Piano Sonata No. 30 (Beethoven)
Encyclopedia
Ludwig van Beethoven
's Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, composed in 1820, is the antepenultimate of his piano sonatas. In it, after the huge Hammerklavier sonata, Op. 106
, Beethoven returns to a smaller scale and a more intimate character. It is dedicated to Maximiliane Brentano, the daughter of Beethoven's long-standing friend Antonie Brentano
, for whom Beethoven had already composed the short piano trio in B flat major WoO
39 in 1812. Musically, the work is characterised by a free and original approach to the traditional sonata form
. Its focus is the third movement, a set of variations that interpret its theme in a wide variety of individual ways.
. In the end, though, he offered Starke numbers 7-11 of the Bagatelles, Op. 119.
characteristics that link the first movement with the others were only introduced later. Alexander Wheelock Thayer
, on the other hand, put forward the view that the beginning of a sonata in E minor by Beethoven was not developed further and had nothing to do with Op. 109.
For the third movement, Beethoven first sketched a set of about six variations
, then a set of nine, and finally a continuity draft for a set of six. The differences in character between the individual variations seem to be smaller in the nine-variation version than in the final printed edition, but according to Kay Dreyfus this already indicates a "process of exploration and re-discovery of the theme".
, who regularly included them in his programs between 1830 and 1840, and Hans von Bülow
, who even included several of the late sonatas in one evening.
, Op. 109 is particularly noteworthy for its divergence from the norms of sonata form
and for its harmonic
, formal and other innovations, or even revolutions.
on are varied and contradictory in form and in their predominant musical tendencies. The pianistic means are reduced to leaner, chamber music
-like voice leading, as in the first movement of Opus 110
, or dissolved into recitative
-like passages, as in the third movement of the same work. These procedures contrast with a heightened virtuosity
, a broadening of the form and an increase in overall length, as for example in the Hammerklavier sonata, Op. 106
. In Op. 109, reminiscences of the straightforward style of the early, Haydn-influenced sonatas contrast with harmony that is sometimes harsh, anticipating the music of the 20th century.. This gives special importance to the principles of polyphonic
variation, as in the second movement of Op. 109, and consequently the use of baroque
forms, especially fugue and fugato
. Very wide intervals between the outer voices
, a process of breaking the music into ever shorter note value
s (as in the sixth variation in Op. 109), use of trills
to resolve the music into layers of sound (the same variation in Op. 109 and again in Op. 111
), arpeggio
s, ostinati
and tremolo
s gain increased significance.
. In this sonata, as in many of Beethoven's late works, one interval
is significant throughout. Here it is the consonant interval of a third
. It shares with other late Beethoven sonatas the shift of focus to the last movement, the dissolution into "pure sound" and the references to old baroque forms. Some similarities to the opening of the Sonata in A, Op.101
have been noted.
, the second Razumovsky quartet
and Op. 90
. The combination has been said to mitigate both the light and the dark aspects of the music.
-like Prestissimo by holding down the pedal. The internal form of the first movement is based less on elaboration than on the contrasting juxtaposition of fast and slow, loud and soft, and major and minor. Hence the second movement takes on even more of the function usually assigned to the first movement, which would be in sonata-allegro form
. Then the third movement is - most unusually for a sonata - a theme and variations. Thus the theme in the third movement takes on the role of the slow movement, which is usually the second movement in the standard model. Although the sonata is formally in three movements, many leading musicians and recordings make it sound like two movements by going into the second movement without a pause and then clearly separating the third movement. However, musicologists Jürgen Uhde, Richard Rosenberg, Udo Zilkens and Carl Dahlhaus
divide the work into three movements in their detailed analyses.
A performance lasts about twenty minutes, of which the third movement takes more than half. Overall, the sonata is endowed with abundant melody
and interesting, complex harmony
.
. The same tendency is manifest in the Missa Solemnis, composed at almost the same time, and in the piano sonatas following this one. A quiet, lyrical, rapid Vivace is contrasted, after only eight bars, with a forte Adagio full of arpeggios. Even from a purely harmonic point of view, the contrast between the clear major in the first part and the extremely tense diminished seventh
chords in the second could hardly be more obvious.
Bar 8 does not complete the cadence
in the dominant
(B major) that was conventional when progressing to the second subject in sonata-allegro form. Bars 9-15 continue to avoid the cadence, which only appears in bar 15. Charles Rosen
and others analyse the first movement as being in sonata form, in which the two opening sections form the first and second subjects, and bars 66-end as a coda
.
Richard Rosenberg confirms the three-part structure of sonata form, but cannot identify any thematic duality within the exposition
. Rather, he sees a correspondence between the upper voices of the Vivace and the Adagio together with the bass of the Vivace on the one hand (E-D-C-B-A-G-B-E) and the middle voice in the left hand of the Adagio on the other (D-E-F-G-A-C-D-E).
Jürgen Uhde and Richard Rosenberg point out a similarity between the opening theme of the present sonata and that of the Vivace movement of the Sonata in G major, Op. 79
.
This movement is also in sonata form, although the usual contrast between the first subject (E minor) and the second subject (B minor) is completely absent here because of the nature of the thematic material.
. Its "dignifed, meditative feel is strengthened by emphasis on the tonic
E", which is reached through the falling third in bars 1 and 3, and later through other, wider intervals such as the falling fifth
in bar 5 and the sixth in bar 7. Bars 1-2 are present in various shapes throughout the first eight bars. Bars 1-2 and 5-6 are based on a common thematic shape: G-E-D-B; bars 3-4 and 7-8 are based similarly on G-E-F-A-B.
-like theme, it is more pianistic. The melody is an octave higher, thereby becoming more emotional. It is formed like a "ceremonial Waltz
". With its accompanying formulae in the left hand, its ornamentation and its nuanced dynamics, it calls to mind many later compositions, such as bars 16-20 of Chopin's Waltz Op.34, No. 2. or Debussy's Prelude
Dansueses de Delphe.
The driving rhythmic energy of the fifth variation gives the impression, at least to begin with, of a complex, many-voiced Chorale
-like fugue.
The Schenker edition gives three different bar numberings for this variation, two of which imply the omission of some of the bars. Neither preface identifies the sources leading to these numberings.
, in quiet, slow crotchets at the tempo of the theme. Its peaceful, static character is emphasised by the repeated B in the top voice. As the sonata progresses to its conclusion, Beethoven intensifies almost every musical parameter to the maximum. Note values intensify the rhythm by increasing from crotchets through quavers, triplet
quavers and semiquavers up to demisemiquavers. Contrast of register is increased by alternating very prominent high notes and deep bass notes. From bar 12, long-drawn-out trills in both hands and from bar 17, raging arpeggios and sequences
in the top voice build further towards a climax. Then the last sixteen bars repeat the simple theme - just as if nothing had happened.
s, scale passages, rhythmic models and characteristic idioms that reach their full potential only in the third movement. Jürgen Uhde does not consider the first two movements to be completely self-sufficient constructions in their own right. Rather, often in concealed ways, they already foreshadow the theme of the third movement as the goal of the whole sonata. Richard Rosenberg, in his "reductions", concentrates more on the commonalities among the bass and middle voices of the movements. Starting with the first eight bars of the first movement, he reduces the bass progressions of each movement to a fundamental model of a stepwise descent followed by an ascent in leaps.
This approach - recalling Heinrich Schenker's determination of an Ursatz
through his technique of reductive analysis
- is nevertheless often only possible by means of several simplifications and elimination of inconvenient notes. Uhde and others often point out the danger of too much interpretative license indicating parallels between passages that are scarcely related.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, composed in 1820, is the antepenultimate of his piano sonatas. In it, after the huge Hammerklavier sonata, Op. 106
Piano Sonata No. 29 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106 is a piano sonata widely considered to be one of the most important works of the composer's third period and among one of the great piano sonatas...
, Beethoven returns to a smaller scale and a more intimate character. It is dedicated to Maximiliane Brentano, the daughter of Beethoven's long-standing friend Antonie Brentano
Antonie Brentano
The Immortal Beloved is the mysterious addressee of a love letter which composer Ludwig van Beethoven wrote on 6–7 July 1812 in Teplitz...
