On Orchestra Music and the Limitation of the Piano and Organ - Overture to Tannhauser of Richard Wagner as Transcribed by Franz Liszt
By Eddie Beato
This short essay may encapsulate the Tannhauser of Wagner.
The Air Conditioner, due to recurrent waves of heat, has given me some excruciating pains, but they are now subsiding, and, time and time again, I have to command my mind to stop bringing me those lingering malaises and psychosomatic effects.
But I also reminded myself that pains and sufferings could be transmuted into the fireworks of the spirit…and this is the reason why Wagner tended to juxtapose the main melody unto the regal brasses and trumpets and trombones of the strong soul.
I think he had followed on the footsteps of Beethoven, especially the victorious ninth symphony! No place for self-pathetic incompetence or defeat, you gotta be strong.
Rise up early in the morning, to the triumphant music of an indomitable human being!
Wow! I am at my best when stricken by a passing load of existential pains and trials, they are the ballast to keeping my boat floating in balance, equilibrium and at a gentle pace.
Funny, as much as I digress from my faith in the Lord, pains and losses have kept me humble, on the track, and what a marvelous way to being humbled by a goodly share of human frailties and immortality!
Atch!!!
According to Thomas Mann, in his Faust, health and pains are interchangeable when producing masterpieces like the Concert of Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo, or the profoundly emotionally compelling Tannhauser of Wagner.
Like a stubborn donkey, nevertheless, so is the mind, and time and time again, since I was fifteen, I have had to remind myself that my mind is indeed a world of mysteries concerning its immediate effects upon my physical body.
While I endured some painful moments, I penned down some comments on orchestramusic, the limitations of the piano and the organ to replacing the rich sonorous, deep and scintillating effects of organic instruments.
Moreover, I did touch upon the Tannhauser Overture of Wagner, the Andante Maestoso movement, and why I disagree with the version below as conducted by maestro Telemann, whose tempo fails to capture the ponderous, indeed, deeply plaintive outcries of the upper cascading strings in response to the disheartening trombones, as these latter are bound to take the main opening theme, but in a rather mournful pace which could awake feelings of both empathy and overwhelming sorrow.
Some instruments (e.g., guitar, flute, harpsichord, accordion, sax, among others) are remarkably suited for ornamentation, and they are at their best when flirting, frolicking or teasing around the main melody line.
These instruments have much in common with the dolphins, dogs and squirrels or other such similar creatures, whose playful nature could be said to share much in common with us, and so they are fond to go stray from the main path!
And just when we thought the loyal dog has been lost in the wood, here comes this prodigal creature back to the main theme or tonic.
Concierto de Aranjuez, is an excellent example where playing at “gusto” (a la libre) seems to be ideal for a guitarist or saxophonist.
The nomad Gypsies were once believed to be natural rebellious, or mavericks, and so they are famous for such stylistic genres (Gypsy Music), which is often “extempore” and “jazzy” to using a modern term for anything spontaneous.
I think Franz Liszt did much to incorporating the “playful and freely” into the rather strict music of the Germans of J. S. Bach and Immanuel Kant (pure Teutons of the old stock).
Before the arrival of the piano instrument, the guitar, and to a greater extent, the fiddle, was the preferred instruments of Mephistopheles, and so the story goes, Paganini had a pact with the Devil.
I would say that Liszt’s piano transcriptions of orchestral music could appeal to me due to its bombastic virtuosity, but the upper-strings are often adapted in a clumsy way that may mar the effects of the original composition. At any rate, he did a great job, but, as a great pianist, he has chosen the piano in lieu of the organ.
By chance, or perhaps by the obsequious boon of serendipity, I came across a marvelous transcription for french horns of Nimrod, from Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar (could be found on YouTube), the long-lasting wind-struments could capture the grand conception of the symphony!
But this is not the case for certain instruments (such as the little pipe organ in the local church) or for that matter, the piano-forte, which, as you may know, is said to lack the “plectrum effect” of the string instruments, and whose monotonous resounding tones could scarcely be said to be pliable for a rich-colored palette such as that of a guitar’s nuanced plucking strings.
Now, playing with “elan and finesse” would require both freedom and academic rigor for greater accuracy, and it would be ideal for the instrumentalist to be alike punctilious, sharp as a tack, and yet very spontaneous like a jazz musician.
Neither the organ nor the piano enjoy the “plectrum touch” of the plucking strings, and the rather tinkling tones of a piano (well-tempered clavier) cannot work to the same effects through repetitive short passages.
Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo, however melodious and expressive through the rich texture of a guitar, may sound vapid and monotonous through the bell-sounding tones of a piano.
