When did Beethoven write his first piano sonata?
Piano sonatas (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his 32 piano sonatas between 1795 and 1822. Although originally not intended to be a meaningful whole, as a set they compose one of the most important collections of works in the history of music. Hans von Bülow called them "The New Testament" of the piano literature (Johann Sebastian Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier" being "The Old Testament").
Piano Sextet (Mendelssohn)
Felix Mendelssohn's Sextet in D major, Op. 110, MWV Q 16, for piano, violin, two violas, cello, and double bass was composed in April-May 1824, when Mendelssohn was only 15, the same time he was working on a comic opera "Die Hochzeit des Camacho". Its composition took place between the Viola Sonata and the Piano Quartet No. 3. It also preceded the famous Octet, Op. 20 by about a year. 1824 is also the probable year of the composition of the Clarinet Sonata. Like the latter, the Sextet was not published during the composer's lifetime. Its first edition was issued in 1868 as a part of a complete collection of Mendelssohn's works. Hence the misleading high opus number.
Piano Sonata No. 1 (Beethoven)
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2, No. 1, was written in 1795 and dedicated to Joseph Haydn. A typical performance of the entire work lasts about 17 to 20 minutes.
Benjamin Dale
Composed between 1902 and 1905 and dedicated to York Bowen, Dale's piano sonata is a large-scale virtuoso work in just two movements, the second of which combines slow movement, scherzo and finale in a set of variations, a form apparently influenced by Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio. Commentators have discerned various other influences and echoes within this eclectic work, including Liszt's Sonata in B Minor, Schumann's Fantasie in C, Balakirev's Islamey, Glazunov's first piano sonata and Wagner's Liebestod. In the opinion of Francis Pott, "the swirling arpeggiation and rich variety of gesture imply an attempted pianistic parallel to Wagnerian and Straussian orchestration, thus carrying the illusion of symphonic transcription to new places". According to Lisa Hardy, author of an extensive survey of British piano sonatas, "Dale's sonata was the first outstanding British piano sonata. Its harmonic language avoided the clichés of the Beethoven-Brahms style and utilized the resources of Straussian and Wagnerian chromaticism to an unprecedented level. In a sense, however, it marked the end of an era, as this was as far as late romantic harmonies could be taken." Despite entering the repertoire of concert pianists like York Bowen, Myra Hess, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Irene Scharrer and Moura Lympany, by the 1920s Dale's sonata had fallen out of fashion. In recent years, however, the work has been championed on CD by Peter Jacobs (on Continuum, 1992), Mark Bebbington (SOMM, 2010) and Danny Driver (Hyperion, 2011), contributing to a current revival of interest in Dale's music. It probably remains the single composition for which Dale is best known today.
Piano Sonata No. 2 (Beethoven)
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 2, No. 2, was published in 1796 and dedicated to Joseph Haydn.
Beethoven's musical style
Beethoven also produced numerous fragments of larger-scale works, including a symphonic movement (also written in C minor), a violin concerto, an oboe concerto, an early draft of his B-flat Piano concerto (both now vanished), and a concertante for piano, flute and bassoon. Scholars generally regard these early efforts as bland and uninspired and have concluded that his first efforts at writing in the classical sonata style (with the exception of his Wind Octet) were poorly conceived. Gustav Nottebohm, for example, wrote of Beethoven's Dressler Variations (WoO 63), "they show not a trace of contrapuntal independent part-writing. They are figural variations of the simplest kind". Téodor de Wyzewa considered his early "Kurfürsten Sonatas" written in 1783 (WoO 47) as merely "correct imitations of Haydn.". Considered as a whole, Beethoven's compositional efforts in Bonn demonstrate the importance of his move to Vienna in terms of the development of his musical style and the sophistication of his grasp of classical form and idiom.
Violin Romance No. 1 (Beethoven)
The Romance for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 in G major, Op. 40 is a composition for violin and orchestra by Ludwig van Beethoven, one of two such compositions, the other being Romance No. 2 in F major, Op. 50. It was written in 1802, four years after the second romance, and was published 1803, two years before the publication of the second. Thus, this romance was designated as Beethoven's first.
Piano Sonata No. 28 (Beethoven)
For the first time Beethoven used the German term "Hammerklavier" to refer to the piano (although it was the next of his sonatas, Op. 106, that became widely known as the "Hammerklavier" sonata).
Fugue
Ludwig van Beethoven was familiar with fugal writing from childhood, as an important part of his training was playing from "The Well-Tempered Clavier". During his early career in Vienna, Beethoven attracted notice for his performance of these fugues. There are fugal sections in Beethoven's early piano sonatas, and fugal writing is to be found in the second and fourth movements of the "Eroica Symphony" (1805). Beethoven incorporated fugues in his sonatas, and reshaped the episode's purpose and compositional technique for later generations of composers.
Piano Sonata Hob. XVI/20
The sonata stands out among Haydn's early keyboard works for its difficulty, dynamic contrasts and dramatic intensity. The British musicologist Richard Wigmore calls the sonata "Haydn's Appassionata", referring to Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23, Op. 57. The music critic Stephen Plaistow, writing in Gramophone, suggests that the sonata is "one of Haydn’s best and perhaps also the first great sonata for the piano by anybody".
