LATE BEETHOVEN LATE BEETHOVEN - Luisa Guembes-Buchanan

Piano Sonata no. 29, op. 106, in B flat
major, the Hammerklavier Sonata
This monumental work, deemed to be by all accounts the
Mount Everest of the piano repertory, was composed
in 1817-20. No sonata of a comparable length had ever
been written before the Hammerklavier. Although it is
composed in the traditional four-movement pattern, the
work is highly concentrated and filled with widely contrasting
moods. This is all the more remarkable when we
learn that it was composed during a distressful period in
Beethoven’s life: “As for me, I often despair and should like
to die … if the present state of affairs does not cease, next
year I shall be not in London but probably in my grave.” 10
These words, expressed in a letter of 21 August 1817 to his
old friend Zmeskall, show Beethoven’s mood just before he
began the Grosse Sonate für das Hammerklavier, op. 106.
(The name Hammerklavier is an important instance of
Beethoven’s preoccupation with the use of German terms
to replace Italian names in his music. He used the term
Hammerklavier for the sonatas, op. 101 and op. 106, but
only op. 106 remains associated with the term. It is also
the only one of the five last sonatas for which there is no
surviving autograph score.)
20
The sketchbooks reveal that although he was at work
on the Ninth Symphony during the fall of 1817 and the
spring of 1818, his major preoccupation was op. 106,
“a sonata that will give pianists something to do” and be
understood “in fifty years”, 11 as Beethoven proclaimed. The
op. 106 sonata was, and to a great degree remains, a work
whose musical and technical complexity presents challenges
for pianists and audiences alike. It is my opinion that in this
sonata Beethoven presents and exploits all the elements of
the classical four-movement sonata on an incredibly large
scale while at the same time exploring every registration
and dynamic range of the piano available to him. His use
of the pedals to achieve shadings and to project particular
colors is in my view of unparalleled mastery. Beethoven is
pushing convention to its limits.
The Hammerklavier is in my opinion a supreme
demonstration of power for, by the standards of the time it
was not only enormously long but tremendously difficult to
play. Beethoven is concerned not only with beauty but also
with instances of conflict and tension. His obsession with
descending and ascending thirds, for example, affects the
entire work. Veritable chains of them permeate every aspect
of the piece with a determination and fury never heard
before.