, for whom Beethoven had already composed the short piano trio in B flat major WoO
WoO
WoO is an acronym/abbreviation, derived from the German musical catalog phrase . WoO is a catalogue prepared in 1955 by Hans Halm and Georg Kinsky, listing all of the compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven that were not originally published with an opus number, or survived only as fragments.The...
39 in 1812. Musically, the work is characterised by a free and original approach to the traditional sonata form
Sonata form
Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
. Its focus is the third movement, a set of variations that interpret its theme in a wide variety of individual ways.
History
Work on Op. 109 can be traced back to early in 1820, even before Beethoven's negotiations with Adolf Schlesinger, the publisher of his last three sonatas. Recent research suggests that Friedrich Starke had asked Beethoven for a composition for his piano anthology The Vienna Pianoforte School, and that Beethoven had interrupted work on the Missa SolemnisMissa Solemnis (Beethoven)
The Missa solemnis in D Major, Op. 123 was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven from 1819-1823. It was first performed on April 7, 1824 in St. Petersburg, under the auspices of Beethoven's patron Prince Nikolai Galitzin; an incomplete performance was given in Vienna on 7 May 1824, when the Kyrie,...
. In the end, though, he offered Starke numbers 7-11 of the Bagatelles, Op. 119.
Genesis
There is an April entry in Beethoven's conversation book describing a "small new piece" that is, according to William Meredith, identical to the first movement of Op. 109. In fact, the outline of the movement makes the idea of a Bagatelle interrupted by fantasia-like interludes seem very plausible. Beethoven's secretary Franz Oliva then allegedly suggested the idea of using this "small piece" as the beginning of the sonata that Schlesinger wanted. Sieghard Brandenburg has put forward the theory that Beethoven had originally planned a two-movement sonata, omitting the first movement. Apparently some of the motivicMotif (music)
In music, a motif or motive is a short musical idea, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition....
characteristics that link the first movement with the others were only introduced later. Alexander Wheelock Thayer
Alexander Wheelock Thayer
Alexander Wheelock Thayer , was a librarian and journalist who became the author of the first scholarly biography of Ludwig van Beethoven, still after many updatings regarded as a standard work of reference on the composer.-Life:Originally a librarian at Harvard law school, Thayer became aware of...
, on the other hand, put forward the view that the beginning of a sonata in E minor by Beethoven was not developed further and had nothing to do with Op. 109.
For the third movement, Beethoven first sketched a set of about six variations
Variation (music)
In music, variation is a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these.-Variation form:...
, then a set of nine, and finally a continuity draft for a set of six. The differences in character between the individual variations seem to be smaller in the nine-variation version than in the final printed edition, but according to Kay Dreyfus this already indicates a "process of exploration and re-discovery of the theme".
Publication
It has not been conclusively established whether Beethoven completed the sonata in the Autumn of 1820 or only in 1821. In letters to his publisher in 1820, he was already speaking of "Fertigstellung" (completion); but it is unclear whether Beethoven meant completed concepts, drafts or a fair copy that could be dispatched. The first edition was published by Schlesinger in Berlin in November 1821. It contained many errors, since Beethoven was prevented by illness from undertaking adequate proof-reading. The sonata is dedicated to Maximiliane Brentano, the musically gifted daughter of Franz und Antonie Brentano.First performances
The date of the first performance is unknown. The first pianists to undertake to bring Beethoven's last sonatas, including Op. 109, to public attention were Franz LisztFranz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
, who regularly included them in his programs between 1830 and 1840, and Hans von Bülow
Hans von Bülow
Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...
, who even included several of the late sonatas in one evening.
General considerations
With regard to Beethoven's late work, and especially to his late piano sonatasLate Piano Sonatas (Beethoven)
The Late Piano Sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven usually refer to the last five piano sonatas the composer has composed during his late period.*Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101*Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, Op. 106 "Hammerklavier"...
, Op. 109 is particularly noteworthy for its divergence from the norms of sonata form
Sonata form
Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
and for its harmonic
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
, formal and other innovations, or even revolutions.
