Sonata in E flat major, Op.81a (“Les Adieux”)

Das Wiedersehen: Vivacissimamente

We should really refer to Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in E flat major Op.81a not as “Les Adieux” but as “Das Lebewohl.” This is partly because the three syllables of the German word for “farewell” determine the shape of the all-important opening theme and partly because Beethoven did not approve of its French equivalent. It was the entry of the French army into Vienna which, in May 1809, had precipitated the evacuation of the imperial family, including Beethoven’s pupil, his most noble patron, and most favoured dedicatee, the Archduke Rudolph. If the temporary absence of an Archduke seems insufficient reason for an emotional sonata by the great egalitarian among classical composers, it is worth remembering that Rudolph was one of those who had just guaranteed Beethoven an annual salary of 4,000 gulden on the sole condition that he must not desert Vienna

Headed Das Lebewohl, the first movement presents an Adagio leave-taking and an Allegro departure. The first theme of the slow movement, headed Die Abwesenheit (“Absence”), is a deprived, slightly twisted relative-minor version of the Adagio introduction to the work. The deprivation does not last long, however: Das Wiedersehen (“The Return”) breaks in on the lament in a vivacissimamente rush of recognition and the rest of the movement thrives on the joyous anticipation of the Archduke’s homecoming. The function of the late change of tempo to Poco andante is nothing more serious than to heighten the effect of the Vivacissimamente closing bars.

Das Wiedersehen: vivacissimamente

We should really refer to Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in E flat major, Op.81a, not as “Les Adieux” but as “Das Lebewohl.” This is partly because the three syllables of the German word for “farewell” (which is written above the first three notes of the score) determine the shape of the all-important opening theme and partly because Beethoven did not approve of its French equivalent (which was attached to the work by his publishers). It was the entry of the French army into Vienna which, in May 1809, had precipitated the evacuation of the imperial family, including Beethoven’s pupil, his most noble patron, and most favoured dedicatee, the Archduke Rudolph.

If the temporary absence in the country of a mere Archduke seems insufficient reason for an emotional sonata by the great egalitarian among classical composers, it is worth remembering that it was the Archduke Rudolph who, together with the Princes Kinsky and Lobkowitz, had just guaranteed Beethoven an annual salary of 4,000 gulden on the sole condition that he must not desert Vienna. He might well have been influenced, too, by Dussek’s Sonata, Op.44, “The Farewell.” which had been published nine years earlier and which he almost certainly knew. What he could not have known was that war-time inflation was seriously to erode his new-found income.

So the first movement, headed Das Lebewohl (“The Farewell”) and dated May 1809, presents an Adagio leave-taking and an Allegro departure with an urgent first subject and a more expressive second subject. The short development reflects on the Lebewohl motif, augmented to appear in the same tempo as it did in the Adagio introduction, and a lingering coda listens as the horn-call recedes into the distance.

The subject of the slow movement is Die Abwesenheit (“Absence”). Its first theme is a deprived, slightly twisted relative-minor version of the Adagio introduction to the work. There is a distant D major consolation, however, and the deprivation does not last long: Das Wiedersehen (“The Return”) breaks in on the lament in a vivacissimamente rush of recognition. The first subject transforms the Lebewohl motif into the stability of an E flat major triad and the rest of the movement thrives on the joyous anticipation of the Archduke’s homecoming. The function of the late change of tempo to poco andante is nothing more serious than to heighten the effect of the vivacissimamente closing bars.