Piano Sonata No. 31 (Beethoven)

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Ludwig van Beethoven's Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110 , was written in 1821 and published by Schlesinger in Berlin and Paris in 1822 .

As in all late - and especially in the last three - piano sonatas, Beethoven shifts the focus to the last movement. It is longer than the two preceding ones together ( in his recording from 1967 Gulda needs around six minutes for the first, two for the second and nine for the third movement).

construction

  • First movement: Moderato cantabile, molto espressivo, A flat major, 3/4 time, 116 bars
  • Second movement: Allegro molto, F minor, 2/4 time, 158 measures
  • Third movement: Adagio ma non troppo, B flat minor, 4/4 time and 12/16 time - Fuga, Allegro, ma non troppo, A flat major, 6/8 time, 213 bars

First sentence

Beethoven op 110 first movement Thema.jpg
The main movement begins -  con amabilita (gentle) - with a four-bar theme that is harmonized in the four-part choral movement and that can be imagined played by an organ, a beginning of high, calm solemnity . After a trill and a surging melodic cadenza, a simple, vocal melody begins, which is accompanied by a sixteenth-note figure in the style of Mozart and completes the main movement. From bar 12 an eight-bar transition section follows, which consists of figures in ascending and descending thirty-second notes.

Beethoven op 110 first movement Seitensatz.jpg

After the thirty-second figures rise to high treble regions (bar 20), the beginning of the side movement is followed by a descending sequence of downward octave jumps that occur rhythmically interlaced in the upper and lower part. After its repetition, enriched with further sixteenth notes, a dynamically growing and rhythmically powerful passage develops over a chain of trills in the bass (bars 25 to 27), which leads to the first expansive forte upswing of the movement (bars 28 to 31). The exposition, which is not repeated, ends calmly in dolce piano without a distinct or self-contained second theme becoming clearly recognizable.

In bars 36 and 37, a sixteenth-note chain gradually winds up over two octaves over a resting E-flat major triad and ends in a calm rhythmic bound octave jump in bar 38, which is also picked up by the bass and a note lower in the next bar is repeated. This is followed by the development (from bar 40), which is exclusively based on the motif of the two opening bars. This motif is repeated a total of eight times, beginning with F minor in alternating harmonic lighting, first combined in an urgent crescendo with the pulsating “Mozartian” accompaniment, then remaining in the piano with tied scale figures.

When the recapitulation begins (from bar 56) the theme is accompanied by the thirty-second figure of the exposition, then repeated an octave lower, with the thirty-second note changing into the treble region. A modulation leads to D flat major, in which the cantilena of the main movement now appears, but changed towards the end so that it modulates to E major.

Beethoven op 110 first movement end.jpg

The rest of the recapitulation largely corresponds to the exposition transposed to A flat major and ends in a phase of quiet rest (bars 101 to 104, pianissimo , E flat major). The ensuing coda initially takes up the thirty-second figures, but finally lets the movement fade away on the piano . In the last three bars, however, a tension builds up again which, after a crescendo leading to the forte, culminates in a diminished seventh chord (B-fes 1 -g 1 -des 2 ) against the bass note As 1 . The sharpness of this dissonance gradually dissolves into the relaxed calm of the tonic triad by means of two descending second steps.

Second sentence

The second movement, in two-four time, has the character of a dark, bizarre scherzo. Its sharp dynamic contrasts and its powerful rhythm, interspersed with accentuated syncopation, stand in sharp contrast to the lyrics of the first movement.

At the beginning there is a motif set in chords, which is said to be based on the hit song "Unsre Katz hat Katzerln". Later a little melody follows (from bar 17), which sounds like another hit song (“I am lüderlich, you are lüderlich”) and is possibly based on a Viennese farce .

The trio in D flat major (bars 41 to 95) is characterized by continuous eighth-note motor skills, syncope and sharp dynamic accents exacerbate this restless character.

