Piano Sonata No. 28 (Beethoven)
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Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, op. 101, was written in 1816. This piano sonata runs for about 20 minutes and consists of four movements:
- Etwas lebhaft, und mit der inngsten Empfindung. (Somewhat lively, and with innermost sensitivity.) Allegretto, ma non troppo
- Lebhaft. Marschmäßig. (Lively. Moderate march.) Vivace alla marcia
- Langsam und sehnsuchtsvoll. (Slow and yearning-full) Adagio, ma non troppo, con affetto
- Geschwind, doch nicht zu sehr und mit Entschlossenheit. (Swiftly, but not too much, and with determination) Allegro
[edit] Composition
Described by Beethoven as "a series of impressions and reveries", Op.101 piano sonata no.28 was composed in 1816 and dedicated to the Viennese Baroness and pianist Dorotea Ertmann. It is a work that clearly marks the transition from the style of the earlier piano sonatas into a more personal, more intimate realm of freedom and fantasy. Many factors contritbuted to this. Beethoven's almost total deafness by this stage had isolated him from society at large, to the extent where communication was only possible with friends and then only through a notebook. Other factors were his growing ill health, his strong sense of his national identity and the ongoing conflict with sister-in-law Johanna for the custody of his nephew. Beethovens arrival at this period saw the assimilation of his mastery of form, texture and tonality with his prowess in subverting these conventions and forging creations of remarkable profudity and beauty.
[edit] First movement
The tempo marking for the opening movement, "Etwas Lebhaft und mit innigsten empfindung" is roughly translated as "rather lively and with the warmest feeling", a marking which seeks to convey something of the romantic, elegaic aura of this opening movement. The adoption of this more subjective, personalised marking breaks away from the conventional tempo markings and demands a more intuitive engagement between the performer and the music, which would have been especially important to Beethoven as the interpretation of his music was left in the hands of the performers of the day due to his deafness. The German tempo markings are an assertion of Beethoven's strong sense of German identity and looks forward to the "Grosse Sonate fur das Hammerklavier", or Hammerklavier Sonata. From the opening of this movement Beethoven's deft articulation of tonal and textural ambiguities manifests itself. The key of this movement is A Major, and yet in the opening bars we have the dominant E major and subdominant F# minor phrases establishing a wonderful air of irresolution and speculation which weaves tantilsingly around the tonic sonority of A major. Also present here and throughout the movement and which works in conjunction with the harmonic tension is the intricate fragmentation of the texture caused by complex syncopation. All of this creates a meandering conversation of expectation, irresolution and frustration which dominates the movement. This call and response of phrases and the inflections of the single melodic line along with the harmonic and syntactical tension then abates and the high register recedes to rest on the tonally resolute and rhythmically balanced progression back and forth between the tonic of A major and dominant of E major, creating a serene stillness with the warm, melancholic and slightly abrasive inclusion of the major 7th of the A major chord. The coda draws to an end with the beautiful, meditative melodies in the middle register supported by an embellishment of the E major chord(in the higher register) which creates a delicate, ponderous resonance. This dreamlike lull is dispersed and the rhythmic and harmonic obscurities return. They now are built onto the sub-dominant of F# and alternate dynamically between forcefulness and respite. Just when this discord seems to have reached an impasse the opening progression returns, seemingly pulled from thin air, with variations which muse reflectively in the wake of the dissonance. The variation of the progression of the opening half of the movement seems to carry a keener poinancy particularly with the return of the two-beat phrase from the coda. This however is far more abruptly shattered than before with raked fortissimo diminished vii chords falling on rhtymically irregular positions in the bar, conluding an idea which seems to reverse the principles of resolution by illustrating the completeness of it's decay. The movement draws to a close on a hopeful note, the strife and discord giving way to a spirit of gladness and yet tinged with sadness. The final phrase seems to express an inconsolable yearning as it wavers on the major7th before finally resting on the tonic of A major with a sigh of completion.
[edit] Later Movements
The third movement acts as a bit of an introduction to the fourth movement, perhaps akin to the nearly static "Introduzione" middle movement of the Waldstein, Sonata 21. Strikingly, the opening melody of the first movement is recalled just as the third movement nears its conclusion. Downward arpeggios accelerate upward, then trills move upward. The concluding fugue leaps forth mit Entschlossenheit.
