LOL!
Next door in France, a military coup had ended the chaos, and people hoped that Napoleon Bonaparte would provide some stability. Little did they know!
In America, with George Washington’s death, the factions in the Cabinet and Congress waited a decent interval before forming political parties in gross opposition to Washington’s hopes. Jefferson’s new Republican Party showed its seams on regional issues and Hamilton’s new Federalist Party on ideological issues. The election of 1800 is described wonderfully in A Magnificent Catastrophe by Edward Larson, one of the great books about that period of American history.
Beethoven turned to a larger work after two smaller works and wrote in B-flat, a key that does not appear often in his output. The Piano Sonata in B-flat, Op. 22 is in the full four-movement format, something that Beethoven hadn’t used in a while. The first movement is marked allegro con brio, “quickly with enthusiasm”, one of Lou’s favorite markings, in 4/4 time. The first subject is lightning quick and leads via a C Major transition into the second subject in F Major. This is bravura Beethoven working a large scale.
At 2:07, the exposition repeats.
At 4:02, the development starts with the first subject in G minor broken up with arpeggios while pulling the second subject in E-flat via the left hand.
At 5:37, he recaps and maneuvers via an F minor transition to B-flat for the second subject. It’s a great finish.
The second movement is in E-flat marked adagio con molta espressione, “at rest with great expression”, in the unusual time signature of 9/8. Beethoven uses three groups of three 8th notes for his rhythmic pulse. His melody invokes suspensions at the end of each phrase. While maintaining the slow pulse, he creates the illusion of speed with 32nd notes in the right hand. After a B-flat cadence, he turns to G minor for a middle section that turns dark and cloudy. He returns quietly to the opening theme.
The minuet in B-flat and 3/4 has no tempo marking, so an allegretto pace is usually observed. The theme is utter simplicity with a bit of tonal ambiguity.
The middle section is not labeled “trio” but “minore”. The pace is usually accelerated to allegro in performance.
The opening repeats without repetition.
The finale is a rondo in B-flat marked allegretto in 2/4. This means we’re going to hear that opening theme a lot, and it sounds a bit like Mozart. By now you can figure out what a rondo is and how it plays out. The format here is A-B-A-C-A-B-A. The coda brings it up to a sweet but quick end.