After the repetition of the first part, a coda with a sequence of block-like sforzato chords interrupted by pauses puts a stop to the bizarre hustle and bustle, whereupon the whole spooky piano vanishes in the (prescribed) pedal fog of a chain of figures rising from the bass. The F major of this ending then turns out to be the dominant of the B minor, with which the third movement begins.

Third sentence

Mauser describes this movement as “perhaps the most differentiated and most unusual sonata movement” in Beethoven's oeuvre, which alone speaks for the abundance of time and key changes and detailed performance descriptions.

It is divided into the following sections:

  • Adagio, ma non troppo , B flat minor, 4/4 time, bars 1 to 7
  • Adagio, ma non troppo , plaintive song, Arioso dolente , A-flat minor, 12/16 time, bars 7 to 26
  • Fuga, Allegro, ma non troppo , A flat major, 6/8 time, bars 27 to 114
  • L'istesso tempo di Arioso , exhausted, lamenting, Perdendo le forze, dolente , G minor, 12/16 time, bars 114 to 135
  • L'istesso tempo della Fuga, poi a poi di nuovo vivente , gradually reviving, G major (from bar 153 in G minor), 6/8 bar, bars 136 to 168
  • Meno Allegro . A little slower, from bar 174 in A flat major, bars 168 to 213

Adagio, ma non troppo , measures 1 to 7

The movement begins with a more conventional, typical Adagio theme, but modulates to A-flat minor in the third bar. However, there is no further development of this opening theme, because Beethoven breaks off at this point: a recit. [Ative] in bar 4 leads to the so-called "beat" in bar 5, the key changes via the B seventh chord to E major (Change of sign from middle of bar 5 to middle of bar 6), but then (from middle of bar 6) to A flat minor. The opening motif of the first three bars of the movement is not taken up again at any point in the course of the movement and is subsequently “degraded” to a mere introduction.

Bars 4 and 5 each contain 8 quarter notes, so they are twice as long, in bar 6 there are 5 quarter notes. The clock change for 12 / 16 -Stroke place in clock 7 place in the "old clock" first in 2/8 notes, four sixteenths and then - already the uniform chordal accompaniment of mourners singing female - Six sixteenth.

In this sentence beginning - which, with one short exception (middle of bar 5) prescribes una corda, i.e. hardly wants to set dynamic accents - the large number of tempo rules (Adagio, ma non troppo; Piu Adagio; Andante; Adagio; ritard. ando]; Meno Adagio; Adagio; Adagio, ma non troppo), with which Beethoven obviously wants to enforce his very precise idea of ​​the performance of these opening bars, which - especially due to the "recitative" - ​​have a rather indefinite, as it were improvised character.

Adagio, ma non troppo , plaintive song, Arioso dolente , bars 7 to 26

This entirely different type section in the 12 / 16 ¯ clock starts (at a descent by the sounds of the flat minor triad) slowly building uniform accompaniment in sixteenths to together in groups of three, and so triplet are to be understood, before the melody begins in bar 9 - which is also entitled “Klagender Gesang, Arioso dolente ”. The chordal accompaniment runs through almost the entire section (up to bar 24) in the left hand without interruption. In some bars, a second voice in the right hand takes over this steady pulse and inserts in bars 21 and 22 motifs characterized by ascending and descending seconds of sighs, which counterpoint the sighs of the upper part and cause an extreme increase in the intensity of expression.

The predominantly descending melodic line of the “plaintive song” is associated with Bach's aria “Es ist vollbracht” from the St. John Passion . From the beginning, Beethoven often consciously contrasts this line with the triplet accompaniment by means of leads and ties, thereby creating a certain vagueness in the metrical sequence. At the end of the section there is a unison cadence that closes pianissimo with a fermata on the A-flat.

Fuga, Allegro, ma non troppo , bars 27 to 114

The theme of the three-part fugue begins - taking up the closing note of the previous section - piano in bass. It consists of a sequence of ascending fourths (A-flat; B-flat; C-F), concluded by a short motif that descends to c. Then the alto begins with a real answer to Eb (bar 31), counterpointed by a flowing eighth note movement. After a short re-modulating transition, which sequences the final motif of the theme , a soprano entry follows again on A-flat. This first development (exposition) is followed by a short (5-bar) interlude that sequenced the final motif of the theme in descending order over the continuous eighth note movement of the two lower voices in the upper part.

