250. Heroic Measures

The Concert - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Works for solo piano by Beethoven, performed by Charlie Albright, piano on March 27, 2016.

• Beethoven: Sonata in E Major, Op. 109
• Beethoven: 15 Variations and Fugue in E-flat Major on an original theme "Eroica Variations" Op 35

You know when you just can’t get a tune out of your head? Well, starting around 1800, Beethoven seems to have had the tune from the finale of his ballet, The Creatures of Prometheus, stuck in his head for quite some time. After first appearing in the ballet, the melody—which would come be known as his “eroica” or “heroic” theme—popped up repeatedly in his works in the early 1800s.

As a sort of introduction to the variations, we’ll hear another Beethoven piano work: a late sonata, the Sonata in E Major, opus 109. Unlike many of Beethoven’s other late works, this one is quite compact. The piece has a slightly frenetic quality at times, hopping between different themes, different time signatures, different moods. The final movement is, again, a set of variations.

Both performances we’ll hear are taken from a concert given by the young pianist Charlie Albright at the Gardner in March 2016.