Beethoven called his Opus 7 a Grande Sonate because it was the biggest, boldest, and baddest piano composition he had yet published. The original score was 21 dense pages in length, divided into four movements, with a performance time of about ½ hour.
Beethoven’s Opus 7 Grand Sonata is now known less glamorously as the Piano Sonata No. 4 in E♭ (although one could quibble with the numbering). It remains one of the longest Beethoven piano sonatas and (according to Charles Rosen) one of the most difficult.
The 1st movement of the Piano Sonata No. 4 is full of thundering chords and octave scales. Pianist Angela Hewitt calls it “a wild piece, with almost jazzy syncopations and stabbing sforzandos.” The contrasts of the 2nd movement Largo make it particularly mysterious and haunting.
Even the otherwise straightforward 3rd movement minuet of Piano Sonata No. 4 has a driving trio section with a unrelenting barrage of quarter-note triplets. The last movement Rondo begins inauspiciously but then becomes a rollicking party before relinquishing its hold on us.
#Beethoven250 Day 88
Piano Sonata No. 4 in E♭ Major (Opus 7), 1796–97
A performance by turns fiery and brooding by Minsoo Sohn at Kumho Art Hall in Seoul.
Beethoven dedicated the Opus 7 Grand Sonata to one of his most talented piano students — the teenage Countess Babette de Keglevics. The lessons were nearby and apparently in the morning hours, for Beethoven would often come dressed in morning gown, slippers, and tasseled cap.