Beethoven sonatas

[Franz_Liszt]

 I'm currently learning op.110, and I am finding that not so difficult. Just in case I find trouble later when I decide to learn a Sonata such as the Waldstein or op.111, do you have any tips for learning the beethoven sonatas?
As a list of my qualifications, I have decided to write the following:
Age:12
Playing for: 8 months
Level: Medium Intermediate
Repertoire: Bach 2pt Inventions (6 of them)
Rondo Alla Turca
Jesu Mein Freude
Practice Average:
first 4 months- 45 minutes
months 5-6 - 3 hours
months 7-8 - 4 hours

[JTownley]

The first Beethoven Sonata i ever learned was the g-minor op.49 ( I think) #1. I'd recommend that. Great beginner piece. Save the the more mature sonata when you're more mature, Franz. What's the hurry?  

[Hmoll]

JTownley is right. The Beethoven Op 110 is a very mature piece.
You should not play this as your first Beethoven sonata, especially since your other repertoire is not on the same level. There are several reasons for this, besides that it makes my ears hurt to hear of someone who has been playing less than a year even attempting late Beethoven.
The fact that you say this piece is not so difficult shows that you do not have the knowledge to adequately assess the difficulty of this piece or understand it on a level needed to learn it.
If you are working on 2 part inventions and have not played a number of preludes and fugues from the WTC, you are not going to be equipped to play the double fugue in the last movement.
If you have not played another large scale classical sonata with a scherzo, you will not be able to play the second movement effectively and with an understanding of it.

If you do try to learn it, you will most likely have a lot of trouble with it, learn it incorrectly, and when your playing gets to the level that you could attempt this piece - a few years from now - you will revert back to the incorrect way you originally learned it .

Stick to the Op 49 sonatas, or a more challenging Mozart or Haydn.

[rachfan]

Hi Franz,

The study of piano is a lifetime endeavor that requires patience, methodical progress through practice, and over time an ever expanding repetoire and capability.  So the route toward virtuosity is through a graded approach to selecting pieces.  By graded, I mean "beginner, intermediate, and advanced" to use a simple breakdown.  

As you know, a medical student would be ill advised to jump into brain surgery before he has learned how to take someone's blood pressure.  It's the same principle in selecting piano repertoire.  Before a pianist undertakes Ravel's Gaspard de le nuit,  he might first play some of Ravel's short character pieces like Menuet Antique, Prelude pour Piano, and A la maniere de... Chabrier to get a flavor of the composer's idiom and style.   Next, he might move on to the Valses nobles et sentimentales.  Then he might learn Sonatine.  From there it's on to Tombeau de Couperin, Miroirs, and Jeux d'Eau.  Finally... and as the culmination comes the titanic struggle with Gaspard, a pinnacle of the literature.  Different pianists might do the above progression slightly differently.  But my point is that they don't start with Gaspard.  Nor do they place it in the middle of the progression.

Unless you take a graded approach to study, you'll not only get ahead of yourself, but you'll short change yourself too.  The reason is that your technique will not be on par with your aspirations.  So not only will you not be developing properly as a musician and pianist, you won't be playing in an artisitic manner either.  Then you'll have all the wrong habits to try to unlearn later.  Again, we're talking about patience in learning an art--one that demands perfection in serving the composers.  Recognize too that the sense and skill of interpretation comes only with increasing maturity.  It is not at all present at the outset.

So my advice is to learn music that is clearly within your grasp.  It is far better to play a piece at your proper level very well, than to make a mess of a difficult piece (which no listener will appreciate).  Do "stretch" yourself every once in a while by learning a piece that is one step (but not 10 steps) above your current level.  That helps you to progess more quickly too.  But keep those stretches within reason.  There was a famous pianist when I was your age--Wilhelm Backhaus.  He had a saying: "If you want to gather a bouquet, you don't have to make it out of oak trees".  And he was right!  An artist is not made overnight.

So regarding the Beethoven Sonatas, I agree with JTownley--do Op. 49 for the time being.





   

[88keys]

Franz_Liszt, how far have you gone through Beethoven's Op. 110?

The first few bars are deceptively easy - they almost sound as if they were taken from a children's sonatina.  

The piece gets much harder as the 1st movement progresses, both techincally and musically. And the last movement - the fuge - poses a challange even for advanced players.

So don't let the first few bars fool you. Beethoven's Op. 110 is one of his most difficult works.

[88keys]

As for the Beethoven Sonatas you might want to try:

Op. 49/1 (Sonata #19 in G minor) and Op. 49/2 (Sonata #20 in G major) are about the same level as the Bach inventions you are playing. A bit easier, perhaps.

Other Beethoven Sonatas you might find interest in, in rough order of increasing difficulty:

Op. 79 (Sonata #25 in G major)
Op. 14/1 (Sonata #9 in E major)
Op. 2/1 (Sonata #1 in F minor)
Op. 10/1 (Sonata #5 in C minor)
Op. 10/2 (Sonata #6 in F major)

And if you want to aim higher, try:

Op. 14/2 (Sonata #10 in G major)
Op. 13 (Sonata #8 in C minor, "Pathetique")

[Franz_Liszt_X]

Ok, fine, for the sake of musicality, I will adjourn my studies of Op. 110. How in the world will I finish the fugue without even a touch at the WTC.

[88keys]

It's not just "for the sake of musicality".

At this point, you simply won't be able to play Op. 110 at tempo from begining to end. And it will probably be years before you can.