Piano Sonata No. 9 (Beethoven)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ludwig van Beethoven's Sonata No. 9 in E major, Op. 14 No. 1 was written in 1798 and 1799 and is dedicated to Baroness Josefa von Braun.

The two sonatas op. 14 were written at the same time as the Pathetique , but form a lyrical, relaxed counterbalance and are more of a chamber music character. Beethoven himself reworked the Sonata op. 14 No. 1 in 1801/1802 for a string quartet .

construction

  • First movement: Allegro, E major, 4/4 time, 162 bars
  • Second movement: Allegretto, E minor, 3/4 time, 116 bars
  • Third movement: Rondo, Allegro commodo, E major, 4/4 time alla breve , 131 measures

First sentence

The movement begins directly with the first theme: ascending fourths in half notes, accompanied by eighth notes, followed by four half-measure sixteenth-note passages in descending pitches, which - like the movement of the following rather lyrical measures - are set in the style of a string quartet. A modification of the first theme leads through several dynamic contrasts to the secondary theme (bar 22): an almost unaccompanied ascending melodic line that is kept piano throughout , which in turn leads to a quartet-like transition. From bar 46 there is a 4-bar forte / sforzando breakout, which changes between E minor and E major. A 6-bar passage that begins in piano and increases to fortissimo , the structure of which is modeled on the secondary theme, leads to the end of the exposition: the first theme sounds pianissimo in bass, the right hand takes over the chords that follow.

The development (from bar 61) initially takes up the first theme, but turns it harmoniously to A minor and after a diminished chord (bar 64) a new one begins: chords resolved in sixteenths in the bass - starting in A minor - accompany a chordal Guided eighth note theme of the right hand, which after a short introduction always circles a note (bars 65 to 80). Then the first theme returns, but initially remains in E minor (bars 81 to 90).

The recapitulation begins in bar 91, theme 1 now appears in full chords, the accompaniment at the beginning of the movement in eighth chords has been replaced by ascending sixteenth-note scales. Only a short, irritating interlude interrupts the continuation of the recapitulation: In bars 103 to 106, theme 1 appears in C major, initially starting in pianissimo .

The coda (from bar 148) exclusively deals with theme 1, only short sforzando accents of the left hand interrupt the otherwise pianissimo and piano course.

Second sentence

The movement consists of three parts: an Allegretto in E minor is repeated unchanged after a trio in C major (bars 63 to 100) headed by Maggiore , followed by a coda (from bar 101), which in turn takes up the theme of Maggiore .

Third sentence

The movement begins immediately with the eight-bar main theme: an ascending line in octaves is accompanied by eighth note triplets in the left hand, the last four bars interrupt this steady movement: half a note is followed by a descending scale in sixteenth notes, then four quarters bring that two-bar section to the end, which is repeated an octave lower. The topic then starts again, the second part is expanded a little. This is followed by the first couplet (bars 21 to 30), which, because of the sparse instrumentation, is reminiscent of the secondary theme of the first movement: the left hand adds only a few supporting notes to the line on the right, which is initially unanimous and then polyphonic. After a fermata (bar 30), theme 1 sounds again. The second couplet (bars 47 to 83) takes up the triplet accompaniment of the left hand from the main theme.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mauser: Beethoven's piano sonatas, A musical work guide. Beck, 2008, p. 58.
  2. ↑ Kaiser: Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas and their interpreters. Fischer, 1979, p. 182.

literature

Web links