Sonata for piano (E-flat major) op. 81a
Listening samples
Dedication
Composition
1809-10
Beethoven composed his op. 81a sonata under the influence of the Napoleonic Wars. On 1 April 1809 Austria declared war on France. At the end of the month French troops crossed the Austrian border and marched on Vienna. On 4 May the imperial family, including Archduke Rudolph, Beethoven's student, patron and friend, decided to leave Vienna and flee to Hungary. Seven days later, on 11 May, the French bombarded Vienna, and Beethoven allegedly spent the night with pillows over his head in the basement, wailing and complaining since the roar of the cannons hurt his already impaired hearing. The following morning French troops seized Austria's capital. In October 1809 the war parties signed the Treaty of Schönbrunn. But Archduke Rudolph did not return until 30 January 1810. On the occasion of his most important patron's departure (Rudolph himself was an accomplished pianist) Beethoven composed a piano sonata. The autograph of the first movement bears the following inscription: 'The Farewell / Vienna, May 4th, 1809 / on the departure of His Imperial Highness, the revered Archduke Rudolph'. Beethoven may well have started the composition in April and not on Rudolph's day of departure. The other movements, 'Abwesenheit' (absence) and 'Wiedersehen' (return) definitely postdate September 1809.
Beethoven called op. 81a a 'characteristic sonata', referring to it less as programme music than as an expression of his state of mind and feelings with musical means. However, he always called the sonata itself 'The Farewell, Absence and Return' and was quite enraged when he realised that the original publisher also printed the title in French: 'I have just received the Farewell etc. and must notice that there are other copies with a French title, why so? Farewell is quite different from 'les adieux'; it is spoken only to one person with the warmest affection, the other to a whole gathering, whole towns' (BGA 523). No one received more dedications from Beethoven than Archduke Rudolph. The musical description of his feelings during Rudolph's absence was certainly the most beautiful and intimate way for him to express his friendship. (J.R.)
Beethoven called op. 81a a 'characteristic sonata', referring to it less as programme music than as an expression of his state of mind and feelings with musical means. However, he always called the sonata itself 'The Farewell, Absence and Return' and was quite enraged when he realised that the original publisher also printed the title in French: 'I have just received the Farewell etc. and must notice that there are other copies with a French title, why so? Farewell is quite different from 'les adieux'; it is spoken only to one person with the warmest affection, the other to a whole gathering, whole towns' (BGA 523). No one received more dedications from Beethoven than Archduke Rudolph. The musical description of his feelings during Rudolph's absence was certainly the most beautiful and intimate way for him to express his friendship. (J.R.)
