Analysis of Motivic Transformation in Beethoven’s Sonata no. 31 in A-Flat Major, Op. 110 Resulting in Logical Structural Coherence

Abstract

The legacy of Ludwig van Beethoven and his unparalleled 32 piano sonatas had become the cornerstone for nineteenth century composers that many of them were challenged to write piano sonatas of their own while simultaneously almost impossible for them to succeed unless they re-invented their works beyond traditionalism (for example Franz Liszt and his Sonata in B minor). It is almost unimaginable what nineteenth century would have been like without Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas. In those influential works, one of the most important highlights is how Beethoven was being an economical and effective composer by writing his music with one or a few numbers of motive (usually less than five) and transforming the motive(s) into various and endless variations that resulted in such logical structural coherence. The purpose of the writing is to provide a prescriptive analysis of the motivic transformation in Beethoven’s piano sonata no. 31 in A-flat major, Op. 110, in which the whole sonata is essentially based on three motives presented in the first four measures in the first movement; the result is a 19-minute sonata, which movements are cyclic into one coherence that should be performed continuously without traditional breaks among the movements.