Big Feelings with Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, "Pathétique"
The Best Moments
Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13
I'm Ludwig van Beethoven, and what you'll find here are the best moments of my Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, "Pathétique". You'll hear how a single piano can sound grave, tender and fierce within one work, and why a young man of about 27 caught so much attention with it in 1799. My fellow composers and I also teach you, on this site, to recognize our pieces the moment they begin, so come and try the Trainer and see how quickly this one becomes familiar.
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Clearing My Throat in C Minor
I open the first movement with a slow, heavy introduction marked Grave, which is my way of clearing my throat before I say something serious. Then the pace picks up and a rocket-like figure shoots up through two octaves over rumbling octaves in the left hand, and anyone who had dozed off is wide awake again.
A Tune I Couldn't Keep to Myself
I begin the Adagio cantabile with a gentle, singing melody in A-flat major that I liked so much I brought it back three times. Billy Joel liked it enough to build the chorus of "This Night" on it, so if you find yourself humming along, you can tell him I got there first.
The Second Theme Puts on Running Shoes
I wrote the Rondo so that its main theme echoes the second theme of the first movement, as if that tune had put on running shoes and come back for another lap. Frequent sforzando accents give the movement a forceful, slightly stubborn character, and the melody of the slow movement drops by later to remind you that all three movements belong together.
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I hope you enjoyed learning about the best moments of my Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, "Pathétique", and that a few of them stayed with you. When I think back on this sonata, what strikes me most is how much feeling I managed to fit into three movements for a single piano. It was a work that people welcomed warmly, and I was glad that it showed me to be more than a performer at the keyboard. Still, there is much more in this piece than I could cover here. You might listen for the way the main theme of the last movement quietly echoes the second theme of the first, which ties the whole sonata together. You could also look into how the title came about, because even today nobody agrees on whether I chose it myself or simply approved it. If any of this has made you curious, I invite you to click on the links provided and explore the sonata further. Then sit down somewhere quiet, play it from the first slow chord to the last, and let me know which moment became your own.
Recording: Daniel Veesey, CC0