Piano Sonata No. 3 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2, No. 3, is a sonata written for solo piano, composed in 1796. It is dedicated to Joseph Haydn and is often referred to as Beethoven's first virtuosic piano sonata. The three Opus 2 sonatas all contain four movements each, an unusual length which seems to show that Beethoven was aspiring towards composing a symphony. It is both the weightiest and longest of the three Opus 2 sonatas, lasting over 25 minutes, presenting many difficulties, including difficult trills, awkward hand movements, and forearm rotation. It is Beethoven's second longest piano sonata in his early period, only to Beethoven's Grand Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 7, published a year later.

The sonata, in C major, consists of four movements:

The first movement follows the Sonata-Allegro format of the Classical period. The movement opens with the main theme in the tonic key, beginning with a double-thirds trill-like pattern. This opening passage is infamous for pianists to play, and Arthur Rubinstein even used this passage to test pianos before performing on them. This pattern leads into an energetic outburst of a broken-chord and broken-octave section. The second theme of the exposition begins in the key of G Minor, and is repeated in D minor at m. 33. It is not until m. 47 that the traditional dominant key is finally reached, where a subsidiary theme in the second thematic group appears, marked "dolce."Some believed Beethoven was influenced here by the Weiner ideals of expressionism. A forte shows later, leading to a very rich melody with left and right hand. Then a similar outburst of a broken-chord and broken-octave sections appears in fortissimo. Then it ends with some difficult trills and an octave scale. In the Development section, the composer opens it by improvising on trill patterns introduced in the end of the exposition, which are much more difficult to play. Following a broken-chords section filled with harmony changes, the main theme is restated in D Major (pianissimo), the supertonic key of C Major. Then a fortissimo and Beethoven's very common syncopations appears in the music giving a rhythm, this continues on to the resolution. The recapitulation is a key change from G Major to C major, which is finished by a Cadenza, which begins with a sudden A-flat major chord. This music is also an exception because cadenzas do not usually appear in music other than concertos. The cadenza is very light and vibrant and it ends with a long trill and descending chromatic scale in the right hand. The first movement is about 10 minutes long and is one of Beethoven's longest movements from his early period.

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