Beethoven's last sonatas
Opus 109 is one of Beethoven's last three, five or six sonatas that are counted among his late works. The different cut-off points arise from the fact that the sonatas from Opus 90Piano Sonata No. 27 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor is Ludwig van Beethoven's Op. 90. The work, written in the summer of 1814 in Beethoven's late Middle period, was dedicated to Count Moritz von Lichnowsky.- Form :...
on are varied and contradictory in form and in their predominant musical tendencies. The pianistic means are reduced to leaner, chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
-like voice leading, as in the first movement of Opus 110
Piano Sonata No. 31 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110, by Ludwig van Beethoven was composed in 1821. It is the central piano sonata in the group of three opp. 109–111 which he wrote between 1820 and 1822, and the thirty-first of his published piano sonatas....
, or dissolved into recitative
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
-like passages, as in the third movement of the same work. These procedures contrast with a heightened virtuosity
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
, a broadening of the form and an increase in overall length, as for example in the Hammerklavier sonata, Op. 106
Piano Sonata No. 29 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106 is a piano sonata widely considered to be one of the most important works of the composer's third period and among one of the great piano sonatas...
. In Op. 109, reminiscences of the straightforward style of the early, Haydn-influenced sonatas contrast with harmony that is sometimes harsh, anticipating the music of the 20th century.. This gives special importance to the principles of polyphonic
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
variation, as in the second movement of Op. 109, and consequently the use of baroque
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
forms, especially fugue and fugato
Fugue
In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
. Very wide intervals between the outer voices
Part (music)
1) A part is a strand or melody of music played by an individual instrument or voice within a larger work. Parts may be referred to as an outer part or an inner part . Part-writing is the composition of parts in consideration of harmony and counterpoint...
, a process of breaking the music into ever shorter note value
Note value
In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags/beams/hooks/tails....
s (as in the sixth variation in Op. 109), use of trills
Trill (music)
The trill is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill....
to resolve the music into layers of sound (the same variation in Op. 109 and again in Op. 111
Piano Sonata No. 32 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111, is the last of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas. Along with Beethoven's 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120 and his two collections of bagatelles—Opus 119 and Opus 126 —this was one of Beethoven's last compositions for piano. The...
), arpeggio
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
s, ostinati
Ostinato
In music, an ostinato is a motif or phrase, which is persistently repeated in the same musical voice. An ostinato is always a succession of equal sounds, wherein each note always has the same weight or stress. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody in...
and tremolo
Tremolo
Tremolo, or tremolando, is a musical term that describes various trembling effects, falling roughly into two types. The first is a rapid reiteration...
s gain increased significance.
General characteristics
This sonata seduces the listener with its intimate, less dramatic character and distinguishes itself by its special lyricism, "melodic and harmonic beauties" and ornaments and arabesques hinting at ChopinFrédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
. In this sonata, as in many of Beethoven's late works, one interval
Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
is significant throughout. Here it is the consonant interval of a third
Third (music)
In music and music theory third may refer to:*major third*minor third*augmented third/perfect fourth*diminished third/major second*Third , chord member a third above the root*Mediant, third degree of the diatonic scale...
. It shares with other late Beethoven sonatas the shift of focus to the last movement, the dissolution into "pure sound" and the references to old baroque forms. Some similarities to the opening of the Sonata in A, Op.101
Piano Sonata No. 28 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101, was written in 1816 and was dedicated to the pianist Baroness Dorothea Ertmann. This piano sonata runs for about 20 minutes and consists of four movements:...
have been noted.
Key
Throughout the history of music there has been much philosophy and speculation about the character of the individual keys. In Beethoven, E major (frequently described as bright and radiant) and E minor (sad, lamenting) often appear together, as in Op. 14 No. 1Piano Sonata No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 9 in E major, Op. 14, No. 1, is an early-period work by Ludwig van Beethoven, dedicated to Baroness Josefa von Braun. It was composed in 1798 and transcribed - not arranged - for string quartet by the composer in 1801 , the result containing more quartet-like passagework and...
