Beethoven: Sonata No.4 in Eb Major, Op.7 (Korstick, Lewis)

If you had to name 2 sonatas to demonstrate B.’s mastery of the classical large-scale sonata, they would be this one and the Op.22 – both sonatas which are overlooked because, while original, they don’t have the sort of brazen, goggle-inducing originality we have come to associate with B. In fact, there are some ways in which the Op.7 is less tuneful and pianistic than its three brilliant predecessors, or even the Op.22 – but only because the Op.7 demonstrates B. for first time running right up against the limits of the classical sonata and feeling a bit unfulfilled or restless, imagining possibilities beyond what the instrument and form could achieve at the time.

For a start, Mvt 1 isn’t really written for the piano – it has become almost an archetype of orchestral writing for piano, with elements like an repeated Eb in the brass and themes (so, so many of them!) composed mostly of scales and arpeggios rather than melody over accompaniment. Mvt 2, with all its long pregnant pauses and high woodwinds (and an impossible crescendo written over a single held chord), has an orchestral feel but also a rather late-B. solemnity to it, and counts as one of the most moving things B. ever wrote. Mvt 3 is neither a proper scherzo nor minuet (it’s tuneful like the latter, but also playful and abruptly dramatic in the manner of the former), and B. coyly writes only “Allegro” at its beginning and “Minore” at the middle section. Mvt 4 is where the orchestral manner dies away fully, but neither is it a conventional rondo: there is a surprising amount of continuous motivic development and internal logic here, a wonderful “floating” passage at the end where a Bb ascends to a B, signalling a shift from Eb to E(!), and a coda whose feeling of warmth and generousness disguises the fact that it’s a modification of the stormy second episode.

MVT I, Allegro molto e con brio
EXPOSITION
00:00 – Theme Group 1, Theme 1. The opening figure in the RH (G-Eb) is M1
00:15 – TG1, T2 (imitative scales)
00:22 – Transition, using M1
00:30 – Dominant preparation
00:37 – TG2, T1
00:53 – TG2, T2. The opening legato figure is developed vigorously, eventually broken into descending quavers that lead into a diminished 7th that resolves abruptly into C
01:14 – TG2, T3
01:41 – TG2, T4, over tonic pedal coloured by minor 9th
01:57 – TG2, T5 (cadential theme)
DEVELOPMENT
04:12 – M1 on V of (ii)
04:16 – TG1, T2, moving into F min
04:27 – TG2, T5, eventually reduced to just its rhythm
04:42 – M1 in A min, with a new ominous figure following. Moves into D min. M1 then announces the aug 6th chord, which also happens to be the dominant of Eb.
RECAPITULATION
05:02 – TG1. T1 is now diverted into subdominant at 5:16, and a modified version of T2 follows
05:32 – TG2
CODA
06:58 – TG1, T1
07:08 – TG2, T2, eventually descending in bass
07:23 – TG2, T5
07:35 – Final cadence, using M1, but now the accent, where it was “wrongly” placed on M1’s first chord, has been shifted to the second.

MVT II, Lento con gran espressione
07:49 – Theme. Note the extensive use of dramatic pauses
10:41 – Middle Episode
13:37 – Theme
16:20 – Coda (with elements of recapitulation), using theme from Middle Episode which diverges quickly into a sequence. At 16:50, tonic-dominant swing, developing dotted figure from 2nd bar of the theme. At 17:20, new cadential theme is introduced, after which bass descends chromatically while the Theme above closes.

MVT III, Allegro
18:10 – Scherzo, which continuously recycles motifs from its first 4 bars’ RH. (See 18:23, the middle strain, 19:29). The return of the first strain moves into B maj, surprising harmonic territory.
20:46 – Trio. At 21:31, codetta, ending with a rare ppp mark
21:41 – Scherzo

MVT IV, Poco allegretto e grazioso
23:00 – Theme, containing M2 at 23:17 (demisemiquaver arpeggio, then Eb-D tail)
23:33 – Transition, using M1. The tail of M2 is developed and isolated, turning eventually into another figure in the bass at 23:48, and dominating the texture that follows.
24:09 – Episode 1
24:35 – Theme
25:03 – Episode 2. The LH accompaniment (which eventually reaches the RH) and the initial RH chordal theme constitute M3 and M4 respectively.
26:41 – Theme
27:14 – Transition into (ii) instead of the earlier (vi)
27:52 – Episode 1
28:16 – Theme
28:44 – Coda. Home dominant raises a semitone (beautifully and misleadingly mimicking the transition into Episode 2 at 24:59) and then the main theme enters in E. The 3rd bar of the theme is repeated, ushering in a remarkable modulation back into Eb. At 29:06 Episode 2 is recalled, with M3 in the LH softened into arpeggios, while M4 in the RH develops into a gorgeous closing melody. The final bars contain an allusion to the tail of M2.