The piano instrument, when all is said, is quite close to a music box, chimes or a xylophone. The only difference is the range of both tones and timbre or registration, but they are said to be percussive instruments…
I have heard (on YouTube) scores of versions of Liszt’s piano transcription of Wagner’s Tannhauser Overture, and though I admire the pianist’s technical virtuosity, the profound seriousness, grandeur and pathos of the music in question is almost stripped of its depth-quality, mysteriousness and rich-orchestra range…and so the scintillating effects are not the same on a piano…
At times, the heartbreaking passages, especially the cascading plaintive strings as though crying out, dishearteningly maudlin, the sad main melody-lines as extrapolated to the lower regal trombones, may sound rather trite, hollow and shallow when rendered on a wooded instrument such as the piano.
Not even the best pianists could play Wagner’s expansive skies and symphonies without the drawbacks already mentioned.
The piano’s tinkling notes are soon to fade away, and only the most remarkable pianists (with the best pianos ever made) could dare substitute the long-lasting wind-string instruments.
The organ could do much better than the piano when imitating an orchestra, but it lacks the “inflation effects” of the strings and brass instruments, and the intensity of the crescendo is not as effective.
The organ may enjoy a great range of sounds, but the organic sounds of the “plectrum touch” is much wanting.
The capping of a great masterpiece of music (such as Tannhauser) would be incomplete without the dazzling brilliance of the upper trebled instruments (strings, piccolo, triads, and trumpets), and this is the main reason why it has been impossible to substituting the rich, organic colorful instruments of an orchestra.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
On Tonal Music: The Question of Originality
The genius of Richard Wagner, however spoiled by his condescending tone, will continue to thunder across the stately pavilions of millennia. And for such devils of men, we, my contemporary fellowmen and Homo sapiens, may have to endure the thunderbolts of a man like Wagner.
It is, indeed, very challenging to claim any originality in Tonal Music. So many great minds have already lived and dreamed within its boundaries that all we can now do is rearrange its basic concepts into variations — unconscious extractions, transcriptions in the fancy of an improviser. There is, after all, some justification for an avant-garde composer who arranges previously existing melodies and chord progressions. But to claim true originality would require something entirely new. This is the principal reason why musical genius is so difficult to attain within Tonality.
Such a genius could compose divine songs and music, but that afflatus would necessarily draw upon harmonic procedures already explored by our predecessors. Sergei Rachmaninoff, Gustav Mahler, and Carl Orff are among the few post-romantic composers who remained loyal to the old school of Johannes Brahms and Wagner — a dichotomy that still persists today.
One could say that Atonal Music has amounted to naught, having failed to sustain purpose (tonic) and design (harmonic procedure) behind the randomness of the twelve-tone scale. In other words, the principle of individualization — the “self-willed” — as the foundation of any cohesive narrative, is exchanged for aimless improvisation. Objectivity without a subject is meaningless — and this is sheer nihilism.
Therefore, Alma Deutscher, a divine child, is perhaps correct when denouncing our times as “ugly and nihilistic.” Few living composers today could elaborate a musical piece with the coherence and grace she displays — and it is indeed a wonder that God has chosen a little girl as His spokeswoman. By “God” here, I speak of creative intelligence itself — the source of life and purpose, enthroned above chaos and nothingness.
Rachmaninoff, standing between Brahms and Wagner, gives us in his Third Piano Concerto a landscape of ever-stretching expanses — cliffs, ravines, oases, and mountaintops — as though music itself became geography. One could rightly place him beside Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. And yet, one must ask: Is there anything truly new to be discovered within Tonality?
The answer seems to be negative. By the turn of the nineteenth century, Tonal Music had been explored in all its essential possibilities. Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Robert Schumann merely continued the path of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. The romantics added more notes — but not fundamentally new harmonic procedures.
⸻
Wagner and the Dissonant Path
After encountering the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer (The World as Will and Representation), Wagner took a rutted, dissonant path — one built on unfulfilled longings and desires that cannot find resolution. His music (intervals of 2nds, 4ths, 5ths, 7ths) lives in constant tension, vacuity, and collision, modulating into distant keys. Wagner, like Alexander Scriabin, brought Tonal Music to the very brink of Atonality.
Humility is to recognize our indebtedness to the Old Masters. Brahms always paid his respects to Beethoven and Bach — and that is noble and excellent. It would be silly, even presumptuous, to claim originality when our compositions are but loaned pastiches, improvisations, extractive melodies floating in the unconscious.
Of course, unlike the child prodigies of our time, Mozart was fortunate: he likely borrowed from lesser-known Austrian and German composers. He perfected his craft through Bach’s counterpoint and the beauty of Italian opera, producing works of ineffable grace — culminating in his Requiem. His expressive melodies are Italianesque, while his counterpoint is distinctly German.
Mozart, like Homer, nourished his talent from many sources. Over time, his genius reached mythic status, and “greatness” itself became synonymous with the name Mozart — a mysterious figure whose few portraits, as Schopenhauer observed (Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. II, “On the Metaphysics of the Beautiful”), only deepen the legend.