Piano Sonatas Nos. 19 and 20 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor, Op. 49, No. 1, and Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major, Op. 49, No. 2, are short sonatas (and are considered relatively simple sonatas by some pianists) by Ludwig van Beethoven, published in 1805 (although the works were actually composed a decade earlier in 1795–96). Both works are approximately eight minutes in length, and are split into two movements. These sonatas are referred to as the "Leichte Sonaten" to be given to his friends and students.
Piano Sonata No. 18 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 18 in E major, Op. 31, No. 3, is a sonata for solo piano by Ludwig van Beethoven, the third and last of his Op. 31 piano sonatas. The work dates from 1802. The sonata was given the nickname "The Hunt" by a third party due to one of its themes being reminiscent of a horn call. A playful jocularity is maintained throughout the piece. However, as with many of Beethoven's early works, the 'jocular' style can be heard as a facade, concealing profound ideas and depths of emotion.
Piano Sonata No. 14 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor ""Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2, popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata", is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi.
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Beethoven)
The B-flat major Piano Concerto became an important display piece for the young Beethoven as he sought to establish himself after moving from Bonn to Vienna. He was the soloist at its premiere on 29 March 1795, at Vienna's Burgtheater in a concert marking his public debut. Prior to that, he had performed only in the private salons of the Viennese nobility. While the work as a whole is very much in the concerto style of Mozart, there is a sense of drama and contrast that would be present in many of Beethoven's later works. Beethoven himself apparently did not rate this work particularly highly, remarking to the publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister that, along with the Piano Concerto No. 1, it was "not one of my best." The version that he premiered in 1795 is the version that is performed and recorded today.
Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord (Bach)
Although the dating of Bach's three sonatas for viola da gamba and cembalo has presented problems for musicologists, because only an autograph score of the first sonata BWV 1027 survives, there is now general consensus that the works were written in Leipzig at some time in the late 1730s and early 1740s. Prior to that commentators had suggested that they dated from an earlier period when Bach was in Cöthen or even beforehand: the viola da gamba player Christian Ferdinand Abel was one of the court musicians of Prince Leopold at Cöthen. Bach moved to Leipzig as Thomaskantor in 1723 and in 1729 was appointed director of the Collegium Musicum, a chamber music society that put on weekly concerts at the Café Zimmermann.
Cello Sonata No. 3 (Beethoven)
In the course of his life Beethoven composed five sonatas for cello and piano. The Op. 69 was the first he had written since his Op. 5 over a decade earlier. Mark Kaplan writes: "In general, the writing in op. 69 is thinner than in the early cello sonatas ... greater compositional technique allowed Beethoven the possibility of using fewer notes with confidence." The contemporary cellist Steven Isserlis describes it as the first cello sonata in history to give the two instruments equal importance.
Piano Sonata No. 23 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 (colloquially known as the Appassionata, meaning "passionate" in Italian) is among the three famous piano sonatas of his middle period (the others being the "Waldstein", Op. 53 and "Les Adieux", Op. 81a); it was composed during 1804 and 1805, and perhaps 1806, and was dedicated to Count Franz von Brunswick. The first edition was published in February 1807 in Vienna.
Piano Sonata No. 15 (Beethoven)
Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. The name Pastoral or Pastorale became known through A. Cranz publishing of Beethoven's work, but was first coined by a London publisher, Broderip & Wilkinson. While not as famous as its immediate predecessor, Piano Sonata No. 14, it is generally admired for its intricate technicality as well as for its beauty. The sonata takes roughly twenty-five minutes to play with its intended repeats.
Piano sonatas (Boulez)
Boulez's First Piano Sonata, completed in 1946, has two movements. It was his first twelve-tone serial work (together with his Sonatine for flute and piano), and he originally intended to dedicate it to René Leibowitz, but their friendship ended when Leibowitz tried to make "corrections" to the score (, quoted without a page reference in ).
Piano Trio, WoO. 38 (Beethoven)
The Piano Trio in E-flat major, WoO. 38 is a composition for piano trio by Ludwig van Beethoven, that was discovered amongst Beethoven's papers following his death. It is believed to have been composed in either 1790 or 1791. More conventional in nature than the Piano Trios Op.1, the composition was not published until 1830 by F. P. Dunst in Frankfurt, along with the Allegretto for Piano Trio in B-flat major, WoO. 39 and Piano Sonata in C major, WoO. 51.
Piano Sonata No. 27 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90 was written in the summer of 1814 – Beethoven's late Middle period – and was dedicated to Prince Moritz von Lichnowsky, a friend and benefactor who was also the dedicatee of the famous "Eroica Variations".
Piano Sonata No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 9 in E major, Op. 14, No. 1, is an early-period work by Ludwig van Beethoven, dedicated to Baroness Josefa von Braun, one of his patrons at that time. It was composed in 1798 and arranged for string quartet by the composer in 1801 (Hess 34), the result containing more quartet-like passagework and in the more comfortable key of F major.
Ludwig van Beethoven
He also explored new directions and gradually expanded the scope and ambition of his work. Some important pieces from the early period are the first and second symphonies, the set of six string quartets Opus 18, the first two piano concertos, and the first dozen or so piano sonatas, including the famous "Pathétique" sonata, Op. 13.