A crescendo and a trill herald the second development, which begins in bar 45 with the introduction of the theme in the bass, now forte and in octaves. In the further course of this development, which is initially taken back into the piano and loosened up by interludes, a thematic entry in Alto in A flat major and a soprano entry in E flat major follow. It is noteworthy that the sequencing of the thematic final motif that follows does not lead downwards, as before, but upwards. An upswing is heralded, which is now tackled in the third development from bar 73 with a bass entry of the theme. The fortissimo and octave doubled on G bass stretches the opening tone to double the length before the ascending fourth jumps begin. However, there are now not only three fourth jumps, but six of them piled on top of each other. The downward movement at the end of the topic also turns into an only peripheral interruption of the step-by-step up to the continued ascent through rhythmic shortening.

After this show of strength, the rest of the third development and the subsequent interlude acts more as a breather before a crescendo prepares the fourth and final development, which in turn begins with an octave-doubled bass entry (on Eb) and the following entries in alto (Eb) and soprano ( As) stacked closely together. The ascending fourths of the soprano entry are rhythmically pushed and continued upwards. The dominant seventh chord that follows, decorated with a trill, does not lead to the tonic in A flat major. Instead, the sound of the dominant seventh chord remains for four and a half bars (pedal), initially enlivened with a softer descending and ascending arpeggio, then only sustained statically. Finally, by means of enharmonic reinterpretation, it is resolved into the sixth fourth chord of G minor. Jürgen Uhde writes about this: "... in a terrible fit of weakness, in a fall into the foaming G minor depth, all previous exertion of the first part of the joint is suddenly destroyed."

L'istesso tempo di Arioso , exhausted, lamenting, Perdendo le forze, dolente , bars 114 to 135

“The variation of the Ariosos, the 2nd Adagio part, is half a tone lower than the first plaintive chant . This 'fall' underlines the depth of the depression, which is also expressed in the addition 'exhausted complaining'. "The" exhaustion ", the" loss of strength (perdendo le forze) "results in a considerably increased" destruction "of the metric Process clearly. With a few exceptions, the voice of the right hand opposes the accompaniment, which continues to run in sixteenths. The sighs of the melody are interrupted by pauses ( suspiratio ) and thereby intensified in their expressive intensity.

At the end of the section - from bar 129 - the sighs appear only as dying thirty-second scraps on the respective third “triplet sixteenth”. The notes of the final cadenza drip matte on this unstressed beat and the surprisingly lower G major triad is noted as the third triplet sixteenth. “This rhythm can no longer be made audible as such, because you cannot play marcato for a break; This is the only way to articulate the role of the third sixteenth. It is a mindless, almost a death rhythm. " A gradual crescendo of the G major triad struck ten times, "which echoes like bells," signals the gradual return to life that continues in the ascending broken G major triad and the beginning of the following fugal section.

L'istesso tempo della Fuga, poi a poi di nuovo vivente , gradually reviving, bars 136 to 168

The fugue begins as a reversal in two respects: the theme now appears in the form of descending fourths (D – A; C – G; H – F sharp), terminated by a short rise, and the voices are also reversed: the soprano opened, followed by alto and bass. From bar 152 onwards, the type of contrapuntal work changes with the key (now G minor): The fugue theme, which is now rising again, is rhythmically reduced and now notated with eighth notes and sixteenth notes. In this form, the lower and middle parts are drawn several times, while the upper part is accompanied by a rhythmic enlargement with notes tied across the bar boundaries (dotted halves in total). The interval structure is sometimes slightly varied. The theme appears as early as bar 153 (in alto) with ascending thirds instead of fourths. From the second half of bar 160, the enlargement of the theme appears in octaves in the bass, while the upper voices lead the reduction alternately in sixths and thirds in parallel. There is an increasing thematic-motivic reduction, which finally leads so far that in the closing bars of this section (166 and 167), in contrast to the enlarged theme in alto and soprano, which is continued in the bass, only a dialogue of alternating descending and ascending fourths remains. whereby these start syncopated before the time and thus obscure the metric structure.

Meno Allegro . A little slower, bars 168 to 213

The performance description “a little slower” is misleading in this section, because because of the change to shorter note values ​​(sixteenth notes instead of eighth notes), an increase in the tempo can actually be heard. The initially determining motif is a renewed acceleration and compression of the fugue theme: on (only) two ascending fourths (E-flat; G-C) follows a short descent (B-A-flat-G). With this compressed form of the theme, the right hand counterpoints the inverse form of the theme in the left hand, which normally begins with dotted quarters in bar 170. The compressed form fits completely on one note of the "reverse theme". This passage is very difficult for the pianist to execute, because the compressed theme has to be played alternately in the treble and (overarching) in the bass with the right hand, which requires an accomplished jumping technique, all the more so as "gradually swiftly" in the Notes stands.

After going through all of these technical composition and playing complications, in bar 174 “victory is achieved by reaching the basic key of A flat major and the [octaved] bass entry of the theme in its basic form. The fugue becomes a chordal piano movement enlivened by rushing [sixteenth] figuration, the theme a hymn; the work closes triumphantly with a three- fold ascending sequence ”, namely in fortissimo after an arpeggiated A flat major triad descending and ascending over five bars and more than five octaves with a full chord six octaves apart.

Interpretations and comments

  • The lack of a dedication gave rise to the assumption that the musical content of the work was too personal to allow it to be assigned to someone else. The view was expressed that the sonata should be understood (similar to the 3rd movement from the string quartet op. 132 ) as a “hymn of thanks to the god from a recovered man”. During this time Beethoven had suffered a rheumatic fever and jaundice, and it is possible that the entries in the musical text of the third movement (“perdendo le forze, dolente” and “poi a poi di nuovo vivente”) in connection with these personal tribulations and overcome them.
  • Jörg Demus : “What is unique about this sonata is that, bypassing the intellect, it communicates its message directly to the listener and player who are also experiencing it [...]. The content creates its own, unprecedented, unrepeatable form. From this I would like to derive […] justification and encouragement not to decipher op. 110 formally. ”At the end of his purely hermeneutic description, he states:“ I am aware that the vessel of op. 110 is too wide to be Content, as I just tried, could be retold in words. So I propose that everyone put a piece of themselves into this work, only to some extent following their peripetia : from the innocence of the beginning to strife and strife, lamentation, suffering and despair to courageous upswing through the power of the spirit. Yes, that seems to me to be the reason for the shocking, uplifting effect of op. 110: The triumph of the spirit. "

Sound samples

  • Movement I (Moderato Cantabile Molto Espressivo) - Listen ? / iAudio file / audio sample
  • Movement II (Allegro Molto) - Listen ? / iAudio file / audio sample
  • Movement III (Adagio, ma non Troppo) - Listen ? / iAudio file / audio sample

literature

Web links

Commons : Piano Sonata No. 31  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mauser, p. 142
  2. ↑ a b c Werner Oehlmann (Ed.): Reclams piano music guide . Stuttgart 1968, ISBN 3-15-010112-3 , Volume 1, pp. 747-751
  3. ^ Kaiser, p. 585
  4. ^ Mauser, p. 147
  5. ^ Mauser, p. 148
  6. ^ Mauser, p. 145
  7. ^ Mauser, p. 144; Kaiser, p. 583
  8. ↑ a b Jürgen Uhde: Beethoven's piano music . Volume 3, p. 554.
  9. ↑ a b Jürgen Uhde: Beethoven's piano music . Volume 3, p. 557
  10. ^ Paul Badura-Skoda , Jörg Demus : The piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven . Wiesbaden 1970, ISBN 3-7653-0118-3 , p. 200 ff