Beethoven: Sonata No.24 in F-sharp Major, "à Thérèse" (Biss, Kovacevich, Jando)
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- Опубликовано: 23 июл 2024
- Coming 5 years after the morbidly dramatic Appassionata, the Op.78 sonata could not present a more striking contrast to its predecessor. Despite its slight two-movement structure, it appears that Beethoven thought of this work as highly as he did the Appassionata, and not without reason.
The first movement of this sonata is remarkably tender and lyrical, and features one of Beethoven's loveliest run-on melodies. It's notable its highly cellular nature: the first subject, for example, is comprised of a motif in quarter notes, a motif in sixteenths, and another in triplets, yet all these motifs run together in a completely natural way so that there isn't any real "transitional" material. There's also the fact that Beethoven opens the work with a beautifiul cantabile melody in four bars which never recurs throughout the work and serves no formal function. Its only warrant is purely psychological: it prepares and contains the entire emotional landscape of the first movement (Mozart too could write introductions like this), and almost becomes the slow movement the piece is missing. In a weird way, you listen to the whole first movement waiting for that first melody to come back, and it never does: this gives the otherwise overwhelming sweetness of the first movement a slightly wistful edge. In general the whole movement is devoid of a sense of conflict: instead it's built around a sense of disintegration and re-integration.The last thing to note is how the tiny three note-motif at 0:20, the upbeat to the first time, binds the movement together (both its rhythm and structural shape are motivically highly influential).
The second movement is one of Beethoven's unapologetic comic romps. It has an odd structure, to start with, and doesn't really fit neatly into typical rondo or sonata-rondo form (in the notes below I'm just indicated where the main ideas are, and you can decide for yourself what formal structure it has!) The first phrase is divided into 6 parts, which go forte-piano-forte-piano and so on, and is exceptionally harmonically deceptive (we open with an Italian augmented 6th chord, and just as we start getting certain about the F# tonality, the second phrase enters in B, though it also begins with an ambiguous diminished 7th chord.) The third main idea of this movement consists of schizophrenic vacillation between major and minor (7:47), and at the end of the movement there is another harmonic joke: after a florid dominant 7th, Beethoven prepares us to expect the tonic, but no -- he emphasises yet again an absurd augmented chord: 9:32. The figuration of this movement is also striking: the second main idea consists of a sparse and direct bass line overlaid with slurred sixteenths, which can be played in an exaggerated acciacciatura fashion to resemble chirps or twittering (see 7:12 for one of the most odd effects you'll ever come across in a sonata) or in a more extroverted fashion (see 17:11). And the episodes in this movement are punctuated by increasingly ridiculous cadenzas based on the slurred-sixteenth figuration: they keep growing longer and longer, and eventually come to incorporate some plainly silly hand-crossing: 8:47.
MVT I, Adadio cantabile - Allegro ma non troppo
INTRODUCTION -- 00:00
EXPOSITION
00:20 -- Theme 1 (note opening upbeat/dotted-rhythm + rising third motif ["opening motif"], which is actually implied in the introduction)
00:35 -- Opening motif
00:47 -- Theme 2, introduced suddenly via a "wrong note". Note its cellular structure (like that of Theme 1)
01:13 -- A long-term anticipation of the second movement's first theme
DEVELOPMENT
02:35 -- Theme 1
02:44 -- Development of the opening motif
02:48 -- The opening motif's rhythm in LH, the rhythm of Theme 2's first cell in RH
RECAPITULATION -- 03:10
MVT II, Allegro Vivace
07:03 -- Theme 1 (note the rhythmic similarity to the opening motif)
07:12 -- Theme 2 -- a cartoonish scamper up the keyboard
07:20 -- Cadenza (This isn't a theme per se, and you can see this as an extension of Theme 2, but it starts to play an increasingly individual role in the movement)
07:27 -- Theme 1
07:36 -- Theme 2
07:43 -- Cadenza, inverted
07:47 -- Theme 3 (note shift between major and minor)
08:01 -- Cadenza
08:11 -- Theme 1 (If you see this as a sonata-rondo the development might start here, in the subdominant)
08:21 -- Theme 2
08:29 -- Cadenza, inverted
08:33 -- Theme 3
08:47 -- Cadenza
08:59 -- Theme 1
09:10 -- Right when you think theme 2 should enter, we slip into a sort-of coda. Note the inversions of the opening motif which recur, and how twice at the end we come to rest on a dominant 7th (at 9:24 and 9:29) which does not resolve to the tonic. 