, the second Razumovsky quartet
String Quartet No. 8 (Beethoven)
The String Quartet No. 8 in E minor by Ludwig van Beethoven, opus 59, no. 2, was the second of three of his "Razumovsky" cycle of string quartets, and is a product of his "middle" style period. He published it in 1808...
and Op. 90
Piano Sonata No. 27 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor is Ludwig van Beethoven's Op. 90. The work, written in the summer of 1814 in Beethoven's late Middle period, was dedicated to Count Moritz von Lichnowsky.- Form :...
. The combination has been said to mitigate both the light and the dark aspects of the music.
Differences from the standard model
Opus 109 differs from the "standard model" in several ways. Although written in three movements, it feels more like "two balanced movements", since the first movement is linked to the scherzoScherzo
A scherzo is a piece of music, often a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony or a sonata. The scherzo's precise definition has varied over the years, but it often refers to a movement which replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or...
-like Prestissimo by holding down the pedal. The internal form of the first movement is based less on elaboration than on the contrasting juxtaposition of fast and slow, loud and soft, and major and minor. Hence the second movement takes on even more of the function usually assigned to the first movement, which would be in sonata-allegro form
Sonata form
Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
. Then the third movement is - most unusually for a sonata - a theme and variations. Thus the theme in the third movement takes on the role of the slow movement, which is usually the second movement in the standard model. Although the sonata is formally in three movements, many leading musicians and recordings make it sound like two movements by going into the second movement without a pause and then clearly separating the third movement. However, musicologists Jürgen Uhde, Richard Rosenberg, Udo Zilkens and Carl Dahlhaus
Carl Dahlhaus
Carl Dahlhaus , a musicologist from Berlin, was one of the major contributors to the development of musicology as a scholarly discipline during the post-war era....
divide the work into three movements in their detailed analyses.
Analysis
The three movements of this sonata are:- VivaceVivaceVivace is Italian for "lively" and "vivid". It is pronounced in the International Phonetic Alphabet.Vivace is used as an Italian musical term indicating a movement that is in a lively mood ....
ma non troppo / Adagio espressivo, E major, 2/4 time - Prestissimo, E minor, 6/8 time
- Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung. Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo, E major, 3/4 time.
A performance lasts about twenty minutes, of which the third movement takes more than half. Overall, the sonata is endowed with abundant melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
and interesting, complex harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
.
First movement
The first movement reflects the strong interest that Beethoven developed during this period in structures in which contrasting sections are included parentheticallyParenthesis (rhetoric)
In rhetoric, a parenthesis is an explanatory or qualifying word, clause, or sentence inserted into a passage with which it doesn't necessarily have any grammatical connection...
. The same tendency is manifest in the Missa Solemnis, composed at almost the same time, and in the piano sonatas following this one. A quiet, lyrical, rapid Vivace is contrasted, after only eight bars, with a forte Adagio full of arpeggios. Even from a purely harmonic point of view, the contrast between the clear major in the first part and the extremely tense diminished seventh
Diminished seventh
In classical music from Western culture, a diminished seventh is an interval produced by narrowing a minor seventh by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from A to G is a minor seventh, ten semitones wide, and both the intervals from A to G, and from A to G are diminished sevenths,...
chords in the second could hardly be more obvious.
Bar 8 does not complete the cadence
Cadence (music)
In Western musical theory, a cadence is, "a melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of repose or resolution [finality or pause]." A harmonic cadence is a progression of two chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music...
in the dominant
Dominant (music)
In music, the dominant is the fifth scale degree of the diatonic scale, called "dominant" because it is next in importance to the tonic,and a dominant chord is any chord built upon that pitch, using the notes of the same diatonic scale...
(B major) that was conventional when progressing to the second subject in sonata-allegro form. Bars 9-15 continue to avoid the cadence, which only appears in bar 15. Charles Rosen
Charles Rosen
Charles Rosen is an American pianist and author on music.-Life and career:In his youth he studied piano with Moriz Rosenthal. Rosenthal, born in 1862, had been a student of Franz Liszt...
and others analyse the first movement as being in sonata form, in which the two opening sections form the first and second subjects, and bars 66-end as a coda
Coda (music)
Coda is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence...
