Description
Sonata op. 111 concludes the cycle of Beethoven’s final piano sonatas. The work was composed in 1821–22, parallel to the work on the Missa solemnis and in close proximity to the Sonata op. 110. Already early on Beethoven had conceived the Sonatas op. 109–111 as a self-contained triad for the Berlin publisher Schlesinger, but illness, financial difficulties and other projects delayed the completion of the last sonata time and again. The work’s two-movement structure, with a dramatic first movement in c minor and an introspective Arietta with variations, breaks with traditional genre models and points far beyond Beethoven’s time. Its printing dragged on for months. Only in 1823 was opus 111 finally released parallel in Paris, Berlin, London and Vienna. Since then, this sonata has been regarded as a visionary legacy of late Beethoven and as one of the most enigmatic musical creations in piano literature.
The abundant source situation – two autographs of the first movement, a corrected copy and the prints partially preserved in several textual stages – allows in many places for different readings in the musical text. The editors document and discuss all conceivable aspects in the as always extensive comments of the Urtext edition.