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This is by far my favorite Beethoven sonata. Played in my junior year in undergrad and I've been obsessed with it ever since❤❤
An e-mail ticked in on a clear F-sharp immediately after the second movement. I may now die in peace.
Geez, that's crazy.
I played this for my sophmore recital at community college. I absolutely adored working on it. When you don't have the time/emotional space to learn one of his larger works, this is the perfect "Cliff's Notes" to Beethoven's sonatas.
You mean the bridge for bigger Beethoven repertoire?
Sonata 25 too
@@AhbibHaald Yeah that one too
hahahaha i love the cliff notes comparison
This first movement is just so... pleasant.
*You spelled every movement wrong
@@user-ph5wf5ko6x ???
@@anotherdepressedmusician I think he's trying to say that every movement is pleasant
No better words. Joyful, positive.
Biss:
00:00 -- Mvt 1
07:03 -- Mvt 2
Kovacevich:
09:40 -- Mvt 1
17:00 -- Mvt 2
Jando:
19:48 -- Mvt 1
26:14 -- Mvt 2
Biss' performance is both the most intimate and the most whackadoodle of the three: he blunts very slightly the first movement's contrasts, creating a beautifully dreamy tone, but exaggerates the sixteenth-note slurs in the second movement to superb effect (something Schiff and Schnabel also do). Kovacevich's more sharp-edged treatment emphasises those slurs slightly, and Jando's, whose approach is brisk and dramatic in the first movement and faux-gruff in the second, emphasises them not at all. Note also how at 10:26 Kovacevich turns the LH into barely-audible harmonic whispers, and brings out an implied melody in the RH that is an inversion of the opening motif.
One last thing: Theme 1 of the second movement is actually a rather sardonic parody of "Rule Britannia" (which as it turns out Beethoven was quite familiar with). I'm serious: go listen to Rule Britannia, and you'll never be able to unhear it here.
Here's a link to the relevant bit, which is performed with appropriate self-parody at the Proms every year: ruclips.net/video/rB5Nbp_gmgQ/видео.html
Ashish Xiangyi Kumar o
actually I'd say it's Kov's performance that is more intimate than Biss - it's a slower tempo, more legato, bends the rhythm more, and has a warmer tone (1st mvmt); I do not hear a "beautiful dreamy tone" in Biss, more so in Kov's. Biss's 2nd movement is certainly whacky, to the point of being preposterous, and K's more reasonable and place-able within Beethoven performance practice. Didn't get as far as Jando. Twice is enough. Thanks for posting multiple versions. But isn't it interesting how we've taken music in such a highly dissected direction - - comparing the finest details in performance between pianists - - certainly supports the thesis that classical music is the stuff of museums.
Who's "we"? You didn't compare any fine details. Also, it doesn't support anything and such a thesis doesn't even exist because it makes no sense. Your comment was pointless.
Forgive me, but... you state "Beethoven prepares us to expect the tonic, but no -- he emphasizes yet again an absurd augmented chord" The chord you're referring to here appears to be a diminished F sharp chord, not augmented. It has a fifth lowered a half step, thus making it a diminished chord. If the C sharp were to be raised a half step to a C double sharp, it would be augmented. But that's not what the sheet music shows.
Currently working on that sonata and I gotta say... I have never had so much fun playing a piece. Its an incredible work and I cant wait to perform it for my exams one day!
0:48-1:07 arguably the best cadence I’ve ever heard.
Biss performance is brilliant, so detailed and sensitive; the 2nds are laughter. Jando is clear and energetic as always; very persuasive in the sudden contrasts of second movement.
F# Major
(1st, 2nd movement)
Triumph over difficulty, free sigh of relief utered when hurdles are surmounted; echo of a soul which has fiercely struggled and finally conquered lies in all uses of this key.
I thank you for the excellent comment you wrote. This sonata is not among the most known ones, but I think that it is genial.
