Page:Rolland - Beethoven, tr. Hull, 1927.pdf/182



It was christened by the Hamburg publisher, Cranz, with the name of "Pastoral Sonata." The autograph is dated 1801, and the work is exceeding happy in mood, the last two movements almost boisterously so, the Finale being a mad gallop home. This Sonata has four movements, and it is most probable that it was written before the two Fantasia Sonatas. The first movement opens with a phrase of nine bars over a gentle tapping tonic pedal. It is a splendid specimen of development by elimination and condensation. In the middle portion, just before the recapitulation, the phrase seems almost to disappear into thin air.

The Andante in D minor, with its epigrammatic Trio in the tonic major, was once a great favourite with the composer. The Scherzo which despite its title is really a Minuet, is one of his happiest, and the Rondo is full of the joy of field and forest.

This Opus contains three Sonatas—a favourite grouping with the composer. Although No. I was published in 1802, this Sonata, so simple in