Classical Music | Piano Music

Ludwig van Beethoven

Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major, Op. 110  Play

Sha Wang Piano

Recorded on 06/24/2010, uploaded on 06/24/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

The Piano Sonata No. 31 was composed in 1821. It is the middle sonata of a group of three that form Beethoven’s last compositions for the piano, with the exception of the Diabelli Variations. These last three sonatas were commissioned by the music publisher Schlesinger.  Beethoven undertook the first sonata, op. 109, in 1820 and promised to deliver all three compositions within three months. The op. 109 was delivered that same year but the other two were delayed due to illness and other factors.

The first movement, though described as “Haydnesque” due to its orderly sonata form, replaces the usual dramatic, powerful opening movement with one filled instead with subdued contemplations. The movement is marked Moderato cantabile molto espressivo, a marking more customary for a slow movement than an opening sonata form. The key of this sonata is also A flat major. Beethoven, having received an air in the key of A flat marked amoroso, remarked that the key of A flat should be marked barbaresco and he accordingly changed the key signature. Despite this, some of Beethoven’s most famous music is in the key of A flat, such as the slow movements of both the Fifth Symphony and the Pathétique Sonata.

The middle movement, a scherzo in F minor, comes as a startling contrast to the first movement. In comparison, this scherzo seems rigid and terse compared to the lyricism of the first movement. Though seemingly simple on the surface, subtle syncopations and rhythmic ambiguities abound throughout the movement. It ends quietly in F major, preparing the way for the fugal finale.

The final movement represents another of Beethoven’s great explorations into the fugal form. In works like the Hammerklavier Sonata and the Grosse Fuge he combined the fugue with other traditional forms such as sonata and variation form. The concluding fugue of this sonata, on the other hand, is unique in its own way. The movement begins with a recitative which forms an effective bridge from the scherzo. This then leads into the arioso dolente, a lamentation in the parallel minor of the tonic key. After the arioso dies away, the three-voice fugue begins in the key of A flat major. The subject is constructed around a series of rising fourths and is foreshadowed in the opening of the first movement. The fugue comes to a halt on the dominant seventh of A flat major before slipping into the foreign key of G minor and a varied reprise of the arioso. The fugue resumes, however this time it is in inversion. The final fugue builds in intensity and brings the work to a triumphant close.     Joseph DuBose

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Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110             Ludwig van Beethoven

I.    Moderato cantabile molto espressivo 

II.   Allegro molto

III.  Adagio ma non troppo; Arioso dolente; Fuga; Allegro, ma non troppo; L'istesso tempo di Arioso; L'inversione

The last three sonatas by Beethoven mark the height of the composer's musical maturity. When he promised to write these three sonatas, the composer was working at the same time on his Missa solemnis. Sketches for the mass are intermixed with those for the sonatas, and certain features are common to all these works-notably fugues, and surprising harmonic shifts which might be explained by the composer's thinking in terms of the old church modes.

The Sonata in A-flat Major, Op. 110, opens with an unhurried movement, much of which has both hands in the upper register. Weightlessness of sound, coupled with simplicity in the basic idea, convey a sense of distance or contingency in the musical narrative. Following a brief scherzo movement, the finale, poignant and passionate, occupies more than half the sonata's length. It starts with a recitative and arioso, which gives way to a three-part fugue. The movement continues as a dialogue between opera house and church. The fugue subject, traceable to the first movement's introduction, has something of the sturdiness of a chorale. There are also connections with the fugues in the Missa solemnis. The fugue comes back toward the end, with its subject inverted. In the end, the triumphant coda reveals the never dying hope and passion of the composer.     Sha Wang