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Piano Sonata No.16, Op.31 No.1

Sonata · in G major · Op. 31 No. 1

Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827
G major
Key
Sonata
Form
Allegro vivace
Tempo
Op. 31 No. 1
Catalogue
Score
First page of Piano Sonata No.16, Op.31 No.1

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Themes & character
Comic opening·Operatic slow movement·Hands out of step·Composed 1802

At a glance

Catalogue
Op. 31 No. 1
Key
G major
Tempo / character
Allegro vivace
Form
Sonata

Movements

I
Allegro vivaceG major

Opens with the hands deliberately out of sync, a joke about clumsy playing.

II
Adagio graziosoC major

A long, heavily ornamented slow movement that parodies Italian operatic singing.

III
Rondo: AllegrettoG major

A genial rondo finale that slows unexpectedly before its final dash.

About the piece

Composed in 1802, this is Beethoven at his wittiest. The sonata opens with the right hand persistently arriving a fraction before the left, a written-out imitation of an amateur who cannot keep the hands together. Its central Adagio grazioso extends the joke, piling on the elaborate vocal ornamentation of Italian opera until the effect verges on parody. The humor is real but so is the craft, and the sonata is considerably harder than its lighthearted surface suggests.

The composer

Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
1770–1827

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer, conductor, and pianist. Regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music, he was mentored during the Classical period, and his musical style was a key driver of the transition to Romantic music, and the expansion of instrumental forms such as the symphony, the piano sonata and the string quartet. His compositions have attracted extraordinary casual and scholarly interest, and remain among the most performed in the world.

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