Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90
Composer: Ludwig Van Beethoven
Date of Publication: June 1815
Beethoven’s 27th Piano Sonata was his reentrance into composing after a two-year silent period since 1812. The Sonata was a personal gift, dedicated to his friend, Count Moritz von Lichnowsky. However, it also reflected a turning point in Germany and Europe as a whole.
In his youth, Beethoven admired Napoleon and even named his third symphony Sinfonia Intitolata Bonaparte to pay tribute to the war general. But Napoleon’s power-hungry after crowning himself emperor unsettled Beethoven. After the French took over Germany and Napoleon’s conquest of Vienna in 1805 and 1809, the deaf Beethoven became increasingly stressed and published less and less. The 27th Piano Sonata was composed in the summer of 1814, right after Napoleon’s defeat and banishment on April 11 of the same year. Tensions were easing and this Sonata ushered in Beethoven’s “late-period” characterized by polyphony and experimentation. No. 27 was particularly unique because Beethoven began to write his markings solely in German, despite the Viennese standard of Italian markings. He probably did so because of the wave of Chauvinism that hit Germany in the early 1810s; it was his way of asserting his pride in German culture and music-making.
Upon arriving in Vienna in 1792, Beethoven was introduced to the Lichnowsky family through Moritz’s older brother, Prince Karl. Karl was a major benefactor for many composers, including Mozart. He became invested in Beethoven because of the composer’s potential to be the next Mozart. As a result, he oversaw much of Beethoven’s life, offered him a room in his own house, and paid him 600 florins a year (worth ~70k USD today). However, Beethoven felt confined by Karl’s paternalism. Beethoven was often forced to dress up and conform to aristocratic etiquette while playing in Karl’s Friday concerts. Eventually, a fed-up Beethoven cut ties with Karl and stormed out of the prince’s house after being ordered to perform for French officers.
However, Beethoven remained good friends with Moritz von Lichnowsky, since they were similar in age and Beethoven respected Moritz’s skills as a pianist and concert organizer. Before 1814, he’d previously dedicated the Eroica Variations, Op. 35 to Moritz. On September 21, 1814, Beethoven received a letter from Moritz – who was now the composer’s benefactor – and wrote back:
I had a delightful walk yesterday with a friend in the Brühl, and in the course of our friendly chat you were particularly mentioned, and lo! and behold! on my return I found your kind letter. I see you are resolved to continue to load me with benefits. As I am unwilling you should suppose that a step I have already taken is prompted by your recent favors, or by any motive of the sort, I must tell you that a sonata of mine is about to appear, dedicated to you. I wished to give you a surprise, as this dedication has been long designed for you, but your letter of yesterday induces me to name the fact. I required no new motive thus publicly to testify my sense of your friendship and kindness.
Given their close relationship, some speculate the Sonata is program music centered around Moritz’s illicit affair with his future wife Josefa Stummer while he was still married to Maria Anna. Evidence for the theory comes from Beethoven’s unincluded subtitles for the piece’s movements: “Kampf zwischen Kopf und Herz (A Contest Between Head and Heart)” and “Conversation mit der Geliebten (Conversation with the Beloved)." Additionally, in Beethoven’s correspondences with Moritz, he often joked about the Count’s affair and newborn. However, it was later revealed that Anton Schindler, Beethoven’s publisher, forged one of such letters to better fit the program music narrative in his book Beethoven in Paris.
Assuming the Sonata’s program music nature to be true, the first movement is a passionate dialogue – or argument – between Moritz’s reasoning (head) and his love for Stummer (heart). The head is loud and assertive, accentuated by block chords that appear as Moritz’s common sense scolding him for his affair. The heart is delicate and softer – often coming after the head’s contentions; Moritz can tell himself what’s right and wrong, but his emotions won’t change. The dialogue starts immediately with the first theme (measures 1-8). Throughout the movement, the head and heart repeat the same phrases with different colors. The heart’s imagery is also evident: the right hand’s quiet sixteenth note ostinato under the left hand’s melody sounds like a heart fluttering or butterflies. The half note followed by staccato chord sections sound like heartbeats that grow uncontrollably loud. The movement importantly modulates to B minor in measure 45, suggesting Moritz is becoming more torn.
The second movement rondo is a dialogue as well, but between a gentler one between Moritz and Stummer. The warm, honeymoon-like atmosphere is created warm sixteenth note ostinatos and more blended voices than the discordant head and heart in the first movement without sudden tone changes. The lovers’ voices even seem to merge at times into octave melodies, further bringing out their intimacy.
Fun Fact: In Beethoven’s era, the lowest note on the piano was a low F1. As a result, Beethoven couldn’t write incorporate the lowest form of the tonic, E1. Pianists today should consider playing some E2s accompanied by an E1 not written in the original score, i.e. in the left hand ascending octaves towards the end of the first movement.
Fun Fact 2: Sonata No. 27’s ending is in the key of E major, which is the same chord that starts the next sonata, despite Sonata No. 28’s key being A major.
Movements:
I. Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck ("With liveliness and with feeling and expression throughout")
II. Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorgetragen ("Not too swiftly and conveyed in a singing manner")
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