Beethoven 250: Piano Sonata No. 17 "The Tempest" (Stephen Kovacevich, 1994)

Carl Schweninger der jüngere (1854–1912): Beethoven en pied dans un paysage d'orage vers 1795. Lithographie en couleur sur feuille collée sur carton. Longueur totale lithographie seule : 85 cm. planche : 108 cm. Hauteur lithographie seule : 57 cm. planche : 78 cm. Signé : "SCHWENINGER, C.". Inscription : "op. 48". Autographe : "Beethoven" ; "édit. CZEIGER à Wien". Photo: Jean-Marc Anglès. From: Cité de la Musique : Philharmonie de Paris. Please click on the image to enlarge it.

Beethoven: The Complete Works (80 CD). Warner Classics / © 2019 Parlophone Records Limited. Also available on Spotify etc. I bought my box set from Fuga at Helsinki Music Centre.
    Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827.
    Beethoven 250 / corona lockdown listening.

From: CD 21/80  Piano Sonatas Nos. 16–20
Stephen Kovacevich, 1994 (Nos. 16–18) and 1999 (Nos. 19–20)

Opus 31 Nr. 2: Klaviersonate Nr. 17 in d-Moll „Der Sturm“ (1802)
    Erster Satz: Largo/Allegro, d-Moll, alla breve, 228 Takte
    Zweiter Satz: Adagio, B-Dur, 3/4 Takt, 103 Takte
    Dritter Satz: Allegretto, d-Moll, 3/8 Takt, 399 Takte

AA: For Anton Rubinstein, Beethoven in his 17th piano sonata was "dreaming by the light of the moon", composing, in effect, a nocturne, or perhaps a sequel to the Moonlight sonata. This is also a sonata quasi una fantasia, but the journey into the night is very different.

For Sophia Gorlin, this is Beethoven's most towering sonata, the start of his middle period, the heroic period, also Beethoven's most innovative period. For András Schiff, Beethoven here goes "way beyond the piano", into thinking in orchestral and philosophical terms, and the D minor key for Beethoven is something existential.

For Romain Rolland, this sonata is a striking example of Beethoven's direct speech. In music, this is he. There is no dedication, because Beethoven dedicated this piece to himself, writes Rolland.

Sophia Gorlin analyzes the most unique characteristics of the first movement (Largo / Allegro, alla breve) (she stresses that here Beethoven launches a peculiar type of motivic development in contrast to the previous thematic development):

" 1. A peculiar type of motivic development – three major motives govern the entire form.
    2. An unstoppable transformation process based on three major motives (form-as-process).
    3. Transformation of the sonata form into a multi-stage drama due to the unstoppable transformation process, which makes development a transcendental formal function, thus creating an ambiguity of formal functions in almost all the sections of the sonata form.
    4. Improvisational nature of many sections of the sonata form, which is obviously derived from the existing genre of fantasia (sonatas of C. P. E. Bach, fantasias and sonatas-fantasias of Mozart, etc.).  Improvisational opening of each of the main sections of this sonata form clearly foreshadows the upcoming “romantic” genre of the ballad (later developed and widely employed by Chopin, Grieg, Brahms, etc.). "

I am out of my depth in musical analysis but imagine that I can, however, follow some of these connections. Listening chronologically to the piano sonatas, the seventeenth definitely breaks free from the expected.

The ethereal, barely audible opening of the first movement with a deeply disturbing psychological depth. The serene and harmonical second movement (Adagio). The vigorous and controlled third movement (Allegretto) that for Schiff carries most of the weight of the composition. In some ways, it does, because it ties it all together. The Allegretto is one of Beethoven's most catchy and memorable tunes. But for me, the psychological weight remains with the shattering first movement.

For Sophia Gorlin, Beethoven here revolutionarily modifies the sonata form and transforms it into a multi-stage drama. For Donald Tovey, Beethoven here went "far beyond tragedy". Shakespeare's The Tempest is neither tragedy nor drama, but a romance, a fairy-tale or a dream play.

The title "Der Sturm" ("The Tempest") was not given by Beethoven himself, and Anton Schindler's reference to Shakespeare's play has been disputed, by Schiff, among others, but Schiff himself sees the first movement taking place in the world of Prospero, or in his two worlds, dream and reality. It starts in dream mode and switches into reality.

We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

– Prospero in William Shakespeare: The Tempest (1611),
Act IV, Scene I

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: ONLINE SOURCES:

Sophia Gorlin: Beethoven's "The Tempest" Sonata
http://www.pianolessonsindianapolis.com/music-criticism/beethoven-tempest-sonata.htm .

The Beethoven Experience (BBC 2005)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/beethoven/index.shtml

Ludwig van Beethoven: Magnificent Master (2015)
https://web.archive.org/web/20151207110527fw_/http://www.raptusassociation.org/index.html

Beethoven's Piano Sonatas (2015)
https://web.archive.org/web/20150924084747/http://www.raptusassociation.org/sonindexe.html

http://digitalcollections.sjlibrary.org/cdm/search/searchterm/Portraits%20Beethoven%20Full%20figure/mode/exact/page/2

https://www.beethoven.de/en/archive/view/6559862288809984/Beethoven+playing

András Schiff's Guardian Lectures on Beethoven's piano sonatas
https://www.theguardian.com/music/classical/page/0,,1943867,00.html

Per Tengstrand
https://worldofbeethoven.com/overview-of-the-sonatas/

Bryce Morrison in Gramophone, February 2004
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/reviews/review?slug=beethoven-complete-piano-sonatas-10

Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, 3 July 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/03/arts/music/beethoven-piano-sonatas.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Music   

Belcanto.ru: Beethoven
https://www.belcanto.ru/beethoven.html