Self learning Appassionata

[mozartnoob]

Just started Beethoven sonata no 57 (i think) f minor. Going okay, can play the first page from memory, second page pretty easy and after five days thats all. I was wondering about the right hand fingering in the second run (Db, Bb, Gb) as well as the long run. Have been working on it for a few hours, can't seem to find anything smooth

[birba]

GOOD LUCK!

[tritone_player]

For the second run (I'm assuming you mean bars 4-6), the right hand fingering I use is:
3 2 1 2 3 5-1 2 3 5 1.
For any of those arpeggio runs, you shouldn't try to cross 1 under 3. Just switch rapidly from 5 to 1, keeping the key depressed. (That goes for both hands.)

For the long run (I guess bars 14-15), the fingering I use is:
(RH) 4 2 5 1 4 2 1 5 2 4 1 3 1 5 2 4 1 3 1 5 2 4 1 3 1 5 2 4 (LH) 5 3 1 (RH) 2 4 1 2 4.

That fingering for the long run is somewhat uncomfortable at first, but you get used to it fast. There really is no completely comfortable fingering for that run.

[pencilart3]

GOOD LUCK!

good luck... 

[mozartnoob]

For the long run (I guess bars 14-15), the fingering I use is:
(RH) 4 2 5 1 4 2 1 5 2 4 1 3 1 5 2 4 1 3 1 5 2 4 1 3 1 5 2 4 (LH) 5 3 1 (RH) 2 4 1 2 4.

Thanks a lot tritone_player, helped loads. I'm now playing it pretty fluently.

[billyfisher100]

Just started Beethoven sonata no 57 (i think) f minor. Going okay, can play the first page from memory, second page pretty easy and after five days thats all. I was wondering about the right hand fingering in the second run (Db, Bb, Gb) as well as the long run. Have been working on it for a few hours, can't seem to find anything smooth

Best of luck, one of my favourite Beethoven sonatas, along with Les Adieux and the No. 32!

For the E dim run, you may not want to listen to my fingering suggestions (as they are often quite absurd!) but I use 1-3,1-3,1-3,2,1,4,2,3,1,2,4,3,1,2,4,3,1,2,4,3,1,2,4,3,1...

It's one of Beethoven's greatest works, so enjoy it. The greatest reward if you learn it linearly will be the satisfaction of finishing the coda of the 3rd mvt. up to tempo! Good luck.

[werq34ac]

Just started Beethoven sonata no 57 (i think) f minor. Going okay, can play the first page from memory, second page pretty easy and after five days thats all. I was wondering about the right hand fingering in the second run (Db, Bb, Gb) as well as the long run. Have been working on it for a few hours, can't seem to find anything smooth

Yikes, by yourself? Once you learn the notes I would have someone (a teacher, someone's who's learned the piece well) listen to it, there's a lot of musical things in the piece and interpretation is highly controversial (I'm told). I've played the piece and I would say that the notes were about 10% of the difficulty in learning the piece.

[28843253]

I have personally found the segment Barenboim devotes in his masterclass to the Appassionata highly useful in my own learning of this piece. The video I have included below.

I would also highly recommend the lecture series Andras Schiff did on each of the 32 sonatas, they are quite amazing.

[kevonthegreatpianist]

I have personally found the segment Barenboim devotes in his masterclass to the Appassionata highly useful in my own learning of this piece. The video I have included below.

I would also highly recommend the lecture series Andras Schiff did on each of the 32 sonatas, they are quite amazing.

i like artier schunbel's recordingd. his hammerklavier recording is up to speed for once. i mean everyone else just plays it 1.5 times slower. i like bareboims appastionata and op 111

[symphonicdance]

Barenboim masterclass on Beethoven sonatas (incl. Lang Lang learned Appassionata from him)

Enjoy.

[CC]

I have a section on Appassionata; go to my web page below, 3rd edition, section 50. The rest of the book may be helpful if you run into technical problems.

[brogers70]

I have a section on Appassionata; go to my web page below, 3rd edition, section 50. The rest of the book may be helpful if you run into technical problems.

I found your book very helpful, and wrote a very positive review on Amazon.com. But I find your posting multiple ads for your book in various forums here, and particularly your responding to posts by promoting your book and website pretty off-putting. One post about the new edition would have been fine. This is too much.

[perfect_pitch]

good luck... 

I'll join the bandwagon...

[chopinlover01]

You'll need it. Badly.

[CC]

My analysis is that the Appassionata is a piano version of LVB's 5th symphony. The 1st mvmt starts with an analog of the symphony's 2nd movement, and the rest of it basically follows the rest of the symphony; they were composed at about the same time.  LVB invented group theory long before mathematicians did, and expounded the theory in his 5th symphony using mostly pitch space. If you translate the beginning of the symphony bar by bar into math, it reads like the first chapter of a book on group theory (theory of symmetry transformations, important in composition theory). Since group theory is the basis for "band structure" type calculations needed to advance semiconductor technology which led to computers, I think it appropriate to say that LVB is the great grandfather of the internet! Knowing how LVB composed is obviously helpful for interpreting his compositions. For example, the mysterious trills in the 1st mvmt of the Appassionata are the analogs of the three repeat notes of his fate motif (couldn't be any more repetitive!), and the turn ending the trills is the "surprise note"; this type of knowledge tells us exactly how LVB wanted us to play them. To show us he understood the concept of space, he uses the time space (group theory) in the Appassionata (bars 235-240).  Truly amazing genius.