Now, I said earlier that the Lebewohl stands very much apart from the big middle period sonatas, but in fact, it does share one key element with the Waldstein and Appassionata: the slow movement is something in between an introduction and a movement proper, given that it leads directly without pause (or final resolution) into the last movement. And also, given that it Is by a good margin the shortest of the three. So, this movement is called "The Absence"– it is, therefore, the middle of the story, and fittingly, it begins in harmonic mid-stream. (MUSIC) That is the first half of the movement, with the second half really a precise reiteration in a different key. This is in a certain way the most "homeless" sonata movement Beethoven ever wrote: if the key signature is to be believed, it is in c minor, but there is really no way of knowing it. The first chord is technically a c minor one (MUSIC), but we don’t experience it that way: it is an appoggiatura decorating a diminished chord. (MUSIC) Our first sort-of harmonic landing is on G major, (MUSIC) and our full c minor landing comes only at the tail end of the first phrase. (MUSIC) And honestly, that’s a very weak cadence: we don’t even get the bass until the downbeat has come and gone. (MUSIC) There’s really nothing about it that tells us that this is our home key: it sounds just like one of many harmonic ports of call. ...And then this c minor never reappears, not until the very end of the movement. In some ways, this lack of harmonic grounding strikes me as even more "programmatic" than the first movement being based around the word "farewell": this movement is a portrayal, or performance, even, of melancholy, with the structure for once taking a back seat to the pure, moment-to-moment feeling. It feels like something in between a vocal recitative and a vocal lament: the appogiaturas: (MUSIC) they are a short-hand for suffering, and the chords at points of resolution feel a bit like the continuo instrument in a recitative. (MUSIC) This is not real tragedy –That you can tell simply by contrasting it with some of Beethoven’s true tragic slow movements. Like op. 10 no. 3, marked Largo e mesto – or broad and with sadness. (MUSIC) Or op. 110’s arioso dolente. (MUSIC) These are real tragedies, with a far greater intensity. The "Absence" movement, instead, is a performance of grief, which uses grief’s tropes – diminished chords, appogiaturas, vocal cadenzas. In this case, being programmatic (or performative) makes the grief seem less personal, possibly even less sincere. It's even occurred to me on occasion that for Beethoven, displaying his sadness at being separated from his patron was more a matter of necessity than true feeling... Nevertheless, all that said, this movement is very beautiful and affecting – it’s not a criticism to call an opera operatic, so why can’t a piano sonata be operatic as well! One other thing I should note: the main motive of this movement is, again, three notes. (MUSIC) Just like the Le-Be-Wohl, but with the direction reversed: (MUSIC) Down and then up this time. This is another anticipation of the late period: Beethoven’s very last completed work is the Quartet, Op. 135; its last movement is a musical representation of the question Muss es Sein, or "Must it be?" (MUSIC) and then its joyous answer, Es Muss Sein, or "It must be!" (MUSIC) In the sonata, the downward motion of Le-Be-Wohl presents a solemn certainty, whereas the upward motion of the second movement version turns it, just like the "Muss es sein?" of the quartet, into a pleading question. Can’t there please be a return?... There can be! After the second part of the movement – again, nearly a literal reiteration of the first – after that comes to an end, we have a transition, in which the three note motive reaches further and further upward, and at the last moment, minor turns to major. (MUSIC) Note that the critical moment , the harmonic turning point, comes just as a B-natural in the bass moves to a B flat. (MUSIC) The way in which Beethoven has taken the two main "ideas" of the first movement – the le-be-wohl motive, and the chromatic bit with the b natural and b flat – and utilized them in new ways for the second movement, that is more than usually ingenious and resourceful, and shows just how remarkably rich this compact sonata is: every interval, every harmonic progression is linked to something else, and loaded with significance. And the wonderful beauty of this coda – it is one of the most beautiful parts of the piece – shows that he is able to construct the piece that tightly and analytically without making it feel the slightest bit tight or analytical. As is usual with Beethoven, the incredible formal skill is all in the service of feeling.
