Diane Kolin

Category: Ludwig van Beethoven – in English

Interview of Régis Penet, author of the comic strip “Beethoven, le prix de la liberté” (“Beethoven, the price of freedom”) – Beethoven, revue de l’Association Beethoven France No. 22, 2022

Posted on by Diane Kolin

Régis Penet has always drawn with musical accompaniment. He listened to a lot of Beethoven, less now because Beethoven lends itself rather poorly to distracted or partial listening. The biography of Beethoven by Jean and Brigitte Massin and listening to the Pastorale and the Concerto l’Empereur were the starting points for his Beethoven project. On May 18, 2021, pianist George Lepauw and cartoonist Régis Penet shared a moment of music and drawing during an event organized by the publishing house La Boîte à Bulles in partnership with the Association Beethoven France, on the occasion of the release of Régis Penet’s album, “Beethoven, the price of freedom”. The ABF also had the chance to take part in the proofreading of the original project before publication, and in the creation of the Deezer playlist associated with the book. In October 2021, Régis Penet was interviewed by Diane Kolin.

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Understanding the early metronome markings: The A Tempo Project – Beethoven, revue de l’Association Beethoven France No. 21, 2021

Posted on by Diane Kolin

The following article presents a mixture of musical history and analysis of musical excerpts. The passages oriented towards the interpreter, sometimes somewhat technical, are kept here in order to offer the possibility of testing the hypotheses put forward. The subject of the first metronomic indications has always been a long-standing enigma for artists and researchers. Conductors and musicians face the difficult task of interpreting the tempi of 19th century works, containing metronomic indications that appear incorrect based on our current standards.

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The Beethoven Monument and first Beethovenfest in Bonn in 1845 – Beethoven, revue de l’Association Beethoven France No. 21, 2021

Posted on by Diane Kolin

At the time of Beethoven’s death, there was no public place in Germany honoring a composer. France had a statue of Gluck, and the United Kingdom a statue of Handel. Between Beethoven’s death and the unveiling of the statue representing him in 1845, Germany placed a plaque in honor of Haydn in Vienna, installed a bust of Bach in the St. Thomas School in Leipzig, and a sculpture from Mozart to Salzburg. Of all these tributes, none provoked as much controversy as that of Beethoven.

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Beethoven in theatre (5th part): Looking for Beethoven, by Pascal Amoyel (2019) – Beethoven, revue de l’Association Beethoven France No. 21, 2021

Posted on by Diane Kolin

Approaching the piano on the stage of the Ranelagh Theatre on this night of December 2019, Pascal Amoyel admits that he doesn’t usually addresses the audience before a show but that this night was special: he would perform the Pathetique sonata for the 300th time. 300 different interpretations. A 300th time that projects him back to his Conservatory years where he was “formatted”: “Schubert is performed this way and Beethoven that way, don’t look elsewhere, we found for you”.

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