Choral Fantasy (Beethoven)
The Fantasia was first performed at the Akademie (benefit concert) of 22 December 1808, which also saw the premieres of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and the Fourth Piano Concerto as well as a performance of excerpts of the Mass in C major. To conclude this memorable concert program, Beethoven wanted a "brilliant Finale" that would unite in a single piece the different musical elements highlighted in the concert night: piano solo, chorus and orchestra. The Fantasia, Op. 80, written shortly prior, was thus composed expressly to fulfil this role. Beethoven himself played the piano part and the opening solo offers an example of his improvisational style (at the premiere he did, in fact, improvise this section).
Piano Trios, Op. 70 (Beethoven)
These pieces are representative of Beethoven's "Middle" stylistic period, which went from roughly 1803 to 1812, and which included many of his most famous works. Beethoven wrote the two piano trios while spending the summer of 1808 in Heiligenstadt, Vienna, where he had completed his Symphony No. 5 the previous summer. He wrote the two trios immediately after finishing his "Sinfonia pastorale", Symphony No. 6. This was a period of uncertainty in Beethoven's life, in particular because he had no dependable source of income at the time.
Piano Sonata No. 14 (Beethoven)
The piece is one of Beethoven's most popular compositions for the piano, and it was a popular favorite even in his own day. Beethoven wrote the "Moonlight Sonata" in his early thirties, after he had finished with some commissioned work; there is no evidence that he was commissioned to write this sonata.
Piano sonata
All the well-known Classical era composers, especially Joseph Haydn, Muzio Clementi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven, wrote many piano sonatas. Muzio Clementi wrote more than 110 piano sonatas. He is well known as "The Father of the Pianoforte". Clementi's Opus 2 was the first real piano sonata composed. The much younger Franz Schubert also wrote many.
String Trios, Op. 9 (Beethoven)
The three String Trios, Op. 9 were composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1797–98. He published them in Vienna in 1799, with a dedication to his patron Count Johann Georg von Browne (1767–1827). They were first performed by the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh with two colleagues from his string quartet. According to the violinist and conductor Angus Watson, these were probably Franz Weiss on viola and either Nikolaus Kraft or his father Anton on cello. Each of the trios consists of four movements:Although this opus does not contain the most played works by Beethoven it was a significant milestone in his development as a composer. At the time of publication the 28-year-old Beethoven regarded the trios as his best compositions. The trios can be seen as a part of the preparation for the upcoming string quartets, which became the leading genre among his chamber music. The musicologist Gerald Abraham has remarked that in terms of their style and aesthetic value the string trios of Op. 9 rank with Beethoven's first string quartets which ousted the trios from the concert halls. Beethoven composed no further trios after the first quartets (Op. 18) were published in 1801. Each trio is of four movements with sonata form in the first movements, suggesting that Beethoven did not intend them to be light chamber pieces.
Arpeggione Sonata
The Sonata in A minor for Arpeggione and Piano, D. 821, was written by Franz Schubert in Vienna in November 1824. The sonata is the only substantial composition for the arpeggione (which was essentially a bowed guitar) which remains extant today. The sonata was composed in November 1824, about a month after he had returned to Vienna from his second stay in Zseliz.
Piano sonatas (Beethoven)
After he wrote his first 15 sonatas (up to Op. 28), he wrote to Wenzel Krumpholz, "From now on, I'm going to take a new path." Beethoven's sonatas from this period are very different from his earlier ones. His experimentation in modifications to the common sonata form of Haydn and Mozart became more daring, as did the depth of expression. Most Romantic period sonatas were highly influenced by those of Beethoven. After 1804, Beethoven ceased publishing sonatas in sets and only composed them as a single opus. It is unclear why he did so.
Piano Sonata No. 31 (Beethoven)
In the summer of 1819 Moritz Schlesinger, from the Schlesinger firm of music publishers based in Berlin, met Beethoven and asked to purchase some compositions. After some negotiation by letter, and despite the publisher's qualms about Beethoven's retaining the rights for publication in England and Scotland, Schlesinger agreed to purchase 25 songs for 60 ducats and three piano sonatas at 90 ducats (Beethoven had originally asked 120 ducats for the sonatas). In May 1820 Beethoven agreed, the songs (Op. 108) already being available, and he undertook to deliver the sonatas within three months. These three sonatas are the ones now known as Opp. 109–111.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven's early years in Bonn arguably represent a further, preliminary, period. His earliest known composition was from 1782, and a total of 40 pieces by him dating from 1792 or earlier are known today (though mainly from much later sources). Today his best-known works from before 1790 are three piano quartets and three piano sonatas, the quartets being closely modelled on Mozart's sonatas for piano and violin. From 1790–1802, his best music can be found in a cantata and a number of concert arias, and in some variations for solo piano, while his instrumental music (including movements of symphonies and a violin concerto, as well as various fragmentary chamber works) is conservative and uninspired.
Cello Sonatas Nos. 4 and 5 (Beethoven)
The Sonatas for cello and piano No. 4 in C major, Op. 102, No. 1, and No. 5 in D major, Op. 102, No. 2, by Ludwig van Beethoven were composed simultaneously in 1815 and published in 1817 with a dedication to the Countess , a close friend and confidante of Beethoven's.
Piano Sonata No. 10 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 10 in G major, Op. 14, No. 2, composed in 1798–1799, is an early-period work by Ludwig van Beethoven, dedicated to Baroness Josefa von Braun. A typical performance lasts 15 minutes. While it is not as well known as some of the more original sonatas of Beethoven's youth, such as the "Pathétique" or "Moonlight" sonatas, Donald Francis Tovey described it as an 'exquisite little work.'
