A
one-man, one-piano hardcore classical
riot. The first time I heard this piece, I was in a
college music class with about twenty other people. By the end of the fist movement, we were all
breathless,
shaken, and
stunned. Don't get me
wrong, I love
Korn and all, but next to the
almighty Beethoven, Korn sounds like
elevator music.
Some
interesting bits: The Appassionata (which means "
Impassioned") was either the
first or
among the very first Sonatas written specifically for the
piano. Remember, at that time, the
pianoforte was a
new invention--previously, everything was done on a
harpsichord, which of course only plays things at
one volume. Beethoven wrote this one for the pianoforte (meaning soft-loud) and arranged to
play it for the
King--who,
incidentally, was one of very few people who actually
had one of these fancy instruments. Believe me, NOBODY can take advantage of loud and soft like Beethoven. The first time he played the Appassionata, at court for a bunch of important people, he
broke the piano just by playing that hard. (Amazingly, he was not
shot for destroying a
sickeningly expensive handcrafted musical instrument, but only because he was, well, Beethoven.) Well, of course, they gave him
another piano to work with, but not before
begging him to go easy on it.
He was then
forbidden, for the rest of his life, to ever EVER play the
Appassionata again in front of an
unmarried woman. Several
maidens and damsels and whatnot had suffered
hot flashes,
dizziniess, and "overexcitement"...one
woman passed out on the floor (supposedly of
offended outrage, but popular opinion holds that the incredibly
passionate music gave her an
orgasm right there in front of everybody).
Beethoven is
the shit.