In America, Washington was in his second term, and his first term cabinet of all-stars had been replaced by a cabinet of political hacks because the all-stars couldn’t get along. (Washington would have been justified had he gone to the stable, gotten a horsewhip and applied it liberally to the backsides of both Jefferson and Hamilton.)
In France, the Terror was in full swing, and a convent of nuns in Compiegne had been sent to the guillotine because they might have been praying for the soul of the late king.
In Austria and the German city-states, everyone was watching France with trepidation in case the poison of the French Revolution began flowing eastward.
In Vienna, Haydn was 62, Mozart had been dead for 3 years, and Beethoven was 24.
The third sonata of the Opus 2 is the Piano Sonata in C, Op. 2/3. Like its two siblings, it’s in four movements with a dance movement in third position. The first movement is marked 4/4, allegro con brio. Mozart only used this marking once, but Beethoven was fond of employing it. The Italian word “brio” has worked its way into English somewhat, so the best translation would be “quick with enthusiasm”. This is not intended to be a contemplative movement; the joy just leaps off the page,
At 1:14, you expect Lou to turn to the dominant key, G Major, for the second subject, but he pulls off a surprise by turning to G minor first. This transitional passage sounds a lot like Mozart, and at 1:50 Beethoven settles in for the second subject in G Major.
At 3:12 he repeats the exposition.
At 6:00 Lou begins his short development by going through a good many minor keys before going through some major keys.
At 7:22, he recaps, and at 8:00 he states his transitional passage in C minor so as to get to C Major for the second subject.
At 9:47, he shocks with an A-flat chord to begin a coda, a cadenza, and finally he finishes with the first subject and a bravura end.
The second movement is marked adagio, “at rest”, and is in 2/4 and E Major. This is one of Beethoven’s conversations with God, a contemplative movement that turns quickly to E minor to become a lament. Those high notes are crossovers played by the left hand. At 15:47 he returns to the opening theme in E Major. But at 16:55, Lou turns to C Major before working his way back to the central panel, but this time resolved sweetly in E Major by restating the first theme.
The third movement is a scherzo marked simply allegro in the traditional 3/4 time and C Major. Beethoven uses counterpoint to play with his subjects, something Schubert was to copy in one of his late sonatas.
At 21:47 his “trio”, or middle section, switches to A minor.
At 22:36, he returns to his scherzo material without repeats.
But at 23:09, he abruptly shifts to a coda in A minor that cleverly slips into C Major for the end.
The finale is marked allegro assai, “very fast”, in C Major and 6/8. The right hand plays block chords that had me stumped for fingering until Adam Neiman, piano virtuoso and Ayn Rand fan, told me, “Use the same fingers all the way up and play it with the wrist.” Once I did that, I had it licked. This is a rondo movement where that first subject with the block chords will show up a lot to hold the movement together.
At 25:15, Lou switches to F Major for a passage marked dolce,”sweetly”. Fans of Schubert will note the resemblance to the finale of his E-flat Piano Trio which would come 33 years later. (It wasn’t until Schubert came to terms with Beethoven’s music that he was able to write the glorious works of his last three years.)
At 26:33 the block chord subject returns.
But at 28:31, he switches to A Major and fools you into thinking he is going to squeeze a quiet ending out of it. Not to worry! Lou kicks it into overdrive in the last bars.
This video shows the great Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau (1903-91) at the peak of his form. I had the privilege of seeing him perform In Pasadena back in the Seventies.