The Drop In A Beethoven Sonata Op. 26

Ludwig van Beethoven is an outstanding representative of Vienna classicalmusic and Austro-German musical tradition. His musical compositions fromclassicism to romanticism has reached the highest peak in the classical period in termsof both intellect depth and artistic achievements and also created a new era ofromanticism, which later has earned him the reputation as “Music Giant”. Thirty-twopiano sonatas composed by Beethoven is the peak in the history of western music andknown as “The New Testament” of music.“Piano Sonata in A-flat major” Op.26by Beethoven was composed in his firstperiod (1770-1802). It is a unusual one among “the Thirty-Two Piano Sonatas” in thatit was the first time that Beethoven didn’t employ classical principles for his sonataand give up the concept of musical forms being first. The first movement of this workdoesn’t use the sonata form but the variation form. Besides, a funeral march is firstintroduced to the sonata, which has made it become one of a handful of the title musicworks. This work consists of four movements. They are respectively Andante conVariazioni (slow), Scherzo(Allegro molto)(fast), Marcia funebre sulla morte d’unEroe (slow) and Allegro (fast), which displays Beethoven’s mellow and bold style ofcomposing.This paper is divided into three parts. The first part is an overview ofBeethoven’s music life and his creation of the Piano Sonatas. The second part hasmade an analysis about the background of the composition, the musical structure andthe performance of “the Piano Sonata in A-flat major” Op.26. The last part presentsthe artistic charm and the value of “the Piano Sonata in A-flat major” Op.26.