Sonatas Op. 14 and Op. 22

Sonata No. 9 in E major, Op. 14, No. 1

Composed 1798-9, published 1799. Dedicated to Baroness Josefine von Braun I. Allegro II. Allegretto III. Rondo: Allegro comodo

Sonata No. 10 in G major, Op. 14, No. 2

Composed 1798-9, published 1799. Dedicated to Baroness Josefine von Braun I. Allegro II. Andante III. Scherzo: Allegro assai

Sonata No. 11 in B-flat major, Op. 22

Composed 1800, published 1802. Dedicated to Count von Browne I. Allegro con brio II. Adagio con molta espressione III. Menuetto IV. Rondo: Allegretto

The two Op. 14 Sonatas are altogether more modest in scale and ambition than their illustrious predecessor, but in their different ways they are equally assured. Op. 14, No. 1 is unique among the Beethoven sonatas as the only one he arranged for string quartet. There has been speculation that the work may originally have been conceived for string quartet and there are certainly textural connections in the first movement, which at times come close to Haydn’s almost contemporaneous Op. 76, No. 2. Above all it is a movement that is lyrical, and when the second theme texture reduces to a solo line moving simply up and down a scale it becomes almost unbearably tender. The crowning glory of the movement is a beautiful coda where the main motif becomes a bass line, then a cadence pattern. The movement shares a sense of motivic rigour with Op. 13 but in every other respect is utterly different. Like Op. 10, No. 1, this sonata has no slow movement. Instead the second movement is an Allegretto, constructed like a minuet and trio. It has a melancholy tinge deriving from its minor mode and lilting rhythm, in many ways more like a Schubert Impromptu than a Classical minuet. The rondo finale, despite passages of brilliant arpeggios in its central section, retains the predominantly lyrical tone of the previous two movements. The first movement of Op. 14, No. 2 begins with a playful metrical ambiguity and moves on to secondary themes which have a distinctly popular Viennese character. The movement ends with a serene coda. The second movement is a set of variations on a hymn-like theme turned into distinctive clipped chords. The variations focus on the repeated rhythmic profile of the theme, and echo some of Haydn’s slow movements – an implication which seems to be confirmed by the suddenly loud concluding chord that comes straight from the Haydn joke book. The lighter tone and metrical ambiguity of the first movement are again taken up in the finale, which is marked ‘Scherzo’ but is in formal terms a rondo. The character of the movement can best be judged from the manner of its ending, where the final return of the rondo theme is brief and lacking any of the closing rhetoric we might anticipate. Like the sonata as a whole, it is playful and understated. The Op. 22 Sonata returns to the four-movement format. Its pithy opening material establishes an energy and sense of propulsion unlike the previous three sonatas and more akin to those of Op. 10. One of the most striking passages in the movement comes towards the end of the exposition when a

melancholic turn towards the minor key is interrupted by a forceful declamatory scale in double octaves. This scale becomes a feature of the following development section, transformed beautifully into a melodic line reaching the lowest register of the piano. The Adagio con molta espressione has a long, flowing melodic line, assembled from expressive chromatic appoggiaturas over gently pulsing chords. There are only a few moments when the music leaves these pulsed chords; the most memorable comes just before the return of the main theme, when the music becomes entirely based on limpid semiquaver figuration and the texture is transformed.

The Minuetto that follows appears to be a return to Classical elegance, an impression challenged by the music that begins the second part of the minuet – a strange chordal oscillation followed by a loud cadence gesture. The rondo finale is a close relative of many of the earlier finales. Its most striking moments occur in the passionate minor-key central episode, which at one point briefly suggests a move towards solemn counterpoint. After this the rondo theme never quite regains its initial poise and seems to exist in the shadow of this central episode. The Op. 22 Sonata displays a mastery of many of the features present in Beethoven’s early sonatas: a vigorous, motivically coherent sonata-allegro, a slow movement with heightened expressivity, a classically-influenced minuet and a more relaxed rondo finale. The sonatas that were to follow show Beethoven moving in more experimental directions and developing a broader sense of what a piano sonata could be.