Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Op. 31

Description

In 1802 Beethoven stood at a crossroads in his life and art. By then he had earned fame in Vienna as a virtuoso pianist-composer, yet privately he was in crisis: his hearing was deteriorating, plunging him into despair. That October he wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament, a heart-wrenching letter in which he resolved to overcome his fate through creative genius. Around this same time, Beethoven declared to a friend that he would find a “new path” in music. The three piano sonatas of op. 31 (composed 1801-1802) emerge from this turbulent period and mark a bold turning point in his style. In these works Beethoven channels the elegance of Haydn and Mozart and the keyboard brilliance of Muzio Clementi into something strikingly original. He moves beyond 18th-century conventions towards a more personal, dramatic expression that heralds the Romantic era. Each of the op. 31 sonatas has its own narrative character – by turns witty, stormy and exuberant – yet collectively they announce Beethoven’s artistic rebirth.
The first sonata of the set, in G major, is an unexpected comedy of manners. It displays Beethoven’s capacity for humour and surprise at a time of personal darkness. Here he toys with listeners’ expectations, much as his onetime mentor Haydn did. Nothing is quite as polite as it initially seems. From the outset, one hand chases the other in playful asynchrony. When the hands finally unite, they often double in unison octaves, producing a deadpan simplicity. Even the second theme sounds deliberately naïve – a sing-song tune Beethoven treats facetiously. Pauses and wrong-footed key changes abound, making the movement wink at the alert listener while still holding together as a proper sonata. The slow movement (Adagio grazioso) heightens the comic conceit by donning an operatic disguise. Its lyrical line and ornate flourishes evoke an Italian bel canto aria accompanied by a mandolin – except here the “singer” and the orchestra are both played by the pianist. This affectionate parody demonstrates Beethoven’s mastery of the style and slyly outdoes the Italians at their own game. Played with a delicate touch, it feels like a wistful serenade and a gentle satire at once. By contrast, the finale returns to rustic cheer. The Rondò theme has a folk-like dance lilt, and Beethoven develops it with playful twists and teasing dynamics. Before the end he even inserts a mock-solemn delay – stretching the anticipation – only to let the main theme slip back in quietly. The piece ends with a soft wink instead of a grandiose flourish. In this G major sonata Beethoven marries craftsmanship with a jovial spirit, creating a work as graceful as it is witty.
The D minor Op. 31 no. 2 is a gripping drama, in contrast with the light comedy of the G major sonata. Beethoven’s only piano sonata in D minor seems to give voice to the composer’s inner turmoil. Beethoven himself did not title the work, but its later nickname “Tempest” – reportedly prompted by his suggestion to “read Shakespeare’s The Tempest” – aptly reflects the stormy, fateful mood of the work. The first movement opens with a hushed, improvised-sounding Largo, a recitative-like soliloquy in the shadows. Then, without warning, a restless Allegro storms in, driven by urgent arpeggios and turbulent dynamic surges. Beethoven exploits the lower register of the pianoforte to create rumbling undertones, and he is liberal with jagged dissonances that ache for resolution. In the development section the momentum nearly stalls amid suspenseful silences, until a lightning-like fortissimo crash jolts the music back to life. Such raw dramatic contrast was unprecedented in a piano sonata; Beethoven here turns the instrument into a stage for tragedy and passion. After the storm, the slow movement (Adagio) offers a moment of fragile respite. In the unexpected key of B-flat major, it unfolds as a simple, hymn-like cantilena with a gentle warmth. Yet an undertone of sorrow creeps into its sighing figures and softly shadowed harmonies. Beethoven’s nuanced use of silence and muted dynamics makes the tranquillity delicate rather than completely consoling. The final movement (Allegretto) dispels any lingering calm with a return of tension. Its ceaseless undercurrent of rapid notes maintains a restless unease from start to finish. Even when the volume drops, the music never truly relaxes. In a daring touch, Beethoven ends the sonata not in a blaze of glory but in a hushed D minor. The closing measures vanish into silence, leaving a haunting sense of unresolved fate. With this sonata Beethoven greatly expanded the emotional canvas of the piano sonata, carrying the listener from despair to fleeting hope and back into darkness.
The third sonata, in sunny E-flat major, restores a joyful atmosphere, but Beethoven’s originality remains on full display. It is cast in four movements, unlike the usual three – the last time he would use a four-movement layout in a piano sonata. Here Beethoven revels in lyricism and good humour, as if celebrating hard-won optimism after the Tempest’s darkness. The opening movement (Allegro) starts with a curious gesture: a gentle E-flat chord that feels like an open-ended question. What follows is gracious and playful, full of light, spirited dialogue between treble and bass. The music exudes a warm, Mozartean elegance, but not without unexpected harmonic detours that remind us whose imagination is at work. Instead of a slow movement, Beethoven next offers a sprightly Scherzetto (Allegretto vivace) in the subdominant key of A-flat major. This whimsical interlude dances along with crisp, playful energy. Its off-beat accents and sudden dynamic jolts may well have drawn laughter from Beethoven’s listeners. As a further light touch, the third movement is not a dramatic adagio but a graceful Minuetto (Moderato e grazioso). Its courtly E-flat major melody glides smoothly, only briefly tinged by a minor-key colouring that adds a hint of wistfulness amid the charm. All this paves the way for a brilliant finale. The closing movement (Presto con fuoco) is a whirlwind tarantella that earned the sonata a nickname “The hunt” for its galloping rhythms and horn-like calls. It is breathlessly energetic and brimming with merriment. Beethoven pushes the piano to its limits with rapid runs and bold leaps, evoking the thrill of a chase. Where the D minor sonata ended in doubt, this E-flat major ends in exuberant affirmation – capped by a final virtuoso flourish. The stark contrast among these three op. 31 sonatas is itself telling, yet each in its own way illuminates Beethoven’s new path.
Remarkably, Beethoven dedicated none of the op. 31 sonatas to a patron, a sign of his growing independence. They were written for publication and a broad audience, reflecting the composer’s confidence that his bold ideas would find appreciation. On the pianos of Beethoven’s era – lighter in touch and smaller in range than today’s concert grands – these works would have sounded crisper and more transparent. The sudden fortissimos, sforzandos and stark contrasts he writes were calibrated for those instruments, which responded with immediacy. Performers of the time often took a flexible, improvisatory approach in expressive passages (something Beethoven likely did himself in the recitative-like or cantabile sections). Yet the genius of these sonatas is that they speak powerfully even on a modern piano, easily filling a large hall with their character and emotion. The op. 31 trilogy reveals Beethoven poised between eras. He honours Classical forms and ideals even as he bends them towards new expressive purposes. Listeners in 1802 encountered music that could laugh, weep and thunder with an individuality beyond anything heard before. Composers of the next generation – Schubert among them – took note of this freedom and carried the torch forward. For us today, knowing the adversity Beethoven faced, these sonatas resonate even more deeply. In them we find Beethoven’s spirit unbowed: playful, passionate, and unafraid to explore new territory. It is a sound-world at once refined in its classical balance and daring in its originality – a journey that still captivates and inspires, over two centuries later.
Giuliano Marco Mattioli © 2025