Two Experiments with Lyricism

Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90

Composed 1814, published 1815. Dedicated to Count Moritz Lichnowsky I. Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck II. Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorgetragen

Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101

Composed 1816, published 1817. Dedicated to Baroness Dorothea Ertmann I. Etwas lebhaft, und mit der innigsten Empfindung. Allegretto, ma non troppo II. Lebhaft. Marschmäßig. Vivace alla marcia III. Langsam und sehnsuchtsvoll. Adagio, ma non troppo, con affetto IV. Geschwind, doch nicht zu sehr und mit Entschlossenheit. Allegro

The years between about 1812-17 were difficult for Beethoven. He was embroiled in legal battles over the custody of his nephew Karl, increasingly depressed and writing comparatively little music. But these two sonatas reflect little of that inner turmoil. They are imbued with a lyricism which is contained within quite experimental formal designs. They are also distinguished by having tempo markings in German rather than the usual Italian, part of the patriotic Viennese response to the defeat of Napoleon. The E minor Sonata, Op. 90 is in two movements. The first is in many ways an unproblematic and efficient sonata form, full of the thematic contrasts and motivic connections we might expect from Beethoven. It begins with a short figure alternating forte and piano and has some of the character of a scherzo. But it soon transforms into a lyrical descending line, and then an eight-bar melodic transformation of yearning beauty. This music returns not only at the recapitulation but also at the very end of the movement. Its melodic completeness makes it feel like a refrain or even a song, and its appearance at the end is full of nostalgia, turning the sonata form from something potentially dramatic into something much more reflective. This mood leads directly to that of the second movement, a very lyrical rondo where most of the thematic material is again song-like and the rondo form refrains behave like the refrains of a song. The A major Sonata, Op. 101 is more experimental formally but continues in the lyrical vein. The four movements link together to form a continuous whole. While the first movement is a sonata form it is very unusual, lacking any of the strong formal articulations and dramatic contrasts usually associated with the form. Instead there is an almost continuous sense of unfolding melody. The songlike implications of Op. 90 are taken deeper into the mechanics of instrumental form. The tonic key is established only towards the end of the movement and much of the harmony suggests rather than affirms structural progression. The opening movement is followed by neither slow movement nor scherzo, but by a ‘march’. Constant dotted rhythms and a simple form suggest a character piece, but Beethoven seems consistently

to undermine this with complexities of harmony and texture. Contrapuntal complexity increases in the trio section – a canon, predominantly quiet and often marked dolce. The movement thus manages to be march-like, and yet not quite a march. The slow movement that follows is similarly hard to categorise. It is full of beauty and tenderness, but brief; it turns out to be no more than an introduction to the finale. A short cadenza-like passage leads to a surprising reprise of the opening of the first movement. This can be seen as a nostalgic reminiscence, or even as a structural wrong turning which is corrected by a trill that leads directly to the finale. As with some of Beethoven’s earlier formally experimental sonatas, there is clear sense of the structural weight of the sonata being not in its opening statements, but in its final and most substantial movement. This contains a large range of musical material; by turns light and playful, virtuosic and muscular, it also contains some space for lyricism. Its most striking characteristic is the way it moves from the contrapuntal implications of its material, as expressed in their initial presentation, to a full-blown fugue in the development section. There is a clear overarching musical narrative, from the lyrical and ambiguous first movement to the strong affirmations of the finale.