1636: The Devil's Opera by Eric Flint

Author:Eric Flint [Flint, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, Action & Adventure, General, Time travel
ISBN: 9781451639285
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2013-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 40

It was a long afternoon, and by the end of it Marla was ready for it to be over. She had played most everything she knew, from classical to pop to hymns. Fortunately their friends had started showing up one by one, and she was able to change off with Hermann and Thomas. She was back at the keyboard at the end of the party, however. Most everyone had left by the time she started the Beethoven. She’d almost begun playing it several times during the day, but had held back until now.

She laid her hands on the keys, and waited. For all that it was considered by some up-time authorities to be a lesser work because of its popularity, to Marla, Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Opus 27, No. 2—the Sonata quasi una fantasia, most commonly known as the “Moonlight” or “Mondschein Sonata”—was quintessential Beethoven. Even more than Chopin, it was the piece that had made her want to study piano at an early age. It was the first adult piece she played in its entirety in a recital. And it was the first piece she had brought back to her exacting standards after her…hiatus.

Eyes closed, head bowed, Marla breathed in and out, and when the moment felt right, lifted her hands and began.

The opening slow arpeggios poured from her long fingers. Even though Marla was focused on the music, a small thought surfaced in a corner of her mind: she never did understand why the nickname of the piece was “Moonlight.” To her the opening movement, with its long quiet flowing themes was much more evocative of water. Her mouth quirked at the thought that it should have been the “Moonlake” Sonata.

Releasing the thought, Marla poured herself into the music, and for several minutes just let the adagio sostenuto of that first movement ebb and flow in tempo, ebb and flow in volume, ebb and flow in spirit. At length, the conclusion arrived, and she closed in the soft final chords; peaceful, cleansing, cleansed.

Without more than half a breath, she tripped on to the allegretto movement, one that had always felt like a stately dance to her, albeit one with a lilt. Eyes still closed, fingers still unerringly finding the keys, she felt her lips curve in an involuntary smile. It was impossible not to smile when playing such a light-hearted piece.

All too soon the second movement was over, and this time the pause between it and the third movement was even shorter, lasting only long enough to lift the hands from the closing positions and place them to begin the great rolling arpeggios of the presto agitato. Fingers flashed as she began at the bottom and rolled up to crashing chords, again and again. Interludes came and went, but always the return to the arpeggios, always the return to the hammered double chords, always the impact of the keys hitting the bottom of their travelings as she treated them almost as percussive instruments.

The final

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.