Beethoven: Sonata No. 25 in G major, Op. 79 | Boris Giltburg | Beethoven 32 project

The genesis of this sonata is closely tied with that of Sonata No. 24, as both were commissioned by Muzio Clementi, an Italian-born, London-based pianist, composer and publisher. The contract for those and other works was signed on 20 April 1807, with Beethoven agreeing to compose the two sonatas ‘in an unspecified time and at his leisure’. This finally happened in the second half of 1809, and both sonatas were published by Clementi in mid-1810.

The G major sonata, Op. 79, is a work light both in spirit and in technical difficulty, recognised as such by Beethoven, who asked the German publisher to call it ‘Sonata facile’ (‘Easy Sonata’) or ‘Sonatine’.

The first movement (0:11) is a lively dance, titled alla Tedesca (‘in the style of a German dance’), which could refer to any number of quick dances in triple time, of which the Deutscher Tanz, Ländler and waltz were the chief types at the time. Its origin as a contradance is revealed in the coda, where its theme finally assumes the symmetric nature hinted at in the beginning (4:41). The development contains a surprising technical challenge, not quite fitting the sonata’s designation as ‘easy’: the left hand has to cross the right hand at speed in every bar, with lightness and precision (1:33). It is interesting music – the resulting ‘cuckoo call’ motif gave the sonata its unofficial nickname – but it’s anything but easy! (As an aside, Beethoven later wrote another alla Tedesca movement, as part of the String Quartet, Op. 130, and created a small link between the two: the four opening notes of the string quartet movement are the same as the sonata’s opening, inverted upside down.)

The second movement (5:08) is perhaps the least Beethovenian of the entire cycle – it is a beautiful melancholy barcarolle, which could have easily been one of Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words. Artless simplicity in the outer sections surrounds an operatic middle section (5:46), with a beautiful soprano line soaring above the gently rocking left-hand figurations.

The finale (7:42) is full of wonderful charm, its endearing refrain varied and elaborated with each repeat, surrounding several energetic and characterful episodes. Interestingly, Beethoven later used the exact harmonic sequence of this finale’s opening in the sublime beginning of Sonata No. 30, transposing the music for the ‘simple’ G major into a more refined E major.

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Beethoven 32 – Over the course of 2020, I have learned and filmed all 32 Beethoven sonatas. Subscribe to this channel or visit https://beethoven32.com to follow the project.

Boris Giltburg, piano

Filmed by Stewart French
© 2020 Fly On The Wall, London
@FazioliPianos

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