Bill Pirkle:

>I was trying to separate music in to two categories 1) music where
>the composer hoped to stir emotions in the listener and those where the
>composer was experimenting with musical ideas which may or may not stir
>emotion in the listener, but the composer did not necessarily have that
>intent.  Chopin's etudes are a good example of the 2nd type, although
>several are quite emotional.  His 2nd movementt of the Fmin concerto is
>a good example of the 1st.

This division becomes very difficult in many cases (too many, perhaps,
dealing with romantic music):  what about Beethoven's last piano sonatas
or his late string quartets?.  What about Mahler's 8th or 10th symphonies
(I choose two just as an example), or "Das Lied von der Erde", or
Bruckner's 5th, or Schoenberg's "Verklarte Nacht"?.  What about the employ
of letimotiv in Wagner's operas?.  This is an interesting case:  leitmotiv
is mainly an "emotional" resource (it was called "Erinnerungsmotiv" also),
but Wagner often employs it with some architectural or "abstract" purposes
(ie:  to provide a pure thematic consistency in a single Act or secene).
Those developments of the motives are not necessarily heard by the
listener, but they can be "seen" in the score.

>So far I have found this interesting comment that gives some insight into
>how he percieved music.  Its about a sonata that he was asked to write. ...
>Is this program music he is refferring to?. What could the specifications
>for the sonata have been that provoked this response. What "kind" of sonata
>would not "fit" with the times? Any thoughts?

If I don't remember bad, Beethoven is not refering here to program music,
but to the dedication of "such a Sonata" to Bonaparte, who will politically
disappoint him in a deeper way in 1804.?Am I wrong?.

Pablo Massa
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