Piano Sonata No. 28 (Beethoven)
Beethoven himself described this sonata, composed in the town of Baden, just south of Vienna, during the summer of 1816, as "a series of impressions and reveries." The more intimate nature of the late sonatas probably has some connection with his deafness, which by this stage was almost total, isolating him from society so completely that his only means of communicating with friends and visitors was by means of a notebook.
Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 (Beethoven)
Cello Sonatas No. 1 and No. 2, Op. 5, are two sonatas for cello and piano written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1796, while he was in Berlin. While there, Beethoven met the King of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm II, an ardent music-lover and keen cellist. Although the sonatas are dedicated to Friedrich Wilhelm II, Ferdinand Ries tells us that Beethoven "played several times at the court, where he also played the two cello sonatas, opus 5, composed for Duport (the King's first cellist) and himself". Although Jean-Pierre Duport was one of the King's teachers, it is now thought to have been his brother Jean-Louis Duport who had the honor of premiering these sonatas.
Beethoven's violin sonatas
Ludwig van Beethoven composed the following Violin sonatas between 1798 and 1812.
Piano Sonata No. 6 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10, No. 2, was dedicated to the Countess Anne Margarete von Browne, and written from 1796 to 1798.
Beethoven's musical style
Beethoven's musical output has traditionally been divided into three periods, a classification that dates to the first years after the composer's death in 1827 and was formalised with the publication of Wilhelm von Lenz's influential work "Beethoven et ses trois styles" (Beethoven and his Three Styles). Lenz proposed that Beethoven's creative output be marked by three periods of distinct stylistic personality and he identified specific compositions as milestones for each period. In Lenz's work, the first period opens with Beethoven's Trio set, Opus 1 and culminates with the performances in 1800 of his first symphony and Septet. The second period spans the period from the publication of his Moonlight Sonata to the Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 90 in 1814. The last period covers Beethoven's mature works to his death in 1827.
George Bridgetower
He was given leave to visit his mother and brother (a cellist) in Dresden in 1802, giving concerts there. He visited Vienna later in 1803, where he performed with Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven was impressed, and dedicated his great Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major (Op.47) to Bridgetower, with the goodheartedly mocking dedication "Sonata per un mulattico lunatico". Barely finished, the piece received its first public performance at a concert in the Augarten on 24 May 1803, with Beethoven on pianoforte and Bridgetower on violin. Bridgetower had to read the violin part of the second movement from Beethoven's copy, over his shoulder. He made a slight amendment to his part, which Beethoven gratefully accepted, jumping up to say "Noch einmal, mein lieber Bursch!" ("Once more, my dear fellow!"). Beethoven also presented Bridgetower with his tuning fork, now held by the British Library. The pair fell out soon afterwards, Bridgetower having insulted a woman who turned out to be Beethoven's friend; Beethoven broke off all relations with Bridgetower and changed the dedication of the new violin sonata to the violin virtuoso Rudolphe Kreutzer, who never played it, saying that it had already been performed once and was too difficult — the piece is now known as the "Kreutzer Sonata". The Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Rita Dove dramatized the relationship between Beethoven and Bridgetower in the book-length lyric narrative "Sonata Mulattica".
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Beethoven)
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19, by Ludwig van Beethoven was composed primarily between 1787 and 1789, although it did not attain the form it was published as until 1795. Beethoven did write another finale for it in 1798 for performance in Prague, but that is not the finale that it was published with. It was used by the composer as a vehicle for his own performances as a young virtuoso, initially intended with the Bonn Hofkapelle. It was published in 1801 following Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, which actually had been composed well after this piece in 1796 and 1797.
Viola Sonata (Mendelssohn)
Felix Mendelssohn composed his Viola Sonata in C minor, MWV Q 14, when he was only 15 years old. The autograph score is dated 14 February 1824. The work was not published in Mendelssohn's lifetime - in fact not until 1966 - and it was not assigned an opus number. Although he did reuse one of the themes from the minuet movement in the equivalent movement of his First Symphony.
Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 (Beethoven)
In the early 19th century, sonatas for piano and instrument were usually advertised as piano sonatas with instrumental accompaniment. Beethoven's first violin sonatas, for instance, were published as "sonatas for piano with accompaniment by the violin." The cello sonata was especially so plagued, as it grew out of sonatas for continuo; as late as the beginning of the 19th century it was still common for the cello in cello sonatas to double the left hand of the piano part, with the piano right hand playing "obbligato" figurations and melodies. Beethoven, indeed, is credited with composing one of the first cello sonatas with a written-out piano part.
Piano Quartets (Beethoven)
Beethoven later reused material from the C major quartet for two of his early Piano Sonatas: No. 1 and No. 3. In Beethoven's original manuscript, the work in C major comes first, followed by E-flat major and D major. When the quartets were published after his death by Artaria in Vienna, there were in a different order: E-flat major, D major and C major.
Albert Ketèlbey
Ketèlbey's early compositions are classical and orthodox in form, reflecting the training at Trinity College. The first substantial work was a piano sonata (1888); it was followed by a Caprice for piano and orchestra (1892), a Concertstück for piano and orchestra (circa 1893) and a piano concerto in G minor (1895). Ketèlbey's piano writing was notable for its brilliance, and the composer's own performance of the solo part of the Concertstück brought out that quality. As a student, Ketèlbey composed a cadenza for the first movement of Beethoven's First Piano Concerto, judged "clever and effective" in performance in 1890.
