DXLVI. BEETHOVEN, Ludwig van (1770-1827)
Five years passed between #23 ("Appassionata") and the present work. Other than the Fifth Piano Concerto ("Emperor"), Beethoven did not produce much in this year -- soon he would be reduced to follow Haydn's suggestion and write folksong arrangements for English publishers -- a sad commentary on the state of his affairs during this period.
Ah, but to write for love! The sonata is dedicated to Countess Thérèse von Brunswick -- who may or may not have been the "Immortal Beloved."
Beethoven -- now entirely deaf -- wrote this masterpiece with condensed intensity (it is not incomplete -- he always only intended it to be in two movements), and rhapsodic imagination.
Schiff gives an edifying lecture on the piece here. He points to perhaps the only previous example of music in the key of six sharps -- the second movement of Haydn's String Quartet #64, Op. 76, No. 5. It was apparently nicknamed "The Cemetery" because there are so many "crosses."
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First movement
The first four bars are sublime. They will not appear again.
Beethoven moves rhythmically from 1/4-notes to 16th-notes to 1/8th-note triplets.
The development section moves rapidly through different key centers -- three in the first six bars! (F-Sharp Minor, A Major, G-Sharp Minor):
Second movement
This little ditty might sound familiar:
Beethoven wrote a set of piano variations on the theme, WoO 79.
The playful ascending C-Sharp Major triads (with leading tone) is paralleled here with descending motion.
Where did that come from?
Britannia makes a few more appearances. A pause. And a sweeping ending ...
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