Beethoven’s last Op.31 sonata is one of the most warm, bighearted, lyrical things he wrote. It’s the secondlast sonata in 4 movements (the last is the Hammerklavier), and it contains no slow movements. (Also worth noting that 3 of them are in fullfledged sonata form!)

The first movement is a total delight to listen to: from the surprising harmony that opens the piece, to the richly textured chordal response and the theme group that grows out of it, the repeated recollections of the sortofmotivicintroduction that begins the work (cf the Pathetique!), & the wonderful soaring thing that is the second theme, all air and light.

The second movement is one of my alltime favourites: it’s hilarious & a total earworm. Everything comes together so well: the bassoonlike bass, the offbeat accents, the absurd little held F across bars 2&3, the violent contrasts and semidemiquaveragainstsemiquaver textures in the second theme, those repeated Cs that sound like the performer has had a disastrous memory slip.

The third movement is the last minuet movement Beethoven ever wrote: after this sonata it looked like the form didn’t quite have enough dramatic potential for him, although what we have here is a real nice example of Beethoven’s ability to write a beautiful melody when he really wanted to.

The last movement is full of rhythmic swagger: from the tarantellalike first idea, to the vigorously funny second, to the insistent third, & the suddenly coruscating textures (almost Waldsteinlike) that suddenly emerge, everything comes together perfectly in an utterly natural expression of pure joy.

MVT I, Allegro
EXPOSITION
00:00 – Theme Group 1, quasiintroduction (two motifs: a dottedrhythm falling 5th and four chords, three short following by one long). Note recurrence through movement.
00:26 – “Main Entrance” of Theme 1 (developing the two motifs just introduced)
00:45 – Transition, following the quasiintroduction
01:02 – Theme Group 2, Theme 2
01:25 – Theme Group 2, Theme 3
01:46 – Codetta
DEVELOPMENT
03:55 – Development of quasiintroduction, landing on C min at 4:02
04:07 – Falling 5th motif
04:11 – Theme 1, in C
04:21 – A distinctly orchestral variation on Theme 1, emphasizing the threeshortonelong motif with gently muted dissonances in the bass. Modulation to F. Note also that the run at 4:28 (and similar passages) borrows from the arpeggiated flourish in Theme 3
04:38 – Modulation, which
04:48 – lands on an F min chord, in turn revealed as
RECAPITULATION
04:54 – the supertonic chord of Eb maj, thus ushering back the quasiintroduction
05:38 – Theme Group 2 enters, this time without a transition
06:32 – We get the original codetta, which sounds like it’s bringing things to a close, but this only leads to the real
CODA
06:42 – The quasiintroduction, this time implying Ab maj
06:51 – The dominant seventh harmony signals a new harmonic twist
07:01 – which seems to lead back to familiar territory. The quasiintroduction seems to be repeated normally, but
07:19 – instead pauses, and leads to a lovely closing passage.

MVT II, Scherzo: Allegretto vivace
07:40 – Theme 1
08:23 – Theme 2
08:41 – Theme 3 (or an extended cadence, if you like)
DEVELOPMENT
10:11 – The music slips into C maj
10:14 – Theme 1
10:21 – Theme 2, in Bb min, modulating into C min
10:36 – Theme 1
10:40 – Variation on Theme 1, with glissandolike passages
RECAPTULATION
11:06 – Theme 1
11:30 – More voices are added into Theme 1
11:50 – Theme 2, appearing in a rather shocking key
12:08 – Theme 3
12:05 – CODA

MVT III, Menuetto: Moderato e grazioso
12:33 – Menuet, Part A
13:04 – Menuet, Part B
13:33 – Trio, Part A
14:01 – Trio, Part B
14:51 – Menuet, Part A
15:35 – Menuet, Part B
15:50 – Coda

MVT IV, Presto con fuoco
EXPOSITION
16:11 – Theme 1, Part 1
16:18 – Theme 1, Part 2
16:32 – Theme 2
16:50 – Theme 3 (Or extended cadence)
DEVELOPMENT
17:50 – Theme 1 Part 2, in Gb
17:58 – Theme 1 Part 2, reduction, in F#
18:01 – Transition to B min, beginning of modulating sequence. G maj, C min, Ab maj (VI of C min), Db maj (Neapolitan of C min), V7 of C min/maj, then C maj
18:16 – Theme 1 Part 2, in C
18:21 – Introduction of diminished 7th harmony, modulation
18:32 – Recollection of figuration from Theme 2. Ab, F min, Bb V7 chords.
RECAPITULATION
18:49 – Theme 1, with rhythmic gaps now filled in
19:09 – Surprising shift to Gb maj
19:13 – Theme 2, in Gb
19:31 – Theme 3, which at first refuses to modulate, further establishing Gb
19:38 – Theme 3 slips into Eb min
19:45 – We arrive at V7 of Eb min, also V7 of Eb maj, so arrive at the
CODA
19:55 – Theme 1, in LH (but jumping all over the keyboard) modulating to F min and Ab maj
20:12 – A nice little sequence: pause on a dramatic diminished 7th chord, Theme 1 Part 1 in stretto, an elaboration on the LH texture of T1, and then another pause on a diminished 7th
20:21 – Theme 1 Part 1 in stretto, fragmented, then transformed into a chromatic elaboration on the V7, and then the final cadence.
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