Leslie Tung – May 11, 2012
“Prussian” Sonata No. 4 in C minor, H. 27
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
1714-1788
Upon attaining financial independence and jobs of their own, the three of Johann Sebastian’s
sons who went into music quickly disassociated themselves from their father’s style. Johann
Sebastian’s second son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, is best known today as a composer of
delightfully “quirky” music, characterized by expressive pauses, chromatic harmonies and
the juxtaposition of oddly unrelated phrases. These qualities, however, were not regarded as
quirky in their time; they are associated with two related stylistic categories prevalent in mideighteenth-century Germany: the EmpfinsamerStil (expressive style) and the Sturm und
Drang (storm and stress style). Much of Emanuel’s music also belonged to the galant style,
which, although somewhat less dramatically expressive, was the more direct forerunner of
the sonata form and the music of Mozart and Haydn – among many other composers of the
Classical era.
For nearly 30 years, starting in 1740, Bach’s patron was the proficient flutist and musically
conservative King Frederick the Great of Prussia. Their relationship was difficult at best, and
when Bach finally managed to wangle his way out of the king’s employ in 1767, there was
apparently little love lost between the two. Bach then went to Hamburg as Kantor and music
director, a position vacated by his godfather Georg Phillip Telemann.
Bach specialized in keyboard works, including over 200 sonatas. While in the employ of
King Frederick, he wrote Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen (Essay on the
True Art of Keyboard Playing), the most significant German textbook on the subject in the
eighteenth century. He also composed concertos for various instruments and many
symphonies. The six “Prussian” Sonatas, printed in 1742 and dedicated to King Frederick,
were his first published works. Bearing in mind that he composed the Prussian Sonatas
nearly a decade before the death of his father, it is interesting to observe ways in which he
struck out on his own.
During the latter half of the eighteenth century, compositions in minor keys, comprising all
genres, were significantly less common than those in major keys and were always more
overtly emotive. The C minor Sonata is no exception. The first movement is rife with those
expressive pauses mentioned above, large, expressive leaps and sudden modulations to
distant keys. It is in binary form, an ancestor of sonata allegro form, which consists of two
large, repeated sections. The first moves away from the tonic, while the second develops the
theme and concludes back in the home key.
The second movement is an Adagio in the relative major key of E-flat, but no less expressive
for being in a major key. It employs some of the same devices as the first movement, but the
slower tempo allows Bach to linger more on sighing cadences. The movement also contains a
mini-cadenza.
The third movement in fast triple time is a remnant of the gigue that concluded the typical
Baroque suite. Its two-part contrapuntal texture recalls his father’s so-called two-part
inventions.
Piano Sonata in C minor, Hob.XVI:20
Franz Joseph Haydn
1732-1809
Franz Joseph Haydn’s long life spanned one of the great upheavals in the economics of the
musical profession. It marked the demise of the aristocratic “ownership” of music and
musicians, signaling the rise of the middle class as patron, supporter and chief consumer of
the arts. No one bridged this transition better than Haydn, who made the shift from darling of
the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy to that of London's merchants without offending either.
Haydn’s keyboard sonatas span over 40 years of his creative life. The total number is still
uncertain since new ones are periodically discovered while others, especially early ones, are
found to be misattributed or spurious. At the moment, they number around 60. The early
sonatas, composed before the early 1770s, were written for the harpsichord, followed by
several intended for either fortepiano or harpsichord. Scholars have definitively determined
that Haydn composed the last ones for fortepiano, the direct ancestor of the modern piano.
Haydn composed the C minor Sonata in 1771, during the period when he was developing his
most expressive voice, in the style of C. P. E. Bach and the EmpfinsamerStil. The Sonata also
illustrates the historical shift from harpsichord to fortepiano. The 1771 incomplete autograph
of the sonata is clearly headed “Sonata p. il Clavi Cembalo,” (harpsichord) but contains a
number of p and f dynamic markings applicable only to the fortepiano or clavichord. When
the completed Sonata was published in 1780, together with five others composed in that year,
they were marked as “Sei Sonate per il Clavicembalo o Forte Piano;” the many dynamic
markings making them clearly more suitable for the fortepiano. The six sonatas were
dedicated to Maria Katerina and Franziska Auenbrugger, the talented daughters of a
Viennese physician who, according to Haydn, possessed “genuine insight into music equal to
that of the greatest masters.” At the time, Haydn characterized the C minor Sonata as “the
longest and most difficult” of the set and placed it at the end.
The Sonata belies its original designation for harpsichord in more than its dynamic markings;
the repeated arpeggio triplets for left-hand in the first movement are more characteristic of
pianistic writing. On the other hand, the extensive use of ornamentation – always part and
parcel of Haydn’s keyboard style, harks back to the harpsichord tradition.
The Sonata also represents a milestone in the formal structure of the solo sonata. In all the
movements Haydn uses the extensive development sections to explore all the expressive
capabilities of an expanded harmonic palette. Perhaps mindful of the proficiency of the
dedicatees, Haydn also includes passages requiring virtuoso technique, including rapid
fingering and hand crossing.
Piano Sonata in F major, K. 332
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1756-1791
From around the middle of the eighteenth century, the fortepiano, rapidly displaced the
harpsichord as the favorite keyboard instrument. The instrument was, however, still in its
infancy, and it would take nearly a century to bring it to the thundering grand piano of Liszt’s
time.
While there was rapid progress in fortepiano design during Mozart’s lifetime, even his best
were still modest instruments of five octaves, limited dynamic range, weak wooden frames,
uneven key action and unreliable damping. While some virtuosi, including Mozart himself,
performed on the instrument, it was primarily for the home use of amateurs. Mozart’s
embrace of the fortepiano gave it a healthy boost in professional circles and spurred
manufacturers to constantly add improvements and innovations. Still, the limits of the
instrument dampened his interest in the solo piano sonata, which never achieved the
significance in the corpus of his works as it did in Beethoven’s–only a generation later.
Until Mozart reached the age of 18, his solo sonatas were actually improvisations at the
keyboard and were not written down. Only the sonatas for four hands, to be played with his
sister Nannerl were, per force, notated.
The date of composition of the Sonata in F major, K. 332 is uncertain, but probably dates
from Mozart’s trip to Salzburg in 1783. The visit was an attempt to reconcile with his father,
who had objected strenuously to his son’s move to Vienna, his subsequent marriage, and the
composer’s refusal to name Leopold godfather to his first son.
While the Sonata’s first two movements are certainly within the range of amateur abilities,
the fiery finale makes considerably greater demands on the pianist. The first movement
contains five distinct themes, two of them the formal so-called first and second themes of the
sonata allegro form, two others, transition or bridge themes, and a final closing theme. The
first bridge theme in the relative key of D minor, involves an abrupt change of texture and
mood between the two “principal themes,” which hardly contrast at all with each other. In
place of an extensive development section, Mozart introduces an entirely new theme. The
effect, therefore, is more like that of sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), which
frequently began the second half with new musical material.
The second movement is a simple two-part form, with its simple broken chord, or “Alberti
bass,” accompaniment. It reiterates the major/minor contrast set up in the first movement.
While Mozart’s autograph manuscript indicates no variation in repeated sections, the
published version shows an elaborately ornamented second half. In concert, Mozart had
probably improvised the embellishments of the repeats.
In his bridge passage in the first movement, Mozart hinted at the Sturm and Drang of the
finale, also in sonata form. Here, within a larger context of rapid sixteenth notes come abrupt
pauses and sudden shifts of key and texture. As in the first movement, the development
section introduces new lyrical thematic material. Despite the opening bravura of the finale,
the coda seems to fade off into the distance.
Piano Sonata No.14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2
“Moonlight”
Ludwig van Beethoven
1770-1827
In the period 1800-1802 Beethoven composed about a dozen piano sonatas that signaled his
break with the rigid classical sonata structure, experimenting with the balance, order and
character of the various movements. In the Piano Sonata Op. 27, No. 2 he made a significant
departure from the traditional sonata structure of the period. Because of its unusual
movement sequence, slow-fast-faster, he was reluctant to name it simply sonata, but called it
“Sonata quasi una Fantasia” (almost a fantasy).
Composed in 1801 and published a year later with a dedication to his pupil and good friend
Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, it became an instant favorite with the public. Its mood fitted
well into the burgeoning romanticism of the time. But its popularity irked Beethoven, who
complained to pianist and composer Carl Czerny: “Everybody is always talking about the Csharp minor Sonata. Surely I have written better things. There is the sonata in F-sharp major
(Op.78) – that is something very different!”
The popular name “Moonlight” originated in 1832 in a review by the German romantic poet
Heinrich Rellstab, in which the first movement was likened to a boat wafting on the gentle
waves of moonlit Lake Lucerne in Switzerland,
The Sonata opens with an ascending three-note arpeggiated motive that is used ambiguously,
as a true theme and as a gentle ostinato accompaniment throughout the entire movement
under the languid main theme. This motive is deceptive in its simplicity, and, like the slow
movement of the later Seventh Symphony, shows what a master can do with a series of
repeated notes.
The Allegretto is a light scherzo and trio, serving as a short interlude before the intense
Presto finale with its assertive rising arpeggios and sudden mood changes. While the
passionate mood of the final movement contrasts with the opening of the Sonata, both
movements are based on arpeggios and employ secondary themes based on repeated notes.
Program notes by:
Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn
Wordpros@mindspring.com
www.wordprosmusic.com