The Principles and Techniques of Artur Schnabel’s Performance of the Piano Sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven

Abstract

The piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) represent the highest achievement of the First Viennese School in modern piano performance. The complexity and depth of the stage interpretation requires the study of the composer’s music based on its performance specifics. The study of the features of the piano sonata works by Beethoven on the example of performances by Artur Schnabel, one of the most prominent pianists of the twentieth century, will enrich modern knowledge about the style of Beethoven’s piano works. The objectives of the paper are to characterize the genre and stylistic features of Beethoven’s sonata works and to study the performing features of the German composer’s sonatas in Schnabel’s interpretation. Rationalistic approach is not typical for Schnabel’s interpretation of Beethoven’s sonatas. On the contrary, his performance has romantic features in terms of strength and depth of feeling but is classical in terms of the proportionality of expressive means. His performance impresses with its philosophical orientation and epic spirit. What is especially important to him in the musical composition is an individual approach to the intonation of recitatives, cadences, syncopation, and those stylistic components of playing that form an original interpretation of Beethoven’s music. Schnabel embodies Beethoven’s concepts on the basis of integrity, starting from the epic characteristics of Beethoven’s work