Piano Sonata No. 23 (Beethoven)

57 (colloquially known as the Appassionata, meaning "passionate" in Italian) is among the three famous piano sonatas of his middle period (the others being the Waldstein, Op.

It consists of a down-and-up arpeggio in dotted rhythm that cadences on the tonicized dominant, immediately repeated a semitone higher (in G♭).

This use of the Neapolitan chord (i.e. the flattened supertonic) is an important structural element in the work, also being the basis of the main theme of the finale.

As in Beethoven's Waldstein sonata, the coda is unusually long, containing quasi-improvisational arpeggios which span most of the early 19th-century piano's range.

A set of variations in D♭ major, on a theme remarkable for its melodic simplicity combined with the use of unusually thick voicing and a peculiar counter-melody in the bass.

Its sixteen bars (repeated) consist of nothing but common chords, set in a series of four- and two-bar phrases that all end on the tonic.

(see image) The four variations follow:[4] The fourth variation ends with a deceptive cadence containing the dominant 7th chord instead of the tonic that resolves to a soft diminished seventh on B♭ marked pp (pianissimo), followed by a much louder diminished seventh, marked ff (fortissimo), at an octave higher that serves as a transition (without pause) to the finale.