30th Sonata, Opus 109, in E major.
Vivace ma non troppo—Prestissimo—Andante and Variations.
Dedicated to Maximiliana Brentano.
Written at the age of fifty, it seems possible that he poured into these later instrumental movements much that he felt was beyond the vocal forms of the great Mass in D which was occupying his thoughts at this time. The rhapsodic first movement with its light and happy figures, repeatedly broken in upon by the deeply expressive Adagio phrases; the remarkable uncouth Scherzo with the subject in the bass and the angelic variations, one in fugue form, and the other a tour de force with its thrilling pedals, the beatific return of the theme at the end, given this sonata a high place amongst the happiest conceptions of the master.