<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; ">Joshua,</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Is your question related to a research or writing project you are engaged in or considering? This might help in knowing how to frame a response. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">In any case, while I could answer your question in the spirit it was asked, I can't do so on your terms. To answer it well and with the necessary qualifications would require an essay. The problem is that I believe attributing to any given musical passage the expression of a specific emotion, especially one defined by complex cognitive content (hope, regret, etc.), is fraught with peril and that doing so convincingly can require a monumental analytic and interpretive effort, when it is possible at all. Philosopher Jenefer Robinson and I demonstrated how this might be accomplished in an essay titled "Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony and the Musical Expression of Cognitively Complex Emotions" (in Music and Meaning, ed. Robinson, Cornell UP, 1997). The bibliography and notes for this essay would likely be helpful if your question is related to an ongoing or prospective research project on expression in the music of Beethoven.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Okay, I will relent and give a short answer just for the hell of it: I think measures 21-25 in the Largo e mesto from Op. 10, No. 3 express an anguished grappling with an inevitable and depressing conclusion. Of course, this statement is as much a summary of analytical data as it is an expressive interpretation. I'll leave it to you to work out how this is so.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Greg Karl</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Jay NY</font></div><div><div>On Feb 22, 2012, at 10:52 AM, Joshua Albrecht wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"> <div style="direction: ltr;font-family: Tahoma;color: #000000;font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "> </span><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; ">Dear collective wisdom,</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "> </span><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "><br> </div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "> </span><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; ">I'm interested in some of the most expressive moments in Beethoven's piano sonatas. What are some of your favorite excerpts that you feel express the most powerful emotions? Any emotion is fine (joy, sorrow, agitation, passion, jealousy, etc.), but ideally it would be an exemplar of that emotion. If you would like to share your favorite moments, please pass on the Sonata number (or Op. number), which movement it is, in what measures it happens, and what emotions you feel that it represents. </div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "> </span><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "><br> </div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "> </span><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; ">For example, I find the opening of the sonata No. 26 (Op. 81a, "Les adieux") to be very moving. The C minor triad seems to exude a mournful, resigned spirit after the Eb-G of the first sonority and the Bb-F open fifth almost establish Eb major. Or, I've always found the "E" major modulation in ms. 42-44 in the second movement of the Pathétique to exhibit an almost paradoxical joyful, resolved feeling that is yet colored by the agitation and unease expressed by the dense, insistent triplet chordal figures underneath the melody.</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "> </span><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "><br> </div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "> </span><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; ">Thanks for your thoughts!</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "> </span><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "><br> </div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "> </span><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; ">Joshua Albrecht, ABD</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "> </span><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; ">School of Music</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "> </span><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; ">Ohio State University</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Smt-talk mailing list</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="mailto:Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org">Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org">http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org</a></div> </blockquote></div><br></body></html>