Heitor Marques Marangoni

Proposal for Final Project

Tempo Decisions in the Introduction of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 13 (Pathetic)

1. Introduction

It is always a challenge task for the modern piano performer to play works from early

periods, especially by the fact that we do not have a directly access to the composer’s playing,

the instruments are different and the common performance practice knowledge of nowadays is

different from the period of the music in question. In the field of Beethoven’s interpretation,

there are many issues that the performer must think carefully to build his interpretation, for

example, pedaling, articulations and tempo.

2. Proposal Statement

The goal of this paper is to do an investigation about tempo decisions in the Introduction of

Beethoven’s Pathetic Sonata.

3. Justification

Beethoven had the opinion that the correct tempo to be played is an important element of the

conception of the composition. He also had the opinion that the Italian terms such as Allegro or

Andante, for instance, are inaccurate. After the invention of the metronome, Beethoven used this

device wishing for a correct tempo playing in his compositions. The metronome was not

invented since the beginning of Beethoven´s career as a composer, then he just wrote down the

metronome marks for about twenty of his compositions. Therefore, since the piano sonata has no

metronome marks, an investigation about how to figure out a convincing tempo for the opening

of that piece is emergent, since performers, teachers and students of music may have more

sources of information to make their decisions on that matter.

4. Research Question
 The primary research question is: What is the suitable tempo for the opening of the

Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata and why?

The secondary question is: which elements from the music itself and from the common

performance practice of Beethoven’s period we can bring out to figure out a convincing tempo

for the opening of that piece in question?

5. Methodology

The methodology to answer the research questions of this paper will consist on the following

steps:

1) Reading treatises and specific books/articles about performance practice on Beethoven;

2) Checking Biographical information about Beethoven and his thoughts about tempo;

3) Doing an harmonic and motivic analysis of the musical excerpt in question;

4) Crossing the findings of the readings with the musical analysis to figure out the suitable

tempo.

5) Analyze the rhythmic decisions between the two groups of recordings;

6) Discuss the results of this comparison in the light of the theoretical resources.

Bibliography

Cole, Malcom S. 1988. "'Back to the Land': Performance Practice and the Classic Period."
Performance Practice Review 1 (1): 25-41.
Hughes, Martin. 1994. "Beethoven's piano music: contemporary perfromance issues." In
Performing Beethoven. Edited by Robin Stowell, 228-239. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
Kolisch, Rudolf. 1993. "Tempo and Character in Beethoven's Music." The Musical Quarterly 77, no. 1:
90-131.
Newman, William S. 1971. Performance Practices in Beethoven's Piano Sonatas: An
Introduction. London: W. W. Norton; 1st edition.
Philip, Robert. 1994. "Traditional habits of performance in early-twentieth-century recordings of
Beethoven." Performing Beethoven. Edited by Robin Stowell, 195-204. New York:
Cambridge University Press.