Piano Sonata No. 29 (Beethoven)

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Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, opus 106, known as the Hammerklavier, is widely considered to be one of the defining works of the composer's third period and one of the great piano sonatas. It is considered Beethoven's single most difficult composition for the piano and remains one of the most challenging solo works in the entire piano repertoire, to this day.

The sonata was written primarily from the summer of 1817 to the late autumn of 1818, towards the end of a fallow period in Beethoven's compositional career, and represents the spectacular emergence of many of the themes that were to recur in Beethoven's late period: the reinvention of traditional forms, such as sonata form; a brusque humor; and a return to pre-classical compositional traditions, including an exploration of modal harmony and reinventions of the fugue within classical forms.

The sonata's name (literally "hammer-keyboard") simply means "piano". It comes from the title page of the work, which says "Große Sonate für das Hammerklavier", i.e. "Grand sonata for piano". At this time, Beethoven was experimenting with using German words for musical terminology rather the conventional Italian. While it does not represent Beethoven's own title (the more sedate Sonata Op. 101 in A has the same description), an imposing-sounding title seems to fit well with the titanic character of the work, and the name has stuck.

Structure

The piece contains a rather unconventional four movements for a classical sonata (most sonatas had three) and plays for an average of 45 minutes. In addition to the thematic connections within the movements and the use of traditional classical formal structures, Charles Rosen has described how much of the piece is organized around the motif of a descending third (major or minor). It is perhaps the first major piano work (if not work of any instrumentation) to so thoroughly incorporate a baroque contrapuntal style (the fugue) within a classical structure (the sonata form) (see fourth movement).

1. Allegro (in B-flat, lasts roughly 11:00) - The first movement opens with a series of fortissimo B-flat major chords, which form much of the basis of the first subject. Another series of the same chords ushers in the more lyrical second subject, in the submediant (that is, a minor third below the tonic), G Major. The development section opens with a fughetta subject that descends continuously by thirds. The recapitulation, in keeping with Beethoven's exploration of the potentials of sonata form, avoids a full harmonic return to B-flat until long after the return to the first theme. The movement ends with a coda, the final notes one of the rare fortississimo passages in Beethoven's work.
2. Scherzo: Assai vivace (also in B-flat, lasts roughly 3:00) - The brief second movement includes a great variety of harmonic and thematic material. The scherzo's theme - which has been described as a parody of the first movement's first subject - is at once playful, lively, and pleasant. The trio, marked "semplice", visits the minor, but the effect is more shadowy than dramatic. Following this dark interlude, Beethoven inserts a more intense presto section in 2/4 meter, which eventually segues back to the scherzo. This time around, it is followed by a coda (with another meter change!), before dying away into the third movement.
3. Adagio sostenuto (in F-sharp minor, lasts roughly 18:00) - The sonata-form slow movement has been called, among other things, a "mausoleum of collective sorrow", and is notable for its ethereality and great length as a slow movement. Structurally, it follows traditional classical-era sonata form, but the recapitulation of the main theme is varied to include extensive figurations in the right hand that anticipate some of the techniques of romantic piano music; in "The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection", Ted Libbey writes, "An entire line of development...springs from this music."
4. Introduzione - Fuga: Allegro risoluto (the introduction modulates from D Minor to B Major to A Major, which modulates to B-flat major for the fugue) - The movement begins with a slow introduction that serves to transition from the third movement. Dominated by falling thirds in the baseline, the music three times pauses on a pedal and engages in speculative contrapuntal experimentations, in a manner somewhat similar to the quotations from the first three movements of the ninth symphony in the opening of the fourth movement of that work. After a final modulation to B-flat major, the main substance of the movement appears: a titanic three-voice fugue in triple meter. Marked "with occasional license" ("con alcune licenze"), the fugue (one of Beethoven's greatest contrapuntal achievements, as well as making incredible demands on the performer) moves through a number of contrasting sections, including such "learned" contrapuntal devices as an inversion of the fugue subject and a retrograde passage in which the original subject is played backwards note-for-note. These devices and others place the movement alongside the "Grosse Fuge" for string quartet, Op. 133, and the "Et Vitam Venturi" fugue in the Missa Solemnis as Beethoven's most daring and extensive late explorations of the contrapuntal art. The work ends with a coda, in B-flat.

Further reading

Charles Rosen gives an excellent exposition of the piece, particularly the first movement, in The Classical Style.

External link

The William and Gayle Cook Music Library at the Indiana University School of Music has posted the score for the sonata.

Template:BeethovenPianoSonatasde:Klaviersonate Nr. 29 B-Dur op.106 (Beethoven) ja:ピアノソナタ第29番 (ベートーヴェン) fi:Hammerklavier