I think this is my favorite Beethoven sonata
I love Beethoven!
Thank you.
I love refrigerators!
@@brunopianodude9938
So you think you're cool 😎
I don't, only ludicrous 🤯
@@folkeholmberg3519 holy shit I forgot that I wrote this
I just like that meme
Thanks for posting this. I love this sonata. It has been said that Beethoven himself has a soft spot for it. I am not that familiar with Jando but SBK is definitive in his Beethoven in his cycle of the sonatas and concerti and Biss is a wonderful pianist and intellectual. BTW I am going to hear Kovacevich tonight here in LA in the Mozart c minor. I am excited. I have never heard him in concert before.
BSK and I are almost exact contemporaries. I first heard him in a series including all the Mozart piano concerti in London's Queen Elizabeth Hall in the late 1960s/early 1970s.
I like this Sonata too
TJFNYC212 , Therese :
Thank you Beethoven for this SoNaTa
This was always one of my faves. Another underrated sonata is op.90, also in two movements, and a hint of the grandeur that follows.
0:00 Adagio cantabile-Allegro ma non troppo
7:03 Allegro vivace
a surprisingly fresh interpretation.
Beethoven's most beautiful sonata. Emotional but intellectual.......
I can rela- oh wait
Also one of the hardest.
He preferred this one to his more famous Moonlight Sonata!
@@Blaqjaqshellaqwho wouldnt?
@@Blaqjaqshellaqmost people do
La musica ayuda a expresar y sentir. Excelente obra
Happy 250th birthday Beethoven!
THANK YOU!!
I think the second movement is a modified sonata rondo. After developmental section you expect Episode 1 in tonic (recapitulation), but instead of that, Beethoven used the developmental section in tonic for the recapitulation. That means: Instead of ABACABA coda, the last movement has ABACACA coda.
I feel what I have never felt.
I can not believe this.
"Therese" was the sister of Josephine, said to have been Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved".
I love it.
우리가 흔히 알고 있는 '엘리제를 위하여'의 엘리제는 사실 본명이 테레제이고요... 이 소나타는 사랑꾼 베토벤이 테레제라는 여자를 사랑해서 그녈 위해 작곡한 선물이었다고 합니다....... 테레제가 참 예쁜 사람이었나봐요.......ㅜㅜ♡
It's quite amazing: I hear Schubert in the first movement and Alkan in the second one
walter Yes, that's exactly what I meant to say: Beethoven was way ahead of his time. Maybe it would be more correct to say that Schubert and Alkan were very Beethovenian in their own way.
I understand that you may find it futile and meaningless, but I love to compare styles of different composers and find connections
Sebastien Traglia as you said, I hear a bit of rondo D951, which is one of my favorite Schubert. He was more into Beethoven in late period thus similarities are easily found in his sonatas and smaller pieces. So I assure the vice versa could be more acceptable; Some Btv may be heard in Sbt.
walter No problem, I'd chat about classical composers for hours
Ludwig Beethoven Ah, my bad... I let myself commit a logical fallacy to gain rethorical effect. It must be my love for continental philosophy ;)
Sebastien Traglia Never mind! Now I'm just curious about what piece of Sbt you meant. As long as I listen to, D951 seems the closest to the 1st mov.
이 곡은 베토벤이 자신의 연인이었던 테레제를 위해 헌정한 곡이라네요... 밝고 장난치는 느낌이 드네요❤
All those masterpieces and an excellent analysis, all free... what an epoch...
Thank you by the way dear Ashish, you don't know me but I follow your videos.
You should be thanking me for this Sonata
*cough* you too Therese *cough*
A jewel.
Starts of very heart touching - 0:21
The second movement is fantastic!
*EVERY movement is fantastic
Fergus Maclachlan my movements are decent, I make a few hundred a night
Shao Yu Mai Wang ... welches fruit snacks
Shao Yu Mai Wang happy new year, love ya
@@hiddensaint3251 🤪
Every time I listen to this sonata, especially 2nd mov. , I try to find out what his mind to Therese truly was, only to come back to full of curiosity.
biss doing the sixteenth note slur thing has to be the funniest shit ever i swear
That weird thing that Biss does in the second movement makes the thing x1000 better!
