Piano Sonata No. 22 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Sonata No. 22 in F major, Op. 54 , was composed mainly in the spring of 1804. The surviving sketches from the second movement can be dated to May / June 1804.

According to Joachim Kaiser , the position of the sonata between the Waldstein sonata and the Appassionata has repeatedly led to the need to emphasize the rank of this “demanding two-movement sonata” because it is surpassed by these “pinnacle works of Western music”. Nevertheless, it is a fully valid work of Beethoven, but hardly corresponds to "the cliché image of the Beethoven despisers". From "playful artificial [m]" character, she stays away from "all titanism and heroism, all rhetorical violence".

With two movements and a relatively short duration of 12 minutes, it is formally a small sonata by Beethoven.

The original edition was published in April 1806 - without a dedication - in the Kunst- und Industrie-Comptoir in Vienna.

scope

It is noticeable that, in contrast to other piano works from this period, the sonata was written for an instrument with only 5 octaves (handling F ₁ to F ³ ).

construction

First sentence

In Tempo d'un Menuetto; F major; 3/4 time; Five-part minuet form; 154 bars

The first movement, at a slower pace, contains two alternating themes. The five-part scheme is ABABA .

The first theme develops from a single motif that appears in the first bar, with a dotted rhythm. It spans over 24 bars until the second theme begins. It initially appears in F major and is based on a triplet movement, but surprisingly modulates to A flat major. The first theme is reached again via F minor, now surrounded by ornaments. The second theme appears again, but only occurs for 12 bars. Another variation of the first theme follows, resulting in a four-bar trill episode. What follows is a coda on the organ point f. Shortly before the end, a fortissimo wants to frighten the listener before the dynamic sinks back into pianissimo.

Second sentence

Allegretto; F major; 2/4 time; two-part form with coda; 188 bars

The form of the second movement at a faster pace is reminiscent of the finale of the Sonata op.10 No. 2 , and its character of the finale of the Sonata op.26 . The tireless sixteenth note movement of the movement makes it appear as a perpetual motion machine . The only theme, the first two bars, is led through different keys and ends in a stretta with a triumphant final increase. ("Più Allegro")

literature

Joachim Kaiser : Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas and their interpreters . S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1975, ISBN 978-3-10-038601-4
Harold Craxton , Donald Francis Tovey : Piano Sonata in F, Op. 54: No. 22. Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music , London 1989, ISBN 978-1-85472-029-0 (English)
Siegfried Mauser : Beethoven's piano sonatas. A musical factory guide . 2nd Edition. Verlag CHBeck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-57572-3
Kurt Dorfmüller, Norbert Gertsch, Julia Ronge (eds.): Ludwig van Beethoven. Thematic-bibliographical catalog of works . Henle, Munich 2014, Volume 1, p. 293 f.

Web links

Piano Sonata No. 22 (Beethoven) : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project

Individual evidence

↑ Joachim Kaiser : Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas and their interpreters. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1975, pp. 383-384.
↑ Oehlmann, Werner, 1901-1985 .: Reclam's piano music guide . Reclam, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-15-010112-3 .

[1] Joachim Kaiser : Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas and their interpreters. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1975, pp. 383-384.

[2] Oehlmann, Werner, 1901-1985 .: Reclam's piano music guide . Reclam, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-15-010112-3 .