The Beethoven Piano Sonata Series: Introduction Before Ludwig
van Beethoven (1770-1827) changed the direction of music
forever, he was a pianist...and a pretty good one to boot.
Beethoven could play fiddle too, but, then again, he was no
Paganini (though his Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 has
never been out of the repertoire and his 10 violin sonatas have
always been popular with the virtuosi). Often overlooked by
pedestrian classical music listeners are his monumental piano
sonatas, 32 of them. Haydn's 62 (or 65, depending on who you
ask) and Mozart's 18 piano sonatas are important and enjoyable,
but Beethoven's 32 stand like a musical Mount Everest there to
be scaled by the daring and talented. Like his symphonic music,
the depth and breadth of Beethoven as a composer is encompassed
in these solo piano pieces. And like his symphonic music,
Beethoven's piano sonatas fall conveniently into the three
creative periods of the composer's life, as defined by 200 years
of music scholarship. Early Period (1792-1