Pathétique Sonata: Adagio cantabile (Op. 13, 2nd movement)

Background

Beethoven wrote his Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, in 1798 and published it in Vienna the following year, dedicated to his patron Prince Karl Lichnowsky. The first edition called it Grande sonate pathétique, and the title, which suggests deep, passionate feeling, appears to have had Beethoven's approval. The sonata quickly became one of his most popular works.

The second movement, Adagio cantabile ("slow and singing"), is the calm centre between two dramatic outer movements. Its main melody has become one of Beethoven's best-loved tunes, and it has been borrowed many times, including in Billy Joel's 1983 song "This Night", which credits Beethoven.

The movement is a small rondo. The main theme in A flat major (A) alternates with two contrasting episodes: one in F minor (B), and a darker one that starts in A flat minor (C), giving A, B, A, C, A.

How to practise it

The opening asks one hand to do two jobs. The right hand plays the slow melody on top and, underneath it, a steady stream of soft sixteenth notes. The left hand adds a bass line below.

To learn this, separate the layers:

1. Play only the melody notes with fingers 4 and 5, as smoothly joined as you can. Sing along.
2. Play only the inner sixteenths with the thumb and fingers 2 and 3, very softly and evenly.
3. Combine them, very slowly, pressing the melody notes deeper and the inner notes barely below the surface.

This is called voicing, and it is the core skill of the whole movement. If the inner notes are as loud as the melody, the tune disappears.

When the theme returns in bar 9, it moves higher and is doubled in octaves, and the left hand takes over the sixteenths. Practise the right-hand octaves on their own, keeping the top note singing.

The second episode, from bar 37, changes the accompaniment to triplet sixteenths (three to a beat instead of four). Count "1-trip-let, 2-trip-let" and practise switching between fours and threes so you are ready when the change comes. The final return of the theme keeps these triplets underneath the familiar melody.

Tempo: this movement is slow, with only two beats in a bar. A good ladder is 30, then 35, then the full 40 beats a minute, with the metronome ticking eighth notes at first to keep the sixteenths even. Change the pedal with every new harmony, often twice in a bar. Aim for one long, unbroken song from start to finish.

For a fuller method of slow, layered practice, see how to practise piano.