Piano Sonata No. 1 (Mozart)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 1 in C major, K. 279 / 189d (1774), is a piano sonata in three movements. It was written down, except for the first part of the opening movement, during the visit Mozart paid to Munich for the production of "La finta giardiniera" from late 1774 to the beginning of the following March. A typical performance of the sonata takes about 14 minutes. It is the first of his 18 piano sonatas. All but two of the sonatas, No. 8 in A minor and No. 14 in C minor, are in a major key. Also, the first six sonatas seem to follow the cycle of fifths, to the flat side first (No. 1 in C major, No. 2 in F major, No. 3 in B-flat major, No. 4 in E-flat major) and then to the sharp side (No. 5 in G major, No. 6 in D major).
Sonata
It is difficult to overstate the importance of Beethoven's output of sonatas: 32 piano sonatas, plus sonatas for cello and piano or violin and piano, forming a large body of music that would over time increasingly be thought essential for any serious instrumentalist to master.
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15, was written in 1795, then revised in 1800. The first performance took place on 18 December 1795 in Vienna with Beethoven himself as soloist. It was first published in 1801 in Vienna with dedication to his pupil Princess Anna Louise Barbara Odescalchi (née Countess von Keglević), known to her friends as "Babette".
Violin Sonata No. 1 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 1 in D major is a violin sonata from his Op. 12 set, along with his Violin Sonata No. 2 and Violin Sonata No. 3. It was written in 1798 and dedicated to Antonio Salieri. Being an early work written around the period when Beethoven studied with Haydn, the sonata is for the most part written in a classical style much like that of Mozart or Haydn.
Piano Sonata No. 3 (Beethoven)
The first movement follows the sonata allegro format of the classical period, and borrows thematically from Beethoven's Piano Quartet No. 3 in C major, WoO 36, from a decade earlier. The movement opens with the main theme in the tonic key, beginning with a double-thirds trill-like pattern. This opening passage is infamous for pianists to play, and Arthur Rubinstein even used this passage to test pianos before performing on them. This pattern leads into an energetic outburst of a broken-chord and broken-octave section. The second theme of the exposition begins in the key of G minor, and is repeated in D minor at measure 33. It is not until measure 47 that the traditional dominant key is finally reached, where a subsidiary theme in the second thematic group appears, marked "dolce." A forte shows later, leading to a very rich melody with left and right hand. Then a similar outburst of a broken-chord and broken-octave sections appears in fortissimo. Then it ends with some difficult trills and an octave scale. Beethoven opens the development by improvising on trill patterns introduced in the end of the exposition, which are much more difficult to play. Following a broken-chords section filled with harmony changes, the main theme is restated in D major (pianissimo), the supertonic key of C major. Then a fortissimo and Beethoven's very common syncopations appears in the music giving a rhythm, this continues on to the resolution. The recapitulation is a key change from G major to C major, which is finished by a cadenza, which begins with a sudden A-flat major chord. The cadenza is very light and vibrant and it ends with a long trill and descending chromatic scale in the right hand. The first movement is about 10 minutes long and is one of Beethoven's longest movements from his early period.
Violin Sonata No. 9 (Beethoven)
Referring to Beethoven's composition, Leo Tolstoy's novella "The Kreutzer Sonata" was first published in 1889. That novella was adapted in various stage and film productions, contributing to Beethoven's composition becoming known to the general public.
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Beethoven)
Although this was Beethoven's first piano concerto to be published, it was actually his third attempt at the genre, following an unpublished piano concerto in E-flat major of 1784 (not to be confused with Beethoven's more famous "Emperor" concerto, also in E-flat) and the Piano Concerto No. 2. The latter was published in 1801 in Leipzig after the Piano Concerto No. 1, but was composed over a period of years, perhaps beginning ca. 1788. Its first performance took place on 29 March 1795, several months before the concerto now referred to customarily as "No. 1".
Robert Birchall
Birchall enjoyed a collaboration with composer Ludwig van Beethoven, which began in May 1805 with the publication of Beethoven's Violin Sonata in A major (Op. 47). Birchall also published the original English editions of the piano adaption of "Wellington's Victory" (Op. 91), the Violin Sonata in G Major (Op. 96), the Piano Trio in B flat major (Op. 97), and Anton Diabelli's piano adaptation of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. He purchased the copyrights for these four works from Beethoven in 1815. During his later years, Birchall's correspondence with Beethoven also mentioned other possible projects, but these never came to fruition; this was partly a result of Beethoven's high fees and Birchall's declining health. In addition to Beethoven's works, Birchall printed various glees, country dance books, and Italian vocal works. He also published works by George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach, including the first English edition of the "Well-Tempered Clavier" in 1810 edited by Samuel Wesley and Charles Frederick Horn. After Birchall's death, his employee Christopher Lonsdale took over the firm.
Piano pedals
Beethoven took advantage of the ability of his piano to create a wide range of tone color in two of his piano works. In his Piano Concerto No. 4, Beethoven specifies the use of una corda, due corde, and tre corde. He calls for una corda, then "poco a poco due ed allora tutte le corde", gradually two and then all strings, in Sonata Op. 106.
Piano Sonata in A major, D 664 (Schubert)
The A major sonata is straightforward, with a dulcet melodic opening. It was the first of Schubert's piano sonatas where the sonata form as perfected by his idol, Beethoven, does not seem wrestled with; rather, it is a "joyous breakthrough", a carefree triumph over strict rules of construction.
