beethoven's 32 piano sonatas robert silverman - Music on Main

Sonata No. 16 in G Major, Op. 31/1
composed 1801-02, published 1804
Although Beethoven had in 1800 expressed particular satisfaction with his Sonata in B flat, Op. 22, a year later
he announced that he was displeased with his previous music, and that henceforth he would embark upon a
new course. Part of this rhetorical overstatement can be attributed to the intense insecurity that escapes only
mediocre artists. (An equal portion can undoubtedly be ascribed to hyperbole from one of the most successful
self-promoters in the history of classical music.)
Nonetheless, there is more than an element of truth to his pronouncement. The <strong>sonatas</strong> of Op. 26 and 27
explore new structural possibilities. Although this sonata is more conventional from a formal standpoint, it
explores several important new paths, including some that Beethoven ultimately decided not to pursue further:
the use of Ecossais-type melodies, rapid shifts back and forth between major and minor modes (both of which
would later become virtual thumbprints of Schubert), and a florid, operatic kind of writing.
However, Beethoven's most significant find lies in the area of harmony and structure. From the outset of his
career, Beethoven had flirted with the notion of modulating, in his major-key sonata-form movements, to keys
other than the dominant. As early as in his second sonata, he had led his listeners far afield before arriving at
the expected second key. However, it is in Op. 31/1 that he finally "takes the plunge." For the first time, he
modulates from the home key (G Major) to B, in both the major and minor modes (as opposed to the typical
dominant, in this case, D major). Nowadays, any Grade II <strong>piano</strong> student knows that B minor and D major share
the same key signature, so the modulation does not seem too strange to our ears. However, two centuries
ago, ending the exposition in any key other than D would have undoubtedly shocked listeners and fellow
musicians. It could well be that Beethoven chose to clothe such a radical step in the most humorous, off-thewall,
movement for <strong>piano</strong> he would compose, so as to deflect any criticism that such a departure might
provoke.
The Sonata features one of the most nondescript openings in the history of music, beginning with a trite theme
that the pianist's hands seemingly cannot manage to play together. The melody itself goes nowhere, turning
back on itself again and again. In desperation, the pianist scrambles all over the keyboard in search of
something better to do. Finally, he decides to cut his losses and start over. Unfortunately, he fares no better
this time, and it is against this backdrop, that the piece finally modulates, with little subtlety, to the "wrong key."
This is an example of musical hi-jinx at its best. Later on, in the Development section and in the coda that
concludes the movement, it is the split hands and the mad scrambling, rather than the subsequent melodies,
which Beethoven chooses for further expansion.
The second movement represents another path Beethoven chose not to explore further: the florid, opera-like
style that would lead directly to the Nocturnes of Chopin and Field, as well as the Bel Canto melodies of Bellini
and Donizetti. The motorized middle section contrasts sharply with the opening; yet, when the first section
returns, the composer, as usual, finds a way of reconciling both elements. The movement concludes with a
wondrous, lengthy coda that sounds far more like Schubert than Beethoven.
The third movement is one of those leisurely, repetitious rondos with which Beethoven frequently concluded
his <strong>sonatas</strong>. Charles Rosen, the eminent scholar/pianist, notes that it is an exact formal model for the finale of
Schubert's posthumous A Major Sonata (and argues that this is a rare instance where a student's effort
surpassed that of the teacher). Toward the end of the movement, a cadenza deliciously teases the audience by
reintroducing the main theme yet again, but haltingly now, as if to ask: "Shall we move along, or savour it still
more?" (Shades of vaudeville artistes Lili St. Cyr or Tempest Storm!) Finally, the composer makes up his mind,
and speeds hastily to the double bar, re-introducing in the final measures the alternating hands with which this
special, and least familiar, sonata began.
<strong>Music</strong> on Main presents Silverman plays Beethoven. September 27, 2010 – April 5, 2011 at the Cellar Restaurant & Jazz Club. www.musiconmain.ca
Programme notes by Robert Silverman. © Robert Silverman