Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 12/18/2009, uploaded on 12/19/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, op. 10 "Pathétique"       Ludwig van Beethoven

The Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, most commonly known as the "Pathétique," is Beethoven's earliest piano composition to achieve widespread and enduring popularity. The work was composed in 1798 when Beethoven was 27 years old. It is commonly assumed that the composer himself named the sonata, yet it was actually the publisher that suggested the title Grande sonate Pathétique, of which Beethoven approved.

The work follows the standard Classical sonata three-movement pattern. The first movement begins with an introductory Grave before plunging into the energetic Allegro in cut-time. Several peculiarities occur in the movement. Beethoven returns to the Grave section twice during the course of the movement: first at the beginning of the development section and then again during the coda. Haydn deserves the credit for the invention of this compositional process, however Beethoven extended it. He would return to the technique again the String Quartet in E-flat major, op. 127, and expand the concept even further in the String Quartet in B-flat majo, op. 130, to the point of different tempi for the two thematic sections in a sonata form. There is also disagreement over whether the typical exposition repeat includes this Grave introduction or not. Like most minor-key sonata forms, Beethoven modulates to the relative major key, E flat, for the second theme of the first movement. However, he also unusually uses some mode mixture, touching upon the key of E flat minor, thus expanding the tonal boundaries of the sonata form.

The second movement in A-flat major is perhaps the most famous part of the sonata and begins with one of the most well-known melodies for piano. The movement is a large ternary (ABA) form, with a central contrasting section in the parallel minor key.

The finale is a fiery sonata-rondo, whose main theme closely resembles the second theme of the first movement. It also contains a modified form of the second movement's main theme, thus connecting the movement with the previous two. Once again, this is another of Beethoven's remarkable innovations, and a technique he would return to and further develop in his later works. On that note, Rudolph Reti in his book Thematic Patterns in Sonatas of Beethoven provides an incredibly interesting analysis of this work exhibiting how all the principal melodies of this work spring from the same basic motivic material.

Joseph DuBose