Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/beethoven-piano-sonatas

Introduction

# Course Review: Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas If you're an aficionado of classical music or simply someone curious about the intricacies of Beethoven's work, "Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas" on Coursera comes as a valuable resource that requires your attention. Offered with the authority of skilled educators, this course delves deeply into the musical genius of Beethoven, specifically focusing on his significant contributions through the piano sonata form. ### Overview: A Deep Dive into Beethoven Beethoven has been revered not just as a prolific composer but as a transformative figure in the classical music landscape. His relationship with the piano sonata is particularly fascinating, as it embodies a journey that blends deep emotional exploration with innovative musical language. This course sets the stage for you to explore Beethoven’s evolving connection with the sonata, while also contextualizing his works within the broader historical and cultural framework of his time. ### Syllabus Insights #### **1. Welcome to Class!** The course begins with an engaging introduction that welcomes you into the world of Beethoven, laying a solid foundation for what’s to come. Updated content and improved resources ensure that learners benefit fully from current knowledge and perspectives. #### **2. How Things Were** You kick off by exploring the historical roots of the piano sonata during the time of Haydn and Mozart, preparing you for a rich understanding of Beethoven’s innovations. This section explores the psychological impact of the sonata structure on audiences and paves the way for appreciating the revolutionary changes Beethoven would later introduce. #### **3. The First Thirteen** Focusing on Beethoven’s first thirteen sonatas, this segment dives into major works like Sonata No. 4, Op. 7. It adeptly compares and contrasts the established norms of the previous generation with Beethoven’s unique approaches, revealing how he both embraced and challenged tradition. #### **4. New Paths** Turning to the innovative period around 1801, the course investigates Beethoven's more radical sonatas (Op. 26 through 28). It provides not only a technical analysis of the compositions but also delves into their influence on future generations of composers. #### **5. Crisis** One of the most compelling parts of the course centers around Beethoven’s personal struggles, particularly during his deafness and the creation of his late style. This segment highlights works such as the Fantasy, Op. 77, and the "Lebewohl" Sonata (Op. 81a), allowing learners to reflect on how personal challenges can catalyze profound artistic evolution. #### **6. Towards Infinity** Exploring the powerful Sonata Op. 109, this lecture examines the culmination of Beethoven's lifelong exploration of the sonata form. It also reflects on his legacy and how his music set the bar for future composers, articulating the duality of aspiration and challenge that his works present. #### **7. Iconic Pieces** Diving into specific works like the "Appassionata" (Op. 57) and Op. 101, the course articulates how Beethoven used both emotional trajectories and harmonic innovation to shape his narratives. This thorough examination of key pieces emphasizes the unique characteristics that define them, enriching the listener’s understanding. ### Extra Features A particularly enriching aspect of the course includes the Learning Library, which houses supplementary resources such as lesson notes, recommended readings, and audio links for the sonatas discussed. This additional content enables learners to engage further with Beethoven's music outside of the structured lectures. ### Conclusion: A Recommendation "Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas" is more than just a course; it is a deep exploration of one of music history's most towering figures. Offering both historical context and musical analysis, it caters to a wide range of learners, from novice enthusiasts to seasoned musicians. The course's intellectual rigor, combined with its accessibility, makes it an essential take for anyone wanting to enrich their appreciation of Beethoven's transformative impact on music. Whether you're looking to perform, analyze, or simply listen with a more discerning ear, this course is highly recommended! Make sure to enroll if you wish to embark on a profound journey through the musical landscapes that Beethoven created, and discover why his sonatas remain a defining pillar of classical music today.

Syllabus

Welcome to Class!

We’re happy that you’ve joined us! The items you see here will enable you to get the most out of this course. Please note that many of the items have been updated to reflect the addition of Jonathan’s newest lectures.

To examine the relationship Beethoven had with the piano sonata, we begin by looking at its origins. In this lecture, we will discuss the role of music generally, and of the sonata specifically, in the time of Haydn and Mozart. This lecture will also provide an introduction to the form of the sonata—to the psychological effect sonata structure has on the listener. This background will be necessary to appreciate the innovations Beethoven introduces.

