Соната для фортепиано №31 As-dur, Opus 110

Время создания: 1821 год.

В сонате 3 части:
1. Moderato cantabile molto espressivo
2. Allegro molto
3. Adagio, ma non troppo - Fuga. Allegro, ma non troppo

(Вильгельм Кемпф)

 

Эта соната, не имеющая посвящения (Бетховен предполагал посвятить ее (равно как и после­дующую) матери Максимилианы Антонии Брентано, но затем не исполнил своего намерения), была окончена в декабре 1821 года и издана в 1822 году.

Как и предыдущая, соната ор. 110 очень «романтична» и содержит весьма характерные в данном плане частности: они особенно бросаются в глаза рядом с некоторыми отзвуками былой активности бетховенской «драматуpгии».

Наброски сонаты ор. 110 возникли в счастливое для Бетховена лето 1820 года (тогда же, когда родились первые эскизы сонаты ор. 109, сонаты op. 111 и неосуществленной сонаты B-dur).

Однако дальнейшее сочинение сонаты ор. 110 совпало с новыми жизненными испытаниями Бетховена, с периодом тяжелых моральных и физических страданий.

В своем разборе сонаты ор. 110 Ромен Роллан отмечает, что безоблачное начало первой части, как бы продолжающее самые умиротворенные из образов сонаты ор. 109, было, очевидно, написано Бетховеном без предвидении того, что за ним последует.

В первой части сонаты Ромен Роллан усматривает столкновение светлых лирических воспоминаний с печалями, заботами и мрачными тенями действительности. В конце — смиренная робость, отречение. Вторая часть выражает «резкость, грубоватость, привычные Бетховену в его крутых и кратких забавах». «Люди страстные, возвышенные имеют часто, как Бетховен, «двойника», другое «я», очень отличное, персонаж, исполненный иронии и насмешки, с которым они, освободившись от чрезмерного груза серьезности, проводят часы отдыха». Конец скерцо — вопросителен; что ждет дальше — радость или скорбь — неизвестно. «Эго скорбь», — лаконично отвечает Р. Роллан характеризуя Adagio, в котором он находит реализм звукописи душевного страдания. Начало фуги подобно «дружескому рукопожатию». Два приступа горя сопровождаются двумя как бы подкрепляющими репликами фуги. В конце концов произведение, исполненное страданий, «завершается победой».

«Представим, восклицает Ромен Роллан, — что бы написал Бетховен под натиском подобных побуждений десятью годами раньше! Какие это были бы акценты необузданной скорби и ярости!.. Мудрость пришла на старое, изможденное чело. Мы соберем ее прекраснейший плод в Ариэтте из ор. 111».

(Юрий Кремлев. Фортепианные сонаты Бетховена)

 

Beethoven wrote his last piano sonatas op. 109, 110 and 111 together. He planned them as a trilogy and offered them to publisher Schlesinger from Berlin. Schlesinger's son Maurice had visited Beethoven in Mödling in the autumn of 1819. Beethoven started working on op. 109 in the spring of 1820. Throughout the year he repeatedly told Schlesinger he was now working without any interruption and would soon deliver the pieces. The composer delivered opus 109 in autumn but then turned to the bagatelles of op. 119 and the Missa solemnis op. 123 (which should have been completed in March 1820), thus neglecting the other two sonatas.

In March 1821 Beethoven once more promised Schlesinger a soon delivery of the remaining two sonatas op. 110 and 111 and excused the procrastination with his bad state of health. However, he had not even started working on the two sonatas. It was true that the composer suffered a serious jaundice in the summer of 1821 which kept him from working. According to drafts, Beethoven began working on op. 110 in the summer of the same year and in autumn focused on op. 111. In his draft booklets the drafts for both sonatas are overlapping. At the same time the publication of op. 109 was prepared in 1821. Due to a long correction period the piece did not come out until November.

On December 12th, 1821, Beethoven announced the soon delivery of op. 110. He completed the autograph on December 25th, 1821 and sent it to Berlin two weeks later. The publication of op. 110 did not pose any difficulties and so the sonata was published in August or September 1822. Shortly after op. 110, Beethoven completed op. 111 in the spring of 1822. Compared to the previous sonata, Beethoven's last 32nd sonata had a rather long correction and printing period.The composer insisted on copies to review which he received but sent back no earlier than February 1823. The original edition was published by Maurice Schlesinger in Paris in April 1823. His father published the piece in Berlin one month later. This edition, however, contained so many mistakes that Beethoven angrily ordered Vienna publisher Diabelli to publish a corrected reprint.

(beethoven-haus-bonn.de)

 

 

Beethoven's piano sonatas grew in complexity and depth as the cycle of 32 progressed. The last dozen or so could be called absolute masterpieces of piano music, with the latter half of that group rising to a level that often inspires awe and wonderment. This work, though sometimes overshadowed by the mighty "Hammerklavier" Sonata, and the last, the C minor, Op. 111, seems quite as impressive as these better-known works. This unusual work, thematically threadbare at the outset, is a great and deeply profound composition, whose fugal finale achieves the highest keyboard art. This composition opens with a gentle, slow idea of strong spiritual character, the music sounding mesmeric, tranquil, chorale-like, intimate. Its fabric consists of many threads, but on the surface there is little of actual substance, at least from the standpoint of musical analysis. Yet this lovely but seemingly unpromising opening contains the seeds of this movement's rich thematic and harmonic material. The latter half of the first subject is borrowed from the Largo second movement of Haydn's Symphony No. 88, in G major. At the time Beethoven was writing this sonata, he was suffering the first bouts of the illness that would take his life six years later. The serene, rather valedictory mood of the first movement (Moderato cantabile, molto espressivo) may reflect his sense of mortality, of an impending doom. The second subject is lively, but in all its elements seems to be on the descent, expressing, perhaps the end of a journey. The development introduces some tension and subtly disrupts the serenity, without, however, essentially altering the general mood of tranquility.

The second movement (Allegro molto) is short and jovial. Or is it? It certainly starts off with a happy demeanor, but that temperament is periodically interrupted by a ponderous ritardando, which finally overtakes the direction and character of the piece. The third movement, marked Adagio ma non troppo, is somber, bordering on the funereal. This ponderous, dark music may reflect the composer's deepest doubts and disappointments. The finale begins without pause after the Adagio. Its theme, almost Bach-like in its contentedness and fugal character, sounds serene, expressing, perhaps, the composer's acceptance of his fate. This is a movement of great subtlety and beauty, and its structure is masterful and original. The middle section is quiet and dark, its mood looking back to the darkness of the Adagio. Suddenly the piano unleashes ten fateful chords in a slow crescendo. The main theme then reappears and struggles for a time with the dominant mood of darkness. Eventually it gains strength, transforming the movement into a triumphant, ecstatic, radiant utterance.

(Robert Cummings, Rovi)