Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Piano Sonata in D minor Op. 31/2

Violently and with aplomb, it opened a new phase in Beethoven’s oeuvre, a phase that Romain Rolland will later describe as heroic. The sonata was written in 1802, at a time when the composer was ready to produce his musical last will, his „Heiligenstadt testament.” He was already past the critical point, his oeuvre caught wind in its sails. Eroica was just around the corner.
The liberties he took with the conventions in vigour astounded the scribes and enchanted the audience. Their opinion was best summarised by Wilhelm von Lenz, a pupil of Liszt, when he found “an unleashed element in this incomparable dramatic fantasy.” Indeed, Romantic imagination manifested itself in Sonata in D minor to an extent hitherto unknown. The harmonious classical beauty was replaced by elevated beauty, mysteriously ambiguous, even “dark and dangerous” at times. “The spirit of the South" was dominated here by "the spirit of the North." And more: the work soon began to be associated with a statement by Beethoven himself, vague yet thought-inspiring, circulated by Anton Schindler. Asked for a key to this music, the composer allegedly replied: “Just read Shakespeare’s Tempest!” Correctly or not, Sonata in D minor began to be nicknamed with this borrowed Shakespearian title.
∙ Largo. Allegro, D minor. A theme is born in a mysterious and expectant aura; it manifests itself in a sudden and imperious gesture. Everything in this allegro happens in a different way, but the momentum and the drive of the music do not allow the audience to gather their wits. They are caught in the fray and dragged even over the strange and unexpected moments when the composer seems to be confessing, semplice and con espressione.
∙ Adagio, B flat major. The melodic narration flows so slowly that it almost seems to be standing still. It is full of solemnity, built of rests and silence rather than of tones. It is strange. At two instances, it momentarily blooms with a naïve and singing melody. And then comes the disquieting ostinato of the piano’s bass.
∙ Allegretto, D minor. The drive and the aplomb of the allegro is back, only to fly away on the wings of the supernaturally beautiful melody. The dialogue of both hands that come together and are torn apart in this perpetuum mobile hovers above the changinharmony. It could go on forever.

Mieczysław Tomaszewski