Piano Sonata No. 8 (Beethoven)

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1 sentence
2nd movement
3rd movement

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 , was named Grande Sonate Pathétique by the publisher with the consent of the composer and known under the name Pathétique . It is dedicated to Prince Karl von Lichnowsky , whom Beethoven held in high esteem as one of the “most loyal friends and promoters” of his art, and was written in 1798, but was published in 1799, making Beethoven 27 years old at the time of composing. “In many Beethoven books op. 13 is seen as a» breakthrough «to one's own style of expression.” In the revolutionary age of Napoleon, the confessional and subjective character of his music was seen as an expression of his own pathetically inflated pain as well as a phenomenon to be interpreted politically ( Theodor W. Adorno ).

construction

  • First movement: Grave / Allegro di molto e con brio, C minor, 4/4 bar / alla breve , 310 bars
  • Second movement: Adagio cantabile, A flat major, 2/4 time, 73 bars
  • Third movement: Rondo Allegro, 4/4 time alla breve , 210 bars

First sentence

1. Introduction: bars 1 - 10 // 2nd exposition: bars 11 - 132 // 2.1 Topic I (plus further development): bars 11 - 49 // 2.2 Transition: bars 50 - 51 // 2.3 Topic II (plus further developments) : Bars 51 - 88 // 2.4 final group: bars 89 - 132 // 3rd implementation: bars 133 - 194 // 4th recapitulation: bars 195 - 294 // 5th coda: bars 295 - end

Bars 1-4 of the first movement from Beethoven's Pathetique ( audio sample ? / I )Audio file / audio sample

The first movement begins with a slow introduction ( grave ). Even these first 11 bars are characterized by extreme dynamic opposites (multiple changes between p , fp and ff ). After a full grip, accentuated C minor triad of gloomy threatening effect urges an ascending in dotted rhythm tone sequence to a ( double dominant tables ) diminished seventh , whose painful acting dissonance dissolves in the Dominant triad, wherein the upper part of it 1 in terms of a sigh second for d 1 descends. The subsequent sequenced repetition of this initial motif begins with a dominant diminished seventh chord, which intensifies the painful effect. There are two more intensifying (partly shortened) repetitions; three chromatic chords push up further, then a sixty-fourth run plunges from the top note as 2 into the depth.

In the 5th measure, which starts in E flat major, the grave motif gains kinetic energy through full-grip sixteenth chords in the left hand. When trying to work your way up, it is interrupted twice by brutal dotted chord progressions intervening in fortissimo. The height finally reached via “laborious” chromatics cannot be maintained: at the end a chromatic scale rushes downwards (its last section is notated in hundred and twenty-eightths). The "catastrophe" is sealed by the diminished Septfall as 1 -h ( saltus duriusculus ), which leads on to the main part of the sentence.

Tremoli in bars 11-15 of the first movement from Beethoven's Pathetique ( audio sample ? / I )Audio file / audio sample

The repeated, in each four-bar antecedent and consequent structured main theme ( Allegro begins) of clock 11 to 26 having a staccato ascending tone sequence that of octave - tremolo is highlighted in the left hand.

Question and answer game from bar 51 of the first movement ( audio sample ? / I )Audio file / audio sample

From bars 27 to 34, falling, broken triads follow over two chords, before the main theme reappears this time in the dominant. As already indicated in the introduction, the exposition is characterized by a motif that pushes upwards, but which never finds confirmation: it always ends in falling figures. The secondary theme that occurs in bar 51 is characterized by a change of melody between low ( bass ) and high register ( treble ), as well as a parallel "question and answer game". The choice of the key E flat minor instead of the usual major parallel E flat major is unusual. From bar 89 onwards, a figure based on the tremoli of the main theme appears with a bass that is led downwards in seconds. Eight bars with diatonic scales in eighths lead to a brief repetition of the main theme. At the end of the exposure before appearing implementation of Grave-piece whose subject is addressed in the implementation, again accompanied by octave tremolos in his left hand again.

Tremoli in the treble in bars 149 - 151 of the first movement ( audio sample ? / I )Audio file / audio sample

The tremoli change to the high register from bar 149, and the bass plays a semitone figure ascending in fifths and fourths (gs - f - des - as a modification of the ascending semitone sequence of the main theme (e - f - g - as - h - c) c - etc.) . The main theme appears again from bar 285 in its original form in C minor, and the secondary theme from bar 221 in F minor. From bar 253 the figure from bar 89 appears again, before the Grave theme appears a third time in the coda from bar 295, albeit with a harmonious change. The movement finally ends furiously with the repetition of the main theme. (As a note it should be added that Beethoven, with the resumption of the introductory theme ("Grave") in the coda, in a certain sense goes beyond the scope of the main sonata form.)

"The flight to a sharp, in a crouched, as it were, whizzing speed, free of time-consuming gigantic affects (is) ... in the Allegro molto of the Pathétique ... the only way to do justice to the sentence."

Second sentence

Measure 1 - 8 of the second movement ( audio sample ? / I )Audio file / audio sample

The second movement, a cantilever reverie with one of Beethoven's best-known melodies, is in A flat major , the key in which Beethoven often makes his warmest and warmest utterances. It is built in three-part song form (AA 'BACC' A "A" 'Coda). The 8-bar section A is divided into a four-bar front and a trailer . A half-bar change from the accompanying 16th notes to 16th note triplets leads to the repetition of the theme, shifted up by an octave . From bar 17, the B part follows with compact chord blocks in the left hand ( audio sample ? / I ). This consists of 8 bars and four subsequent bars as a transition to a repetition. From bar 37 the accompaniment changes to 16th note triplets for the rest of the movement.Audio file / audio sample

Triplet accompaniment and new theme in bars 37 - 39 of the second movement ( audio sample ? / I )Audio file / audio sample

This contrast is additionally reinforced by the dynamics (pp ↔ sf), a change from sparing, one-part accompaniment to heavy chord blocks in the lower register, as well as moving the melody to a higher register. From bar 45, the theme is repeated in a shortened form (two times three bars) with the tone gender of the two parts swapped. The first three bars are in major, while the following three bars are in minor. From bars 51 to 66 the opening theme (bars 1 to 16) is repeated, this time with triplet accompaniment. An eight-bar coda then ends the movement.

Third sentence

Measure 1 - 8 of the third movement (Rondo) ( audio sample ? / I )Audio file / audio sample

The rondo begins with a theme ( ritornello ), which is linked to the secondary theme of the first movement. In the rondo, new couplets (B, C, D) alternate with a recurring ritornello (A; from bars 1, 61, 120 and 171) . The couplets, some of which are derived from the material of the chorus, are less strictly worked and merge into one another through varying “spinning”.

Couplets: triplet figure from measure 144 and theme from measure 43 ( audio samples ? / I )Audio file / audio sample

A frequently recurring musical twist are, for example, the triplet pendulum figures that appear repeatedly from bars 33, 51, 114, 143, and 189.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Piano Sonata No. 8  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Jürgen Uhde: Beethoven's Piano Music, Volume II, Sonatas 1-15 . Reclam, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-15-010147-6 , pp. 206 f .
  2. ^ Craig Wright: Listening to Western Music . Cengage Learning, S. 209-212 .
  3. ↑ This and the following sheet music examples based on: Beethoven - Piano Sonata Grande Sonate Pathetique - C minor - Opus 13 - Urtext - Based on the original edition - Edited by BA Wallner - Fingering [note: omitted] by Conrad Hansen , C. Henle Verlag, Munich , ISBN 979-0-20180048-6
  4. ^ Clemens Kühn: Forms of Music , Dtv, Munich, 1994, ISBN 3-423-04460-8 , page 61
  5. ↑ Joachim Kaiser : Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas and their interpreters , Fischer Verlag GmbH, 1975, ISBN 3-10-038601-9 , page 173
  6. ^ Klaus Wolters: Handbook of piano literature for two hands , Atlantis, Zurich, 1977, ISBN 3-7611-0291-7 , page 275