You're talking about his awesome staccato?
@@giuseppeagresta1425 Sorry, i don't know that much about music theory, i just enjoy the sonatas. I'm talking about how he plays the semiquavers different than how it should be played, making it better
@@miguelisaurusbruh1158I think I understand what you're referring to 👀
It's the way he makes that sparkling, almost watery sound?
@@giuseppeagresta1425 YES, it makes it sound cartoonish anf fun
His performance of the semiquaver passages were just hilarious.
I love this song most in Beethoven sonata
Truly a magnificent Sonata. I've played this one in concert on several occasions.
Masterpiece
Yes Beethoven
3:05 I think this is the theme from the introduction. It does in fact return!
the first chord sounds just like the old mac boot-up sound... i think i just discovered the perfect pitch that i've never had before!!
Hahaha I've been thinking the same! My mate has a mac and when I hear it, it always reminds me of the same chord. I'm glad I'm not crazy :P
@@jcabfer06 I think it is actually pitch memory.
Jonathan Biss play the slures in 2nd mvt like grace-notes ))) Jeno Jando play them like ordinary 16ths))) Stephen Kovacevich, in my opinion, found the happy medium! )))
I like Cláudio arrau the Best. Dont know the theory
The first 4 bars are sublime
His eternal beloved was the piano.
The real eternal beloved was... the friends we made along the way
Clear contrast between classic and romantic figurations.
Very neglected key to play in, beautiful
Beethoven innamorato.
Así es.
14/12/2020.
What I find interesting about this is sonata is why Beethoven preferred F sharp over G flat major. G flat major has the same number of flats, but you wouldn’t need double sharps because everything would be naturals instead.
I remember my teacher giving this piece to me for my ARCT exam, but I gave up learning it (did Pathetique instead which was much easier in comparison) after I reached the second movement because that movement was incredibly annoying to play. I enjoyed this piece, nonetheless, but it takes lots of patience to deal with 6 sharps.
Lol.....absolutely....I'd deal with 6 flats anytime than any sharps
@@Bruce.-Wayne i honesly cant tell if your joking which i guess is a good thing
@@carterstephen8138 .....I'm dead serious....its a different mentality dealing with 6 flats than 6 sharps...lol....any piece beyond 4 sharps (E major) annoys me, but you gotta learn everything, that's the nature of music...
@@Bruce.-Wayne cant you just pretend the flats are sharps and move every note up a note (thats flat)
I’m not saying this to be a jerk but if you have a hard time with heavily sharped key signatures you probably are not ready as a musician for a work like this.
I'm 13 and I am actually playing this wonderful sonata; thanks, this helped me a lot
So lucky.
Why do people always compare one thing with the other? Oh this is better than that ETC. In the words of Marcus Aurelius, take each thing as it is and enjoy it (or not).
👏👏👏
masterpiece along with no.7,11and 29 but sadly a lesser known one
9:09 Beethoven dances the habenera
Sonata allegro form is a TWO part form not three. First part Exposition Second part Development- Recap. It's evident in this playing of the sonata. The repeat sign at the end takes us back to the development. Very often the players don't repeat the second part. That's a matter of choice and is perfectly ok.
Oh my God
The Adagio Cantabile at 0:00 make a big question mark...And now what???
Beethoven was loved her so much
Von of Therese
Who was his wife?
I just know a few things about Court life. Servants were made to wear badges and a musician was one badge below a cook. How sad to know that this kind of GENIUS, still recognized hundreds and hundreds of years later, lived like common peasants, almost starving and when they left this world, nobody really noticed or cared.
Beethoven was not married...
He doesn't have any wife.
(I'm Korean so I'm not Good at English sorry)
My favorite
F# MAJ IS REALLY GOOD KEY. C, F AND G KEYS ARE TOO BOLD FOR MY EARS.
Me encantan las semicorcheas misteriosas del 3:53
I can think of one other piece by Beethoven that has a development-recap repeat, and that's the final of the last quartet.
Interesting why he decided to put one in here.
Appassionata mvt III, I think also sonata 6 op 10 no 2. mvt III have it as well. Those are two I know
Correct!