Piano Sonata No. 27 (Beethoven)
Beethoven's previous piano sonata, popularly known as "Les Adieux", was composed almost five years prior to Op. 90. Beethoven's autograph survives and is dated 16 August. The sonata was published almost a year later, in June 1815, by S. A. Steiner, after a few corrections were made by Beethoven. Beethoven's letter to Prince Moritz von Lichnowsky, sent in September 1814, explains Beethoven's dedication:
Piano Concerto No. 0 (Beethoven)
Beethoven most likely composed this concerto in 1784, when he was still in Bonn. During this time period, Mozart had not yet composed his Symphonies No, 39, 40, or 41. Beethoven went to Vienna in 1792 at the age of 21.
Piano Sonata No. 7 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10, No. 3, was dedicated to the Countess Anne Margarete von Browne, and written in 1798. This makes it contemporary with his three Op. 9 string trios, his three Op. 12 violin sonatas, and the violin and orchestra romance that became his Op. 50 when later published. The year also saw the premiere of a revised version of his second piano concerto, whose original form had been written and heard in 1795.
Ludwig van Beethoven
In May 1799, he taught piano to the daughters of Hungarian Countess Anna Brunsvik. During this time, he fell in love with the younger daughter Josephine who has therefore been identified as one of the more likely candidates for the addressee of his letter to the "Immortal Beloved" (in 1812). Shortly after these lessons, Josephine was married to Count Josef Deym. Beethoven was a regular visitor at their house, continuing to teach Josephine, and playing at parties and concerts. Her marriage was by all accounts happy (despite initial financial problems), and the couple had four children. Her relationship with Beethoven intensified after Deym died suddenly in 1804.
He also had a few other students. From 1801 to 1805, he tutored Ferdinand Ries, who went on to become a composer and later wrote "Beethoven remembered", a book about their encounters. The young Carl Czerny studied with Beethoven from 1801 to 1803. Czerny went on to become a renowned music teacher himself, instructing Franz Liszt, and on 11 February 1812 gave the Vienna premiere of Beethoven's fifth piano concerto (the "Emperor").
Violin sonata
Beethoven wrote ten violin sonatas throughout his composing career. His sonatas matured in both style and complexity; the Ninth (Kreutzer) Sonata is a work of extreme contrasts. A rendition typically lasts forty minutes and is very demanding on both players.
Violin Sonata No. 10 (Beethoven)
The Violin Sonata No. 10 of Ludwig van Beethoven in G major, his Opus 96, was written in 1812, published in 1816, and dedicated to Beethoven's pupil Archduke Rudolph Johannes Joseph Rainier of Austria, who gave its first performance, together with the violinist Pierre Rode.
Piano Sonata No. 28 (Beethoven)
Beethoven offered the sonata for publication in a letter to Breitkopf and Härtel on July 19, 1816, when it was still far from complete. Eventually it was sold to the local Viennese publisher Sigmond Anton Steiner, after its completion. It was published in January 1817, and would appear in public the following month after delays.
List of compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven
The numbering of Beethoven's twelve piano trios is fairly arbitrary, and other than the three trios in Op. 1 as being Nos. 1 through 3, sources including both recordings and authoritative publications use other numberings from those shown here, or more frequently, none at all. It is more usual to identify a piano trio only by its catalog number and key.In addition to the 32 celebrated sonatas, Beethoven's work for solo piano includes many one-movement pieces, more than twenty sets of variations, most unpublished in his lifetime or published without opus number, and over thirty bagatelles, including the well-known "Für Elise".While he completed only one opera, Beethoven wrote vocal music throughout his life, including two Mass settings, other works for chorus and orchestra (in addition to the Ninth Symphony), arias, duets, art songs (lieder), and true song cycles.
Joseph Linke
He moved to Vienna in 1808, and became the cellist in a string quartet which Count Andrey Razumovsky had commissioned the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh to set up; Schuppanzigh's quartet gave concerts in the Count's palace. In December 1808, Schuppanzigh, Linke and Beethoven gave the first performances of Beethoven's two piano trios Op. 70, and in 1814 they gave the first performance of Beethoven's Piano Trio Op. 97 (the "Archduke Trio"). In 1815 Beethoven wrote for Linke the two Cello Sonatas Op. 102.
Piano Quartets (Beethoven)
Each quartet is in three movements. They are listed in the order of the original manuscript:In the exposition of the first movement, Beethoven wrote a piano sonata with string accompaniment, but in the development and recapitulation, they play a more individual role. The third movement is in Rondo-sonata form. The theme is introduced by the piano and then taken by the violin. The first episode is accompanied by plucked strings. A second episode is in A minor.
Piano Sonata Hob. XVI/20
The "Sonata" in C minor (Hob. XVI/20, L. 33) is a keyboard sonata composed by Joseph Haydn in 1771. It is also referred to as a piano sonata. The three-movement work was published by Artaria in 1780 in a set of six sonatas dedicated to the sisters Katharina and Marianna Auenbrugger.
Piano Sonata No. 23 (Beethoven)
One of his greatest and most technically challenging piano sonatas, the "Appassionata" was considered by Beethoven to be his most tempestuous piano sonata until the twenty-ninth piano sonata (known as the "Hammerklavier"). 1803 was the year Beethoven came to grips with the irreversibility of his progressively deteriorating hearing.
