Dussek piano sonata op. 62 'Elegie harmonique'

[Mystery]

Anyone know this work and have ideas about it? It's labelled as having a three-key exposition, but I'm not sure I agree, and also it's meant to be programmatic, presumably something about harmony (considering subtitle). Any thoughts on structure or anything? I can't find much written about it anywhere...

[JoshLilly]

I have a recording of this work, but unfortunately, I lack any technical knowledge with which to discuss it. I've never seen a score, and probably wouldn't understand it even if I did, but the slow start sounds like it dabbles in experimentation with dissonance. Those loud... um... "upswinging things", that end each of the "statements" early on. It's like it's divided into a series of statements about chord structure or something. It's not normal at all, and even borders on the bizarre. The period at the end of each statement is where what sounds like technical dissonance comes in; at the least, the running-up chords sound really weird and out of place.

I wish someone could explain the weird out-of-place notes thrown in. In the ... 3rd... movement? erm... well, some say it has 2 movements, the first being extremely long with that odd slow introduction. But really, the "slow introduction" is pretty much a movement unto itself, that slurs into the 2nd movement. That's just how it seems to me. But in the 3rd movement, the oddities really return, things sound like a fairly normal piano sonata movement, but there are "uncomfortable" surprises thrown in, strange notes that sound really out of place.

This is perhaps Dussek's most truly unusual work. I always feel unsettled during and after hearing it.

[Mystery]

Glad you think it's bizarre too. I have no recording of it, only the score, so I attempted to play it but it's pretty challenging! Will look into what you said and come back with more thoughts! Thanks.

[JoshLilly]

I checked the liner notes of the CD - haven't listened to this work in a long time. Thanks for bringing me back to Dussek after a long time away! I haven't listened to him but a handful of times in a few years. In any case, the liner notes say that this sonata was composed in honour of Dussek's patron Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, after his death in the Battle of Saalfeld in one of the Napoleonic Wars. This is the same prince to whom Beethoven dedicated his Piano Concerto #3, and was himself an amateur composer. I have in my collection a single work by his uncle, Friedrich the Great, but have never - as far as I remember - heard anything by Louis Ferdinand.