Merry Christmas and Happy 200th birthday to Beethoven Piano Sonata #31 in A-flat major, Op. 110

On the cover of an autograph edition of this sonata, Beethoven makes a point of signing the date: December 25, 1821. It would be improbable, to say the least, that Beethoven didn’t comprehend its significance. He took time away from writing his great spiritual masterpiece, his Missa Solemnis, to work on his last three piano sonatas. This one is the middle of that famous trinity. I like to think of this Sonata as Beethoven’s Christmas gift to the world.

Beethoven was nominally Catholic, but formal religion was not important to him. In his diary, he often called out to God, addressing him as “Dear Father”. Beethoven’s spirituality focused mostly on the brotherhood of mankind, and he regarded Christ mostly as a fellow sufferer. Suffering was all too familiar to Beethoven. His deafness was already well advanced when he wrote this sonata.

There is much to say about the spiritual references in this work. For those interested in an in-depth discussion, this essay by pianist Kevin Class covers it well: http://www.kevinclass.com/masterclass....

Briefly, the Sonata takes us through an emotionally rich journey: from pensive yearning through raucous banter into an inward meditation on suffering that eventually yields to a triumphant conclusion. Beethoven employs stark contrasts suggesting a melding of lows and highs, the earthly and the transcendent, the ridiculous and the sublime. He quotes bawdy German drinking songs in the second movement and a sublime Bach aria ("Est ist vollendet" or "It is finished") in the third movement. Beethoven invites us to recall “the fifth evangelist” Bach, by writing a magnificent fugue in the last movement that resembles in some respects the fugue from his Missa Solemnis, in the Agnus Dei section, with the text "Dona Nobis Pacem" ("Give us Peace").

May our coming year benefit from the soulful journey that we all experienced through these harrowing last couple of years, and may we enjoy a triumphant return to better years, informed by all that we learned.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.