Piano Sonatas Nos. 13 and 14 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's opus number 27 is a set of two piano sonatas. They were published separately in March 1802. Both sonatas are entitled "Sonata quasi una Fantasia", which roughly translated as sonatas in the style of a fantasia. The second sonata is one of the most famous piano works in the repertoire and often called the "Moonlight sonata", a contentious name not given by the composer himself. The first sonata remains far less performed than the second and the two sonatas are not commonly performed together.
Piano Sonata No. 1 (Beethoven)
The first movement, in time, is in sonata form. The first theme is driven by an ascending arpeggiated figure (Mannheim Rocket), very similar to the opening of the fourth movement of Mozart's Symphony No. 40. The second theme, in A major, is accompanied by eighth-note octaves in the bass (usually with dominant harmony). There are two codettas; the first consists of a series of energetic descending scales in A major, and the second is a lyrical passage marked "con espressione". In this second codetta and in the second theme Beethoven makes interesting use of mode mixture as the right hand parts borrows from the parallel minor. The development opens with the initial theme, but is mostly dedicated to the second theme and its eighth-note accompaniment. The retransition to the main theme uses its sixteenth-note triplet. The recapitulation repeats the material from the exposition without much change, except that it stays in F minor throughout. There is a short coda. A tense, agitated feel is ubiquitous throughout the movement. Within the entire movement there seem to be two primary themes, with the remaining melodies simply making up the rest of score. The first theme consists of bars 1–8 which then repeat themselves, with very slight variations, in bars 101–108. It is variated in a bigger scale from bars 49–54. The second theme lasts from 20–35, and like the first theme is then restated in slight variations, in 55–60. It is also restated in bars 119–124.
The second movement opens with a highly ornamented lyrical theme in time in F major. This movement is in ternary form. This is followed by a more agitated transitional passage in D minor accompanied by quiet parallel thirds, followed by a passage full of thirty-second notes in C major. This leads back to a more embellished form of the F major theme, which is followed by an F major variation of the C major section. This Adagio is the earliest composition by Beethoven now in general circulation; it was adapted from the slow movement of his Piano Quartet No. 3 in C major from 1785.
Piano Sonata No. 16 (Beethoven)
Due to his dissatisfaction with the classical style of music, Beethoven pledged to take a new path of musical composition and style. The Opus 31 works are the first examples of Beethoven's new and unconventional ideas, an attempt to make a name for himself in the annals of music history. For example, the first movement, unlike most sonata allegro forms, which the second theme of the exposition is dominant, the second theme is in B major and B minor, the mediant of the original key. Beethoven would later continue to use the mediant and submediant as expositional goals for major-key sonata-form movements, such as the first movements of the Waldstein and Hammerklavier sonatas, the Archduke trio, the triple concerto and the thirteenth string quartet, as well as the finale to the seventh symphony. It is important to take into account that these pieces were written after the famous Heiligenstadt Testament of 1802.
Piano sonata
The 32 sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven, including the well-known "Pathétique Sonata" and the "Moonlight Sonata", are often considered the pinnacle of piano sonata composition.
Piano Sonata (Martinů)
Bohuslav Martinů's Piano Sonata, H. 350 was written in Nice in the last months of 1954 for Rudolf Serkin, who premiered it in Düsseldorf in 1957 coupled with Ludwig van Beethoven's Sonata No. 29. The first performance in the Eastern Bloc took place in Brno later that year, by Eliška Nováková.
Three Piano Sonatas, WoO 47 (Beethoven)
The Three Early Piano Sonatas, WoO 47, "Kurfürstensonaten" were composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1782 and 1783, when he was twelve and thirteen years old. The sonatas show a certain level of precocity and serve as a precursor to the masterworks he later produced. They are dedicated to the Elector (Kurfürst) Maximilian Frederick.
Piano Sonata No. 24 (Beethoven)
Maynard Solomon wrote that this and the "Appassionata" sonata, Op. 57, were Beethoven's favorite of his piano sonatas prior to the "Hammerklavier".
Opus number
To indicate the specific place of a given work within a music catalogue, the opus number is paired with a cardinal number; for example, Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor (1801) (nicknamed "Moonlight Sonata") is "Opus 27, No. 2", whose work-number identifies it as a companion piece to "Opus 27, No. 1" (Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, 1800–01), paired in same opus number, with both being subtitled "Sonata quasi una Fantasia", the only two of the kind in all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas. Furthermore, the "Piano Sonata, Op. 27 N° 2, in C-sharp minor" is also catalogued as "Sonata No. 14", because it is the fourteenth sonata composed by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Piano Sonata No. 24 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 24 in F major, Op. 78, nicknamed "à Thérèse" (because it was written for Countess Thérèse von Brunswick) was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1809. It consists of two movements:
Piano sonatas (Beethoven)
Beethoven's piano sonatas came to be seen as the first cycle of major piano pieces suited to concert hall performance. Being suitable for both private and public performance, Beethoven's sonatas form "a bridge between the worlds of the salon and the concert hall".
Piano Sonata in A minor, D 845 (Schubert)
The Piano Sonata in A minor D.845 (Op.42) by Franz Schubert is a sonata for solo piano. Composed in May 1825 and entitled "Premiere Grande Sonata," it is the first of three sonatas published during the composer's lifetime, the others being D.850 and D.894. Conceived as a set, these works were composed during what was reportedly a period of relatively good health and spirits for Schubert, and are praised for their quality and ambition. This first sonata in particular marks a significant step toward the composer’s mature piano sonata style; the format and several characteristic stylistic elements continue through the last.
