Sonata in G: Andante (Op. 79, 2nd movement)
A gentle, rocking tune in the minor key, with nine short beats to every bar. It is short, so it is a good first taste of a Beethoven sonata.
About this intermediate piano piece
- Composer
- Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
- Level
- Intermediate · Stage 5: Classical Charm
- Difficulty
- 5 on Pianuvo’s scale (1 is your first notes, about 9 is Debussy)
- Length
- about 2½ minutes, 34 bars
- Hands
- Both hands
- Time and tempo
- 9/8 at about 66 BPM
- Range
- C2 to E♭6
Background
Beethoven wrote his Piano Sonata No. 25 in G major, Op. 79, in 1809, a hard year in Vienna, which was bombarded and occupied by Napoleon's army that spring. It was published the following year. Next to big works of the same period such as the Les Adieux sonata, Op. 81a, it is small and light-hearted, and one of the more approachable sonatas for students.
It has three short movements. The first is marked Presto alla tedesca, "very fast, in the German style", meaning in the manner of a German country dance, and the finale is a playful Vivace. Between them comes this Andante in G minor, the emotional centre of the sonata, which lasts only two or three minutes.
The Andante is in 9/8 time, with an accompaniment that rocks evenly under a two-voice melody. That gentle swaying recalls the barcarolle, the boat song of the Venetian gondoliers, a type of piece that became popular with Romantic composers a little later; Mendelssohn's Venetian Gondola Song is one example in the library.
How to practise it
The movement has 34 bars in three parts: the G minor song (bars 1 to 9), a middle section in E-flat major where the left hand flows in sixteenth notes (bars 10 to 21), and the song again (bars 22 to 29), followed by a short ending in which the tune moves into octaves.
In 9/8 each bar holds nine eighth notes in three groups of three. Count "ONE-two-three, TWO-two-three, THREE-two-three".
The melody moves in two voices, mostly in thirds and sixths. Choose fingers that let the top line connect (as the thirds climb in bar 1, for example, 1 and 3, then 2 and 4, then 3 and 5), and keep the lower voice slightly quieter.
Play the low G with the fifth finger and the two Ds lightly with the thumb, or with 2 and 1. This is the cradle under the song: steady, soft and never louder than the melody.
In the middle section the left hand plays broken chords in sixteenth notes, six to each beat. Practise them as blocked chords first to learn the shapes, then broken and even. The right hand there has a quick flourish in bar 19, a fast scale squeezed into part of a beat; practise it slowly and land exactly on the next beat rather than chasing speed.
Set the metronome to the dotted-quarter beat (three clicks per bar): 30, then 36, 40 and 44, which the app shows as 66 quarter notes a minute.
Listen for a calm, singing line that rises and falls gently in each two-bar phrase. The minor key is sad but not heavy; think of a quiet song rather than a lament, and let the last bars sound calm and settled.
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Quick tips
- Count three big beats in each bar, each split in three. Keep the left-hand bass notes quiet.
- It covers a wide C2 to E♭6, so look ahead for the big moves and keep your arms relaxed. Both hands play: learn each hand on its own first, then put them together slowly. In G minor every B and E is flat: play B♭ and E♭, the black keys below B and E.
- Written at about 66 BPM, but start near 50 BPM (75% speed) and speed up only when two clean plays in a row feel easy. Feel three big beats, each split in three: 1-2-3 4-5-6 7-8-9.
In the Academy
Not yet part of the Academy course. You can still play it any time from the song path. See the Academy course outline for what Year 1 covers.
More songs to try
- Für Elise (Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59)
- Minuet in E-flat
- Andante grazioso (Theme)
- Sonatina in C: Allegro
- Menuet
- Browse all songs
Source. The music is in the public domain. This version is from Mutopia Project (typeset by Stelios Samelis), released as Public Domain (source page).