The sonata #27 dates from shortly after the defeat of Napoleon, and a strong sense of patriotism was sweeping Vienna, where Beethoven resided. Perhaps for this reason he began using German rather than Italian to indicate the tempo and character of his sonata movements. Thus the first movement was marked, ‘With liveliness, and throughout with feeling and expression’, and the second, ‘Not too fast, and to be played in a very singing style’.
The first movement is, as usual, in sonata form, but is quite a compact movement, without any repeat of the exposition. Its style is generally lyrical, and its first theme comes to a very definite close, which then reappears almost unaltered at the end of the whole movement.
Like the first movement, the second shows very little use of counterpoint and is even more lyrical, with a wonderfully gentle melody in E major that sounds more typical of Schubert’s singing style than of Beethoven.
These sounds returns numerous times and the music seems almost constrained by the sonata-rondo form. In the coda, however, it takes off with greater freedom, as if freed from the limits of the form; but even here the gentle, unhurried character of the whole sonata is paramount.
Listen especially to this heavenly last movement. Here is pianist Boris Giltburg to play this sonata for you:
