The Sonata in D Minor, Opus 31 No. 2, was written in 1802 and published the following year. Its popular name, "The Tempest" (Der Sturm), has more justification than many such titles, derived from a remark made the composer in reply to a question about the meaning of the Opus 57 sonata, to which he is said to have told his interlocutor to read Shakespeares's Tempest. the German musicologist Arnold Schering took matters further in providing a literary model for each sonata, comparing the Waldstein Sonata to Homer's Odyssey, Book 23. Sir Donald Tovey, in his commentary on the sonatas, suggested that those anxious to find Ariel and Caliban, the good and the villainous of the play in this sonata might "as well confine their attention to the exploits of the Scarlet Pimpernel when the Eroica or the C minor symphony is being played". The first movement of the sonata opens with a slow arpeggio followed by a rapid theme soon to be interrupted. The second movement, in B flat, contrasts upper and lower registers of the instrument in a way that must have enabled Beethoven to display his command of singing tone on the piano, one of the features of his playing praised by his contemporaries. The final movement is tripartite sonata form with all the energy of a perpetuum mobile. Multimedia Beethoven provides information about the following Beethoven's piano sonatas. This part is still under construction and soon another sonatas will be added.  [#8] [#14] [#17] [#23]
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