Dear Eugene, No one would quarrel with the fact that the guitar enjoyed considerable popularity in Vienna in Beethoven's time. Schubert used the instrument a few times, including in a birthday cantata for his father. I know of no documentary evidence that Schubert played guitar. If he did so, someone would have made note of that fact.
Maybe the guy upstairs, who had a guitar hanging over _his_ bed, played in the birthday piece. No one is belittling the guitar here. It is just that some guitarists wish unnecessarily to enhance their instrument by repeating myths that have no basis in fact. The many Schubert Lieder with guitar accompaniment were usually arrangements by Diabelli, Mertz, Pfeifer, et al. One can imagine that the publishers would rush guitar versions into print to beat the competition for lucrative salon sales. If Schubert played guitar, he would have made the arrangements himself and pocketed the extra change. He was really very poor. The Viennese authorities wouldn't let him get married because he didn't have sufficient income to support a wife. His petition to marry was discovered just a few years ago by Rita Steblin. (Just think how different Schubert might have been if he played guitar in a city with so many guitar fanatics.) I think Brian Jefferey has published some of these arrangements. Edited by the late Bob Spencer. Many of you probably know the edition. Beethoven was drawn to Diabelli's waltz because it was such a trite piece of music. Afterall it was really a kind of homework assignment that Diabelli sent out to about 50 Austrian composers, Schubert was one. Others included the 11-year-old Liszt, Czerny and Kalkbrenner.) I used to have an LP of "The Other Diabelli Variations." Interesting listening. But as composers Diabelli and Beethoven dwelled in worlds wide apart. Just compare that cheap waltz with what Beethoven did with it in making what surely is one of the greatest variation sets of all time. I really don't see this as evidence that Diabelli influenced Beethoven. Beethoven probably was angered by such a cheap piece of music, that he saw in it a challenge to show what he could do with it. Even writing a "pun" variation about how hard he had been working, "Notte e giorno faticar," quoting another composer's previous use of a motive similar to one found in the waltz, Leoporello's opening arioso from Don Giovanni. If Diabelli influenced Beethoven, it was probably in a negative way. He wasn't even a significant publisher of LvB's works. He was a major Schubert publisher, though. As for profound use of mandolin by Mozart, nothing could be more profound than Giovanni's serenade "Deh vieni all finestra." After that (thanks to Mozart's seductive music) Giovanni could take any woman in the theater to bed on the spot. It even has his favorite harmonic progression for seduction. I certainly would never consider it a "trifle." ----- Original Message ----- From: EUGENE BRAIG IV To: Arthur Ness Cc: Jon Murphy ; LGS-Europe ; Lute Net ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 4:27 AM Subject: Re: OT: Mozart for guitar ----- Original Message ----- From: Arthur Ness <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wednesday, August 3, 2005 4:04 am Subject: Re: OT: Mozart for guitar > ...There's no factual basis for the belief common in the > guitar world that Giuliani influenced Beethoven. They may never > even have spoken to one another. However, another contemporary guitarist, Anton Diabelli, certainly did. I'm not aware of any evidence that Diabelli's guitar playing ever entered Beethoven's perception, but their interaction is undeniable (consider Beethoven's op. 120, e.g.). There were also many period arrangements of Beethoven songs for guitar. > Oh yes, I also doubt that Schubert had a guitar hanging on the > wall above his bed. Having never seen a photo of him in his living quarters, I don't know, but Schubert certainly played and loved the guitar. I believe a fair number of his songs were published with guitar accompaniment before the piano accompaniment became available. It would be hard to argue against the fact that guitar enjoyed a wave of popularity in Viennese parlors around this time. There is no read to give this notion any more or less weight than it deserves. I like guitar as much as any other plucked string. There is no need to exaggerate its various historical appearances, but no need to belittle them either. Best, Eugene To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --
