Piano Sonata No. 5
by Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Hummel in 1820
KeyF-sharp minor
Opus81
Composed1819 (1819)
DedicationPrincess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Published1819
PublisherSteiner
Duration23-35 minutes
Movements3
Scoringpiano

Johann Nepomuk Hummel's Piano Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp minor, Op. 81 was written and published in 1819 and was dedicated to his student, Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. The work is written in a proto-Romantic style that anticipates the later stylistic developments of composers such as Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, Charles-Valentin Alkan, Felix Mendelssohn, and Johannes Brahms.

Structure

First page of the first movement of Hummel's Piano Sonata Op. 81

This sonata has three movements:

  • I. Allegro
  • II. Largo con molto espressione (in B minor)
  • III. Finale:Vivace

The first movement is in sonata form. The movement has been described as a "stylistic mélange of writing that more closely resembles a fantasy than a formally structured sonata first movement (there is no exposition repeat, for example)."[1]

The second movement, marked Largo con molto espressione, is in B minor and 3/4 time.

The finale is in rondo form and returns to the sonata's home key of F-sharp minor. It is the most technically challenging movement, featuring double thirds and fugal passages.

Reception and Influence

This sonata was of great influence on the works of Schumann, Chopin, and Brahms.

Chopin based his Piano Sonata No. 3 on this sonata.[2]

Schumann said that the work will "alone immortalize his [Hummel's] name."[3] Joel Lester points out the similarities from this sonata and Schumann's Allegro Op. 8 and Piano Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 11.[4]

It is also said that this sonata influenced Brahms' Piano Sonata No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 2.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Nicholas, Jeremy. "Piano Sonata in F sharp minor, Op 81". Hyperion. Hyperion.
  2. ↑ Rosen, Charles (1998). Sonata Forms. p. 390.
  3. ↑ Kroll, Mark (2007). Johann Nepomuk Hummel A Musician's Life and World. Scarecrow Press. p. 276.
  4. ↑ Lester, Joel (1995). "Robert Schumann and Sonata Forms". 19th Century Music. 8 (3): 189–210.
  5. ↑ Carew, Derek (2005). "Hummel's Op. 81: a paradigm for Brahms' Op.2?". Ad Parnassum. 3 (6): 133–156.
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