Les sonates pour piano de Beethoven : regard sur l'évolution de l'interprétation des op. 2 N1, op. 53 et op. 111au XXème siècle

par Nicolas Lagoumitzis

Thèse de doctorat en Musicologie

Sous la direction de Costin Miereanú.

Soutenue en 1998

à Paris 1 .

mots clés

• Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770-1827) -- Interprétation
• Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770-1827) -- Sonates. Piano
• Sonates (piano) -- Interprétation -- 20e siècle

Résumé

Ce travail est une etude historico-esthetique de l'interpretation des sonates pour piano de beethoven, fondee sur la comparaison d'enregistrements realises au cours de diverses periodes du xxeme siecle. Selon la methodologie adoptee -l'analyse interpretative comparee- nous relevons les options interpretatives de chaque exegete lors de sa lecture "personnelle" de ce corpus beethovenien considere dans sa materialite "objective". Nous essayons de degager les perspectives esthetiques des artistes-in- terpretes en tenant compte des differentes periodes de composition des sonates, des differentes epoques de leur interpretation et, de plus, de l'influence de la tra- dition interpretative du xixeme siecle, comme de l'esthetique de certains courants d'art du xxeme siecle, sur les options exegetiques des pianistes. Les oeuvres (op. 2 n01, op. 53 et op. 111) ont ete choisies en tant que repre- sentatives et revelatrices des trois periodes de la creation beethovenienne entre classicisme et romantisme. Les interpretes (artur schnabel, claudio arrau, tatiana nikolayeva, friedrich gulda et michael levinas) possedent tous des formations musicales distinctes car ils appartiennent a des ecoles pianistiques eu- ropeennes majeures aux fondements differents. Pour chacun d'entre eux, nous avons choisi le moment correspondant a l'enregistrement de l'integrale des so- nates pour piano, afin d'obtenir, grace a leur comparaison, des elements repre- sentatifs de l'evolution de l'esthetique pianistique au xxeme siecle.

Titre traduit

Beethoven's piano sonatas : a view of the evolution of the interpretation of op. 2 N1, op. 53 and op. 111 in the 20th century

Résumé

The present thesis is a historical-aesthetic study of the interpretation of beethoven's piano sonatas. As such, it is based on the comparison of certain recordings during different periods within the 20th century. Through the methodology we e adopted -the comparative interpretative analysis- we reveal each artist's interpretative choice, consistent with his "individual" reading of beethoven's piano sonatas "corpus". We have strived to uncover the aesthetic perspectives of the artists taking into account the different chronological periods of the creation and interpretation of the sonatas, as well as the influence of the 19th century interpretative tradition and 20th century aesthetic currents, on the artists' interpretative preferences. The works (op. 2 n01, op. 53 and op. Ill) were selected as being representative and revealing of the three periods of beethoven's creation between "classicism" and "romanticism". The interpreters (artur schnabel, claudio arrau, tatiana nikolayeva, friedrich gulda and michael levinas) possess a remarkable musical education, especially as they all belong to grand european piano schools, each being characterized by different founding principles. Each artist has recorded beethoven's piano sonatas in their entirety. These complete recordings provided the chronological framework against which our comparisons were made. Our ultimate aim has been to capture those unique elements reflecting the evolution of piano- playing aesthetics in the 20th century.