I once posted a theory about the structury of the second movement, but I think i have another: It's a sonata rondo without development. 7:47 is Theme 2 and the recapitulation starts at 8:11 - in the wrong key, but Theme 2 is eventually in the tonic.
I recently began studying the 2nd movement and I found it to defy structural analysis. Thinking of it as sonata rondo led me to dead ends. But your insight about a missing development makes a great deal of sense--thank you for this T. Alexander! What makes it tricky is that heard this way that exposition and recap each have 3 constrasting themes instead of the usual 2, and the first 2 are effectively repeated at the start. There is little difference between sonata without development and sonata rondo without development--but the return to the initial theme at the start of the coda indeed suggests sonata rondo. What an amazing movement.
@@kevinmcelhaney8066 I'm glad I could help you, and your interpretation is very useful as well; even the structure in the description is similar. But there's even another one I commented a year ago: "I think the second movement is a modified sonata rondo. After developmental section and the theme you expect Episode 1 in tonic (recapitulation), but instead of that, Beethoven used the developmental section in tonic for the recapitulation. That means: Instead of ABACABA coda, the last movement has ABACACA coda."
第一樂章☝🏻
17:00 II-2
26:14 II-3
This is got to be the least common key Beethoven has ever implied as the home key of A certain piano sonata.
not necessarily, he never wrote one in B major for example
8:51 - 8:58 I can't figure out what exacly this passage means. What is this? It sounds like water drops and strange computer noises...
That’s the point.
As is I was saying:
“Therese, my love for you is unexplainable.
Whole second movement is joke from Beethoven side
The Best part. Psychedelic happyness
Aliens
@@wodzimierzwosimieta2758 But why would Beethoven write a "joke" für her possibly immortal beloved?
F sharp minor to A major to D sharp minor 3:04 3:05 3:06 3:06 3:07 3:07 3:08 3:08
The first 4 bars:
"- Meine Therese, Ich liebe dich."
Kleiber knew it, that's why he was so obsessed with the beggining of 2nd movement in the fourth symphony.
Investigation solved ! 🤣
7:03 7:03 7:03
Forgive me, but... you state "Beethoven prepares us to expect the tonic, but no -- he emphasizes yet again an absurd augmented chord" The chord you're referring to here appears to be a diminished F sharp chord, not augmented. It has a fifth lowered a half step, thus making it a diminished chord. If the C sharp were to be raised a half step to a C double sharp, it would be augmented. But that's not what the sheet music shows.
Correct.
And?
Hi, why no mention of the Development and Recap repeating in the 1st mvt? BTW, was this common practice in Beethoven's time? Thank you! :)
Lucky Thérèse
4:49 🤓
Lmao🤣
1:07 my favourite part of this sonata lol
Ok Steve from Minecraft
Excuse me, may u upload a video of Appasionata?
23:40 23:41 23:42 23:43 23:44
19:29 19:30 19:31 19:31 19:32
0:01
Bob Dylan sent me here. He mentioned this in his "new" release, Murder Most Foul, about JFK.
Moon Dancer me too
Then you should stay and listen to all the 32. There are few ways to spend time better.
Bob who?
Mi spiace di non averti mai conosciuto.
Is this a newer accepted interpretation of the second movement these days? The two note 16ths between the right and left hand are played more like grace notes. I think the first exposure to this may have been a Horowitz recording. The second movement was pretty lively.
Schnabel started it first iirc. It's a divergence in how pianists interpret slurs - whether they modify only articulation, or actually demand a rhythmic shortening of the first note - that recurs elsewhere quite a lot (even in other B. sonatas). In any case, I like it both ways, so you hear both interpretations here.
@@AshishXiangyiKumar thank you!
Bonjour,
"Unapologetic comic", "schizophrenic", "increasingly ridiculous", "weird", "deceptive", "absurd", "silly", "exaggerated", etc…………
"Ah, qu'en termes galants ces choses-là sont mises ! " ((Molière, £e Misanthrope))
And, now, I start realising how naive I had always been in my understanding oƒ the spirit oƒ Romantic music.
Are you sincerely convinced that Gróƒ Korompai ßrunszvik Teréz ((a good pianist)) received and viewed it that way?
