With the 27^th sonata in E minor, opus 90, we arrive at the late period of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, comprising the most enigmatic masterpieces. It was written in the summer of 1814, more than four years after Les Adieux, the previous sonata. Maybe the long gap was caused by the difficulties Beethoven was facing: his hearing had deteriorated, there were financial problems and he had to take care of his nephew Carl after his brother had died. Beethoven wrote the sonata as a wedding present for his friend Moritz von Lichnowsky, putting his friend’s love story to music.

Remarkable are the German headings of the movements, in the spirit of patriotism after Napoleon’s defeat. Or Beethoven may have thought Italian words were not sufficient to express his thoughts. The first movement is headed “Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck”. It is difficult to pin down and it doesn’t fit into any cliché. Beethoven himself described this movement as a battle between the head and the heart. The contrasts are not just dynamic, but also harmonic and melodic. The first 24 bars constitute the backbone of the whole movement. The first phrase of 8 bars is symphonic and vertical. The second 8 bars are completely different: melodic and horizontal. The third phrase of 8 bars is very different again and has this huge leap of and octave and a seventh. The exposition is not repeated. The development is a beautiful fantasy on melodic, harmonic and rhythmic aspects of the exposition. The whole movement stays in minor.

The second movement, a rondo headed “Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorgetragen”, is the conversation with the beloved. It proves critics wrong that Beethoven was not a great melodist. It may be one of the most beautiful melodies Beethoven ever wrote. The wonderful melodic line in E major reminds of Schubert. Very close to the end of the movement, it says ‘a tempo’, so there is no room left to slow down. And the last bar is subito pianissimo so that this bar almost seems thrown away. Is it subdued humor in a lyrical context? Or marital bliss that suddenly goes up in smoke?

                        Sonata No. 27 is sponsored by Jeroen van Zwieteren