Honoring: Maestro Ludwig van Beethoven's Passing on March 26, 1927

In deference and respect to her ancestor, 241 years later, this mysterious lady (5^th generation ancestor of the Maestro) is beginning to share even more of “The Sonata Diaries.”

Because he was working on a number of compositions in his last years, specific to the Sonatas, she wants to share some from his diary on Op.111.

Again, she is doing all this now, in an effort to imagine Beethoven’s music as appropriate to all we face and live with now in the 21^st Century.

She did reveal, in a very short interview on March 24^th of this year, that she has fantasized how Beethoven may fair in modern recording studios, with modern audiences; and just how this music would be received in a world today that seems more interested in the fundamental dynamics of tunes than the complexity of conflicting ideas stirring in the depths of the human condition.

Beethoven states in the diary, “I was going through much physical turmoil, but this was not unusual, as I was beleaguered with melodies and notes. Op.111 (my serious musings with this work) began in 1819; however in the summer of 1820, I was most consumed in it. I cannot say why, but at this time I was hearing  (reviewing my works from the diaries of 1801) a theme from an earlier Sonata that was coming back to haunt me.  There was something in this theme beckoning me to stretch it and work it in another manner.

I cannot say how it happened, but I was compelled to introduce (in the 1st movement: Maestoso—Allegro con brio ed appassionato) a set of variations on a 16 bar theme, but then something came over me to experiment (which worked) with small notes, divide the bar in 36 resp. 27 parts. I know it would be difficult for other pianist’s to play, yet perhaps they will just have to learn to boogie—woogie.

I so know this Sonata will be out of the ordinary, yet it says so much from my experiences when I was out-of-my mind --- pushing the limits of the breadth and scope of this instrument as well as even bending some ears! 

It (this Op.111) is also a statement that paints a picture of the nightmarish realm of the underworld (the world of dreams) when sometimes a benevolent “creature” can appear to offer grace. In retrospect, it is also a piece that deals with my challenges of living with human and mortal flaws.

I am sorry that it is only two movements. I had so many demands on my table and Schindler helped me all he could. I did “plan“ on three movements, yet when I play it now, each movement sort of functions as an opposite.  The two together are providing a balance of opposites--perhaps in the future, this “balance” will be an underlying message that will come across when listening to my Op. 111.”