Beethoven’s work has traditionally been divided into three or four periods. This is problematic, for various reasons, but the first 13 of the 32 sonatas do, in a sense, form a unit. This lecture will focus on Sonata No. 4, Op. 7, which is the largest and altogether one of the most impressive of the early works. Topics will include Beethoven’s use of the piano and the use of the sonata as a “vehicle” for the pianist, the ways in which this and other early sonatas conform to the model established by Haydn and Mozart and the ways in which they do not, and the foreshadowing of the fixations of the later years, while holding, at least on the surface, to the conventions of the time. Topics will include Beethoven’s use of the piano, and the use of the sonata as a “vehicle” for the pianist, the ways in which this and other early sonatas conform to the model established by Haydn and Mozart and the ways in which they do not, and the foreshadowing of the fixations of the later years, while holding, at least on the surface, to the conventions of the time.

Beethoven’s conception of the sonata was perpetually in flux, but the year 1801 is a particularly experimental one. The four sonatas Op. 26 through 28 (Nos. 14 through 17, chronologically) feature the most concrete innovations among the sonatas written up to that point, and are the focus of this lecture. There will be discussion of the relationship between the movements in a classical sonata, and the radical shift it begins to undergo at this point. We will also examine the ways in which these sonatas were influential to future generations of composers, which the earlier works, great as they are, were not. As a special feature for this lecture, a recording by a current Curtis student of the first movement of Op. 28 will be available on Curtis Performs.

From 1793 until 1809, Beethoven composed at a steady pace. But for the next several years, he stalled dramatically, as he dealt with the onset of his deafness, severely trying personal circumstances, and the struggle to find what would become his late style, which to a remarkable degree involved the total reinvention of his musical language. This lecture examines the intersection of these three issues, and of his life and music more generally. Works discussed come from this comparatively fallow period and will include the Fantasy, Op. 77, which exemplifies the vital role improvisation played in all of Beethoven’s music, and the Sonatas Op. 78, and 81a, the “Lebewohl.” The last of these is one of Beethoven’s only serious experiments with program music, which made it an important reference point for many 19th-century composers. Another topic will be the ways in which the works of this period seem to manipulate time, which was always one of Beethoven’s key fascinations, and becomes ever more critical moving into the late period.

For this lecture, the focus will be on the Sonata Op. 109, the first of the final three, in which Beethoven’s decades-long grappling with the form comes to its astonishing conclusion. We will also look back at the early period—the Sonata Op. 10, No. 1 (the seventh he wrote) in particular—for the purposes of “zooming out,” and examining the evolution that took place in the interim: an evolution not just of form, but of style, of musical language, of Beethoven’s conception of the role of music. This lecture will also include a discussion of Beethoven’s legacy—specifically, of the way in which his music came to represent simultaneously the highest possible aspiration and the most insurmountable problem for generations of composers who followed him.

This lecture delves into two of the early sonatas: the F minor, Op. 2, No. 1 (the first of the 32), and the F Major, Op. 10, No. 2. Unlike “The First Thirteen” lecture, which was nominally about the Sonata Op. 7 but sought to address the early period in general, this lecture focuses on the specific characteristics that make each of these works unique; one is predominantly a dramatic piece, whereas the other is highly comic. The lecture is also about Beethoven’s complex relationship with the musical past—how he used it as an inspiration even as he tried to leave it behind.

The topic of this lecture is the Sonata Op. 57, commonly known as the "Appassionata"—one of Beethoven’s most iconic works. The sonata’s unusual (for Beethoven) and unrelenting emotional trajectory is a major topic, as is his use of a surprising chord as a sort of "idée fixe," helping to unify the work and drive home its extraordinary character. Another critical topic is the way in which the "Appassionata" exemplifies Beethoven’s unsurpassed resourcefulness—how he can use the slightest of materials to create a vast canvas.

This lecture explores the Sonata Op. 101, commonly thought to be the first sonata that belongs to the late period. Major topics include the first movement’s unusual harmonic instability, and the way in which this becomes a source of the music’s character; the way in which the sonata’s scope expands as it goes along, which helps clarify its status as a late period work, and the sonata’s great influence on later composers, Schumann and Mendelssohn in particular.

The Learning Library contains supplementary resources to help you during and after this course: lesson notes, suggested readings, and links to streaming audio files for most of the sonatas explored in the course.

Please share your experience by taking a few minutes to complete a feedback survey.

Check back here for news and events!