Talk:Piano Sonata No. 21 (Beethoven)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Is it true that this was the first piece that Beethoven wrote for the modern 88 key keyboard?

Too early, I think! The article piano contains some information on the development of the piano that's interesting in its own right; and since the sonata no. 21 was written in 1803, not near 1810, it seems unlikely, since according to the article the range hadn't quite approached seventy-two notes by then. 1810 was more the time of works like sonatas 26 (Lebewohl) and 27 (and the two Hammerklavier sonatas 28 and 29- indeed, I believe that's their full name, Sonate für das Hammerklavier (as pointed out in the article on the second of the works it's not Beethoven's name for them, though) they're written for the new instrument of the end of the 1810s.) That would be my guess. Schissel : bowl listen July 7, 2005 05:45 (UTC)

A response to the above:

In fact, Beethoven NEVER wrote a piece for the modern 88 key keyboard. The Opus 106 sonata, the one referred to as the "Hammerklavier" although I believe Opus 101 bears the same title, is the only sonata of Beethoven to utilize the fullest range of the keyboard: the lowest C to the highest F on today's piano. Many keyboards either went from C to C or F to F, but Opus 106 remains the only composition where Beethoven takes advantage of the new C to F pianos. (Opus 111 does have one very high E-flat in addition to going down the lowest C in the exquisite final chord of the first movement, but Beethoven includes a note to tell you what to do if your keyboard stops at the C.)

Beethoven's early works for keyboard extend from lowest F on today's keyboard to the F one octave about the treble clef. (Sometimes, Beethoven compensated for his limited range in beautiful and innovative ways, such as the recapitulation of the first movement of the D minor piano sonata, Opus 31 No. 2. In these cases, if he'd had the higher range he may not have come up with these beautiful ideas--necessity is the mother of invention!) The Opus 53 goes higher, I believe up to the A immediately above, and possibly up to the C (the second highest C on modern keyboards). The lowest F to the second highest C on our modern keyboards is the range found in the great Opus 57 sonata in f minor (the "Appassionata"). At the end of the Opus 57, in the very exciting coda, the bass descends while the right hand is at the highest possible register until finally for a fleeting moment the lowest and highest notes sound together. (In almost all printed editions, unfortunately, the measure before has the F and C together, but Beethoven in his manuscript crossed out the first version of the coda and rewrote it. In the rewritten version, those F's are changed to A-flats, which is preferrable as it delays that expected moment of the F and C sounding together. Also, it looks back to the opening notes of the first movement, unifying the work beautifully.)

Another notable work is Opus 101: this is the first time Beethoven is able to utilize a note below that F. At the dramatic end of the (extremely difficult!) development section, he uses the lowest E on today's keyboards, and even writes "contra E" (low E), exulting in the notes finally available to him. The works around 1810, like Opus 81a (Lebewhol) and the bagatelle WoO59 "Fur Elise" seem to call for a range from the lowest F to highest F on our modern keyboard (an octave higher than had previously been available to Beethoven), by the way. So does the Fifth Piano Concerto (Op. 73) and I think the Fourth Concerto (Op. 58) as well, but I'm not sure. I can't remember the range found in the Third Conceto (Op. 37), the dating of which has been debated, so it's hard to tell what keyboards were available to him then.