Classical Music | Cello Music

Ludwig van Beethoven

Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69  Play

Laura Usiskin Cello
Katsura Tanikawa Piano

Recorded on 06/04/2015, uploaded on 06/04/2015

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

 

Beethoven’s sonatas for the cello bear the actual title “Sonata for piano with violoncello.” It was the customary nomenclature of the time for sonatas for piano and a solo instrument. Perhaps it was born out of the tradition of the Baroque continuo tradition, yet it serves to adequately stress the mutual importance placed on both instruments. It was no doubt for this reason that Johannes Brahms resurrected the tradition in naming his own sonatas for the cello.

The Third Cello Sonata in A major is the most performed of Beethoven’s five sonatas for the instrument. It was composed during the highly productive year of 1808 which also saw the composition of the Violin Concerto, the two piano trios of op. 70 and the completion of both the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies.

Like the traditional 18th century and early 19th century sonata, it has three movements. However, the typical slow middle movement is replaced by a scherzo. The first movement begins with the cello alone playing a lyrical subject answered later by the piano. This principal theme and its subsidiary ideas are treated contrapuntally throughout the movement. The following scherzo, in the tonic minor, makes use of a syncopated main theme and a lyrical trio that is heard twice. The last movement is preceded by an Adagio introduction in the key of E major, making up for the lack of a proper slow movement. It soon gives way to the lighthearted and energetic A major Allegro which forms the remainder of the finale.     Joseph DuBose

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Cello Sonata No. 3  in A Major, Op. 69    Ludwig van Beethoven

Lyricism, fieriness, and virtuosity make this sonata perhaps the most popular and often played of the five that Ludwig van Beethoven wrote for cello and piano. Sketches from the work appear alongside those of his Violin Concerto and Fifth Symphony in manuscripts dating from 1806, with the work being published in 1808. Unlike his first two cello sonatas, which give the piano part a more dominant role, the third sonata puts the piano and cello on equal footing. Beethoven accentuates several outstanding characteristics of the cello in this work: soulful lyricism, a wide range, and the potential for lightning-fast technical virtuosity.

Unusual for a three-movement work, this Sonata does not have a true slow movement. The first movement shows off the lyricism and range of the cello, while the second movement is a light-footed scherzo with an expansive middle section. The only slow instant comes at the opening of the third movement, a poignant duet between the two instruments. The third movement moves with little hesitation to a virtuosic main section that brings the work to a breath-taking close.      Laura Usiskin