Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas Nos. 13 and 14 were published as a pair as Opus 27, each labeled “Sonata quasi una Fantasia,” which literally means “sonata almost a fantasy” — a contradictory designation, for a sonata has a rigid structure while a fantasy is freeform and improvisatory.
Piano Sonata No. 13 has four movements and No. 14 has three, which might seem conventional, except that the movements are played attacca, meaning without a break. This doesn’t mean that the movements blend into each other, however. As Charles Rosen notes about Piano Sonata No. 13, “the movements are paradoxically well-formed independent movements in completely rounded structures that are nevertheless unintelligible played on their own. They interpenetrate each other.”
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 13 begins with a dreamy Andante that after about 3½ minutes breaks into a startling Allegro with runs and hard chords. Is this the 2nd movement? No, because the Andante returns. The real 2nd movement is a series of arpeggios in ¾ time that reveals itself to be a Scherzo when a Trio section pops up with chords on the 1 and 3 beats. When the arpeggios return, the right hand soon drops half a beat out of phase from the left, for a thrilling rippling effect.
The 3rd movement Adagio con espressione is an aching lyrical song against insistent left-hand chords, which after a cadenza breaks into a joyful Allegro. Is this like the Melancholia movement from the 6th string quartet where a fast passage interrupts the slow music? No, no, this has to be the 4th movement. It’s going on much too long and it’s too triumphant for an interlude. But then — WTF! — the Adagio returns! And now we have no idea where we are. Will Beethoven conclude the 3rd movement now? No, the 3rd movement is long over. This is instead a rule-breaking recap of the 3rd movement within the 4th, followed by a short Presto variation of the 4th movement Allegro that brings the sonata quasi una fantasy to a surprising but extremely satisfying conclusion.
#Beethoven250 Day 139
Piano Sonata No. 13 in E♭ Major (Opus 27, No. 1), 1801
The great Claudio Arrau with some lucky members of the audience enjoying stage seating, possibly during the Beethoven bicentennial fifty years ago.
In a 29 June 1801 letter to his physician friend Franz Gerhard Wegeler in Bonn, Beethoven writes for the first time of his hearing loss. After listing his improving career prospects, he notes “But that jealous demon, my wretched health, has put a nasty spoke in my wheel; and it amounts to this, that for the last three years my hearing has become weaker and weaker.” Beethoven reports the various treatments that different doctors have subjected him to. “As a result I have been feeling, I may say, stronger and better; but my ears continue to hum and buzz day and night. I must confess that I lead a miserable life. For almost two years I have ceased to attend any social functions, just because I find it impossible to say to people: I am deaf. If I had any other profession I might be able to cope with my infirmity; but in my profession it is a terrible handicap.” While Beethoven’s hearing loss has affected his ability to play the piano, it has not affected his composition. He can compose in his head. “I live entirely in my music; and hardly have I completed one composition when I have already begun another. At my present rate of composing, I often produce three or four works at the same time.” (Emily Anderson, “The Letters of Beethoven,” No. 51.)