Classical Music | Cello Music

Recorded on 07/10/2019, uploaded on 11/12/2019

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Beethoven’s two Op. 102 sonatas for cello and piano, written in the summer of 1815, are considered to be the first major works of his so-called “late period”. These multidimensional sonatas were unprecedented at their time of inception due to their mystifying use of structure, harmony, and ensemble. In fact, the sonatas were so complex that Bonn publisher Nikolaus Simrock was forced to print the piano and cello parts together in a single full score for the musicians to see (something that is common practice today, but had never been done with any of Beethoven’s previous chamber works). Originally entitled “Free Sonata”, Op. 102, No. 1 opens with an Andante that sets a tonal introduction to the C Major work. However, any reassurance of the home key is quickly obliterated with the main Sonata-Allegro form movement following in A minor, engulfed in fortissimo and sforzandi. In the work’s second half, Beethoven bridges a juxtaposition of a heavenly Adagio and a jocular Allegro vivace with music from the Sonata’s opening Andante, thus tying the work together in cohesion and reflection.       Gabriel Martins

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Cello Sonata No. 4, op. 102, no. 1     Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven composed only five sonatas for the cello and singlehandedly set the precedent for future composers in a genre that was practically non-existent. The instrument itself had only recently come into its own as a solo instrument, released from its restrictive role as part of the basso continuo largely by the efforts of Joseph Haydn. Though the cello had already assumed for itself a more predominant role in the string quartet, and secured a position in piano trio, there was nevertheless no example for Beethoven to follow in the composition of cello sonatas. 

The five sonatas for cello also spanned a large part of Beethoven’s career. The first two, published together as his opus 5, were early efforts composed in 1796, and the third appeared a little more than a decade later in 1808. The final two sonatas, published as opus 102, appeared in 1815 during a turbulent time in the composer’s life. Plagued by illness, Beethoven’s output dropped off significantly beginning in 1811. His deafness grew increasingly worse as well, yet caused the composer’s gaze to turn evermore inward, leaving behind the outward heroism for a profound introspection which culminated in the last string quartets. The opus 102 sonatas marked the beginning of this transition, and already show the composer searching for a more personal means of expression. Besides a piano sonata and a collection of folk song settings, they were the only significant compositions to emerge until the Missa Solemnis and Ninth Symphony.

The first of the opus 102 sonatas, No. 4 in C major, is an unusual two-movement work which displays Beethoven’s strikingly original approach to musical form. Though some of its elements may be traced back to earlier works, its mode of expression has more in common with the composer’s burgeoning late period. Of roughly equal length, the sonata’s two movements are strongly connected through their shared motives. Both movements, in Allegro tempos, are preceded by slow introductions built around the same melodic kernel, yet the length of the latter movement’s introduction nearly gives it the feeling of being a brief slow movement preceding without break into a finale. The movement’s themselves are lively and energetic, full of the rhythmic and melodic vitality one expects of Beethoven’s music. The introductions, particularly that leading into the second movement, are ethereal, approaching that strange and wonderful vocal quality Beethoven so miraculously could elicit from his instruments in his last works.      Joseph DuBose

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.