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

Sonata No. 31 in A flat Major, Op. 110
composed 1821, published 1821
Like so many of Beethoven’s later works, this sonata reaches backward as much as it looks forward. The
influence of the classical style is evident in the rapid figurations and Alberti accompaniments that appear in the
first movement. A subsequent counter-melody in the left hand is a direct quote, in the minor, of the opening
theme of Haydn’s Sonata No. 47. The Baroque period is reflected in the final movement, a complex mix of
recitative (complete with a stock operatic cadence of that era), aria and fugue, the quintessential Baroque
form. The general influence of Beethoven’s own previous music is also present: the re-statement of the slow
movement following the first fugue echoes a somewhat similar event in the Sonata, Op. 27/1.
Throughout history composers were fully aware of the emotive power of music, and exploited it regularly. Still,
insofar as the range of emotion is concerned, Beethoven’s music represents a sharp break with that of his
immediate predecessors. In Op. 110, the spiritual journey through which Beethoven guides us over the course
of the final movement is as profound as any he conceived. An intense recitative leads to a grief-laden aria. A
fugue (whose subject is a variation of the sonata’s opening theme) attempts to console and uplift, but at the
last moment it fails, and the key of the piece appropriately sinks from A-flat major to G minor. A variation of
the aria follows, marked “lamenting, exhausted,” in which, as clearly as one can attribute an external event to
abstract music, the grief-stricken protagonist dies, gasping for breath. A series of repeated chords signals
some sort of transfiguration; as the sound fades away, the second fugue begins imperceptibly. (This fugue’s
principal theme is a mirror image of the first, another common Baroque device.) Soon the original fugue theme
reappears, but this time it does not falter. Instead, the music quickly gathers momentum and ends triumphantly
and suddenly, like a rocket disappearing into space.
Although eclecticism and the inclusion of vulgarity is an entirely legitimate aspect of great art, some people
have difficulty dealing with it. Particularly troubling are such occurrences as cowbells in Mahler symphonies,
or the medley of tunes, including one entitled "Cabbages and Turnips," with which Bach's Goldberg Variations
conclude. I must therefore apologize for noting that the sublime concluding movement of Beethoven's Sonata
No. 31 is preceded by a scherzo that quotes two popular tavern-tunes of the time: Unsa Kätz häd Katzln ghabt
("Our cat had kittens") and Ich bin lüderlich, du bist lüderlich which, politely translated, is "I'm a slob, you're a
slob").
<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