Contrast, characterized by melodies motifs and thematic materials, is notable throughout the third and fourth movements of Beethoven’s Cello Sonata Op. 69 No. 3 in A major. This piece was composed when the composer’s hearing loss was intense, and dedicated to Baron Ignaz von Gleichenstein. Beethoven, the first remarkable composer of cello sonatas, experienced three distinct music style periods: the early, middle, and late periods. The middle period, also known as the “heroic period,” begins with his return to Vienna from Heiligenstadt. The heroic style was inspired by the theme of “the triumph over adversity.” Faced with the onset of deafness, Beethoven decided to compose on a grander scale in order to honor and appreciate the time he had left …show more content…
The fourth movement begins with the complete melodic motif played sweetly in the cello’s measures 19 - 20. In these measures, the C# skips down a major third to the A, then the A steps down a minor second to the G#, then G# skips up a minor third to the B and finally the B steps down a major second to the A. This sweet motif repeats four times within the first 14 measures of the movement in intervals of four measures. In measures 23 - 24 of the cello line, exactly four measures after the first motif, the melody is repeated. Four measures later, in measures 27 - 28, the motif gets transferred into the piano line and transposed up a third( E - C# - B - D# - C#). Once again the same melodic motif is repeated four measures later in measures 31 - 32. The repetition and transfer of the melodic motif ingrains the tune into the mind of the listener and establishes this sweet figure as the essence of the lyrical style portion of the piece. The four measure structure to the repetition shows that the emphasis on this motif is intentional and critical to the complexity of the sonata. Beethoven gives us this structured format in order to make the sudden interruptions dramatic and contrasting to the previous style. In fact, in the 4 measures between each recurrence of the motifs, Beethoven employs dramatic interruptions of the sweet melodies. In measure 20, the piano stops the pulsating eighth note rhythms suddenly for 3 beats after the motif and then later in measure 22 for 3 beats before the motif. The piano then pulses until measure 25, where it drops from forte to piano and eighth notes to sixteenth notes simultaneously. This is the first occurrence of sixteenth notes in the piano’s line of the fourth movement. Once again, in measure 30, right before the repetition of the motif, the piano plays sixteenth notes. The sudden rhythmic