Eleven Bagatelles, Op. 119

History#

By the end of 1803, Beethoven had already sketched bagatelles Nos. 1 to 5 (along with several other short works for piano that he never published). In 1820, he first finished the last five bagatelles of Op. 119, and published them as a set of five in June 1821 for Wiener Pianoforteschule Schule by Friedrich Stark. The following year, he revised his old bagatelle sketches to construct a new collection for publication, adding a final bagatelle, No. 6, composed in late 1822. Initially, Beethoven struggled to get a deal to publish any of the bagatelles. It is unclear to what degree this represents the composer’s intentions. Some scholars have argued that the two halves of Op. 119 — Nos. 1 to 6, and Nos. 7 to 11 — are best thought of as separate collections. However, it is also possible that when Beethoven composed No. 6 in late 1822, he had already planned to send all eleven pieces to England. In that case, No. 6 would not be meant as a conclusion to the first five, but as a way to connect them with the latter five. The key relationship and thematic similarities between No. 6 and No. 7 support this hypothesis, as does the fact that in subsequent correspondence, Beethoven expressed only satisfaction with how the bagatelles were published in England after his ex-pupil Ferdinand Ries helped get the collection published.

Form#

There are 11 pieces in the set: #G minor. Allegretto: The opening piece is in ternary form with a coda. The A section in G minor uses two-note phrases. #C major. Andante con moto: This bagatelle uses a simple two-part structure ending with a short coda. There are two rhythmic ideas in this work: eighth notes and triplets as the melody. #D major. A l’Allemande: The form is ABA with an animated coda. #A major. Andante cantabile: This piece uses a brief ternary form with repeats at measures 8 and 16. #C minor. Risoluto: The structure is ABC, with A and B having 1 repeat. #G major. Andante — Allegretto: The piece opens with the Andante, which includes a cadenza styled passage after the fermata. The Allegretto section uses a general rhyme of two sixteenth notes and one eighth note. This section climaxes at a sudden change in the meter with rhythmic diminution, which leads into the section. The section uses a new rhythm of six 16th notes ending on an 8th note, before returning to a time signature and ending the piece with the theme from the Allegretto. #C major. Allegro, ma non troppo: The structure is ABA. Beethoven uses less conventional musical ideas that also appear in his late piano sonatas, such as progressive rhythmic diminution with sustained trills. #C major. Moderato cantabile: The eighth bagatelle’s structure is AB, with each part having one repeat. #A major. Allegramente: The shortest piece Beethoven published at just 13 measures long. The piece uses two four-bar phrases and ends with a four-bar coda. #B major. Andante, ma non troppo: The final piece in the set is in binary form with a codetta. The first four bars repeat once. This bagatelle highlighted Beethoven’s late compositional style.

See also#

• Bagatelles, Op. 33
• Bagatelles, Op. 126