Piano Sonata No. 17 (Beethoven)

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Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31 No. 2 ( The Storm ) was written in 1801 and 1802 and must have been close to completion at the beginning of 1802, because Beethoven's brother Karl offered it on April 22, 1802 the Breitkopf & Härtel publishing house . This led to a heated argument between the brothers, as Beethoven had already promised them to the publisher Nägeli in Zurich. The name Der Sturm goes back to an alleged statement by the composer, alleged by the Beethoven biographer Anton Felix Schindler , that the sonata is based on William Shakespeare's drama Der Sturm connects.

construction

  • First movement: Largo / Allegro, D minor, alla breve , 228 bars
  • Second movement: Adagio, B flat major, 3/4 time, 103 bars
  • Third movement: Allegretto, D minor, 3/8 time, 399 measures

First sentence

Measure 1-6 of the first movement

The movement begins (largo and pianissimo) with an arpeggiated A major chord and a motif that ascends through its tones. After the fermata in the second bar, an Allegro passage made up of seconds of sigh responds in the basic key, which, however, is stopped again in bar 6: Adagio, and a sforzando is followed by another fermata: piano in A major. As in a second attempt, the arpeggio chord appears again: Largo and pianissimo and ending in a fermata, but this time in C major. Then the movement “takes off”: a transition beginning in F major leads to the first theme in D minor (bar 21). A simple triad motif ascending in the bass, which is answered in the treble by a figure circling the note “A” in piano, accompanied by restless eighth note triplets. The second theme follows after a very short transition in bar 41 and is in A minor, but starts on the E major dominant. Its structure is reminiscent of the passages in the introduction that followed the arpeggiated Largo chords. The end of the movement (bars 52 to 92) initially juxtaposes A minor and B major and then leads back to A minor with an eighth figure rising from the deep bass (from bar 74). The exposition closes with a fully composed fermata on a three-octave, non-harmonized A in the bass.

The development begins with three arpeggiated chords, again largo and pianissimo, then follows the processing of the first theme in fortissimo, repeatedly interrupted by sforzando accents. From bar 121 there is an excited manifestation of the A major chord that ends with a fortissimo chord (bar 133).

Many authors see bar 21 as the beginning of the exposition. They consider bars 41 ff. To be the second exhibition theme. According to this explanation, the first 20 bars belong to the introduction. They refer to the beginning of the movement in the dominant A major instead of the usual tonic (D minor), as well as to the harmonic instability of bars 1 - 21. Daniel Barenboim describes the first two bars of the sonata as "break in of the unreal, similar to the appearance of the Commander in Mozart's Don Giovanni ".

In contrast, Richard Rosenberg and Jürgen Uhde show that the two dualistic elements of an exposition already begin in opposition from bars 1-2 and 2-6. Bars 1 and 2 bring an arpeggiated sixth chord and three individual chord tones, while bars 2-6 are based on a descending scale with repeated notes. The contrast between slow chord breaking and moving running (called Parts I and II in the following) is clearly noticeable and is also represented by Beethoven through the tempo markings Largo and Allegro. The dynamic also underlines this contrast. While part I has a constant dynamic (pp), part II goes through an increasing and decreasing volume curve (p - crescendo - sf - decrescendo - p). One can interpret this (also in the further course of the sentence) as dialogue or speech and counter-speech - where part I represents the objective and part II the subjective - or also as action and reaction. Bars 7-20 are initially based on this model: an arpeggiated chord (Largo) is followed by a moving eighth note run in Allegro, but the sequence now begins in C major, the dominant of the major parallel F major and the eighth note movement (initially in F major) follows the example of bars 2–6 only at the beginning: the initially descending figure already rises in bar 9 in ever-increasing intervals and finally reaches the octave interval in bar 12, with the left hand increasing chords throws in beats 2 and 4. In bar 13, the descent begins, the top notes of the figure now form the chord of the basic key of D minor.

