Moises Kaufman: 33 Variations (a layered play about the
composition of Beethoven's famous variations)
From Aug. 24, 2007 to Sept. 30,
2007 Arena Stage in Washington DC (in the Waterfront district, not too far from
the new Nats stadium) is presented a 'preview' of 33
Variations, by Moises Kaufman, also directed by him, in the auxillary Kreeger Theater, which
has a conventional stage with stadium seating.
The play presents two layered stories: one, Beethoven's
composition of his famous Variations on a Theme of Diabelli, Op. 120, for
piano, and maybe the longest variation form composition in music literature.
The tale is that a publisher Anton Diabelli (Don Amendolia)
wrote a perfunctory waltz theme and invited fifty composers, including
Beethoven, to write one variation a piece. He would publish all fifty for a
handsome profit. That was numbers-driven music publishing, 19th Century style;
and perhaps the dilettante Diabelli (mostly businessman and not artist) thought
of himself as the composer's "search engine" in the pre-tech
enlightenment era. Beethoven reportedly thought the theme was too trivial to be
worth his attention, and relayed the message back through his business manager,
Schindler. But then he took an interest, and first was going to write six
variations, and the number grew to 33. The variations include a fugue, and the
last variation is a stately minuet (ending on one forte C major triad), which
Kaufman choreographs to give the play (about 120 min) a curious epilogue. The
variations would be composed over many years, with a three
year break, and Beethoven's compositional style would deepen as his
deafness intensified and finally, in 1822, became total and complete. The
cerebral style is reflected in some other variation sets that form the finales
of a couple of late sonatas, no. 30 in E Major (used in a critical scene in the
indie movie "Trick"), and the last, in c minor (with the Arioso and
variations). For the play, a pianist (Diane Walsh) plays excerpts from about
half of the variations in the sequences in which they were actually composed.
The story is told in parallel with the tale of an aging
musicologist Dr. Katherine Brandt (Mary Beth Peil)
who is dying of ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- we don't learn "the
diagnosis" for a while), with her daughter Clara (Laura Odeh) having to
care for her. A male nurse Mike (Greg Keller) helps, and there is some
development of a romantic relationship with the daughter. Dr. Brandt travels to
Bonn to research the composition of the variations, and the parallel stories
are told simultaneously, sometimes with characters from both on the wide stage
at the same time. The stage background includes compartments and projections of
Beethoven�s handwritten notes and handwritten scribbly drafts. The point is
made that Beethoven composed from written notes and represented the common man
(in the post French Revolution era) where
as Mozart had been a prodigy composer of the Austrian court.
During the modern story, the daughter is encouraged to grow
closer to her mother, with a degree of forced intimacy (the term is used in the
script) that frightens her at first, as she resists having to touch her mother
to give physical therapy. Later, though, she winds up feeding her mother.
The musicology of the piece, as discussed in the play,
presents the Diabelli Variations as a mediation on the nature of dance,
starting with a dance that is more social (the waltz) and ending with one the
is stately, courtly, proper and conservative (the
Minuet, which used to be the third movement of most symphonies until Beethoven
popularized the scherzo). Beethoven would explore the dance more fully in the
Symphony #7 (with its famous Allegretto in place of a slow movement, and a
finale that could almost work in a disco). My own piano lessons with the
Sherwood course emphasized form, with the Sonata form being the most developed,
and the variations being a special opportunity to explore musical fabric for
its own sake. I recall a piano teacher calling the Liszt Legends (St. Francis
Walking on the Water -- one of my favorites) variations, but they are not in
the same sense. The most famous modern example of variation form is probably
Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (a theme often used by other
composers for variations).
After the play, Kaufman led a Q&A for the audience. I
said that I saw this as a film as well as a play. Kaufman says that the idea
for the play came to him as he was visiting a Tower Records store just before
Tower Records shut down.
The play is a stunning mixture of music as aesthetics, and
the moral side of family values.
I did pick up a CD of the Diabelli Variations, a London
Decca 4758401 with Vladimir Askenazy as pianist (49
min) with a supplement: "12 Variations in A Major from Paul Wronitzky's Ballet Das Waldmadchen",
WoO 71 ("The Forest Maiden"). The Diabelli,
when played at home, does have a hypnotic effect. The entire composition is in
C Major except for the fugue, Var. 32, in E-flat, and the Minuet indeed
provides an ironic conclusion, final C Major chord and all.
Posted by Bill Boushka at 4:40 PM
Labels: Beethoven, drama
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