By Eddie Beato
This short essay may encapsulate the Tannhauser of Wagner.
The Air Conditioner, due to recurrent waves of heat, has given me some excruciating pains, but they are now subsiding, and, time and time again, I have to command my mind to stop bringing me those lingering malaises and psychosomatic effects.
But I also reminded myself that pains and sufferings could be transmuted into the fireworks of the spirit…and this is the reason why Wagner tended to juxtapose the main melody unto the regal brasses and trumpets and trombones of the strong soul.
I think he had followed on the footsteps of Beethoven, especially the victorious ninth symphony! No place for self-pathetic incompetence or defeat, you gotta be strong.
Rise up early in the morning, to the triumphant music of an indomitable human being!
Wow! I am at my best when stricken by a passing load of existential pains and trials, they are the ballast to keeping my boat floating in balance, equilibrium and at a gentle pace.
Funny, as much as I digress from my faith in the Lord, pains and losses have kept me humble, on the track, and what a marvelous way to being humbled by a goodly share of human frailties and immortality!
Atch!!!
According to Thomas Mann, in his Faust, health and pains are interchangeable when producing masterpieces like the Concert of Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo, or the profoundly emotionally compelling Tannhauser of Wagner.
Like a stubborn donkey, nevertheless, so is the mind, and time and time again, since I was fifteen, I have had to remind myself that my mind is indeed a world of mysteries concerning its immediate effects upon my physical body.
While I endured some painful moments, I penned down some comments on orchestramusic, the limitations of the piano and the organ to replacing the rich sonorous, deep and scintillating effects of organic instruments.
Moreover, I did touch upon the Tannhauser Overture of Wagner, the Andante Maestoso movement, and why I disagree with the version below as conducted by maestro Telemann, whose tempo fails to capture the ponderous, indeed, deeply plaintive outcries of the upper cascading strings in response to the disheartening trombones, as these latter are bound to take the main opening theme, but in a rather mournful pace which could awake feelings of both empathy and overwhelming sorrow.
Some instruments (e.g., guitar, flute, harpsichord, accordion, sax, among others) are remarkably suited for ornamentation, and they are at their best when flirting, frolicking or teasing around the main melody line.
These instruments have much in common with the dolphins, dogs and squirrels or other such similar creatures, whose playful nature could be said to share much in common with us, and so they are fond to go stray from the main path!
And just when we thought the loyal dog has been lost in the wood, here comes this prodigal creature back to the main theme or tonic.
Concierto de Aranjuez, is an excellent example where playing at “gusto” (a la libre) seems to be ideal for a guitarist or saxophonist.
The nomad Gypsies were once believed to be natural rebellious, or mavericks, and so they are famous for such stylistic genres (Gypsy Music), which is often “extempore” and “jazzy” to using a modern term for anything spontaneous.
I think Franz Liszt did much to incorporating the “playful and freely” into the rather strict music of the Germans of J. S. Bach and Immanuel Kant (pure Teutons of the old stock).
Before the arrival of the piano instrument, the guitar, and to a greater extent, the fiddle, was the preferred instruments of Mephistopheles, and so the story goes, Paganini had a pact with the Devil.
I would say that Liszt’s piano transcriptions of orchestral music could appeal to me due to its bombastic virtuosity, but the upper-strings are often adapted in a clumsy way that may mar the effects of the original composition. At any rate, he did a great job, but, as a great pianist, he has chosen the piano in lieu of the organ.
By chance, or perhaps by the obsequious boon of serendipity, I came across a marvelous transcription for french horns of Nimrod, from Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar (could be found on YouTube), the long-lasting wind-struments could capture the grand conception of the symphony!
But this is not the case for certain instruments (such as the little pipe organ in the local church) or for that matter, the piano-forte, which, as you may know, is said to lack the “plectrum effect” of the string instruments, and whose monotonous resounding tones could scarcely be said to be pliable for a rich-colored palette such as that of a guitar’s nuanced plucking strings.
Now, playing with “elan and finesse” would require both freedom and academic rigor for greater accuracy, and it would be ideal for the instrumentalist to be alike punctilious, sharp as a tack, and yet very spontaneous like a jazz musician.
Neither the organ nor the piano enjoy the “plectrum touch” of the plucking strings, and the rather tinkling tones of a piano (well-tempered clavier) cannot work to the same effects through repetitive short passages.
Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo, however melodious and expressive through the rich texture of a guitar, may sound vapid and monotonous through the bell-sounding tones of a piano.