Right hand peak notes in bar 13 ff. Of the first movement

Bar 21-40 takes up the opposites and develops them further. The triad notes of Part I now appear in the bass and are answered by a second figure of the right hand that continues Part II. This answer from Part II is reduced to a single tone from bar 30, which, however, is given significant weight due to its offset pitch. A new rhythmic flow is created by the triplet movement of the middle voice.

The material at bar 41, which many interpreted as the second exposition theme, represents a break. It is rhythmically separated from the preceding triplet movement by its eighth note movement. Nevertheless, the basic elements of the beginning of the sentence - chord and second movement - can be demonstrated.

Second sentence

Like the first movement, the Adagio begins with an arpeggiated chord in the lower register, answered by a short motif in the treble. From bar 17, a theme designed in chords by the right hand follows, accompanied by tremolating octaves in the left hand in the deep bass and overarching in the treble. After a short interlude (bars 31–37) in F major, the motif of the tremolating octaves is resumed in the deep bass, the music freezes harmoniously on the F major dominant with a minor ninth (bars 38–41). A short Sforzando outbreak (bar 42) leads back to the first theme.

Third sentence

The concluding Allegretto is - the notation makes this clear - characterized by low-contrast continuous sixteenth-note motor skills. The connection to the previous movements can be seen in the figures of the left hand, which right at the beginning depict arpeggative chords.

reception

“ This sonata is perfect. The unity of the idea and the tragic character, the art form not disturbed by any episode, the romantic and picturesque aspect of the whole clay painting will never fail to produce the greatest effect when the player's imagination and skill are on the same level. "

Carl Czerny was Beethoven's student. In his book he gives practical performance instructions that provide information on how his or even Beethoven's own sonic interpretation could have looked.

swell

Sketches:

  • Archive of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna , A 34, Keßler sketchbook
  • MI Glinka State Central Museum of Musical Culture Moscow, Wielhorsky sketchbook
  • Autograph: whereabouts unknown
  • First printing: Zurich 1803 (HG Nägeli)

literature

  • Pieter Bergé, William Caplin, Jeroen D'Hoe (Eds.): Beethoven's Tempest Sonata: Perspectives of Analysis and Performance . (=  Analysis in Context. Leuven Studies in Musicology . 2) Peeters, Leuven 2009, ISBN 978-90-429-2289-1 .
  • Kenneth Drake, in: Beethoven. Interpretation of his works. Edited by Albrecht Riethmüller et al., 2nd edition, Laaber 1996, Volume 1, pp. 250ff.
  • Siegfried Mauser : Beethoven's piano sonatas, a musical work guide. 2nd edition, Munich 2008.
  • Martin Staehelin : Hans Georg Nägeli and Ludwig van Beethoven. The Zurich musician, music publisher and music writer in his relationships with the great composer. Zurich 1982.
  • Richard Rosenberg: The Piano Sonatas Ludwig van Beethoven - Studies on Form and Performance, Volume 2 . Urs-Graf-Verlag, 1957.
  • Jürgen Uhde : Beethoven's piano sonatas 16 - 32 . Verlag Reclam, Ditzingen 2000, ISBN 3-15-010151-4 .

Web links

Commons : Piano Sonata No. 17 (Beethoven)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anton Schindler, Biography of Ludwig van Beethoven , 3rd edition, Münster 1860, Volume 2, p. 221
  2. ↑ a b Richard Rosenberg: Page 228
  3. ↑ Jürgen Uhde: Pages 46 and 47
  4. ↑ Barenboim master class with Shai Wosner
  5. ^ Jürgen Uhde: Pages 45 and 46
  6. ^ Richard Rosenberg, p. 228
  7. ^ Mauser, p. 95
  8. ↑ Carl Czerny, On the correct performance of all Beethoven's piano works, along with Czerny's “Memories of Beethoven” , ed. by Paul Badura-Skoda, Vienna, Universal Edition NO.13340, ISMN M-008-00101-7, page 55