Beethoven - Sonata Pathetic

Beethoven - Sonata Pathetic

1. Beethoven was an influential composer

   • Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer who lived from 1770-1827.
   • He was a very significant composer in Western classical music
   • He wrote music in many different forms - including orchestral music (especially symphonies), sonatas and string quartets
   • Beethoven was important in developing musical styles - he moved from the stricter forms and harmonies of the classical period to the freer forms and richer harmonies of the romantic era.

2. Beethoven wrote many sonatas

   • Beethoven wrote sonatas for a range of solo instruments, such as piano, violin and cello
   • He wrote the most for the piano - he composed 32 piano sonatas in total.
   • Beethoven was a skilled pianist himself, and his piano sonatas are considered to be some of his most expressive and powerful music
   • Piano sonatas by earlier composers tended to follow the three-movement structure, the first movement in sonata form, a second slower movement and a faster, lively third movement
     • Sonata Pathetique follows this pattern of three movements. The 1st movement ios quite unusual because of the very slow introduction, which returns briefly twice during the much faster main part of the movement. The introduction is just 10 bars long but lasts about 1 minute and 45 seconds.
     • The 2nd movement is a slow movement - its tempo is Adagio cantabile, meaning slow and songlike
     • The 3rd movement is in rondo form and is marked Allegro (meaning quick). The main theme of this movement is very similar to theme B of the exposition of the 1st movement

3. The set piece is in sonata form

   • The 1st movement of Sonata Pathetique is in sonata form. The table below shows where the three main sections of the sonata form appear in the piece - the exposition, development and recapitulation.
   • The exposition is usually repeated (but in some recordings, it isn't)
   • There are variations in tempo throughout the movement - the introduction is marked Grave, meaning very slow and solemn but the other sections are Allegro di molto e con brio which means very fast and played with spirit. The transitions are short four-bar references to the introduction, played at the same slow tempo, providing contrast with the main sections.
   • The piece ends with a code that mirrors the start of the exposition

4. Sonata Pathetique shows how music was developing

   • Beethoven's music in this sonata illustrates the transition from the classical period to the richer harmonies and more dramatic, emotional tyle that were characteristic of the romantic period. Many of these characteristics are seen in the introduction to the movement

5. The exposition has three themes

   • The exposition (bars 11 - 134) is made up of three different musical ideas:
     • Theme A - bars 11 - 50. This starts in the key of C minor. The theme consists of rising and falling music over a 'murky bass' - where notes an octave apart are played alternately (broken octaves)
     • Theme B - bars 51 - 88. This starts in the key Eb major. This is unusual - if a composer begins a piece in a minor key, they often move to the relative major key. With the first theme in C minor, the obvious key to move to would be Eb major (the relative major) - but Beethoven chose Eb minor instead
     • Theme C - bars 89 - 134. Beethoven now uses the relative major, starting this theme in Eb major. A lot of the music is made up of broken chords. The bass part makes use of Alberti bass where chords are played as separate notes.

6. The themes are used throughout the movement

   • The development (bars 139-196) is a variation on theme A of the exposition - this can be heard most clearly in the staccato parts. The murky bass continues to be used, and broken octaves are also used in the right-hand part (see bars 151 - 168). There are also references to the introduction - e.g. the melody in bars 142 - 143 mirrors the first phrase of bar 5. there are a number of modulations within the section
   • In the recapitulation (bars 197 - 296), each of the three exposition themes appears om time. Theme A is in the same key as in the exposition (C minor). themes B and C are in different keys - theme C is now also in C minor, which leads into a final reference to theme A at the end of the section. Theme A returns once more in the CODA, after which the piece concludes with ff chords and a perfect cadence