close

Haydn, Franz Joseph : Sonate für Klavier Nr.59 Mov.2 Adagio e cantabile

Work Overview

Music ID : 32250
Instrumentation:Piano Solo 
Genre:sonata
Total Playing Time:8 min 00 sec
Copyright:Public Domain

Commentary (2)

Author : Ooi, Kazurou

Last Updated: May 30, 2025
[Open]
Note: This article is automatically translated from the original Japanese text. The author of the original work did not supervise this translation.

This is a second movement of considerable scale. To achieve a dramatic performance, one must utilize a wide dynamic range, and care should be taken not to overly suppress the volume.

Fundamentally, consider this second movement as a scene from an opera, imagining a soprano singer performing, and emulate that in your playing. A crucial point to note when emulating singing in this manner is to avoid sounding mechanical. To achieve this, distance yourself slightly from the metronome and perform the lyrical sections with a sense of free improvisation. In essence, prioritize the "singer," with the "orchestra" following suit.

However, this approach is naturally not feasible for the B minor middle section. The reason is that the continuous sextuplets indicate a section building towards a peak, requiring the music to constantly press forward and maintain tension. Nevertheless, once the A section returns, perform it freely and lyrically as before. The written 12-tuplets, 13-tuplets, or 32nd notes, etc., do not necessarily need to be strictly counted; rather, play them improvisationally, like a singer's glissando.

Writer: Ooi, Kazurou

Author : Saitoh, Noriko

Last Updated: February 9, 2020
[Open]
Note: This article is automatically translated from the original Japanese text. The author of the original work did not supervise this translation.

The second movement, Adagio e cantabile, is written in 3/4 time and in B-flat major, the dominant key of the first movement. Although it is in ternary form, its total length of 124 measures makes it relatively large among Haydn's slow movements. In the middle section (from measure 57), a leading line is first observed in the left hand. Then, in the third section (from measure 81), the opening theme of the first section undergoes rhythmic variation into fine, decorative note values.

Writer: Saitoh, Noriko