Sonata No. 32, Op. 111

Beethoven’s last piano sonata, Op. 111, begins in C minor, a key he used for many of his most famous works, including the Fifth Symphony and the “Pathetique” Sonata. The three ascending diminished chords in the
opening ( 1) establish what some have called Beethoven’s C-minor mood and create mounting tension that resolves itself into a stormy theme with fugal elements ( 2).

The first movement is a striking contrast to the second and final movement ( 3), a set of variations on a sublimely simple C-major theme. The contrast between the two movements has been said to represent the opposition of the male and the female, the here and the beyond, despair and hope, and many other things.

Whatever extra-musical meanings listeners ascribe to these movements, they do certainly make a highly effective juxtaposition. Some of Beethoven’s contemporaries were puzzled by the novelty of a piano sonata with only two movements, and the composer even got a letter from a publisher who assumed that the third movement was missing.