Beethoven's Sonatas
Probably the best known of Beethoven's sonatas are the Pathetique, Moonlight and Appassionata. Only the first name was given by the composer. The Moonlight Sonata has its name from the inspiration of the poet Rellstab (whose verses were to be set to music by Schubert). Writing in 1832 he likened the sonata to the wild scenery bordering Lake Lucerne, seen from a boat by moonlight. The French romantic composer Berlioz, on the other hand, preferred to see sunlight in the sonata, and other writers have been equally imaginative.
Sonata No.8 in C Minor, Op. 13 "Pathetique"
The Sonata pathetique was written in 1798 and 1799, and was published in the latter year with a dedication to Prince Lichnowsky, the nobleman who had travelled to the court of Berlin with Mozart in 1789. The work, Opus 13, is in C Minor, and is described as a "Grande" Sonata, music suitable for public performance by the composer, who was at this time one of the most distinguished keyboard-players in Vienna.
The first movement opens with a famous dramatic introduction, fragments of which reappear to open the middle, development section, and to introduce the final bars (the coda or tail-piece). A brilliant rapid section makes up the body of the movement, with a contrasting theme of suaver outline contrasting with the stronger emotion of the first theme.
The second movement, marked Adagio cantabile (slow and singing in tone}, is) as is usual, in a different key, here that of A major. It is followed by a Rondo derived, it would seem, from sketches made much earlier for other purposes.
For this and a number of other sonatas one German scholar has suggested, on a hint reported from a conversation with Beethoven, a literary model. In this case the parallel proposed is the story of Hero and Leander, as related by Musaeus. The first of this pair, a priestess of Aphrodite, was visited nightly by her lover Leander, who used to swim across the Hellespont to her tower at Abydos, and was finally drowned, when Hero's light failed to guide him through the stormy seas.
Sonata No.14 in C Sharp Minor 'quasi una fantasia' Op. 27, No.2 "Moonlight"
The Moonlight Sonata is more properly described by its title Sonata quasi una fantasia, Opus 27 No.1, in the key of C Sharp Minor. The imaginative writer Arnold Schering, already referred to, found a literary parallel with Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, but others have chosen to find in the sonata romantic notions of a different kind. It was completed in 1801, and dedicated, at the last minute, to Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, a young pupil of Beethoven.
This sonata has always enjoyed enormous popularity, and has, therefore, been the subject of speculation. It has also undergone the indignity of various arrangements, including, in 1835, a concert performance in which the first movement was played by an orchestra, and the second two by Liszt.
The form of the Moonlight Sonata is unusual. Its first movement, a texture of delicacy, is a slow one, and it is followed by a brief second movement in the form of a scherzo and trio, the slightly less regular successor of the Minuet. Histrionics are left until the last movement, with its contrasts of melody and dynamics.
Sonata No.23 in F Minor, Op. 57 "Appassionata"
Sonata in F Minor, Opus 57, the Appassionata, was considered by Beethoven to be among his best piano sonatas. Its nick-name, although not chosen by the com- poser, is an apt one, although Schering's parallel with Shakespeare's Macbeth may appeal to us less. Dedicated to the Countess of Brunswick, the sonata was completed in 1805 and published two years later.
Once again this sonata proved a fertile source for imaginative speculation in the nineteenth century, writers finding in it grim spectres, heartfelt emotions, storms of passion and the ominous threats of Fate. Musically its first movement is one that allows a full exploration of the resources of the keyboard. It is followed by the kind of slower melody that Beethoven knew so well how to write. This is treated as the subject of a number of variations. Fiercely repeated chords introduce the Finale, which, with its great technical and musical demands, brings us into a new world, before the coda, with its sudden reminiscences of the beginning of the movement.
Jeno Jandó
Jeno Jandó was born at Pécs, in south Hungary, in 1952. He started to learn the piano when he was seven and later studied at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music under Katatin Nemes and Pal Kadosa, becoming assistant to the latter on his graduation in 1974. Jandó has won a number of piano competitions in Hungary and abroad, including first prize in the 1973 Hungarian Piano Concours and a first prize in the chamber music category at the Sydney International Piano Competition in 1977. In addition to his many appearances in Hungary, he has played widely abroad in Eastern and Western Europe, in Canada and in Japan.
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