Carl Maria von Weber - Piano Sonata No. 4, Op. 70 (1822)

Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 1786 - 5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school.
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Piano Sonata No. 4 in E minor, Op. 70 (1819-22)
Dedication: Herrn Hofrath Johann Friedrich Rochlitz (1769-1842)
I. Moderato (0:00)
II. Menuetto. Presto vivace ed energico (10:08)
III. Andante (quasi Allegretto) consolante (14:05)
IV. Finale. Prestissimo (20:47)
Michael Endres, piano
The Sonata is dedicated to Johann Friedrich Rochlitz (12 February 1769 - 16 December 1842) who was a German playwright, musicologist and art and music critic. His most notable work is his autobiographical account Tage der Gefahr (Days of Danger) about the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 - in Kunst und Altertum, Goethe called it "one of the most wondrous productions ever to have been written". A Friedrich-Rochlitz-Preis for art criticism is named after him - it is awarded by the Leipzig Gesellschaft für Kunst und Kritik and was presented for the fourth time in 2009.
Rochlitz was a friend of several cultural figures of his era, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, E. T. A. Hoffmann and the composers Louis Spohr and Carl Maria von Weber - Weber dedicated his Piano Sonata No 4 in E minor (J287, Op 70) to Rochlitz. During a stay in Vienna, Rochlitz also got to know Beethoven and Franz Schubert, with the latter setting three poems by Rochlitz to music in 1827. Rochlitz died in Leipzig, aged 73.
Description by James Zychowicz
Of Weber's four Piano Sonatas, the last is probably his most significant contribution to the genre. It is a masterful work that Weber completed in 1822 after working on the piece sporadically for three years. With this Sonata, Weber returns to the four-movement format of his first two Piano Sonatas. Further, this piece shows that Weber is clearly out of Beethoven's shadow and that he is forging his own way in the genre. The four movements are more varied than those found in his earlier three sonatas, and they extend for Weber the content possible in this form.
The first movement (Moderato) is a sonata with expansive themes. Any evidence of using classical models is absent in this highly romantic movement which contains some of Weber's finest writing for piano. It is also Weber's longest sustained movement for piano in which he explores the themes and tonal areas with utmost finesse and expression. The technical brilliance essential to the earlier sonatas is part of the movement, but does not obscure the sheerly musical values in it. Here Weber is clearly creating a style that composers of the next generation, such as Chopin, would exploit in their own works for solo piano.
The second movement, Menuetto (Presto vivace ed energico), diverts from Weber's usual order, that has the slow movement follow the first. This juxtaposition anticipates the situation that later Romantic composers exhibit with the order of inner movements in setting up the Finale. As a more driven, demonic movement, the Menuetto is a compelling piece that makes sense in coming after the first movement, rather than after the more rhapsodic slow movement Weber composed for this Sonata. The Menuetto is an agitated, driven piece, in the minor mode, and no longer the lighter movement which had served as a kind of aesthetic respite before the Finale.
Instead, the lyrical third movement (Andante - quasi Allegretto - consolante) exists in contrast to the preceding two. In it Weber also departs from his previous practice with a more episodic treatment of form. While less ambitious than the previous movements in the Sonata, the slow movement provides balance to this highly charged work. The Finale (Prestissimo) which follows is a rondo that provides a fitting conclusion to the Sonata as a whole. It is a motivically driven movement in which Weber uses his own brilliant technique to excellent effect and it is subtlety, rather than bravura which distinguishes this movement from those he had used to conclude his other sonatas for piano.

[@fransmeersman2334]

The first time I could hear these masterful piano sonatas of von Weber with the great performance by Michael Endres. Thank you very much !

[@hsohn4901]

More romantic than I expected.

[@bryan1198]

Tchaikovsky's nutcracker can also be heard. It is fascinating to see how composers actually influenced others without directly seeing it.

[@ChristovanRensburg]

I can never help but imagine that Liszt drew inspiration from the opening movement for Vallée d’Obermann. Even the direction “con duolo” seems to correlate with the subject of Liszt’s work.

[@notaire2]

Lebhafte und wunderschöne Interpretation dieser frühromantischen und perfekt komponioerten Klaviersonate im veränderlichen Tempo mit klar artikuliertem doch elegantem Anschlag und mit möglichst effektiver Dynamik. Der dritte Satz klingt besonders schön und echt tröstend. Im Kontrast klingt der letzte Satz echt lebhaft und auch beweglich. Wunderbar und atemberaubend zugleich!

[@ninja_boy]

Too bad there aren't very many recordings of these sonatas! I wish more pianists performed them.

[@d.o.7784]

Never expected for Weber be so progressive for his time

[@GiuliaPaccagnin]

I never heard of this Sonata before. I really enjoyed it! Thank you 🎶

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

Guárdala en tu archivo. ,la roban y la venden por muchas respuestas. Ya me destrozaron mi colección. 😮😮