The piano instrument, when all is said, is quite close to a music box, chimes or a xylophone. The only difference is the range of both tones and timbre or registration, but they are said to be percussive instruments…
I have heard (on YouTube) scores of versions of Liszt’s piano transcription of Wagner’s Tannhauser Overture, and though I admire the pianist’s technical virtuosity, the profound seriousness, grandeur and pathos of the music in question is almost stripped of its depth-quality, mysteriousness and rich-orchestra range…and so the scintillating effects are not the same on a piano…
At times, the heartbreaking passages, especially the cascading plaintive strings as though crying out, dishearteningly maudlin, the sad main melody-lines as extrapolated to the lower regal trombones, may sound rather trite, hollow and shallow when rendered on a wooded instrument such as the piano.
Not even the best pianists could play Wagner’s expansive skies and symphonies without the drawbacks already mentioned.
The piano’s tinkling notes are soon to fade away, and only the most remarkable pianists (with the best pianos ever made) could dare substitute the long-lasting wind-string instruments.
The organ could do much better than the piano when imitating an orchestra, but it lacks the “inflation effects” of the strings and brass instruments, and the intensity of the crescendo is not as effective.
The organ may enjoy a great range of sounds, but the organic sounds of the “plectrum touch” is much wanting.
The capping of a great masterpiece of music (such as Tannhauser) would be incomplete without the dazzling brilliance of the upper trebled instruments (strings, piccolo, triads, and trumpets), and this is the main reason why it has been impossible to substituting the rich, organic colorful instruments of an orchestra.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
On Tonal Music: The Question of Originality
The genius of Richard Wagner, however spoiled by his condescending tone, will continue to thunder across the stately pavilions of millennia. And for such devils of men, we, my contemporary fellowmen and Homo sapiens, may have to endure the thunderbolts of a man like Wagner.
It is, indeed, very challenging to claim any originality in Tonal Music. So many great minds have already lived and dreamed within its boundaries that all we can now do is rearrange its basic concepts into variations — unconscious extractions, transcriptions in the fancy of an improviser. There is, after all, some justification for an avant-garde composer who arranges previously existing melodies and chord progressions. But to claim true originality would require something entirely new. This is the principal reason why musical genius is so difficult to attain within Tonality.
Such a genius could compose divine songs and music, but that afflatus would necessarily draw upon harmonic procedures already explored by our predecessors. Sergei Rachmaninoff, Gustav Mahler, and Carl Orff are among the few post-romantic composers who remained loyal to the old school of Johannes Brahms and Wagner — a dichotomy that still persists today.
One could say that Atonal Music has amounted to naught, having failed to sustain purpose (tonic) and design (harmonic procedure) behind the randomness of the twelve-tone scale. In other words, the principle of individualization — the “self-willed” — as the foundation of any cohesive narrative, is exchanged for aimless improvisation. Objectivity without a subject is meaningless — and this is sheer nihilism.
Therefore, Alma Deutscher, a divine child, is perhaps correct when denouncing our times as “ugly and nihilistic.” Few living composers today could elaborate a musical piece with the coherence and grace she displays — and it is indeed a wonder that God has chosen a little girl as His spokeswoman. By “God” here, I speak of creative intelligence itself — the source of life and purpose, enthroned above chaos and nothingness.
Rachmaninoff, standing between Brahms and Wagner, gives us in his Third Piano Concerto a landscape of ever-stretching expanses — cliffs, ravines, oases, and mountaintops — as though music itself became geography. One could rightly place him beside Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. And yet, one must ask: Is there anything truly new to be discovered within Tonality?
The answer seems to be negative. By the turn of the nineteenth century, Tonal Music had been explored in all its essential possibilities. Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Robert Schumann merely continued the path of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. The romantics added more notes — but not fundamentally new harmonic procedures.
⸻
Wagner and the Dissonant Path
After encountering the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer (The World as Will and Representation), Wagner took a rutted, dissonant path — one built on unfulfilled longings and desires that cannot find resolution. His music (intervals of 2nds, 4ths, 5ths, 7ths) lives in constant tension, vacuity, and collision, modulating into distant keys. Wagner, like Alexander Scriabin, brought Tonal Music to the very brink of Atonality.
Humility is to recognize our indebtedness to the Old Masters. Brahms always paid his respects to Beethoven and Bach — and that is noble and excellent. It would be silly, even presumptuous, to claim originality when our compositions are but loaned pastiches, improvisations, extractive melodies floating in the unconscious.
Of course, unlike the child prodigies of our time, Mozart was fortunate: he likely borrowed from lesser-known Austrian and German composers. He perfected his craft through Bach’s counterpoint and the beauty of Italian opera, producing works of ineffable grace — culminating in his Requiem. His expressive melodies are Italianesque, while his counterpoint is distinctly German.
Mozart, like Homer, nourished his talent from many sources. Over time, his genius reached mythic status, and “greatness” itself became synonymous with the name Mozart — a mysterious figure whose few portraits, as Schopenhauer observed (Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. II, “On the Metaphysics of the Beautiful”), only deepen the legend.