.
Richard Rosenberg confirms the three-part structure of sonata form, but cannot identify any thematic duality within the exposition
Exposition (music)
In musical form and analysis, exposition is the initial presentation of the thematic material of a musical composition, movement, or section. The use of the term generally implies that the material will be developed or varied....
. Rather, he sees a correspondence between the upper voices of the Vivace and the Adagio together with the bass of the Vivace on the one hand (E-D-C-B-A-G-B-E) and the middle voice in the left hand of the Adagio on the other (D-E-F-G-A-C-D-E).
Jürgen Uhde and Richard Rosenberg point out a similarity between the opening theme of the present sonata and that of the Vivace movement of the Sonata in G major, Op. 79
Piano Sonata No. 25 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 25 in G major, Op. 79, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1809. It consists of three movements:#Presto alla tedesca#Andante#Vivace...
.
Second movement
The stormy Prestissimo in E minor has been described as one of Beethoven's most tuneful prestissimo movements.This movement is also in sonata form, although the usual contrast between the first subject (E minor) and the second subject (B minor) is completely absent here because of the nature of the thematic material.
Third movement
This movement consists of a theme with variations of differing character and piano technique.Theme
The dotted notes emphasise the second beat of the bar, giving this song-like theme something of the character of a SarabandeSarabande
In music, the sarabande is a dance in triple metre. The second and third beats of each measure are often tied, giving the dance a distinctive rhythm of quarter notes and eighth notes in alternation...
. Its "dignifed, meditative feel is strengthened by emphasis on the tonic
Tonic
Tonic may refer to:*Tonic water, a drink traditionally containing quinine*Soft drink, a carbonated beverage*Tonic , the response of a muscle fiber or nerve ending typified by slow, continuous action...
E", which is reached through the falling third in bars 1 and 3, and later through other, wider intervals such as the falling fifth
Perfect fifth
In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is a musical interval encompassing five staff positions , and the perfect fifth is a fifth spanning seven semitones, or in meantone, four diatonic semitones and three chromatic semitones...
in bar 5 and the sixth in bar 7. Bars 1-2 are present in various shapes throughout the first eight bars. Bars 1-2 and 5-6 are based on a common thematic shape: G-E-D-B; bars 3-4 and 7-8 are based similarly on G-E-F-A-B.
Variation 1
This variation keeps the tempo of the theme. Compared with the quartetQuartet
In music, a quartet is a method of instrumentation , used to perform a musical composition, and consisting of four parts.-Western art music:...
-like theme, it is more pianistic. The melody is an octave higher, thereby becoming more emotional. It is formed like a "ceremonial Waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
". With its accompanying formulae in the left hand, its ornamentation and its nuanced dynamics, it calls to mind many later compositions, such as bars 16-20 of Chopin's Waltz Op.34, No. 2. or Debussy's Prelude
Prelude
Prelude may refer to:*Sheaffer Prelude, a series of fountain pens, ballpoints and rollerball pens made by the Sheaffer Pen company*Prelude , a musical form*Prelude , an English based folk band...
Dansueses de Delphe.
Variation 2
This variation is marked leggiermente. Whereas the theme and first variation were a binary phrase structure, here we have three variations collated, and presented as one. The first texture is a call and response which strongly recalls the beginning of the first movement. The second is a two voice canon in the right hand over a steady eighth note accompaniment. the two textures are then combined to form a third, with alternating sixteenth notes between the left and right hands, as in the beginning, with a steady eighth note chordal pulse as in the second part. this pattern is then repeated for the second half of the theme.Variation 3
This variation breaks away from the original tempo and is marked allegro vivace. It also replaces the theme's 3/4 time signtaure with 2/4. It is a virtuosic Allegro in a two-part contrapuntal texture reminiscent of a two-part invention.Variation 4
This variation is a little slower than the theme ("etwas langsamer, als das thema. un poco meno andante ciò è un poco più adagio come it tema."). It is in 9/8 time. The first half (repeated) is a contrapuntal texture varying between two and four voices. In the second half, between zero and two voices continue in the same vein over an accompaniment of broken chords.Variation 5 (allegro ma non troppo)
After variation 4, Beethoven abandons numbering the variations and just provides tempo indications at the head of the remaining ones. The reasons are unknown. In spite of this, it is usual to refer to the remaining variations as numbers 5 and 6.The driving rhythmic energy of the fifth variation gives the impression, at least to begin with, of a complex, many-voiced Chorale
Chorale
A chorale was originally a hymn sung by a Christian congregation. In certain modern usage, this term may also include classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....
