Piano Sonata No. 30, Op. 109

The hands play quick figures in alternation, softly, in E major. After eight bars Beethoven changes to Adagio espressivo, and broad arpeggios and diminished-seventh chords interrupt the opening tune. The arpeggios cover the whole keyboard.

The Adagio reaches its cadence in B major. At Tempo I the interlocking figures return, now rising in repeated phrases. Accents cut into the legato, and the melody expands into octaves.

E major and the opening theme return, with the right hand in octaves. Beethoven soon brings the dynamic back down to piano. The hands are still exchanging their short figures when the next Adagio espressivo begins.

The slow arpeggios return in E major, then move to C major. Runs descend from the top of the piano into the bass and rise again. Beethoven extends the ending with a diminuendo, a ritardando and a fermata.

Tempo primo restores the quick exchanges between the hands. In the coda Beethoven also brings them together in a short passage of quiet chords. The movement ends on a chord of E major, held under the pedal.

On 22 March 1932 Schnabel recorded Op. 109 for HMV in Abbey Road’s Studio No. 3. The sonata filled three shellac discs, issued as DB 1822–⁠24.

The movement is in E minor, Prestissimo, and begins fortissimo after the quiet end of the first movement. Beneath the running tune the left hand is marked ben marcato (strongly marked). The second theme, in B minor, keeps the restless character of the first.

The middle section is built from the opening bass line. Repeated Bs, then Cs, sound beneath slow-moving notes above. The running quavers stop, and the hands alternate softly with the soft pedal down.

The opening returns fortissimo in E minor. After passages marked una corda and sempre più piano, Beethoven writes tutte le corde, so the pianist releases the soft pedal and the hammers strike all their strings again. The first bass octaves are restored at full strength.

In December 1821 Beethoven sent the sonata to Maximiliane Brentano in Frankfurt, daughter of his friends Franz and Antonie Brentano. “A dedication!” he wrote. “But not one of those that so many people use and abuse.”

Beethoven headed the movement Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung (songfully, with the deepest feeling). The melody is in E major, and its stress falls on the second beat of the three-beat bar. The theme runs to sixteen bars, and each half is repeated.

The first variation places the melody an octave higher and adds short ornaments. The left hand plays a bass note followed by a chord, in the manner of a slow dance. Beethoven marks the tune molto espressivo.

The sonata is dedicated to Maximiliane Brentano. Beethoven had known her since her childhood, and in 1812 he gave the young pianist a short trio to encourage her playing. Nine years later, when he sent her this sonata, he wrote: “I see you all before me.”

Leggieramente (lightly). The hands pass short figures between them, with brief rests. In the next passage two right-hand voices imitate one another above steady left-hand quavers, and Beethoven then combines the two kinds of writing.

The third variation is marked Allegro vivace and is in 2/4, with two fast lines. The fourth is slower, in 9/8. The fifth is a fugato in several voices, and the key stays E major throughout these changes of tempo.

The final variation returns to the theme’s slow tempo, with repeated Bs above the melody. The crotchets divide into quavers, then triplets, then shorter values. The repeated notes become trills, and the melody continues in the middle register.

Long trills run through the final variation. Runs pass above them, then move into the left hand while the right hand continues to trill. The pianist must sustain a singing line within the quick notes.

The trills end, and the original theme returns in E major, marked cantabile, with its plain chords and dotted rhythm. This time each half is played once, without repeats. A quiet chord closes the sonata.