Piano Sonata No. 13 (Beethoven)

Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 1, is a sonata composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1800–1801.

Beethoven was about 30 years old when he wrote the sonata. He had already made a name for himself in Vienna as pianist and composer and was beginning to explore alternatives to the classical-era compositional procedures that he had largely adhered to during the 18th century. The most famous works of his "middle period", often emphasizing heroism, were yet to come.

Beethoven's sketches for the first, second, and final movements survive, but the original autograph copy is lost. The sonata was published separately from its more famous companion, Opus. 27 No. 2 (the "Moonlight" Sonata), but at the same time, by Cappi in Vienna; the first advertisements for the work appeared 3 March 1802. Both Op. 27 sonatas were originally titled Sonata quasi una fantasia.

The dedicatee of the work was (as was typical of the time) an aristocrat, Princess Josephine von Liechtenstein. Little is known of Beethoven's relationship with her.

Grove Music Online translates the Italian title Sonata quasi una fantasia as "sonata in the manner of a fantasy". While we cannot know precisely why Beethoven used this description for the two Op. 27 sonatas, several explanations are available. In the case of the present work (though not its companion), the entire sonata is played continuously without pauses between movements, in the manner of most fantasias. The movements are not in the usual order for a sonata: the opening movement is a slow movement and the scherzo and slow movement are in inverted order. The first movement is not in sonata form, as is true for most sonatas. As Kenneth Drake has pointed out, the movements are in extreme contrast with each other, a common trait of the sections of a fantasia. Lastly, the appearance of a quotation from one movement within another (here, from the third movement within the fourth) is a form of freedom not ordinarily employed in classical sonatas.

Several of these patterns are mentioned in Lewis Lockwood's discussion of the aesthetics of Beethoven's "quasi una fantasia" works:

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