My love for 6/8 and 12/8 comes from the classical world. 6/8 time is great for capturing the rocking motion of a ship on the sea, like in Smetana’s The Moldau (1875) or Chopin’s Barcarolle (1846). 12/8 is harder to find…. Or so I thought, until I just now listened to the chorus of Billy Joel’s This Night for the first time to discover he stole it from Beethoven! It’s the melody of the lovely, anthemic second movement of Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata (1799), re-cast in modern tones. Sorry if this knocks your praise of his songwriting down a peg, but if it’s any consolation, you’re still spot on with the critique of his phrasing, which doesn’t match Beethoven’s original piano score. While the original was written entirely in 2/4, Beethoven adds motion and nostalgia to the piece by transitioning to an clear (if not literally notated) 12/8 in the latter half.
You know, I wondered when I was writing this about the extent to which any of these songs were drawing on compound time elements from classical music, in addition to the obvious jazz roots of some of the stylings, but I never expected the link to be quite so definite! Apparently you can write a song in the style of 50s doo-wop and then just lift your chorus from Beethoven. That's fascinating in itself. Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
My favorite 12/8 is probably Bach's double violin Largo
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iSJxZGtzI3s
I believe this is an instance of a
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastorale
My love for 6/8 and 12/8 comes from the classical world. 6/8 time is great for capturing the rocking motion of a ship on the sea, like in Smetana’s The Moldau (1875) or Chopin’s Barcarolle (1846). 12/8 is harder to find…. Or so I thought, until I just now listened to the chorus of Billy Joel’s This Night for the first time to discover he stole it from Beethoven! It’s the melody of the lovely, anthemic second movement of Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata (1799), re-cast in modern tones. Sorry if this knocks your praise of his songwriting down a peg, but if it’s any consolation, you’re still spot on with the critique of his phrasing, which doesn’t match Beethoven’s original piano score. While the original was written entirely in 2/4, Beethoven adds motion and nostalgia to the piece by transitioning to an clear (if not literally notated) 12/8 in the latter half.
Sonata Pathetique, Mvmt 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZK4zTc1HnU
You know, I wondered when I was writing this about the extent to which any of these songs were drawing on compound time elements from classical music, in addition to the obvious jazz roots of some of the stylings, but I never expected the link to be quite so definite! Apparently you can write a song in the style of 50s doo-wop and then just lift your chorus from Beethoven. That's fascinating in itself. Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
I greatly enjoyed this change of pace.