Mei-Ting, pianist's video: Beethoven Sonata in C major Op 53 Waldstein - COVID-19 Beethoven Cycle - Mei-Ting pianist

Welcome to Day 20 of the COVID-19 Beethoven Cycle! The “Waldstein” sonata in C major, Op. 53, is today’s featured work. And what a great sonata this is. It is the quintessential Beethovenian work, with humor, grandeur, and full of energy both exuberant and hidden. The opening is one of the most recognizable motifs in all piano music, as is the last movement. The sonata sounds so optimistic, being in the key of C major, as if to say all possibilities are there and available. The dedicatee of the work, Count Ferdinand von Waldstein was an early supporter of Beethoven. He had moved from Vienna to join the Teutonic Knights and ended up living in Bonn from 1788 and acquiring an estate (and thereby becoming a nobleman) in nearby Godesberg. He became obsessed with defeating Napoleon and the French, and spending all his money, personally raised an army regiment of around 800 men and ended up on the Isle of Wight. According to contemporary news reports, the regiment never took part in any action, but did help put out a fire in a local biscuit bakery. Penniless, rumor placed Waldstein in Vienna around 1804-5, in disguise and under a fake name. It is very possibly that Beethoven had heard about his patron, and given the optimism of the sonata, intended it to help lift his spirits. Waldstein was the author of the now-famous passage in Beethoven’s “friendship book” as he departed for Vienna in 1792, wishing Beethoven “receive Mozart’s spirit from Haydn’s hands.” It was Waldstein who recommended Beethoven to study with Haydn. The dedication of this sonata had always mystified me previously, and even given their prior connection, the lack of contact between the Count and Beethoven after 1792 makes this sudden dedication remarkable. It makes me wonder if there are many lost stories and chance encounters between the two around 1804-5. Please enjoy this blast of a work, and we’ll have something much less famous tomorrow! 0:00 Introduction 0:11 First Movement 10:13 Second Movement 13:34 Third Movement