a movement in free form (hence the general title Sonata

WALTER GIESEKING ©
quasi una fantasia) which is basically slow in tempo, with a con-
trasting quick section inserted in the middle; but Beethoven com-
pensates for this heterodoxy by giving greater interest and weight
to the finale, a long rondo with features borrowed from sonata-
form.

BEETHOVEN The second sonata of Op. 27 is akin to the first in the general
design of its layout, though it has many points of special interest.

PIANO SONATAS It is again marked Sonata quasi una fantasia, and begins with a
slow movement which in keyboard style foretells the Impromptus
of Schubert. It is, however, the purely romantic meditative atmos-
phere of this movement which in any way justifies the title
“Moonlight” by which the sonata is popularly known —a title
not of Beethoven’s choosing but invented by a critic. The con-

PATHETIQUE MOONLIGHT Stituent thematic elements could scarcely

arpeggio figures, a persistent rhythmic motif,
clashing poignant dissonance, and changing
be simpler— triplet
occasionally a gently-
harmonies over a bass
pedal; yet out of these Beethoven conjures an apparently impro-

Sonata in C minor, Op. 13 Sonata quasi una fantasia visatory (though actually clearly organized) movement which has
taken an unrivalled hold on the public.
in C sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 Adagio sostenuto
Grave. Allegro molto e con brio
ym — ee em eee
lay.’ Ean a) Ga A ee) 22 eee es SS
Eas as i Rees Sees tes

Adagio sostenuto
CHa! moe ae ae as

Adagio cantabile 3 3
somure pp e Sees sordino
Allegretto
Rondo (Allegro) How far, however, he was from Debussyan, “impressionistic”
Presto agitato tactics may be gathered from the final words of his direction: Si
deve suonare tutto questo pezzo delicatissimamente e senza sordini
(This whole movement should be played very delicately, without

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=

the soft pedal).

35025 In complete contrast to the “moonlit” mood is the ensuing Alle-

gretto (written for convenience in D flat major rather than C
There has been some speculation whether Beethoven derived between the appearances of the lyrical eight-bar subject are two sharp) which trips along with short steps and pert cross-accents:
the title Pathétique for his Op. 13 Sonata — which for once was not episodes, the first a melody over repeated chords in F minor,
the later invention of a publisher or critic but which was printed
Allegretto
on the original edition— from a direction in another C minor
Sonata, to which it bears considerable resemblances, composed five
years earlier by Dussek. Whether this was the case or not, the
adjective is entirely appropriate to Beethoven’s sonata, the tragic
the second, in which two voices answer each other across reiterated the Trio, persistently syncopated, swings along with a right-hand
passion of whose first movement indeed suggests some hidden
triplets, starting in Ab minor and modulating to E major. theme in octaves against regular left-hand chords.
“program.” The work opens — most unusually in Beethoven’s piano
music — with a restless slow introduction making much play with
the dramatic possibilities of the chord of the diminished seventh;

Nothing could be further from the idea of moonlight than the

violent finale, a movement in sonata-form on which Beethoven
throws all the structural weight of the work. The turbulent series
of rising arpeggios exploding at the top which forms the first
To round the movement off there is a short coda on a fresh subject,
thematic idea. The Finale, which to some extent reverts to the urgent
mood with which the first Allegro began, is a more extended rondo Presto agitato
el Hass BS Es a eee eS
ae + EE Oe

— once between the exposition and development, and again between

the recapitulation and coda— the pathetic declamation returns to the intensity of the second theme with its pathetically-falling
interrupt the fiery course of the music, whose dark coloring owes phrases,
a great deal to the fact that, with the single exception of the end
in which the first episode (in the relative major) acts like the second
of the exposition, the entire movement is cast in minor keys.
subject of a sonata movement and reappears in the tonic major
(Beethoven’s unusual choice of keys for the second subject
before the last statement of the rondo theme and a coda which,
momentarily hesitant, ends in a vigorous descending scale.

Whether because of the deafness which was beginning to trouble the breathless scale passages which lead to the broken sighs of the
him or the emotional turmoil (culminating in the famous letter next thematic idea —
to the “Immortal Beloved”) in which he found himself
— either
of which might well have turned his thoughts in more acutely on
his work — or from some compulsive inner spirit of artistic adven-
turousness which grew in parallel with his rapidly-developing liber-
on its two appearances, and for the development section, is also tarian ideas, the year 1801 found Beethoven making determined
worthy of notice.) efforts to free himself from orthodox musical structures and to
The placidly flowing Adagio cantabile (in Ab major), which create new forms into which he could pour the expression of his
forms so complete a contrast to the first movement, is in simple wilful and rebellious genius. The Op. 26 Sonata of that year
represents a break with tradition by starting, not with the usual all these speak unmistakably of passion; and after a normal devel-
rondo form:
“sonata-form” movement, but with a set of variations: the work opment and recapitulation, the impetus of his emotions carries
also contains a funeral march (in the then daring key of A flat Beethoven on to an extended coda which culminates in a cadenza
minor) of apparently programmatic character, being labelled On and a final raging fury of arpeggios up and down the keyboard.
the death of a hero, and ends with a moto perpetuo which com-
bines keyboard brilliance with contrapuntal ingenuity. The follow- LIONEL SALTER
ing. Sonata in E flat, Op. 27 No. 1, goes even further by beginning (Author's Copyright)

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