page_title: Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges'
section_title: 20 ans
hierarchical_section_title: Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges' / Structure / 20 ans
caption_attribution_description: 20 ans, the first movement from Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges', composed by Charles-Valentin Alkan
context_page_description: Grande sonate: Les quatre âges is a four movement sonata for piano by Charles-Valentin Alkan. The sonata's title refers to the subtitles given to each movement, portraying a man at the ages of 20, 30, 40, and 50. The work is dedicated to the composer's father, Alkan Morhange, and was published in 1847.
  The sequence of movements is unlike the typical classical piano sonata, in that they become progressively slower; after the lively 20 ans, marked 'très vite' and the complex 30 ans, subtitled Quasi-Faust, and marked 'assez vite', 40 ans is more sedate, marked 'lentement', and 50 ans, dark and pessimistic in mood, is marked 'extrêmement lent'.
context_section_description: The sonata opens with 20 ans, a quickly played piece based in D major but also with many passages in the relative minor key of B minor. The young man's 'clumsiness' is marked for example by sudden 'wrong chords' – one in B♭ major is marked 'ridente' (Italian: laughing). The key, tempo and ternary form of this movement are similar to Frédéric Chopin's Scherzo No. 1 (Op. 20). The sonata thus marks itself from the start as different from any previous sonatas, by beginning effectively with a scherzo. The movement, albeit opens in D major, later changes into B minor after a slow, melodic section in B major, and ends with a B major flourish.
caption: The sonata begins with the optimistic 20 ans, played very quickly and lively.
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