In a letter of 22 April 1801, Beethoven discusses efforts to financially assist Regine Susanna Bach, the last surviving child of “the immortal god of harmony,” Johann Sebastian Bach. Beethoven suggests writing a composition to raise money, but apparently this did not happen.
In 1801, Beethoven composed a series of four piano sonatas — Nos. 12 through 15 — that continued to experiment with form and content. Yet (as Jan Swafford notes) these sonatas are “characterized less by aggressiveness than by a beauty sometimes verging on the uncanny.”
“Opus 26 [Piano Sonata No. 12] marks a significant progress in Beethoven’s efforts to give an unmistakable individuality to each new work, as if he were not simply writing a new sonata but redefining the genre each time.” — Charles Rosen, “Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas,” p. 150
The 1st movement of the 12th Piano Sonata is an unexpected Andante theme & variations that resists ascending to virtuosic heights and instead maintains a gentle lyricism. Paul Bekker notes that the customary initial Allegro in sonata form imposes a character on the work. “Beethoven rebelled against this determinative quality in the first movement. He wanted a prelude, an introduction, not a proposition. He did not wish to commit himself in the first movement to a certain sequence of thought.” — quoted by Maynard Solomon “Beethoven” p 139
The 3rd movement of the Piano Sonata No. 12 is a “Funeral March on the Death of a Hero” complete with drum rolls and trumpets. After “The Creatures of Prometheus” (Day 136), this is the second association with the word “hero” in a Beethoven composition.
This movement is unprecedented: Funeral marches might appear in opera and oratorios (for example, Handel’s Saul) and as standalone compositions (Purcell’s for Queen Mary, Mozart’s Masonic Funeral Music) but not as part of a multi-movement instrumental composition.
Who is the hero that the Funeral March commemorates? Earlier in 1801, Beethoven participated in a charity concert for the Austrian soldiers wounded in the campaign against Napoleon, so the music possibly alludes to that. But there's no direct evidence for any reference.
#Beethoven250 Day 138
Piano Sonata No. 12 “Funeral March” in A♭ Major (Opus 26), 1801
Pianist Lim Jing Jing was born in Singapore and seems to be performing at a venue there.
Like the last movement of “The Creatures of Prometheus,” the Funeral March in the 12th Piano Sonata also has a connection to Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony (still some three years in the future) for it seems like a dry run for the famous funeral march in that composition.
In 1815, Beethoven orchestrated the Funeral March from his 12th Piano Sonata for some incidental music (WoO 96) for a play. In 1827, an arrangement for brass band was played at his funeral.
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 12 was Chopin’s favorite. He frequently played it, and he was likely inspired by it when composing his own Piano Sonata No. 2, which also has a famous funeral march.