For the convenience of concertgoers 

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:oo pm.

The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry of

the West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

Music Department

National Gallery of Art

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

Mailing address

2000B South Club Drive

Landover, md 20785

www.nga.gov

The Sixty-eighth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,744th Concert

Till Fellner, pianist

November 1, 2009

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Sonata no. 25 in G Major, op. 79 (1809)

Presto alia tedesca

Andante

Vivace

Sonata no. 24 in F-sharp Major, op. 78 (1809)

Adagio cantabile; Allegro ma non troppo 

Allegro vivace

Sonata no. 15 in D Major (“Pastoral”), op. 28 (1801)

Allegro

Andante

Scherzo: Allegro assai 

Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo

INTERMISSION

Sonata no. 27 in E Minor, op. 90 (1814)

Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck 

Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorgetragen

Sonata no. 4 in E-jlat Major, op. 7 (1796-1797)

Allegro molto e con brio

Largo, con gran espressione

Allegro

Rondo: Poco allegretto e grazioso

This concert is made possible by a generous grantfrom the

Billy Rose Foundation

The Musicians

Till Fellner was born in Vienna, where he studied with Helene Sedo-Stadler.

He continued his studies with Alfred Brendel, Meira Farkas, Oleg Maisenberg, and Claus Christian Schuster. In 1993 he won first prize at the Clara

Haskil Competition in Vevey, Switzerland. Since then Fellner has been in

demand as guest soloist with distinguished orchestras, at the major music

centers of Europe, Japan, and the United States, and at numerous important

festivals. He has collaborated with many conductors, including Claudio

Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Heinz Holliger, Marek Janowslci, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Neville

Marriner, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Leonard Slatkin,

Claudius Traunfellner, Franz Welser-Most, and Hans Zender. Fellner regularly performs as part of a trio with violinist Lisa Batiashvili and cellist

Adrian Brendel. He has also collaborated closely with tenor Mark Padmore 

in performances of Schubert’s Die schbne MiXllerin and other song cycles.

In October 2008 Till Fellner launched a cycle ofthe complete Beethoven

piano sonatas in a series ofseven recitals. The entire cycle can be heard in

New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Vienna, as well as here in Washington, 

where it is being presented jointly by the Embassy ofAustria, the Embassy

Series, and the National Gallery of Art, with major support from the Billy

Rose Foundation. In the 2009-2010 season, Fellner continues the next four 

installments ofthe Beethoven cycle, which has been praised by critics and

audiences alike. Other concerts include performances with Germany’s Siidwestrundfunlc Orchestra and a Canadian tour with the Montreal Symphony

and Kent Nagano. Fellner has numerous recordings to his credit, most recent 

among them an ecm disc ofJohann Sebastian Bach’s Two- and Three-Part

Inventions. Till Fellner appears at the National Gallery by arrangement with

Kuenstlermanagement Till Doench ofVienna, Austria.

3
Program Notes

The custom of playing Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas in a consecutive 

series of concerts began with the great German pianist Artur Schnabel, who

played them on seven successive Sundays in 1927 in Berlin to mark the centenary of Beethoven’s death. Since then, other eminent pianists have played

Beethoven sonata cycles, although none in the concentrated time span in

which Schnabel presented his cycle. Alfred Brendel, for example, used the 

forty-eight-week span of the 1982-1983 concert season to present his sevenconcert Beethoven cycle. Memorizing and performing these thirty-two

sonatas is the pianistic equivalent of climbing Mount Everest or running a

marathon race. They encompass the entire period of Beethoven’s compositional career, and range from sunny youthful works to the intense anguish

of his troubled later years. Using the periods of composition that are commonly accepted by musicologists—early (before 1802), middle (1802-1816),

and late (1816-1827) —one finds fifteen sonatas in the first period, twelve in 

the second, and five in the third.

Composed in 1809, Sonata no. 25 in G Majoris one ofBeethoven’s shorter

three-movement works, an average performance lasting no more than ten

minutes. The work begins with a Presto alia tedesca (Presto in the German

style), which presents a forceful and direct opening motive, heard throughout

the movement. The brief exposition is followed by a slightly longer development, leading swiftly back to the recapitulation and brief codetta. The Andante

is simple and elegant, set in ternary form, an effective contrast to the more

direct and energetic first movement. This sonata is sometimes given the nickname “The Cuckoo,” due to a descending minor third motifthat appears

frequently in the final Vivace, a witty rondo.

After completing his great “Appassionata” sonata, Beethoven did not

return to the form for five years. When he did, it was to compose the twomovement Sonata no. 24 in F-sharp Major, op. 78, which could not have been

4

more different from the “Appassionata.” Rumored to have been the composer’s favorite among his own piano sonatas, it is occasionally nicknamed

“A Therese,” since it was dedicated to the Countess Therese von Brunsvik.

As a whole, the sonata is charming and sunny in disposition, seemingly 

written by a man completely at peace with himself and the world. The first 

movement opens with a briefAndante cantahile introduction before the Allegro

section begins. The romping rondo Allegro vivace plays with dynamics, major

and minor modes and twists some thematic ideas from the first movement.

In 1801 Beethoven worked on and completed four piano sonatas, including the famous “Moonlight” sonata, and his op. 27, no. 1 “Quasi una fantasia,”

both ofwhich contain formally progressive ideas and elements. Sonata no. 15,

op. 28 (nicknamed “Pastoral” by his Hamburg publisher), composed later 

than those progressive sonatas, reverts to the classical four-movement style

of Beethoven’s earlier years. The first movement, much like the previous 

sonata on the program, is cheerful and easygoing, reflecting a contented composer. The lyrical Andante ofthe second movement ventures into the minor

mode, with a sustained melody singing on top ofstaccato accompaniment

in the bass. Beethoven shows his humorous side in the Scherzo, playing with

repeated notes in multiple registers ofthe piano. The rustic Allegro finale,

with its rollicking rhythm, earns the sonata its “Pastoral” moniker.

When asked about the meaning ofits two movements by Count Moritz

Lichnowsky, to whom Sonata no. 27 in E Minor, op. 90 is dedicated, Beethoven

is said to have replied that the first movement was “a struggle between the

head and the heart,” and the second represented “a conversation with the 

beloved.” The first movement, in standard sonata form, is conflicted and restless, always in the minor mode. The second movement is a gentle, flowing

rondo, in the contrasting major mode.

Set strictly in classical sonata form, Sonata no. 4 in E-Jlat Major, op. 7,

stands out as second in length only to the “Hammerklavier” sonata (op. 106),

written twenty years later. Symphonic in scope, the fourth sonata fits completely within the standards ofthe late classical period in which it was

5
written. The virtuosic first movement is a broad and confident example of

sonata-allegro form to the letter. The stately second movement provides a

contrasting mood, followed by what is essentially a classic minuet and trio

in the third movement. The finale is an unusually songlike rondo, which 

includes the requisite stormy episode, but nevertheless concludes sweetly.

Program notes by Danielle DeSwert Hahn

6

Upcoming Concerts at the National Gallery ofArt

Pro Musica Rara

Music by Marais, Rameau, and Telemann

Presented in honor of

Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings

from the National Gallery ofArt, 1500-1800

November 4, 2009

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building Lecture Hall

Yakov Kasman, pianist

Music by J. S. Bach, Prokofiev, Schumann,

Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky

November 8, 2009

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court