SONATA in C minor Op. 13 ‘Pathétique’
Sonata no. 8 in C minor, opus 13, is known as the Grand Sonate Pathétique and was composed by 1799. Though this sonata is full of grandeur and pathos, reminiscent of Greek tragedies, Beethoven did not give it its name. But he didn’t protest against it either. The Pathétique was very popular from the start. So popular that as early as 1855 Wilhelm von Lenz complained about the sufferings inflicted on the Pathétique by piano students.
The first movement, allegro di molto e con brio, starts with a slow introduction, marked ‘grave’, which returns at the start of the development and at the end of the movement. Though the introduction is a grand romantic gesture, it goes back to Bach’s C minor partita. The whole movement features expansive orchestral density, like a piano reduction of an orchestral score or like the storm in the pastoral symphony. In fact, the entire sonata is -though written by this great pianist- very unpianistic. But gigantic.
The adagio in A-flat major is one of the best, best known and best loved movements Beethoven wrote. It’s a consoling alternative world, its melody a beautiful song without words. But it should not be played sentimental. And, again, this song is sung by a complete orchestra; after the first and second theme are sung, the whole orchestra plays them.
The final rondo is thematically related to the second subject of the first movement, but in a lighter, more measured tone. This movement should not be overplayed, but with a certain sweetness. The second episode is contrapuntal; two Bachian motives in contrary motion. In the last phase of the finale, the name ‘Pathétique’ is justified by returning to the grandeur we experienced in the first movement. The first and the last movement are unified through a single theme.
Sonata No. 8 ‘Pathétique’ is sponsored by Klaas Bult