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Piano Sonata No. 29 (Beethoven)
Encyclopedia
Ludwig van Beethoven
's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106
(known as the Große Sonate für das Hammerklavier, or more simply as the Hammerklavier) is a piano sonata
widely considered to be one of the most important works of the composer's third period and among one of the great piano sonata
s. It is considered Beethoven's single most difficult composition for the piano, and it remains one of the most challenging solo works in the classical piano repertoire.
; a brusque humour; and a return to pre-classical compositional traditions, including an exploration of modal
harmony and reinventions of the fugue
within classical forms.
The Hammerklavier also set a precedent for the length of solo compositions (performances typically take about 45 minutes). While orchestral works such as symphonies and concerti had often contained movements of 15 or even 20 minutes for many years, few single movements in solo literature had a span such as the Hammerklaviers Adagio sostenuto.
The sonata's name comes from Beethoven's later practice of using German rather than Italian words for musical terminology. (Hammerklavier literally means "hammer-keyboard" while pianoforte means "soft-loud", and until today is the German name for the fortepiano
, the predecessor of the modern pianoforte.) It comes from the title page of the work, "Große Sonate für das Hammerklavier", which means "Grand sonata for the fortepiano". The more sedate Sonata No. 28 in A, Op. 101
has the same description, but the epithet has come to apply to the Sonata No. 29 only.
The work also makes extensive use of the una corda pedal
, with Beethoven giving for his time unusually detailed instructions when to use it.
s, a structure often used by Beethoven, and imitated by contemporaries such as Schubert, in contrast to the more usual three or two movements of Mozart and Haydn sonatas.
In addition to the thematic
connections within the movements and the use of traditional Romantic
formal structures, Charles Rosen
has described how much of the piece is organized around the motif of a descending third (major
or minor
). This descending third is quite ubiquitous throughout the work, but most clearly recognizable in the following sections: the opening fanfare
of the Allegro; in the Scherzo
's mocking imitation of the aforementioned fanfare, as well as in its trio theme; in bar two of the Adagio; and in the Fugue in both its introductory bass octave-patterns and in the main subject, as the seven-note runs which end up on notes descended by thirds. 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 an originally Classical structure (the sonata form
).
Duration of roughly 11–12 minutes.
The first movement opens with a series of fortissimo B-flat major chord
s, 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 (ƒƒƒ) passages in Beethoven's work.
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.
The sonata-form slow movement, centered on F-sharp minor, has been called, among other things, a "mausoleum of collective sorrow," and is notable for its ethereality and great length as a slow movement (e.g. Wilhelm Kempff
played approximately 16 minutes and Christoph Eschenbach
25 minutes) that finally ends with a Picardy third
. Paul Bekker
called the movement "the apotheosis of pain, of that deep sorrow for which there is no remedy, and which finds expression not in passionate outpourings, but in the immeasurable stillness of utter woe". Wilhelm Kempff described it as "the most magnificent monologue Beethoven ever wrote".
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. NPR
's Ted Libbey writes, "An entire line of development in Romantic music—passing through Schubert
, Chopin
, Schumann
, Brahms
, and even Liszt
—springs from this music."
The movement begins with a slow introduction that serves to transition from the third movement. To do so, it modulates
from B-flat minor to B major to A major, which modulates to B-flat major for the fugue. Dominated by falling thirds in the bass line, the music three times pauses on a pedal and engages in speculative contrapuntal experimentation, in a manner foreshadowing 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. The subject of the fugue can be divided itself into three parts: (i) a tenth
leap followed by a trill
to the tonic, (ii) a 7-note scale figure repeated descending by a third, and (iii) a tail semiquaver passage marked by many chromatic passing tones, whose development becomes the main source for the movement's unique dissonance. Marked "with some licenses" ("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 and includes a number of "learned" contrapuntal devices, often, and significantly, wielded with a dramatic fury and dissonance inimical to their conservative and academic associations. Some examples: augmentation
of the fugue theme and countersubject
in a sforzando marcato at bars 96-117, the massive stretto
of the tenth leap and trill which follows, a contemplative episode beginning at bar 152 featuring the subject in retrograde
, leading to an exploration of the theme in inversion at bar 209.
A second, contrasting idyllic subject is introduced at bar 250, which becomes a terrifying bass cantus firmus
, heard against parts of the first theme. The penultimate episode investigates the implications of sounding the main subject, countersubject and their inversions simultaneously in stretto. A lengthy coda in B-flat ends the work, the tenth leap and trill rising up the B-flat scale to arrive at two conventional dominant-tonic cadences
which sound nevertheless strangely unstable.
