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Hi, I started practising this piece since a month. I am still working in the first and second movement. But I was wondering how is it going to be the fugue part, since I have very little experience in fugue pieces.

I think that all the other parts I can handdle pretty well
Thanks Julio

The fugues are wonderful! Very different from Bach fugues, but similar in the need to bring out the separate melodies in each of the lines.

I just played through the last movement of this sonata, and found the intro to and section between the fugues more difficult because of the constant changes in the left-hand chords.

The coda is great fun, sort of like riding a rocking horse.

-merlin

There's a book:

Cockshoot\'s Beethoven Fugue Book

Will it help?

For some reason, I don't think you should just go and tackle the opus 110 fugue if you don't have fugal experience.

I second it.

Sorry to disagree. If you don't try to play it, then you will continue to have no fugal experience!

Nothing to lose.... just have fun and enjoy the music.

-merlin

In 1966 I went to a recital in Washington DC with Joao Carlos Martins playing Bach. At intermission, an ill-tempered old man (perhaps younger than I am now) complained that he didn't like Martins playing so much Bach. He felt that it was pretentious.

Who was he, I asked myself, to decide someone shouldn't play a piece? I felt then, and now, that if a musician plays a piece that anyone feels is inappropriate in any way, nothing bad happens. Nobody dies, gets limbs broken, or suffers in any way except for lost time or money, and that's a risk one knowingly takes in going to a performance.

If Opus 110 appeals, charge on in! You'll probably find unexpected difficulty, but what the hay...

I agree. You should try what you want within reason. I feel that if you aren't experienced in the 'art of fugue', you could grow more by learning and finishing 2-3 easier Fugues of Bach than by going halfway into Opus 110 only to quit.

Trying pieces that arent within your reach is a great experience. I used to go around trying to learn Beethoven's late sonatas and the Rachmaninoff sonatas... then it occured to me that I would grow more if I actually FINISHED something

To me, growing as a musician is like playing with building blocks. I plan on playing opus 110, but I feel like learning other Beethoven sonatas, Bach Fugues, other things, and growing as a musician in general will help build the ladder ( of building blocks ) I would use to reach the great fugue of opus 110.

Every piece of music I have played serves not only as great music, but also as a building block to reach my next goal. When I say out of reach, I mean literally. I can't jump from my little D maj fugue (Bk 2 to Opus 110. I would fall. Music takes patients

I am not trying to discourage anyone. Just keep that in mind.

Nice post. I can't agree with it more. I used to (and still do, but much less frequently) dabble around with difficult works that I couldn't yet handle either, such as the Chopin ballades and scherzi, some Liszt etudes and the more difficult Beethoven sonatas. But then I realized that it is just that much more fulfilling when I play a piece that I can actually get a good technical grasp of.

I agree with those who say that you should perhaps learn a few Bach fugues first. But I wouldn't discourage you from trying out the Op. 110 fugue either. It might just give you some inspiration to work on your abilities more.

I was messing around a bit with the Waldstein just recently. It was great to hear it under my own fingers, even though I could only manage about 4 pages of it. And it seemed to have a positive effect on the pieces I am seriously playing (Moonlight and Mozart K330) too, because it gave me some extra confidence.