| Piano Sonata No.13 | |
|---|---|
| by Ludwig van Beethoven | |
 Beethoven in 1801 | |
| Key | E-flat major |
| Opus | 27/1 |
| Composed | 1800-01 |
| Duration | 15 minutes |
| Movements | 3 or 4, depending on edition |
Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, Op. 27 No. 1, "Quasi una fantasia", is a sonata composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1800–1801.
Beethoven was about 30 years old when he wrote the sonata. He had already made a name for himself in Vienna as pianist and composer [1] and was beginning to explore alternatives to the classical-era compositional procedures that he had largely adhered to during the 18th century. The most famous works of his "middle period", often emphasizing heroism, were yet to come.
Beethoven's sketches for the first, second, and final movements survive, but the original autograph copy is lost. [2] [3] The sonata was published separately from its more famous companion, Op. 27 No. 2 (the "Moonlight" Sonata), but at the same time, [4] by Cappi in Vienna; the first advertisements for the work appeared 3 March 1802. [2] Both Op. 27 sonatas were originally titled Sonata quasi una fantasia.
The dedicatee of the work was (as was typical of the time) an aristocrat, Princess Josephine von Liechtenstein. [5] Little is known of Beethoven's relationship with her. [2]
Grove Music Online translates the Italian title Sonata quasi una fantasia as "sonata in the manner of a fantasy". [6] While we cannot know precisely why Beethoven used this description for the two Op. 27 sonatas, several explanations are available. [7] In the case of the present work (though not its companion), the entire sonata is played continuously without pauses between movements, in the manner of most fantasias. [8] [9] The movements are not in the usual order for a sonata: [9] the opening movement is a slow movement and the scherzo and slow movement are in inverted order. The first movement is not in sonata form, as is true for most sonatas. [4] As Kenneth Drake has pointed out, the movements are in extreme contrast with each other, a common trait of the sections of a fantasia. [10] Lastly, the appearance of a quotation from one movement within another (here, from the third movement within the fourth) is a form of freedom not ordinarily employed in classical sonatas. [11]
Several of these patterns are mentioned in Lewis Lockwood's discussion of the aesthetics of Beethoven's "quasi una fantasia" works:
The result of the "attacca" principle [i.e. performance of all movements without pause] is the blurring of the concept of each movement as an autonomous whole ... Instead, the "attacca" connections force attention on to the totality of the entire composition, with its transitions from movement to movement, and thus from one sharply defined affect to another. ... This is even more true when, as in [the present sonata], there is also a cyclic return of earlier material later in the sonata, which thus aims to integrate its movements into a unified cycle.
— Lockwood 1996, 11
The Op. 27 No. 1 sonata is laid out in four movements:
However, the work is meant to be performed from beginning to end. [8]
The first movement is in five-part rondo form (also called a square tune [12] ) instead of sonata form, unusual for Beethoven. The tempo is slow, interrupted by a fast medial section in the submediant, C major. [12]
The second movement is a scherzo and is in ternary form (the norm for scherzi). Beethoven specifically notates the first phrase to start in the second bar. [12] The main theme consists of mostly quarter notes in parallel octaves. Inside the theme, the first 16 bars are repeated outside an 8-bar middle strain. [12] When it returns following the trio section, the left hand plays staccato and the notes of the right hand part (still legato) are offset half a beat later. [12] The movement includes a brief coda and concludes on the chord C major, a Picardy third.
The third movement is slow in tempo and features a lyrical, noble theme, set against an eighth note accompaniment (in the recapitulation, sixteenth notes). The movement does not conclude in its tonic key, but instead reaches a final cadenza (on the dominant seventh) that leads directly to the finale. The movement is brief and thus might be heard by some listeners as an introduction to the final movement rather than as an independent movement, as Jonathan Del Mar suggests. [13]
The finale is the most extended movement of the work. Charles Rosen notes, "With this movement, Beethoven began an experiment, to which he continued to return and develop through the years, of displacing some of the weight of the work from the opening movement to the finale". [4] [14] The work is in fast tempo and in sonata rondo form. [15] In the coda section, the main theme of the slow movement briefly returns, followed by a brief cadenza. [12] There follows a short final section, marked Presto, based on a tightly compressed version of the main theme. [4]
A typical performance of the work lasts 15 minutes.
The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked Quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi. The popular name Moonlight Sonata goes back to a critic's remark after Beethoven's death. The verbatim translation would actually be "Moonshine Sonata".
A sonatina is a small sonata. As a musical term, sonatina has no single strict definition; it is rather a title applied by the composer to a piece that is in basic sonata form, but is shorter and lighter in character, or technically more elementary, than a typical sonata. The term has been in use at least since the late baroque; there is a one-page, one-movement harpsichord piece by Handel called "Sonatina". It is most often applied to solo keyboard works, but a number of composers have written sonatinas for violin and piano, for example the Sonatina in G major for Violin and Piano by Antonín Dvořák, and occasionally for other instruments, for example the Clarinet Sonatina by Malcolm Arnold.