This fugue, which Stravinsky called both inexhaustible and exhausting, ranks alongside the Große Fuge, Op. 133
, the "Et Vitam Venturi" fugue in the Missa solemnis, Op. 123
, and the last movement of Piano Sonata No. 31, Op. 110
, as Beethoven's most daring and extensive late explorations of the contrapuntal art.
, who appreciated the work and fully admired the late string quartets, held reservations for what he perceived as a lack of succinctness in its composition.
In the twentieth century, Pierre Boulez
's Piano Sonata No. 2
applies a serial
syntax to the playing style of a Beethoven piano sonata.
The composer Felix Weingartner
also produced an orchestration of the sonata.
's book The Classical Style (2nd ed., 1997, New York: Norton): ISBN 0-393-31712-9).
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106
Opus number
An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...
(known as the Große Sonate für das Hammerklavier, or more simply as the Hammerklavier) is a piano sonata
Piano sonata
A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement , two movements , five or even more movements...
widely considered to be one of the most important works of the composer's third period and among one of the great piano sonata
Piano sonata
A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement , two movements , five or even more movements...
s. It is considered Beethoven's single most difficult composition for the piano, and it remains one of the most challenging solo works in the classical piano repertoire.
Composition
Dedicated to his patron, the Archduke Rudolf, 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. It 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 formSonata form
Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
; a brusque humour; and a return to pre-classical compositional traditions, including an exploration of modal
Musical mode
In the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...
harmony and reinventions of the fugue
Fugue
In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
within classical forms.
The Hammerklavier also set a precedent for the length of solo compositions (performances typically take about 45 minutes). While orchestral works such as symphonies and concerti had often contained movements of 15 or even 20 minutes for many years, few single movements in solo literature had a span such as the Hammerklaviers Adagio sostenuto.
The sonata's name comes from Beethoven's later practice of using German rather than Italian words for musical terminology. (Hammerklavier literally means "hammer-keyboard" while pianoforte means "soft-loud", and until today is the German name for the fortepiano
Fortepiano
Fortepiano designates the early version of the piano, from its invention by the Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori around 1700 up to the early 19th century. It was the instrument for which Haydn, Mozart, and the early Beethoven wrote their piano music...
, the predecessor of the modern pianoforte.) It comes from the title page of the work, "Große Sonate für das Hammerklavier", which means "Grand sonata for the fortepiano". The more sedate Sonata No. 28 in A, Op. 101
Piano Sonata No. 28 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101, was written in 1816 and was dedicated to the pianist Baroness Dorothea Ertmann. This piano sonata runs for about 20 minutes and consists of four movements:...
has the same description, but the epithet has come to apply to the Sonata No. 29 only.
The work also makes extensive use of the una corda pedal
Soft pedal
The soft pedal is one of the standard pedals on a piano, generally placed leftmost among the pedals. On a grand piano this pedal shifts the whole action including the keyboard slightly to the right, so that hammers which normally strike all three of the strings for a note strike only two of them....
, with Beethoven giving for his time unusually detailed instructions when to use it.
Structure
The piece contains four movementMovement (music)
A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...
s, a structure often used by Beethoven, and imitated by contemporaries such as Schubert, in contrast to the more usual three or two movements of Mozart and Haydn sonatas.
In addition to the thematic
Theme (music)
In music, a theme is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based.-Characteristics:A theme may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found . In contrast to an idea or motif, a theme is...
connections within the movements and the use of traditional Romantic
Romantic music
Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....
formal structures, Charles Rosen
Charles Rosen
Charles Rosen is an American pianist and author on music.-Life and career:In his youth he studied piano with Moriz Rosenthal. Rosenthal, born in 1862, had been a student of Franz Liszt...
has described how much of the piece is organized around the motif of a descending third (major
Major third
In classical music from Western culture, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions , and the major third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is qualified as major because it is the largest of the two: the major third spans four semitones, the minor third three...
or minor
Minor third
In classical music from Western culture, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions , and the minor third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. The minor quality specification identifies it as being the smallest of the two: the minor third spans three semitones, the major...
