Sonata No. 26, Op. 81a, “Les Adieux”

Op. 81a is the only one of Beethoven’s piano sonatas with a separate title for each movement; for this reason it has been described as the only programmatic sonata. Yet while the music was meant to evoke certain events and emotions, it also succeeds as “absolute” music for those without any knowledge of the story behind the piece.

In May 1809, Austria declared war on France, and Napoleon soon began a march on Vienna. In anticipation of the French invasion, the aristocrats began to flee the city. Among those who left was the Archduke Rudolf, one of Beethoven’s most ardent patrons and the recipient of many illustrious dedications from Beethoven. The three movements of Op. 81a record Beethoven’s reaction to the forced evacuation of the archduke. The titles of the movements translate in English as “Farewell,” “Absence,” and “Return.”

The first movement ( 1) is marked with the German word Lebewohl (“farewell”), which Beethoven broke into three syllables over the three descending chords that begin the sonata. A publisher disregarded Beethoven’s titles and gave the sonata a French nickname that has since come to define it: “Les Adieux.” Beethoven wrote an angry letter to the publisher, complaining that the change lost the meaning he wanted to convey: “Lebewohl is something quite different from Les Adieux, the first one says to one alone, from the heart, the other to an entire assembly, to entire cities.”

Beethoven’s manipulations of the first three chords of the sonata display his usual gift for transforming a small musical idea in a miraculous number of ways. The slow movement, like many of the other slow movements in the middle sonatas, is both a self-contained piece and a sort of extended introduction to what follows. The exhilarating joy and exuberance of the third movement ( 2) provide a fitting celebration of the archduke’s return.