Beethoven Appassionata

Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2 No. 1 (1795)

1. Allegro
2. Adagio
3. Menuetto: Allegretto
4. Prestissimo

Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 2 No. 2 (1795)

1. Allegro vivace
2. Largo appassionato
3. Scherzo: Allegretto
4. Rondo: Grazioso

-Intermission-

Piano Sonata No. 22 in F major, Op. 54 (1804)

1. In tempo d’un menuetto
2. Allegretto

Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 “Appassionata” (1805)

1. Allegro assai
2. Andante con moto
3. Allegro ma non troppo – Presto

Ludwig van Beethoven moved from his native city of Bonn to Vienna at the end of 1792 and soon became a composition student of Joseph Haydn, who was nearly forty years his senior. Their relationship was not entirely smooth, and little more than a year later Haydn departed for London, not returning until the autumn of 1795. Although Beethoven may not yet have been a fully mature composer when Haydn left, he rapidly established himself as Vienna’s most celebrated piano virtuoso. This was no small achievement, since the city’s aristocratic audiences generally preferred elegance and effortless brilliance to the powerful, forceful style that Beethoven represented. Yet no one could rival him in the noble art of improvisation.

As a composer, Beethoven waited until he felt he had produced works worthy of bearing the designation Opus 1. The honor ultimately went to the three piano trios completed in 1795. In the same year, he composed the three Piano Sonatas, Op. 2, dedicating them to Haydn in an effort to ease tensions between them. However, Beethoven was unwilling to give his former teacher too much credit: although Haydn reportedly wished the published edition to identify Beethoven as his pupil, Beethoven omitted this acknowledgment.

The sonatas reveal Beethoven’s remarkably rapid development. He had already risen to the artistic level of Haydn and Mozart. At a time when Classical composers strongly favored major keys, the choice of F minor for Piano Sonata No. 1 points toward the future. Nevertheless, some of the sonata’s themes can be traced back to Beethoven’s years in Bonn. Unlike the other sonatas of Op. 2, the dance movement of the F minor Sonata is still labelled Menuetto, although throughout Beethoven’s music the distinction between minuet and scherzo is often blurred.

Looking at Beethoven’s complete cycle of piano sonatas, one finds extraordinary variety in overall form. The sonatas contain anywhere from two to four movements, and in fact two-movement sonatas are quite common. The position of the dance movement varies, and in some sonatas it is absent altogether. Although sonatas typically begin with a fast movement in sonata form, consisting of exposition, development, and recapitulation, Beethoven was not bound by convention. His two-movement Sonata in F major, Op. 54, for example, opens unexpectedly with a minuet.

In Piano Sonata No. 1, the music alternates primarily between F minor and F major. By contrast, Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major sparkles largely in major-mode sonorities, although Beethoven introduces unusually bold modulations in the first movement. The scherzo is marked Allegretto, just like the minuet in the First Sonata. The slow movement bears the indication Largo appassionato (“slowly and passionately”), a marking that never appears again in Beethoven’s piano sonatas, not even in the famous Appassionata. Only in the final sonata, Op. 111, does Beethoven once more use the word appassionato, there in association with a fast tempo.

During the late 1790s and the opening years of the nineteenth century, musical taste among Vienna’s wealthy and influential circles underwent a significant transformation. Previously, audiences had favored simplicity, limited modulation, and the avoidance of complexity. Even Mozart’s late works were often regarded as overly learned and difficult. Quite rapidly, however, aristocratic tastes shifted in favor of Beethoven and his boundary-breaking compositions. Beethoven continued throughout his career to challenge both listeners and critics with increasingly demanding works, and even sophisticated commentators did not always embrace his innovations. Yet by the beginning of the nineteenth century his reputation as a composer had become firmly established, and alongside Haydn he was widely recognized as the foremost living master.

Piano Sonata No. 22 in F major, Op. 54 (1804), has perhaps unjustly remained overshadowed by two more famous sonatas from the same period: the Waldstein Sonata, Op. 53, and the Appassionata, Op. 57. Perhaps its relative neglect is due to its two-movement structure and shorter duration. Beethoven was deeply interested in developments in piano construction and maintained close contact with instrument makers across Europe. In Vienna he particularly favored the pianos of Nannette Streicher, one of the rare female piano builders of the era, although he continually demanded greater power, a firmer touch, and a wider range from her instruments. In 1803 he acquired a piano from the French maker Érard, though he ultimately found it almost too heavy in action. Most significant pianos of the early nineteenth century possessed a range of nearly six octaves, making it somewhat surprising that the Sonata in F major, Op. 54, remains within approximately five octaves. Nevertheless, its technical demands clearly indicate that Beethoven did not intend it for amateur performers.

The remarkably unusual opening movement, designated a minuet, finds an effective counterpart in the finale, which is propelled almost entirely by continuous sixteenth notes. Despite its major key, the sonata has often been regarded as unusually serious in character. This mood may be connected to Beethoven’s unrequited love for his composition student, the widowed noblewoman Josephine von Brunsvik.

Written a year after the Sonata in F major, the Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57, Appassionata (1805) was dedicated to Josephine’s brother, the amateur cellist Count Franz von Brunsvik. Beethoven originally inscribed the manuscript with the title La Pasionata, while the name Appassionata became widely attached to the sonata only after his death.

The first movement, in sonata form, alternates between exploratory and stormy passages. The simple variations of the slow movement demonstrate Beethoven’s masterful command of musical material. The perpetuum mobile-like finale, ending with overwhelming force and abrupt finality, fully justifies the sonata’s famous nickname. It is hardly surprising that Beethoven took a break of several years from composing piano sonatas after completing the Appassionata. Despite his worsening deafness, however, he did not abandon the piano, instead turning his attention once again to the piano concerto.