Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 12/02/2015, uploaded on 07/11/2016

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, commonly known as the Waldstein, is regarded as on the three great piano sonatas of his middle period, alongside the Appasionata and Les Adieux sonatas.The work was completed in 1804 during what is known as Beethoven's "Heroic" decade (1803-1812). It surpasses his previous sonatas in terms of scope and technique, setting the stage for Beethoven's later piano sonatas as well as for the rest of the century. The work is dedicated to Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein of Vienna, both a patron and close friend of Beethoven, thus giving the work its title. In Italy, the sonata is also known by the name "L'Aurora" (The Dawn) because of the opening of the third movement.

The Waldstein surpasses Beethoven's previous sonatas in both depth and scope. The first movement marks the beginning of expansive musical development in the piano sonatas much in the same way the Eroica Symphony heralded the innovations of the later symphonies. Indeed, the Waldstein not only set the tone for Beethoven's later piano sonatas, but also for the composers that would follow him. One has only to look at the extensive development in the sonatas of Johannes Brahms, for example, to see the lasting impact of Beethoven's music.

Another revolutionary innovation of the Waldstein was the use of the mediant major key for the second theme of the first movement. According to traditional sonata form, the second theme is stated in the key of the dominant when the first theme is in a major key, and this rule was almost invariably adhered to throughout the Classical period. However, instead of using the key of G major, Beethoven instead modulates to E major. While not entirely unprecedented, it was the first major work in which Beethoven did this. He would use this technique in several of his later pieces, including the Hammerklavier Sonata and it was taken up and used widely by the later Romantics.

The second movement is an agitated adagio that serves as an introduction to the finale, which it leads into without break. The finale centers around a beautiful, tranquil theme in C major announced pianissimo at the beginning. However, the movement is not all peaceful and sunny, making its way through turbulent episodes in the keys of C minor and A minor. The movement ends with a prestissimo coda based on the C major theme.

Joseph DuBose

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Piano Sonata No. 21 in C Major, Op. 53, “Waldstein”               Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven’s Sonata in C major, Op. 53, was written in the summer of 1804 for the composer’s friend and supporter, Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein. The Count was a formidable pianist, and Beethoven’s composition makes full use of the dedicatee’s skills. The three movement work is emblematic of Beethoven’s heroic period, in which he stretched the boundaries of form and tested the limits of the instruments for which he composed. At its best, the heroic style achieves transcendence through grandeur and excess. With its toccata-like passage work, unrelenting pulse, and extraverted affect, the “Waldstein” blends unbridled virtuosity with symphonic proportions and majesty.

Beethoven pioneered in constructing large musical forms from motives (thematic fragments). In the case of the “Waldstein” Sonata, the most simple of musical gestures, a major scale, is worn not only as a flashy garment but buried deep into the work’s DNA. In the first movement, the principal theme (characterized by the distinctive rhythm and texture of soft, rapidly repeating chords in the low register of the piano) begins with a descending bass note scale; that descending scale moves to the soprano voice for the movement’s second main theme, becoming the melody line of a noble chorale. The brilliant coda, taking the form of a cadenza, is driven by a sequence of scales. The second movement, which improvises an extended introduction to the third, expands on the descending bass line, warping it into slow motion with embellished fantasy; in the third movement, the scales are worn in their brightest, most garish fabric— as double octave glissandi. As the work progresses, it becomes increasingly improvisatory; the extended coda of the rondo explores the distant key areas hinted at by the chromatic bass line introduced in the very opening of the work.

Through its fixation on the scale, the “Waldstein” Sonata elevates virtuosic display to the level of a poetic device. To paraphrase my late teacher, the noted Beethoven interpreter Claude Frank, the “Waldstein” is most eloquent when both audience and performer “revel in the sheer joy of piano playing”. Notes by David Kaplan

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.