). This descending third is quite ubiquitous throughout the work, but most clearly recognizable in the following sections: the opening fanfare
Fanfare
A Fanfare is a relatively short piece of music that is typically played by trumpets and other brass instruments often accompanied by percussion...
of the Allegro; in the Scherzo
Scherzo
A scherzo is a piece of music, often a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony or a sonata. The scherzo's precise definition has varied over the years, but it often refers to a movement which replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or...
's mocking imitation of the aforementioned fanfare, as well as in its trio theme; in bar two of the Adagio; and in the Fugue in both its introductory bass octave-patterns and in the main subject, as the seven-note runs which end up on notes descended by thirds. It is perhaps the first major piano work (if not work of any instrumentation) to so thoroughly incorporate a Baroque
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
contrapuntal style (the fugue
Fugue
In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
) within an originally Classical structure (the sonata form
Sonata form
Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
).
I. Allegro
The first movement opens with a series of fortissimo B-flat major chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
s, 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
Submediant
In music, the submediant is the sixth scale degree of the diatonic scale, the 'lower mediant' halfway between the tonic and the subdominant or 'lower dominant'...
(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
Recapitulation (music)
In music theory, the recapitulation is one of the sections of a movement written in sonata form. The recapitulation occurs after the movement's development section, and typically presents once more the musical themes from the movement's exposition...
, 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
Coda (music)
Coda is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence...
, the final notes one of the rare fortississimo (ƒƒƒ) passages in Beethoven's work.
II. Scherzo: Assai vivace
Duration of 3–4 minutes.The brief second movement includes a great variety of harmonic and thematic material. The scherzo
Scherzo
A scherzo is a piece of music, often a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony or a sonata. The scherzo's precise definition has varied over the years, but it often refers to a movement which replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or...
'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.
III. Adagio sostenuto
Duration of 16–25 minutes.The sonata-form slow movement, centered on F-sharp minor, has been called, among other things, a "mausoleum of collective sorrow," and is notable for its ethereality and great length as a slow movement (e.g. Wilhelm Kempff
Wilhelm Kempff
Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertory included Bach, Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well-known for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, both of whose complete sonatas he also...
played approximately 16 minutes and Christoph Eschenbach
Christoph Eschenbach
Christoph Eschenbach , born February 20, 1940, Breslau, Germany is a German-born pianist and conductor. He currently holds positions in Washington, D.C. as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra and music director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.-Early...
25 minutes) that finally ends with a Picardy third
Picardy third
A Picardy third is a harmonic device used in European classical music.It refers to the use of a major chord of the tonic at the end of a musical section which is either modal or in a minor key...
. Paul Bekker
Paul Bekker
Paul Bekker was one of the most articulate and influential German music critics of the 20th century....
called the movement "the apotheosis of pain, of that deep sorrow for which there is no remedy, and which finds expression not in passionate outpourings, but in the immeasurable stillness of utter woe". Wilhelm Kempff described it as "the most magnificent monologue Beethoven ever wrote".
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. NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's Ted Libbey writes, "An entire line of development in Romantic music—passing through Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
, Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
, Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, and even Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
—springs from this music."
IV. Introduzione: Largo - Fuga: Allegro risoluto
Duration of roughly 12 minutes.The movement begins with a slow introduction that serves to transition from the third movement. To do so, it modulates
Modulation (music)
In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature. Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest...
from B-flat minor to B major to A major, which modulates to B-flat major for the fugue. Dominated by falling thirds in the bass line, the music three times pauses on a pedal and engages in speculative contrapuntal experimentation, in a manner foreshadowing the quotations from the first three movements of the Ninth Symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
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. The subject of the fugue can be divided itself into three parts: (i) a tenth
Tenth
Tenth can mean:* 10th, an ordinal number; as in the item in an order ten places from the beginning, following the ninth and preceding the eleventh.* 1/10, a fraction, one part of a unit divided equally into ten parts...
leap followed by a trill
Trill (music)
The trill is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill....
to the tonic, (ii) a 7-note scale figure repeated descending by a third, and (iii) a tail semiquaver passage marked by many chromatic passing tones, whose development becomes the main source for the movement's unique dissonance. Marked "with some licenses" ("con alcune licenze"), the fugue, one of Beethoven's greatest contrapuntal
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
achievements, as well as making incredible demands on the performer, moves through a number of contrasting sections and includes a number of "learned" contrapuntal devices, often, and significantly, wielded with a dramatic fury and dissonance inimical to their conservative and academic associations. Some examples: augmentation
Augmentation (music)
In Western music and music theory, the word augmentation has three distinct meanings. Augmentation is a compositional device where a melody, theme or motif is presented in longer note-values than were previously used...
