APR 4 | program violent, sforzando chords, reminds us that Beethoven, the brilliant keyboard virtuoso, was known to snap a piano string or two in his day. A final reprise of the Rondo theme leads to the pianissimo closing bars. Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Opus 31, No. 2, “Tempest” (1802)
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eethoven’s friend, Anton Schindler, once asked Beethoven to explain the meaning of the D-minor and “Appassionata,” (1805) Sonatas. Beethoven, “in a cheerful mood,” replied, “Just read (Shakespeare’s) The Tempest.” Beethoven may well have been having fun at his friend’s expense, but the nickname has become forever associated with this fascinating work. I. Largo-Allegro—The “Tempest” Sonata opens with an arresting dialogue, juxtaposing hushed arpeggios (Largo) with a volatile eighth-note passage (Allegro). This dialogue returns throughout to launch various episodes in the sonata-form movement. The pervasive, restless mood finally abates in the closing measures. II. Adagio—The Adagio, in B-flat Major, provides a reprieve from the storm and stress of the outer movements. Nevertheless, as in the opening movement, contrast plays a crucial and dramatic (perhaps even operatic) role—here, with frequent juxtapositions of the piano’s upper and lower registers. The rapt lyricism established in the opening measures continues to the hushed final bars. III. Allegretto—The finale opens with a repeated four-note motif. As in the case of the opening movement of his immortal Fifth Symphony (1808), Beethoven employs the motif as the basis for music of extraordinary concentration, drive, and emotional impact. And, like the Beethoven Fifth, the finale of the “Tempest” proceeds with unrelenting momentum. The closing measures, while far more subdued than their counterpart in the Fifth, are no less striking. Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Opus 10, No. 1 (1795-8)
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he C-minor Piano Sonata is the first of three published collectively as Beethoven’s Opus 10. Beethoven dedicated the Sonatas to Countess Browne-Camus, the wife of one of his patrons, Count Johann Georg von Browne-Camus. Over a period of five years, Beethoven dedicated several works to the Count and Countess. In his dedication to the Count of the three Opus 9 String Trios, Beethoven wrote: “L’auteur auroit la satisfaction tant désirée de presenter au premier Mécene de sa muse la meilleure de ces oeuvres” (“It would give the author a much-desired satisfaction to present to the first Maecenas of his muse the finest of his works”). I. Allegro molto e con brio—The Sonata opens in striking fashion, with a brusque forte chord, followed by an ascending dotted-rhythm fanfare. The agitated theme culminates in a measure of silence, followed by the introduction of the second principal theme, a waltzlike melody in E-flat major. The development of the principal themes journeys to a hushed sequence, shattered by the recapitulation of the opening chord and ascending fanfare. The return of the second theme leads to the coda, capped by two imposing fortissimo chords. II. Adagio molto—The slow-tempo movement, in A-flat Major, features two principal components. The first is an extended, noble melody, introduced at the very outset. Brusque chords and cascading figures launch the second principal episode, containing lovely filigree passagework. A reprise of these two episodes resolves to the lyrical coda, and the pianissimo closing bars.
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