The Beethoven Sonatas and the Creative Experience

XVI: Embracing the Dachstein: Op. 7, Op. 106

o :JO Embracing the Dachstein OP. 7, OP. 106 Op. 7 and Op. 106 would not seem to have much in common, one sonata from the early years of Beethoven's creative life and the other from his last decade. What the two share is a breadth of conception and, aside from the Gp. 106 Adagio, a spirit of assertiveness that overflows their many bars. The earlier work is perhaps the less self-assured of the two, lacking the cerebral armor of Beethoven's maturity. Nonetheless , each is colossal in its own way, peculiar to the time of life in which it was written. OP.7 With the exception of the Hammerklavier, the B Sonata is Beethoven's longest piano sonata. However, length calculated in minutes has little meaning for the imagination, which tells time by a different clock, on whose face the hours are marked by sensations and impressions. Op. 2 NO.3 might seem to be longer because each movement is equally imposing, or Op. lll, because its philosophical answer sums up a lifetime of thought. The first movement of Op. 7 is more unified than that of Op. 2 NO.3. It develops one character and was, as Czerny wrote, conceived in a passionate state of mind.1 Clues in the first four measures define its character: 1. an Allegro molto in 6/8, seemingly swifter than duple subdivision; 2. repeated eighth notes; 3. a dynamic The Sonatas 260 marking of piano, interrupted only by the sforzando on the m chord in m. 3; and 4. unslurred tonic chords, making the passage harmonically stationary. Because of the static harmony and the plainness of the melody line, the listener 's attention is drawn to the unthinking bustle of repeated notes and the strange, single sforzando. Thinking about these measures away from the piano is like "listening" to a Bourdelle bust of Beethoven, with the mouth and eyes pressed shut, as if straining to create order out of chaos. Silent listening frees the imagination to survey the conflict within this music, namely, between mindless energy and containment. On the one hand, the rhythmic force, sounding more wild and driven than goal-directed, mounts in circling repetitive patterns (Ex. 16.1) that are repeated and arranged like fragments in a kaleidoscope (Ex. 16.2). Sequential passages (Ex. 16.3) and slurred figures (Ex. 16-4) assist the rhythmic drive. In addition, lightened resolutions clear the way for forward sweep, as in Ex. 16.5, where rests and a staccato weaken the downbeat, and the tied-over anticipation tempts the player to "anticipate the anticipation." Ex. 16.1. OP. 7, I, MM. 4-6, 41-42. ... ---- ------- , ~ ,..-.,...-.. ------. ~ I'" - - --....... - ;. ~ ~-~. -~. fI- • • : : ',- ----Ex . 16.2. OP. 7, I, MM. 35-39, 215-19. ~~. 1~~~&qr~'1 .IP ----- -----p ~. I~~~II k~ Ex. 16.3. OP. 7, I, M. 45-47. ... I - - ~ " - ~ ~~ ~ I -...., - .........., -..... Embracing the Dachstein 261 Ex. 16.5. Or. 7, I, MM. 59-61, 127-29. .. ( -;--..... , ~·I ~ .. - v .~ .~ ~rr 1.-p if ~. if 1'.) I l J. .1. f'.-I " I ))...; 1'1 . 'I~ ~ ~ ':' I. I As the opening measures indicated, on one level the piece goes, while on another it either stands still or is restrained. Prolonged pitches and dynamic stress on dominant harmony suspend forward movement by delaying resolution, against which the force of energy and will is directed. In Exx. 16.1 and 16.2, a fixed note, held or implied, provides such a stationary point within the context of great activity. Stress and prolongation of dominant harmony, in a sense, throw the natural thrust of the music off balance (Ex. 16.6). In mm. 209-12. (Ex. 16.7), the descent in dominant harmony thrashes about with sforzandos and Pralltriller. Even the heavily marked tonic pedal in Ex. 16.8 acts briefly as the root of the dominant of the subdominant. Again, with respect to throwing the rhythmic drive off balance, it is significant that the dynamic marks in the final measures are placed on the second half of the measure (Ex. 16.9). Beyond this, the generally fragmentary and rhythmically energetic melodic material is often confined to the range of a small interval. The restriction augments the force of an effect, such as the fortissimo over the chords outlining a major third in m. 25, following eight measures of mscales that escaped the confines of an mtriad. Similarly, the outlines of the sixteenths in Ex. 16.8 separate into...