The Piano Sonata No. 10 in G major, Op. 14, No. 2, composed in 1798–1799, is an early-period work by

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

, dedicated to Baroness Josefa von Braun. A typical performance lasts 15 minutes. While it is not as well known as some of the more original sonatas of Beethoven's youth, such as the '' Pathétique'' or ''

Moonlight Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes. Illumination The intensity of moonlight varies greatly depending on the lunar phase, but even the ful ...

'' sonatas,

Donald Francis Tovey Sir Donald Francis Tovey (17 July 187510 July 1940) was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist. He had been best known for his '' Essays in Musical Analysis'' and his editions of works by Bach ...

described it as an 'exquisite little work.'

Form

The sonata is in three

movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

First movement

The first movement, marked ''

legato In music performance and notation, legato (; Italian for "tied together"; French ''lié''; German ''gebunden'') indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, the player makes a transition from note to note wit ...

'' in the

urtext Urtext (, from ''ur-'' "primordial" and ''text'' "text", ) may refer to: * Urtext (biblical studies), the text that is believed to precede both the Septuagint and the Masoretic text * Urtext edition An urtext edition of a work of classical mu ...

score, opens with a brief

sixteenth-note Figure 1. A 16th note with stem facing up, a 16th note with stem facing down, and a 16th rest. Figure 2. Four 16th notes beamed together. In music, a 1/16, sixteenth note ( American) or semiquaver (British) is a note played for half the dur ...

phrase, accompanied by short, tied

arpeggio A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves. An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...

s in the bass. This phrase is used consistently throughout the movement and subject to a great deal of highly imaginative development through changing harmonies and shifting key-centres. Bars 70–80 are particularly notable, in that the main theme is subjected to highly

chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, ...

treatment at this point. Thirty-second-note passages develop in the upper register of the piano, limiting the

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

at which it can reasonably be taken. The entire movement ends with a coda, where, according to Charles Rosen, Beethoven 'decides to normalize the rhythm of the main theme, and make it no longer witty but expressive.' The closing two bars consist of a quiet, quick turn in the

treble Treble may refer to: In music: *Treble (sound), tones of high frequency or range, the counterpart of bass *Treble voice, a choirboy or choirgirl singing in the soprano range *Treble (musical group), a three-piece girl group from the Netherlands *T ...

Second movement

The second movement is a set of

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individuals ...

on a disjunct, chordal theme which is marked "La prima parte senza replica" (first part without repeats). The form of the music is Theme with Three Variations. It seems about to end quietly, like the first and last movements, but then concludes abruptly with a crashing

fortissimo In music, the dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings still require interpretation by the performer dependi ...

C major C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and ...

chord.

Third movement

Like the first movement, the third movement opens with an ascending, hesitant, three-note motif that conveys considerable rhythmic ambiguity. In his book, ''The Music Instinct'', the science writer

Philip Ball Philip Ball (born 1962) is a British science writer. For over twenty years he has been an editor of the journal ''Nature'' for which he continues to write regularly. He now writes a regular column in '' Chemistry World''. He has contributed to ...

Ball, P. (2010) ''The Music Instinct'', London, The Bodley Head singles out this theme as an example of the classic trick of disguising 'one rhythmic structure as another'. The movement, which is in time, is entitled "

Scherzo A scherzo (, , ; plural scherzos or scherzi), in western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often ref ...

" but is actually in

rondo form The rondo is an instrumental musical form introduced in the Classical period. Etymology The English word ''rondo'' comes from the Italian form of the French ''rondeau'', which means "a little round". Despite the common etymological root, rondo ...

. The main theme undergoes many changes, until the end, where it ends quietly, on the very lowest notes of the piano of Beethoven's time. The movement plays with listener expectations through rhythmic ambiguity, unexpected harmonic shifts, and above all, the use of strategically placed silences. All of these characteristic examples of musical wit show the continuing influence of

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...

on Beethoven at this early stage in his composing career.

Notes

External links

A lecture
by

András Schiff Sir András Schiff (; born 21 December 1953) is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor, who has received numerous major awards and honours, including the Grammy Award, Gramophone Award, Mozart Medal, and Royal Academy of Musi ...

on Beethoven's piano sonata Op. 14, No. 2 * {{Authority control Piano Sonata 10 1799 compositions Compositions in G major Music dedicated to nobility or royalty