| This document intends to explore Ludwig van Beethoven's last five piano sonatas (Opp. 101, 106, 109, 110, and 111) focusing on their innovative and experimental elements, and perceived difficulty. Through detailed historical study and theoretical analysis, this paper will discuss the common traits that reach across all five sonatas as well as their correlations with similar characteristics in the composer's other late works. Although each chapter will deal with a singular subject, such as key relationships, sonata form, variation, and fugato technique, other compositional aspects often taken for granted---e.g., lyricism, trills, modal harmony, improvisations, the use of the extreme range of the keyboard, and German markings---will also be considered. The document will conclude with a discussion of how Beethoven's thirty-two piano sonatas, particularly the last five, influenced the development of nineteenth-century keyboard composition. |