Ludwig van Beethoven composed his Piano Sonata No. 12 in A♭ major, Op. 26, in 1800–1801, around the same time as he completed his First Symphony. He dedicated the sonata to Prince Karl von Lichnowsky, who had been his patron since 1792.
The Piano Sonata No. 9 in E major, Op. 14, No. 1, is an early-period work by Ludwig van Beethoven, dedicated to Baroness Josefa von Braun, one of his patrons at that time. It was composed in 1798 and arranged for string quartet by the composer in 1801, the result containing more quartet-like passagework and in the more comfortable key of F major.
Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. The name Pastoral or Pastorale became known through A. Cranz publishing of Beethoven's work, but was first coined by a London publisher, Broderip & Wilkinson. While not as famous as its immediate predecessor, Piano Sonata No. 14, it is generally admired for its intricate technicality as well as for its beauty. The sonata takes roughly twenty-five minutes to play with its intended repeats.
The Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor, Op. 49, No. 1, and Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major, Op. 49, No. 2, are short sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven, published in 1805. Both works are approximately eight minutes in length, and are split into two movements. These sonatas are referred to as the Leichte Sonaten to be given to his friends and students.
The Piano Sonata No. 25 in G major, Op. 79, was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1809. It is alternatively titled "Cuckoo" or "Sonatina," and it is notable for its shortness. A typical performance lasts only about nine minutes. The work is in three movements: a fast-paced Presto alla tedesca, a slower Andante, and a lively Vivace.
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, composed in 1820, is the third-to-last of his piano sonatas. In it, after the huge Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106, Beethoven returns to a smaller scale and a more intimate character. It is dedicated to Maximiliane Brentano, the daughter of Beethoven's long-standing friend Antonie Brentano, for whom Beethoven had already composed the short Piano Trio in B♭ major WoO 39 in 1812. Musically, the work is characterised by a free and original approach to the traditional sonata form. Its focus is the third movement, a set of variations that interpret its theme in a wide variety of individual ways.
The Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5 of Johannes Brahms was written in 1853 and published the following year. The sonata is unusually large, consisting of five movements, as opposed to the traditional three or four. When he wrote this piano sonata, the genre was seen by many to be past its heyday. Brahms, enamored of Beethoven and the classical style, composed Piano Sonata No. 3 with a masterful combination of free Romantic spirit and strict classical architecture. As a further testament to Brahms' affinity for Beethoven, the Piano Sonata is infused with the instantly recognizable motive from Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 during the first, third, and fourth movements. Composed in Düsseldorf, it marks the end of his cycle of three sonatas, and was presented to Robert Schumann in November of that year; it was the last work that Brahms submitted to Schumann for commentary. Brahms was barely 20 years old at its composition. The piece is dedicated to Countess Ida von Hohenthal of Leipzig.
The Piano Sonata in E major, D 157 is a piano sonata with three movements composed by Franz Schubert in February 1815. The Allegro D 154 is an early version of its first movement.
The Sonatas for cello and piano No. 4 in C major, Op. 102, No. 1, and No. 5 in D major, Op. 102, No. 2, by Ludwig van Beethoven were composed simultaneously in 1815 and published, by Simrock, in 1817 with a dedication to the Countess Marie von Erdődy, a close friend and confidante of Beethoven.
The Piano Sonata in C major, D 279, composed by Franz Schubert in September 1815, has three movements and is regarded as incomplete for lacking a fourth movement. D. 346, an unfinished Allegretto in C major, has been suggested as its final movement.
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Sonatas, duos and fantasies by Franz Schubert include all works for solo piano by Franz Schubert, except separate dances. They also include a number of works for two players: piano four hands, or piano and a string instrument.
From March 1816 to August 1817, Franz Schubert composed four violin sonatas. All four were published after the composer's death: the first three, D 384, 385 and 408, as Sonatinas in 1836, and the last one, D 574, as Duo in 1851. Schubert composed two more pieces for violin and piano, in October 1826 and December 1827 respectively: a Rondo, D 895, which was published during the composer's lifetime (Op. 70), and a Fantasy, D 934, which was premiered in January 1828, less than a year before the composer's death.
In 1816, Franz Schubert composed his first three violin sonatas, D 384, 385 and 408. They were published after the composer's death as Sonatinas in 1836. These sonatas breathe an intimate atmosphere, requiring relatively little virtuoso bravura from their performers.
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Franz Schubert composed his Fantasy in C major for violin and piano, Op. posth. 159, D 934, in December 1827. It was the last of his compositions for violin and piano, and was premiered in January 1828 by the violinist Josef Slavik and the pianist Carl Maria von Bocklet at the Landhaussaal in Vienna.
The Violin Sonata No. 2 in E♭ major, Op. 102, was written by Camille Saint-Saëns from February to March 1896, and premiered on 2 June 1896 in Paris.
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