Three Sonatas from 1809

Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp major, Op. 78

Composed 1809, published 1810 Dedicated to Countess Therese von Brunsvik I. Adagio cantabile – Allegro ma non troppo II. Allegro vivace

Sonata No. 25 in G major, Op. 79

Composed 1809, published 1810 I. Presto alla tedesca II. Andante III. Vivace

Sonata No. 26 in E-flat major, Op. 81a, ‘Das Lebewohl’ or ‘Les Adieux’

Composed 1809-10, published 1811. Dedicated to Archduke Rudolf I. Das Lebewohl: Adagio - Allegro II. Abwesenheit: Andante espressivo III. Das Wiedersehen: Vivacissimamente

If we hear a new epic voice for the piano sonata in the grand tone of the Appassionata, it is not one that Beethoven was to return to immediately. The four years that separate Opp. 78 and 79 from Op. 57 had seen Beethoven compose some of his best known and most iconic works, including the middle three symphonies and the final two piano concertos. But his next sonatas, by contrast, adopt a lyrical tone. The Sonata Op. 78 presents its lyricism in a modestly proportioned work (like Op. 54, it has only two movements) in the unusual key of F-sharp major. It begins with a poised, but curiously static, brief introductory slow Adagio. This is not the dramatic raising of a curtain; it sets the lyrical tone for the Allegro ma non troppo that follows. It does not follow the more usual course of Beethoven’s sonata form movements – exploiting contrasts and tensions, with a culminating drive towards a final resolution. Instead this movement is all about flow and continuity; nothing distracts from its melodic freshness. It is followed by a finale, as short as it is strange. From its surprising opening augmented sixth chord – which reappears every time the rondo theme returns – Beethoven plays a succession of formal and harmonic games, in a movement which frequently subverts the regularity expected of a well-behaved rondo. This brief movement concludes an elusive sonata – representing a side of Beethoven often overlooked in the shadow of the grander works. The following Sonata Op. 79 is also a modestly proportioned work. Published as a Sonatine, it appears to have been conceived as a Sonatine facile. The first movement looks back to a more Classical style and proportion, but its elegance is tempered by a rustic flavour suggested by the tempo marking Presto alla tedesca (in the German style). This dance style comes to the fore in the middle of the movement.

The slow movement is one of the simplest movements in all of the Beethoven piano sonatas. With its outer sections in G minor and contrasting middle section in E-flat major, it has a songlike quality. The finale is a bright Vivace rondo drawing much of its character from the almost constantly repeating pattern of its opening bar. If this movement, like much of the sonata, harks back to Beethoven’s earlier works it also looks forward to

the later ones; many commentators draw attention to the strong relationship between the beginning of the finale and the opening of Op. 109. The Sonata Op. 81a also represents a curious change of direction. It is unusual in having a title given to it by Beethoven himself, and by being closely related to a specific event. The title Das Lebewohl or Les Adieux refers to the departure from Vienna of one of Beethoven’s most important patrons, Archduke Rudolf, in the face of the approach of Napoleon’s armies. The work appears to tell a simple unfolding of events, set out in the titles to the movements: the Archduke’s departure (Das Lebewohl), his absence (Abwesenheit) and his return (Wiedersehn). Musically it is much, much more than this simple outline suggests. The first movement begins with a slow introduction which presents the Lebewohl motif, a quiet horncall in E-flat major. Beethoven clothes this simple melodic pattern with chromatic harmonies which belie its tonal simplicity, and give it a colouration bound up with the sadness the title suggests. The sonata-allegro that follows explores this basic threenote pattern in a rich array of formats and textures. In the very long coda to the movement the opening horn-call achieves an extraordinary degree of both clarity and complexity in amazing piano textures, from mesmeric overlapping statements to the stretching of register to the top and bottom of the piano before the final cadences. This movement shows Beethoven combining an abstract motivic process of great vitality with music that is almost pictorial. The slow movement – ‘Absence’ – is in a curious structure. Its form is something like a sonata form, but one that is inherently unstable and avoids tonal closure. This formal instability is mirrored by the melodic material, which is full of expressive sighs. The extra-musical implications are clear. But the music also has a larger structural role as it links directly with the final movement. This finale is music which is untroubled in tone and moves serenely to its conclusion in a very stable E-flat major. As well as being a genuinely touching gesture of friendship, this sonata clearly asks some interesting questions about the relationship between a purely musical structure and extra-musical narrative. Beethoven tells his story by simple means, but his sophisticated treatment of his material – particularly the emblematic horn-call – enables him to avoid cliché, and also, of course, to explore another way in which a multi-movement instrumental piece can work as a unified structure.