-like fugue.
The Schenker edition gives three different bar numberings for this variation, two of which imply the omission of some of the bars. Neither preface identifies the sources leading to these numberings.
Variation 6 (tempo primo del tema)
In extreme contrast to the energy and speed of the previous variation, this one begins with a four-bar passage marked cantabileCantabile
Cantabile is a musical term meaning literally "singable" or "songlike" . It has several meanings in different contexts. In instrumental music, it indicates a particular style of playing designed to imitate the human voice. For 18th century composers, the term is often used synonymously with...
, in quiet, slow crotchets at the tempo of the theme. Its peaceful, static character is emphasised by the repeated B in the top voice. As the sonata progresses to its conclusion, Beethoven intensifies almost every musical parameter to the maximum. Note values intensify the rhythm by increasing from crotchets through quavers, triplet
Tuplet
In music a tuplet is "any rhythm that involves dividing the beat into a different number of equal subdivisions from that usually permitted by the...
quavers and semiquavers up to demisemiquavers. Contrast of register is increased by alternating very prominent high notes and deep bass notes. From bar 12, long-drawn-out trills in both hands and from bar 17, raging arpeggios and sequences
Sequence (music)
In music, a sequence is the immediate restatement of a motif or longer melodic passage at a higher or lower pitch in the same voice. It is one of the most common and simple methods of elaborating a melody in eighteenth and nineteenth century classical music...
in the top voice build further towards a climax. Then the last sixteen bars repeat the simple theme - just as if nothing had happened.
The work as a whole
Already in the first two movements, many musicologists see motifMotif
Motif may refer to the following:In creative work:* Motif , a perceivable or salient recurring fragment or succession of notes* Motif , any recurring element in a story that has symbolic significance...
s, scale passages, rhythmic models and characteristic idioms that reach their full potential only in the third movement. Jürgen Uhde does not consider the first two movements to be completely self-sufficient constructions in their own right. Rather, often in concealed ways, they already foreshadow the theme of the third movement as the goal of the whole sonata. Richard Rosenberg, in his "reductions", concentrates more on the commonalities among the bass and middle voices of the movements. Starting with the first eight bars of the first movement, he reduces the bass progressions of each movement to a fundamental model of a stepwise descent followed by an ascent in leaps.
This approach - recalling Heinrich Schenker's determination of an Ursatz
Fundamental structure
In Schenkerian analysis, the fundamental structure is a specific musical pattern that occurs at the most remote level of structure. A basic elaboration of the tonic triad, it consists of the fundamental line accompanied by the bass arpeggiation...
through his technique of reductive analysis
Schenkerian analysis
Schenkerian analysis is a method of musical analysis of tonal music based on the theories of Heinrich Schenker. The goal of a Schenkerian analysis is to interpret the underlying structure of a tonal work. The theory's basic tenets can be viewed as a way of defining tonality in music...
- is nevertheless often only possible by means of several simplifications and elimination of inconvenient notes. Uhde and others often point out the danger of too much interpretative license indicating parallels between passages that are scarcely related.
External links
- A lecture by András SchiffAndrás SchiffAndrás Schiff is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist, who has won a number of awards including the Grammy and made numerous recordings.- Biography :...
on Beethoven's piano sonata op. 109 - Performance by Paul Pitman at Musopen
- Alfred Brendel: Notes on a Complete Recording of Beethoven's Piano Works
- Manuscript of Op. 109 at the Library of Congress. (Note: although the title of this web page and Beethoven's own title page read "Sonate für das Hammerklavier", it is Op. 109.)