of the fugue theme and countersubject
Countersubject
In music, a countersubject is a melodic or thematic idea which is played against a primary subject of a fugue, ricercar, invention, sinfonia, or other contrapuntal piece of music...
in a sforzando marcato at bars 96-117, the massive stretto
Stretto
The term stretto comes from the Italian past participle of stringere, and means "narrow", "tight", or "close".In music the Italian term stretto has two distinct meanings:...
of the tenth leap and trill which follows, a contemplative episode beginning at bar 152 featuring the subject in retrograde
Retrograde
-Retrograde:* Retrograde motion, in astronomy, describes retrograde motions of celestial bodies relative to a gravitationally central object* Apparent retrograde motion, in astronomy, is the apparent motion of planets as observed from a particular vantage point...
, leading to an exploration of the theme in inversion at bar 209.
A second, contrasting idyllic subject is introduced at bar 250, which becomes a terrifying bass cantus firmus
Cantus firmus
In music, a cantus firmus is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.The plural of this Latin term is , though the corrupt form canti firmi is also attested...
, heard against parts of the first theme. The penultimate episode investigates the implications of sounding the main subject, countersubject and their inversions simultaneously in stretto. A lengthy coda in B-flat ends the work, the tenth leap and trill rising up the B-flat scale to arrive at two conventional dominant-tonic cadences
Cadence (music)
In Western musical theory, a cadence is, "a melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of repose or resolution [finality or pause]." A harmonic cadence is a progression of two chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music...
which sound nevertheless strangely unstable.
This fugue, which Stravinsky called both inexhaustible and exhausting, ranks alongside the Große Fuge, Op. 133
Große Fuge
The Große Fuge , Op. 133, is a single-movement composition for string quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven. A massive double fugue, it originally served as the final movement of his Quartet No. 13 in B major but he replaced it with a new finale and published it separately in 1827 as Op...
, the "Et Vitam Venturi" fugue in the Missa solemnis, Op. 123
Missa Solemnis (Beethoven)
The Missa solemnis in D Major, Op. 123 was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven from 1819-1823. It was first performed on April 7, 1824 in St. Petersburg, under the auspices of Beethoven's patron Prince Nikolai Galitzin; an incomplete performance was given in Vienna on 7 May 1824, when the Kyrie,...
, and the last movement of Piano Sonata No. 31, Op. 110
Piano Sonata No. 31 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110, by Ludwig van Beethoven was composed in 1821. It is the central piano sonata in the group of three opp. 109–111 which he wrote between 1820 and 1822, and the thirty-first of his published piano sonatas....
, as Beethoven's most daring and extensive late explorations of the contrapuntal art.
Influence
The work, particularly the last movement, had more or less to wait until the twentieth century before its significance was realised (possibly due to the difficulty of gaining a technically competent performance). Even as progressive a musician as Richard WagnerRichard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, who appreciated the work and fully admired the late string quartets, held reservations for what he perceived as a lack of succinctness in its composition.
In the twentieth century, Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
's Piano Sonata No. 2
Piano sonatas (Boulez)
Pierre Boulez has composed three piano sonatas. The First Piano Sonata in 1946, a Second Piano Sonata in 1948, and a Third Piano Sonata was composed in 1955–57 with further elaborations up to at least 1963, though only two of its movements have been published.-First Piano Sonata:Boulez's First...
applies a serial
Serialism
In music, serialism is a method or technique of composition that uses a series of values to manipulate different musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as one example of...
syntax to the playing style of a Beethoven piano sonata.
The composer Felix Weingartner
Felix Weingartner
Paul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.-Biography:...
also produced an orchestration of the sonata.
Further reading
Extensive discussion and analysis is given in Charles RosenCharles Rosen
Charles Rosen is an American pianist and author on music.-Life and career:In his youth he studied piano with Moriz Rosenthal. Rosenthal, born in 1862, had been a student of Franz Liszt...
's book The Classical Style (2nd ed., 1997, New York: Norton): ISBN 0-393-31712-9).
External links
- Part 1 and part 2 of a lecture by András SchiffAndrás SchiffAndrás Schiff is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist, who has won a number of awards including the Grammy and made numerous recordings.- Biography :...
on Beethoven's piano sonata op. 106 - The William and Gayle Cook Music Library at the Indiana University School of Music has posted the score for the sonata.
- For a public domain recording of this sonata visit Musopen