Piano Sonata No. 30 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, composed in 1820, is the third-to-last of his piano sonatas. In it, after the huge Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106, Beethoven returns to a smaller scale and a more intimate character. It is dedicated to Maximiliane Brentano, the daughter of Beethoven's long-standing friend Antonie Brentano, for whom Beethoven had already composed the short Piano Trio in B♭ major WoO 39 in 1812. Musically, the work is characterised by a free and original approach to the traditional sonata form. Its focus is the third movement, a set of variations that interpret its theme in a wide variety of individual ways.^[1]

(1968). Beethoven's Pianoforte Sonatas Discussed. New York: Da Capo Press.

Blom, Eric

(1992). Thematic Patterns in the Sonatas of Beethoven. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-79714-9.

Reti, Rudolph

(2004). A Companion to Beethoven's Pianoforte Sonatas – Complete Analyses (Revised ed.). ABRSM Publishing. ISBN 1-86096-086-3.

Tovey, Donald Francis

by András Schiff on Beethoven's piano sonata Op. 109

A lecture

: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

Piano Sonata No. 30, Op. 109

: Notes on a complete recording of Beethoven's piano works

Alfred Brendel

at the Library of Congress. (Note: although the title of this web page and Beethoven's own title page read "Sonate für das Hammerklavier", it is Op. 109.)

Manuscript of Op. 109

from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum