How to acheive this wide stretch legato?

Question

I am learning Piano Sonata no. 1 in F minor by Beethoven. It looks way easier than the Pathetique Sonata and in a sense it is. But the ending of the exposition for my right hand is quite a stretch. Not only that but it is legato as well, or at least as legato as possible with chords.

Here is the section I am talking about:

The right hand is easy until I reach those final 2 chords. The cluster in the left hand is very easy to play legato. But the right hand, as I have said several times already is not easy at all at that spot. In general, this is the fingering I use for that spot:

5 2 1

So yes, I have my first and second fingers a fourth apart. I then play the Eb, a 9th away from the lowest note in the right hand with my 5th finger like I would for any 9th interval. This is what happens if I do it legato without the pedal as Beethoven is asking me to do here:

First finger moves down by step making a very uncomfortable 10th interval stretch in my hand

Second finger leaps by third like an arpeggio making the 10th interval stretch even more uncomfortable

Fifth finger leaps down by fifth resolving the discomfort by going from a 10th interval stretch which I can't play with both notes ringing to a 6th interval which is very doable

And of course, this all happens simultaneously. But there is a moment when my hand is stretched to the interval of a 10th as I play the last 2 chords of the exposition. That is very uncomfortable for my hand and is also unplayable without arpeggiation. A 9th interval, like the interval between my first and fifth fingers that I start with in that chordal legato is actually playable but still uncomfortable making the largest comfortable interval an octave. Of course, it is situations like this that increase my flexibility but I doubt I will ever be able to play a 10th interval unless I am one of those that gets a growth spurt in my 20s.

Besides getting rid of the ninth interval and just having a fourth go to to an Ab major chord, how can I make this wide stretch legato more comfortable for my hand?

Answer 1

The last chord's top note should be played with the fourth finger. I would practice playing only the outer two notes of the last two chords at first, working on getting that as smooth as possible before adding in the middle note. Use the pedal slightly to connect the two chords, but no more.

You should not ever be playing a 10th in the RH in those measures. All the notes are meant to move at the same time and your hand should move completely in the same direction going to the second chord. It contracts as the thumb moves down to the lower note and pulls the higher fingers with it. Don't leave the pinky "behind". This will strain the hand!

Answer 2

The lack of a specific pedal indication doesn't mean Beethoven is telling you NOT to use the pedal. In fact, I see no way the musical effect could be produced WITHOUT pedal!

Careful with that decrescendo hairpin to the last note! Yes, sometimes notation tells us the required effect, not how to achieve it.

Answer 3

...there is a moment when my hand is stretched to the interval of a 10th as I play the last 2 chords of the exposition. That is very uncomfortable for my hand and is also unplayable without arpeggiation. A 9th interval, like the interval between my first and fifth fingers that I start with in that chordal legato is actually playable but still uncomfortable making the largest comfortable interval an octave. Of course, it is situations like this that increase my flexibility but I doubt I will ever be able to play a 10th interval unless I am one of those that gets a growth spurt in my 20s.

Besides getting rid of the ninth interval and just having a fourth go to to an Ab major chord, how can I make this wide stretch legato more comfortable for my hand?

Beethoven usually didn’t mark the pedal. (But in the Mondschein Sonate he marked senza sordino.)

In the first edition 1796 there’s no slur at all. In the 2nd edition you can see a hand written slur in the right hand.

As Caters tells in a comment:

I have rarely ever come across a situation where no pedal marking, just slurs for a legato marking = use the pedal to acheive this legato sound.

Listen to Schiff, Bollini, Barenboïm in Youtube:

They all use the pedal.

So use the pedal. That’s the answer!

Answer 4

You might pencil an X on those two legato markings in the treble and bass, because they appear to be an editor's addition. They are not in either the First Edition (Vienna, 1796) or First London Edition (1812) available at IMSLP. Nor do they appear in two modern urtext editions (ABRSM and Henle) I have that were based on these editions (the autograph is lost).

Just how legato or non legato (almost detached but not staccato, i.e., the default touch) you want to play them should be your musical decision based also, of course, on what you are able to do comfortably. I'm suggesting that you don't have to necessarily strive toward a goal based on markings that aren't Beethoven's. If you agree with the legato markings, that's fine, too.

As you play more, your stretch will improve. Like most of us, you'll probably enjoy returning to the pieces you're learning now -- perhaps several times -- in years to come.