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Home > Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57, "Appassionata"
Classical Composer: Beethoven, Ludwig van
Work: Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57, "Appassionata"
Year Composed: 1805
Instrumentation:  pf
Publishers: G. Henle Verlag
Universal Edition
Oxford University Press
Breitkopf & Härtel
Duration: 00:23:00
Period:  Classical (1750-1830)
Work Category:  Instrumental

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Beethoven's Sonata in F minor, Op. 57, was considered by the composer to be one of his best. Its nickname 'Appassionata', although not chosen by Beethoven, is an apt one, more relevant than Schering's suggested parallel with Shakespeare's Macbeth. Dedicated to Count Franz Brunswick, it was completed in 1805 and published two years later. As so often, this sonata proved a fertile source for imaginative speculation in the nineteenth century, writers finding in it grim specters, heartfelt emotions, storms of passion and the ominous threats of Fate. The first movement allows a full exploration of the resources of the keyboard, its dramatic first subject contrasted with a simpler, expressive secondary theme. The D flat major Andante con moto presents the kind of slower melody that Beethoven knew so well how to write and play. The theme is subject to a series of variations. Fiercely repeated chords introduce the Finale, which, with its great technical and musical demands, ushers in a new world, before the coda, with its sudden reminiscence of the beginning of the movement.

Writer: Keith Anderson

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