) immediately after the hand crossing sections. Here the "middle notes" need to be kept as soft as possible. Also if you notice the top and bottom notes at the start of each bar are staccato, while the rest isnt. This would take you a while to master
2. The middle section ( I think it A Minor, could be C major - somebody let me know) has a few bars with trills while the left hand speed suddenly dropping to half of the orignial.

Second mvt  - Straight forward - Requires some practise though

The third is really tough. Am struggling with it even after a two months.



Offline Ludwig Van Rachabji

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Re: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday
Reply #5 on: November 25, 2004, 05:26:32 PM
Quote
The third is really tough. Am struggling with it even after a two months.

Wow, really? I found that to be the easiest of all!  :P

- Ludwig Van Rachabji
Music... can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable. Leonard Bernstein

Spatula

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Re: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday
Reply #6 on: November 25, 2004, 05:40:55 PM
Yeah thought so, looks like I one poor sucker who didn't get the joys of pathetique until much later.

Now I have sheet music AND a recording score!!!

Offline DarkWind

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Re: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday
Reply #7 on: November 25, 2004, 08:21:13 PM
Actually guys, Pathetique means "Grand."

Offline steinwaymodeld

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Re: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday
Reply #8 on: November 25, 2004, 08:25:45 PM
Actually guys, Pathetique means "Grand."

seriously? I have always thought it means 'sad'

as that's what they translated to in Chinese.
Perfection itself is imperfection - Vladimir Horowitz

Offline DarkWind

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Re: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday
Reply #9 on: November 25, 2004, 08:31:15 PM
Yes, I'm pretty sure it means Grand in French, maybe not specifally grand, but along the lines of the word great and the like.

Offline xvimbi

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Re: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday
Reply #10 on: November 25, 2004, 08:53:36 PM
Yes, I'm pretty sure it means Grand in French, maybe not specifally grand, but along the lines of the word great and the like.

pathétique means moving, pitiful, lamentable, pathetic (adjective to pathos).

A second, different meaning of pathetic is insufficient and miserable, but this is not the meaning in this case

Offline Ludwig Van Rachabji

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Re: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday
Reply #11 on: November 25, 2004, 10:10:24 PM
Yes, I'm pretty sure it means Grand in French, maybe not specifally grand, but along the lines of the word great and the like.

pathétique means moving, pitiful, lamentable, pathetic (adjective to pathos).

A second, different meaning of pathetic is insufficient and miserable, but this is not the meaning in this case

Yes, Xvimbi is correct. Pathetique does not mean "grand". Nor does it mean "miserable, wimpering, tearful". It is pathetic in the old sense, meaning, "affecting the emotions".

- Ludwig Van Rachabji
Music... can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable. Leonard Bernstein

Offline maxy

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Re: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday
Reply #12 on: November 26, 2004, 03:43:14 AM
Nope...

Pathétique does not mean "grand" in french.

Pathétique =  Pathetic in english.

Spatula

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Re: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday
Reply #13 on: November 27, 2004, 02:04:51 AM
Nope...

Pathétique does not mean "grand" in french.

Pathétique =  Pathetic in english.

What a pathetique piece.   :o :o :o

Hmmmmmmmmmm   

Offline Daniel_piano

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Re: Pathetique....wow I only heard it for the first time yesterday
Reply #14 on: November 27, 2004, 02:26:55 AM
Yes, the word pathetique originated from the greek "pathos" meaning "drammatic power" or "expressively tragical" so there's a note of sadness in the way the word pathetique is used
If you have something emotional but super happy pathetique wouldn't be the right word to use
Something as "Wow, what an emotion, today is Thanksgiving and we all make a great party" wouldn't be pathetique
So, pathetique is not just "emotional" or "affecting the emotions" its true meaning is: touching/moving with melancholy or sadness

Daniel
"Sometimes I lie awake at night and ask "Why me?" Then a voice answers "Nothing personal, your name just happened to come up.""
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