DAILY DOSE OF BEETHOVEN (June 16, 2020)
Ludwig van Beethoven exemplifies what is called the “Promethean” outlook in art—the triumph over adversity in the service of a higher purpose--in this case, music. Reared by an abusive father, financially insecure all his life, and increasingly deaf from the age of 26, Beethoven refused to capitulate to any of these circumstances. In the last years of his life, while totally deaf, he not only perfected the string quartet and symphony, he explored and advanced Bach’s compositional methods, including in the fugal and double-fugal form, as seen in his "Große Fuge" (see June 2-9 posts about the Große Fuge), the conclusion of his string quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130. Beethoven thus proved that music was not primarily auditory, but spiritual, limited only by the capacity of the heart of the composer.
This piano sonata is part of a musical dialog among composers, starting with Bach. Like the Mozart "Fantasy in C minor", Beethoven’s "Appassionata" sonata is set in a minor key. Also, as in Mozart, it begins with double octaves and an ominous question played over four measures. The question preliminarily “resolves” into what momentarily appears to be the key of C major—the inversion of F minor. Unlike the Mozart, the opening sequence is repeated a halftone higher, not a halftone lower, thus beginning on G-flat and placing the piece in a new “mode”--sometimes called the “Neapolitan mode.” It also appears to resolve to D-flat major--also an inversion. The question comes a third time, but only over two measures and twice as fast, adding something new—four notes in a rhythmic bass line, a D-flat repeated three times, followed by a C. The rhythm is like that of the Fifth Symphony’s famous opening, and with much the same dramatic effect.
The fourth “question,” played over two measures, is shifted yet again, into another mode—the Lydian mode also earlier encountered in the "Fantasy". A fifth, Lydian posing of the question is the length of a single measure, followed by a broken arpeggiated figure in the Lydian mode. A new, never before seen method of sonata composition is then placed before the world, developing over the course of the entire first movement. There are no repeats in the movement, as was normal in most sonatas and normal also for Beethoven. He doesn’t want the listener to get comfortable. He demands the undivided attention for a single idea developed over a greater length than had been attempted by any other classical composer. With the piano sonata, he did what he had done with the symphony in his revolutionary "Eroica", the second movement, a theme with four variations, concludes with a Lydian arpeggiated chord that throws the listener immediately, without a break, into the last movement of the piece, a “perpetual motion” movement that continuously accelerates, not so much in tempo, but as in the density of ideas. The final "presto" section of the sonata accents this.
Beethoven re-wrote the “compositional rule-book” for piano sonata composition with his "Appassionata" and its investigation of new ways to utilize Johann Sebastian Bach’s methods of inversion, combined with revolutionary uses of the Lydian and other modalities.
There are many wonderful renditions of this piano sonata. We share with you here, an exhilarating live recording by Sviatoslav Richter in 1960. Please share with us your favorite!
I. Allegro assai 0:00
II. Andante con moto 10:14
III. Allegro, ma non troppo - Presto 16:19