Balázs Fülei Presented by Liszt Academy

Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas were written on commission for the publisher Schlesinger of Berlin between 1820 and 1822. The E major (Op. 109) is dedicated to Maximiliane Brentano, a young aristocratic lady, and is a characteristic example of what contemporaries called a ‘feminine sonata’. There is no dedicatee for the Opus 110, A-flat major work but it is packed with personal allusions. The key to this secret is his ‘immortal beloved’, that is, according to modern-day research, Josephine Brunsvik, who died on 31 March 1821. The melody of the first theme of the first movement sounds as though it disguises the words ‘Liebe Josefine’. The final sonata (Op. 111, C minor) has just two movements. Wendell Kretzschmar, one of the pianist characters in Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus, expounds at great length on why Beethoven never wrote a third movement for the piece. The conclusion he eventually comes to is that after such transcendent music, continuation is simply impossible.