Piano Sonata No. 32 (Beethoven)
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Translation Status: Stage 2 : In Progress (How-to)
Comment: I don't have the best French skills, but I should be able to get a rough translation finished fairly soon. The work in progress can be found here. User:Lofty has picked up the translating work, in the same place.
Requested by: Jmfayard 00:19, 8 November 2006 (UTC)
Interest of the translation: Article de qualité (Featured Article on the French Wikipedia)
Translator(s): —W. Flake ( talk | contribs )
Translation progress:
0%Permanent link to the translated version: 05:21, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
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The Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Opus 111, is the last of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas. The work was written in 1821–1822. Like other "late period" sonatas, it contains fugal elements and is technically very demanding.
The work is in two highly contrasting movements:
- Maestoso; Allegro con brio ed appassionato
- Arietta: Adagio molto, semplice e cantabile
The first movement, like many other works by Beethoven in C minor (see Beethoven and C minor), is stormy and impassioned. It abounds in diminished seventh chords, as in for instance the first full bar of its opening introduction:
The final movement, in C major, is a set of variations on a 16-bar theme, with a brief modulating interlude and final coda. The third variation is remarkably jazzy and often referred to as the "boogie-woogie variation", and the last two are famous for introducing small notes which constantly divide the bar in 36 resp. 27 parts, which is very uncommon. Beethoven eventually introduces a trill which gives the impression of a further step (ie. dividing each bar into 81 parts), though this extremely technically difficult without slowing down to half-tempo.
Beethoven’s markings indicate that he wished variations 2-4 to be played to the same basic pulse as the theme, first variation and subsequent sections (using the direction "L'istesso tempo" at each change of time signature). Typical performances take 8 to 9 minutes for the first movement, and 15 to 18 minutes for the second.
The work is one of the most famous compositions of the composer's "late period" and is widely performed and recorded. The pianist Robert Taub has called it "a work of unmatched drama and transcendence ... the triumph of order over chaos, of optimism over anguish." [1].
[edit] External Links
[edit] Media
- Opus 111, movement 1 (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, movement 1
- Opus 111, movement 2 (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, 2nd movement
- Problems playing the files? See media help.