BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Friday, June 30, 1820 (approximate)

William Kinderman dates the autograph of the second movement of op.109 to the end of June; the first sketches for sonata op.110 also date from around this time. The first movement of op.109 had been completed in April, before Beethoven moved to Mödling. That first movement had started life as one of the piano bagatelles that Beethoven had promised Friedrich Starke, but Beethoven, encouraged by Oliva, decided to expand its scope significantly, and that rapidly became a plan for three interrelated piano sonatas.

Maurizio Pollini performs the second movement Prestissimo of Sonata #30, op.109 here: