After Beethoven had given the piano sonata truly dramatic dimensions with the works around 1800, he led it into a new, decidedly symphonic domain with his „Waldstein“ sonata, published in 1805.The first seeds of this bold and innovative formal and tonal language appeared in the 12th piano sonata, completed as early as 1801. The third movement, a solemn Marcia funebre sulla morte d’un eroe (Funeral march on the death of a hero), already foreshadows the revolutionary „Eroica“ symphony.
Robert Schumann was another who freed himself from the conventions of the sonata, and in his 1st Piano Sonata embedded elements of dance music in dense piano writing, taking even further the tonal dimensions opened up by Beethoven – the work oscillating emotionally between the contrasting souls of Florestan and Eusebius – Schumann's „dual nature“. In his C major Fantasy the symphonic sonata forms of both composers merge in the „Obolus on Beethoven's monument“ , Schumann's original title for the piece. The 3rd movement contains a quote from the Allegretto of Beethoven's 7th Symphony, while a melody from An die ferne Geliebte appears in the epilogue to the first movement.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Piano Sonata No. 12 in Ab major, op. 26 (1800–01)
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Piano Sonata No. 1 in F sharp minor, op. 11 (1833–35)
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Robert Schumann
Fantasie in C major, op. 17 (1836–38)
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano sonata No. 21 („Waldstein“) in C major op. 53 (1803–04)
Sir András Schiff | Piano