15:59 15:59 16:00
14:54 piano concerto 5
18:48 18:48 18:49
The second movement is quite a pain in the ass technically speaking. I'm a little horrified at Biss' approach: he tries to imitate Schnabel, rushing forward and trying too hard to completely separate all the two-note slurs from each other that they come out like grace notes that are too close together. The passagework should still be even in my opinion. Extremely difficult to create cogent two-note groups AND make it even at the same time at a fast tempo.
I agree and disagree. Bliss goes too far. But a form of scottish snap is in my view preferable to an even semiquaver performance. Beethoven bothered to put in the slurs and it would only take a MIDI engine or a dull human to eradicate them.
Biss isn't trying to imitate Schnabel, he's playing the slurs the way Beethoven wanted 2-note slurs in that pattern to be played. The rhythmic inflection can't be notated precisely in the score, but it's historically accurate.
@@Pianist46 and what makes you think Beethoven insisted on anally completely and audibly separating them to such a degree that the rhythm is skewed? So much of this is what I would call "gestural," and has to do with how often groups of notes are accented. Yes he is imitating Schnabel; his whole training with Fleisher etc., that's all the Schnabel-worshipping crowd. I like Schnabel just fine actually but he's not Jesus Christ.
At the end of my original comment I noted that it was *extremely difficult* to create distinct two-note groups without messing with the rhythm. So that's hard, but that's the thing to strive for. Biss is distorting the rhythm a lot, not a "teeny subtle bit." Sorry to rant on like this but I just think it sounds horrible.
@David Hughes You are right, for these slurs, that Biss and Schnabel both go too far. Listen to the superb recording of this sonata by Michael Lu. He is a very young and unknown pianist from the USA. I only discovered him, after reading about Murray Perahia choosing him for his Beethoven masterclass and concert in my hometown of Munich. His way of executing these slurs in the 2. movement is astonishing. They are perfectly even, but one can clearly hear the slurs are there.
what grade would this piece be in abrsm level?
If you’re talking about playing the complete sonata, it is at least at DipABRSM level.
@@qingpingye I assume it would be different if the first movement was counted only, I haven't played this sonata myself but i've heard that the first movement is easier than the second even if not by that much
2:35
Can you make a playlist of sonatas
It's already up.
19:47
8:33
A super sonata, but both movements are played too fast and consequently end up superficial at times. Neither movement is indicated too be played particularly fast.
I totally agree. The first pianist is simply showing off, which is great, but it doesn’t make for beautiful music. And I agree with another commenter that the 16th notes in the 2nd mvt. are played like ‘grace notes’ which they are not. I wonder what Beethoven really had in mind with this 2 mvt. Sonata. Especially considering the backdrop of the Sonata itself being dedicated to his “Immortal Beloved”?
7:04
Its called a 'sharp' because the more there are the sharper the pain in sight reading.
Actually, it's often much easier to sightread (and play) keys with multiple sharps/flats on the piano (the same does not apply for, say, string or woodwind instruments).
I find the hardest keys to sightread for me are 6-7 sharps/flats. In general, for me flats are easier to sightread than sharps. Not sure why that is.most string players I've talked to prefer sharps, while most pianists I've talked to prefer flats.
@@piano1500 I'm now a pianist and I prefer flats. I was once an oboist, and I preferred naturals :)
Why did he arrange it like that?
???
For what I hear, the most remarkable Beethoven is Jando. Romantically indulging is more Schubert-like than Beethoven himself.
I started the romantic period though. Not SchangBurr
Mami ki eyes theek ho rahi hai, sunti rahe , p
어디선가 모짜르트 느낌도 난다.ㅋ
어는 부분이 그런가요?
밝은 조성이라서 그런거에요^^ 모차르트의 영향을 많이 받은 작품인것 같아요:)
베토벤의 작품 중 이런 화성은 거의 초창기때 많고 후반때는 희박하죠..
@@shibamusique Nothing else I exspected...
k.K.
dude
dude
dude
Dude
dude
It’s just me, or is this so Schubert 😂
it definitely is, the opening theme of the first movement reminds me a lot of that of Schubert's D. 960 sonata