Piano Sonata No. 29 (Beethoven)

The first movement opens with a series of fortissimo B♭-major chords, which form much of the basis of the first subject. After the first subject is spun out for a while, the opening set of fortissimo chords are stated again, this time followed by a similar rhythm on the unexpected chord of D major. This ushers in the more lyrical second subject in the submediant (that is, a minor third below the tonic), G major. A third and final musical subject appears after this, which exemplifies the fundamental opposition of B♭ and B♮ in this movement through its chromatic alterations of the third scale degree. The exposition ends with a largely stepwise figure in the treble clef in a high register, while the left hand moves in an octave-outlining accompaniment in eighth notes.

The development section opens with a statement of this final figure, except with alterations from the major subdominant to the minor, which fluidly modulates to E♭ major. Directly after, the exposition's first subject is composed in fugato and features an incredible display of musical development. The fugato ends with a section featuring non-fugal imitation between registers, eventually resounding in repeated D-major chords. The final section of the development begins with a chromatic alteration of D♮ to D♯. The music progresses to the alien key of B major, in which the third and first subjects of the exposition are played. The retransition is brought about by a sequence of rising intervals that get progressively higher, until the first theme is stated again in the home key of B♭, signalling the beginning of the recapitulation.

In keeping with Beethoven's exploration of the potentials of sonata form, the recapitulation avoids a full harmonic return to B♭ major until long after the return to the first theme. The coda repetitively cites motives from the opening statement over a shimmering pedal point and disappears into pianississimo until two fortissimo B♭ major chords conclude the movement.

There is a controversy whether A-sharp or A-natural should be played in measures 224-26. [7][8]

The brief second movement includes a great variety of harmonic and thematic material. The scherzo's theme – which Rosen calls a humorous form[9] of the first movement's first subject – is at once playful, lively, and pleasant. The scherzo, in B♭ major, maintains the standard ternary form by repeating the sections an octave higher in the treble clef.

The trio, marked "semplice", is in the parallel minor, B♭ minor, but the effect is more shadowy than dramatic. It borrows the opening theme from the composer's Eroica symphony and places it in a minor key. Following this dark interlude, Beethoven inserts a more intense presto section in ²
₄ meter, still in the minor, which eventually segues back to the scherzo. After a varied reprise of the scherzo's first section, a coda with a meter change to cut time follows. This coda plays with the semitonal relationship between B♭ and B♮, and briefly returns to the first theme before dying away.

The ternary-form slow movement, centred on F♯ minor, has been called, among other things, a "mausoleum of collective sorrow",[10] and is notable for its ethereality and great length as a slow movement (e.g. Wilhelm Kempff played for approximately 16 minutes and Christoph Eschenbach 25 minutes) that finally ends with a Picardy third. Paul Bekker called the movement "the apotheosis of pain, of that deep sorrow for which there is no remedy, and which finds expression not in passionate outpourings, but in the immeasurable stillness of utter woe".[11] Wilhelm Kempff described it as "the most magnificent monologue Beethoven ever wrote".[12]

Structurally, it follows traditional Classical-era sonata form, but the recapitulation of the main theme is varied to include extensive figurations in the right hand that anticipate some of the techniques of Romantic piano music. NPR's Ted Libbey writes, "An entire line of development in Romantic music—passing through Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, and even Liszt—springs from this music."[13]

The movement begins with a slow introduction that serves to transition from the third movement. To do so, it modulates from D♭ major/B♭ minor to G♭ major/E♭ minor to B major/G♯ minor to A major, which modulates to B♭ major for the fugue. Dominated by falling thirds in the bass line, the music three times pauses on a pedal and engages in speculative contrapuntal experimentation, in a manner foreshadowing the quotations from the first three movements of the Ninth Symphony in the opening of the fourth movement of that work.

After a final modulation to B♭ major, the main substance of the movement appears: a titanic three-voice fugue in ³
₄ meter. The subject of the fugue can be divided itself into three parts: a tenth leap followed by a trill to the tonic; a 7-note scale figure repeated descending by a third; and a tail semiquaver passage marked by many chromatic passing tones, whose development becomes the main source for the movement's unique dissonance. Marked con alcune licenze ("with some licenses"), the fugue, one of Beethoven's greatest contrapuntal achievements, as well as making tremendous demands on the performer, moves through a number of contrasting sections and includes a number of "learned" contrapuntal devices, often, and significantly, wielded with a dramatic fury and dissonance inimical to their conservative and academic associations. Some examples: augmentation of the fugue theme and countersubject in a sforzando marcato at bars 96–117, the massive stretto of the tenth leap and trill which follows, a contemplative episode beginning at bar 152 featuring the subject in retrograde, leading to an exploration of the theme in inversion at bar 209.[14]