Beethoven - the Final Triptych op. 109, 110 and 111

Composed in tandem with the Missa Solemnis and the Diabelli Variations, and in spite of Beethoven’s aggravating deafness and social isolation, the Final Triptych of Sonatas op. 109, 110 and 111 reveal an optimistic approach to life and music, as well as painting a vast emotional and psychological landscape. We observe the composer searching for the spiritual whilst resurrecting old styles or experimenting with innovative ideas – formidable artistic acts that would influence the course of music and inspire an entire new generation of artists and musicians, the Romantics.

L. van Beethoven - Piano Sonata no. 30 op. 109 in E major

Like the rest of his late creations, the Sonata in E major op. 109 reflects Beethoven's own struggles and triumphs in life and art. It is a work that explores the full range of human experience, from exuberant joy to bitter pain that ultimately finds peace and spiritual transcendence in the midst of fate’s adversity.

The first movement, marked Vivace, ma non troppo opens with a gentle theme in the radiant key of E major. The meter feels timeless. The serenity of this first element is suddenly interrupted by a slow, painful second theme in the minor key. Alternating between the major and the minor, music settles on an optimistic direction. Multiple improvisatory episodes appear in this movement, with rising and falling arpeggios. The music of the first movement is invigorating, reaching the climax in the development section. The movement ends with a quiet and peaceful coda that sets the stage for the stormy second movement.

The second movement, marked “Prestissimo”, is a thrilling scherzo, full of sudden shifts in mood and mysterious harmonies. The frenetic pace and jagged rhythms enhance the restless drive. It begins with a stormy, enraged theme. The music becomes more and more frenzied, as the movement progresses, until it finally comes to a crashing end, giving way to the serenity of the final movement.

The third movement, marked in German Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung (Singingly, with the most inner feeling), is a haunting set of variations based on a simple, sarabande-like theme. Beethoven takes this theme through a series of transformations. If the first variation sees the metamorphosis of the sarabande-theme into a slow waltz, the second variation recalls the Baroque music of Handel. The third variation is booming, boisterous and bucolic. Variations four and five are perhaps tributes to the music of J. S. Bach, imbued with counterpoint writing. These variations are full of unexpected turns, sharing a sense of deep introspection and profound emotion, revealing Beethoven’s remarkable versatility in composing in a variety of styles, both old and new. Shimmering trills in the right hand and fervent runs in the left hand signal the summit of work - the dawn is in sight as the coda reveals for a final time the opening sarabande, the initial theme of the movement.

L. van Beethoven – Piano Sonata no. 31 op. 110 in A flat major

The Piano Sonata no. 31 in A flat Major op. 110 begins naïvely with with a radiant theme, a gesture of gentle promise that turns out to be the keystone of this entire work. Never has Beethoven composed a work of such unified structure: whether the first movement, second movement or the the fugues and ariettas of the finale, all the themes stem from the fabric of these very opening bars. The first four bars are therefore the genetic material of this entire opus.

The first movement is marked cantabile, con amabilità (songful and very expressive). Its opening melody expands into a tender exploration of the piano’s various registers, with arpeggios gently running up and down the keyboard. The music is in constant evolution, an incessant arabesque of charming and delightful melodies that only tentatively reach their culminations. The development section sees a return to the string quartet writing - under the aura of the main theme, we distinguish a dialogue between two lines: an eloquent viola and a more sombre cello.

In striking contrast, the second movement is a musical joke, based on two German folk songs: “My cat has had kittens” and “I’m a slob, you’re a slob”. It is a brief interlude of earthly, raging music, balancing out the two highly spiritual and introverted outer movements of 110. Abruptly, we land on decisive long chords in both hands, that gradually soften, and marking the transition into the final act.

Following the agitation of the second movement, the first bars of the final movement seem to paint a desolate landscape of strange, seemingly unconnected harmonies. A solitary melody appears as a recitativo gradually sliding into repeated minor chords, suggestive of the beatings of the heart itself. An agonising descending melody appears on top – it is here that the painful arioso unfolds,  full of sorrow and regret. The darkness of the arioso is coupled with a remarkably serene fugue on the principal subject of the Sonata. As the contrapuntal drive begins to run out of steam, we find ourselves back within the confines of a second arioso, marked perdendo le forze (losing strenght). The mood seems to be even more mournful and constrained than before. The melody in the right hand appears to be gasping for air. From the maze of this true song of suffering, repeated, obstinate chords grow. Beethoven conjures then a second fugue, based on the inversion of the initial theme. As the music becomes more and more animated, the main subject makes an exuberant comeback – this time in original form, reaching its apotheosis on a wave of fast runs in the left hand. A triumphal wave of A flat major arpeggios running down and up the keyboard conclude this astonishing opus.

Beethoven - Piano Sonata no. 32 op. 111 in C minor

Our recital ends with Beethoven’s last sonata, one of the most poetic essays ever written for the piano. Unusually, it is a two movement Sonata, and its movements can be referred to as the “alpha” and “omega” of his Sonatas. It is conceived as a musical diptych expressing contrasting states of human existence—earthly struggle and spiritual transcendence—all framed in terms of the raw elemental building blocks of music itself. The first movement is an active, fervent, fast paced and highly contrapuntal work in C minor, whilst the second movement is designed as a slow paced, harmonically stable set of variations in C major.

The music of the first movement begins with dramatic leaps in the left hand paired with harmonically dissonant chords in the right hand. They are powerful, fateful gestures, and after the third reiteration, the harmonic direction changes abruptly. The chords melt into each other, becoming quieter and quieter. It evokes states of pensiveness and deep contemplation, yearning for some kind of resolution. Lost within far reaching harmonies, Beethoven’s harmonic compass begins to work once more: almost like a magnet, we are steadily being drawn towards our home key, C minor, marked by the appearance of resolute chords in both hands. The music takes an outlandish turn, and an agitato fugato appears, the main body of the first movement. The 2nd subject appears only briefly, more in the spirit of emotional exhaustion than heartfelt fulfilment. At every turn, Beethoven seems to emphasise the restless, volcanic turbulence of the C minor. It is earthly music that is presented in striking opposition to the heavenly serenity of the ensuing movement.

The C major chord on which the first movement ends becomes the passage into new harmonic horizons: that of the luminous C major, on which the second movement Arietta is built upon. A simple, warm chorale-like melody appears in the right hand. Its fabric consists of alternating descending fourths and fifths. In the words of the great musicologist and pianist Charles Rosen: “the variations that follow do not merely embellish the theme, but each in turn reveals a new dimension of the opening Arietta”. Throughout the second movement, the harmonic pace remains the same, however it becomes obvious that the variations are becoming faster and more agitated. The 3rd variation reaches a high degree of elation, which signals the advent of jazz music with its unusual, jagged syncopations, before the timbre turns dark, with low murmurings underpinning melodic fragments of the theme pulsing above.

It is precisely here that Beethoven looks up at the sky, creating textures that twinkle luminously above the troposphere, in the highest register of the keyboard. At the end of the movement, the theme appears to glow, sonically, from within, by employing pearly chains of trills. We have reached the heavens and are being reminded for a final time that throughout this mystical journey towards the skies, we have been accompanied all along by Arietta’s simple tune in C major.