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BEETHOVEN

SONATAS in E, Op. 109

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MYRA HESS

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THE BEETHOVEN PIANOFORTE SONATAS

No department of Beethoven’s music so well reveals the form-exploring composer as do the piano sonatas. His habit of extemporization largely accounts for it. We are told how he would return to his piano from one of his walks, aflame with an idea, or how he would sit at a keyboard, wherever he might be, and in a state of dreaming fantasy allow his thoughts to take tangible shape through his fingers. The piano sonatas may well have been the most important outcome of such mo- ments, and in them one is not surprised at first finding a growing sense of movement-succession.

The piano sonatas are the closest and most continu- ous reflection which we have of the composer’s develop- ment, extending from his childhood with few breaks until the year 1822. Beethoven's first published music was the set of three sonatas written for his Elector at the age of twelve, and published in 1783 without opus number. The little sonatas fall stiffly into the contem- porary keyboard style, showing here and there that their author was indeed the Beethoven to come. A frag- mentary Easy Sonata in C, which he sent to Eleonore von Breuning from Vienna in 1796 (but had written earlier) has much grace and romantic charm.

In the seven years between 1796 and 1802, Bee- thoven wrote the bulk of his sonatas for the pianoforte — the first twenty of them! Not one of these years failed to produce at least one from his pen, and in the year 1802 alone five were published. This means, of course, that there was a great demand for them, and the young pianist was careful not to let this demand languish ungratified. Indeed, no call was unheeded, whether for variations, songs, chamber music in any combination, and the record shows about eighty-five works as having been composed in this period. But the piano sonatas offer the most personal record of growth. The successful virtuoso speaks in them, the performer who exults in his finger mastery and works his magic to subdue all; the extemporizer, the dreaming artist puts his best findings on paper. The lover declares him- self in tones— the language which the fairest and haughtiest cannot withstand. The variety of the titled

BEETHOVEN

Sonata No. 30, in E, Op. 109

Sonata No. 31, in A-Flat, Op. 110

dedications proves that the act of public compliment was often something else than sentimental, but also that Beethoven did not lack patrons and the attention of their wives and daughters. Some of his sonatas fell gratefully under their fingers, but others, the “grand sonatas,”” so-called by the publishers, were plainly for concert talents; these their composer could with luck be induced to play at an elegant gathering, in his fiery fashion, for the delight of all.

SIDE 1

PIANO SONATA No. 30, IN E, Op. 109

(Completed in 1820, the last two movements com- posed simultaneously with.the Credo of the Missa Solemnis; published in November, 1821; dedicated to “Fraulein Maximiliane Brentano.” )

The Hammer-Klavier Sonata is unique among the last five sonatas in having three peaks of about equal eminence, so far as emphasis is concerned. The rest have each a single peak, and that always at the end. Plainly, Beethoven had settled into the two-movement plan as the most desirable for a piano sonata. The Sonata, Opus 109 is as clearly a Sonata quasi una fantasia as any which Beethoven wrote.

The first movement seeks to combine two apparently irreconcilable sections, one vivace, the other adagio, by alternate juxtaposition, the vivace occurring at the be- ginning, middle and end, the adagio twice in between. By this order, any sense of a slow introduction is de- stroyed. The rhapsodist dreams upon a flowing chord interplay of the two hands, a pattern always develop- ing, pausing only twice to admit wandering measures of slow chords, arpeggios and scales. The prestissimo is a sort of swift interlude, which passes on a gust of E minor for the hearer, but reveals loveliness of melodic voice twining, when closely examined. The finale breaks another precedent. Beethoven had never before closed a work with slow movement. He was to close his last sonata with an adagio molto. This marvelous set of variations, surely the richest of the many Bee- thoven wrote for the piano, shows its promise in the beautiful theme itself.

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The first variation crystallizes the theme into new and songful shape over chord accompaniment (it is to be continuously altered to circumstance, not resuming Its exact original form until the final statement). The second variation is a ‘“leggieramente,’ thè. third a speeded up dissertation upon the climbing bass voice over which the theme was first heard. The fourth and fifth break it up into flowing figures in alternate or combined voices, again suggesting the string quartet. The last variation becomes chordal again, holding a dominant pedal almost throughout. The slow tempo is restored, and so is the substance of the theme, which loses itself in a long gathering climax of erilia and arpeggios. At last, and with telling effect, it is recon- stituted in all its simeliate

SIDE 2

PIANO SONATA No, 31, IN A-FLAT, Op. 110

(Completed December 25, 1821; published in 1822, without dedication.)

A clear and simple harmonic style was only mo- mentarily met in the Sonata Opus 109. In his Opus 110, Beethoven seems, for the time being, to have for- sworn counterpoint. The Sonata opens in long, sinuous melody, crystal clear over the simplest harmonic pulsations.

The Sonata is to sing its way, in apparent simplicity, up to the very threshold of its final fugue. But the sim- plicity is deceptive. A single line of melody, when a master is at work, does not preclude subtlety and craft. The first movement of the Sonata in A-Flat is so adroitly joined that one is scarcely aware of themes or sections. In place of a definable “second” theme is a passing F minor where the feeling becomes taut. The second movement dances gracefully in and out, like one of the earlier scherzos. Its coda leads into an Adagio and recitative, and drops softly into an Arioso dolente which is a harmonized song where utter simplicity reigns supreme. The Arioso is more than an introduc- tion, for it is to return at equal length. It is another trial of sections in complete contrast, alternately inter- laid. The foil is a fugue, fully vali which gives way to the Arioso, now in an inni G minor, this in turn subsiding in broken accents. The fugue returns on an inversion of its subject. Do these abrupt opposi- tions of the fugal and the monodic achieve psychological fusion? Somehow, inexplicably, they do. Disparate ele- ments are contained within the dreaming imagination which a magnificent sonata has occupied while a mass lies in abeyance. It is the fugal, the masculine contin- gent in this contest which holds the stage at the end, but it is modified by the opposing element of sensuous harmony. The last page resolves into sustained melody over smooth chords. — Reprinted from the Modern Library Edition of The Life

and Works of Beethoven by John N. Burk by permission of Random House, Inc.

This recording, made in England, was transferred to disc using “New Orthophonic” High Fidelity technique, which ensures best possible reproduction on High Fidelity instru- ments. Because the “Neav Orthophonic” recording techniques provide ideal dynamic range, correct balance, clarity and presence, superior reproduction also will be obtained on all “Victrola” phonographs and other standard instruments.

Both these sonatas were recorded in No. 3 studio at the

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A High Fidelity Recording E. M. I. Studios building in London using one moving coil microphone especially designed by E. M. I. SONATA, Op. 109, was recorded on November 17 and 18, 1953, and SO- NATA, Op. 110, on October 1 and 2, 1953. The tapes were then sent to RCA Victor in America, where they were trans- ferred to disc, using the “New Orthophonic” curve.

For best reproduction, High Fidelity phonographs should be adjusted to the R. I. A. A. or the “New Orthophonic”

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characteristic. Where neither is designated on the instrument proper equalization can be obtained by selecting the “LP” position and then, using the tone controls, boosting bass and treble, each by a small amount. Alternatively, the “A. E. S.” characteristic may be used with the bass boosted and the treble reduced, each by a small amount.

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