Violin Sonata No. 1 in D major (Schubert)
Sonatina in D major is a music composition by the German composer Franz Schubert written for the violin and piano. Schubert wrote the piece in 1816 along with his two other violin and piano sonatas, together forming the sonatinas Op. 137.
Leopold Koželuch
Koželuch's substantial output of keyboard compositions reflected the promotion of his reputation as a specialist keyboard virtuoso. Christopher Hogwood argues that Koželuch's keyboard sonatas, especially those which open in minor keys, "substantially anticipated ... the tragic-pathetic manner" of Beethoven and Schubert, and that in them he "created the internationally praised "cantabile" idiom". Hogwood further states that "Koželuch's sonatas are, in the true sense, 'classics'—that is to say, 'models for imitation and study'—and display to perfection precisely those features that theorists required of a sonata at the end of the 18th century. The oeuvre of sonatas spans almost the entirety of Koželuch's career: the first was composed in 1773; the final three date from after 1810. The sonatas cater for different purposes. Some are exhibitionist works; some are simpler; some are cast in a Romantic style that foreshadows Beethoven. In the third category, Koželuch was composing slow minor-key introductions to sonatas as much as 17 years before Beethoven composed his Piano Sonata No. 8 ("Pathetique"), while neither Mozart nor Haydn ever did so. Koželuch's composed his sonatas to be played on the newly emerging fortepiano rather than the harpsichord. The popularity of the sonatas in turn helped to make the fortepiano fashionable.
String Quartets Nos. 1–6, Op. 18 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Op. 18, published in 1801 by T. Mollo et Comp in Vienna in two books of three quartets each, consisted of his first six string quartets. They were composed between 1798 and 1800 to fulfill a commission for Prince Joseph Franz Maximilian Lobkowitz, who was the employer of Beethoven's friend, the violinist Karl Amenda. They are thought to demonstrate his total mastery of the classical string quartet as developed by Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The order of publication (numbering within the opus) does not correspond to the order of composition. Beethoven composed these quartets in the sequence 3, 1, 2, 5, 4, 6. See:
Polonaise, Op. 89 (Beethoven)
The Polonaise in C major, Op. 89, by Ludwig van Beethoven is a polonaise for solo piano, published in 1815. He composed it in December 1814, at a time when the polonaise was becoming a popular dance and class marker among the European nobility. Beethoven was presented as a prominent artist at the ongoing Congress of Vienna, where he met the visiting Russian Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna. He dedicated the polonaise to the Empress, and was compensated with a sum of 50 ducats. The piece is Beethoven's first and only published standalone polonaise, and is notable as a precursor to Chopin's more well-known polonaises.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven's love life was hampered by class issues. In late 1801, he met a young countess, Julie ("Giulietta") Guicciardi, through the Brunsvik family, at a time when he was giving regular piano lessons to Josephine Brunsvik. He mentions his love for Julie in a November 1801 letter to his boyhood friend, Franz Wegeler, but he could not consider marrying her, due to the class difference. He later dedicated his Sonata No. 14, now commonly known as the "Moonlight sonata", to her.
His relationship with Josephine Brunsvik deepened after the death in 1804 of her aristocratic first husband, the Count Joseph Deym. He wrote Josephine 15 passionate love letters from late 1804 to around 1809/10. Although his feelings were obviously reciprocated, Josephine was forced by her family to withdraw from him in 1807. She cited her "duty" and the fact that she would have lost the custodianship of her aristocratic children had she married a commoner. After Josephine married Baron von Stackelberg in 1810, Beethoven may have proposed unsuccessfully to Therese Malfatti, the supposed dedicatee of "Für Elise"; his status as a commoner may again have interfered with those plans.
Jean-Pierre Duport
Duport and his younger brother were acquainted with Beethoven: in February 1796 Beethoven had left Vienna for a five-month concert tour which took him to Prague (accompanied by Prince Lichnowsky, who had travelled there with Mozart in 1789), Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin, where he was inspired by the high level and quality of musical activity at the court of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, at which Jean-Pierre was director of chamber music. On the Potsdam court, Beethoven's two opus 5 cello sonatas were composed for him. Either Duport or his younger brother played the cello part with Beethoven at the keyboard at the premier performance of these sonatas.
Piano Sonata No. 29 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B major, Op. 106 (known as the "Große Sonate für das Hammerklavier", or more simply as the Hammerklavier) is a piano sonata that is widely viewed as one of the most important works of the composer's third period and among the greatest piano sonatas of all time. Completed in 1818, it is often considered to be Beethoven's most technically challenging piano composition and one of the most demanding solo works in the classical piano repertoire.
The first documented public performance was in 1836 by Franz Liszt in the Salle Erard in Paris.
Schubert's compositions for violin and piano
Schubert dated the Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor (D 408) April 1816 in the autograph, and titled it "Sonata III". The sonata has four movements:
Piano Concerto No. 4 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, was composed in 1805–1806. Beethoven was the soloist in the public premiere as part of the concert on 22 December 1808 at Vienna's Theater an der Wien.
Piano Quartets (Beethoven)
The Piano Quartets, WoO 36, by Ludwig van Beethoven are a set of three piano quartets, completed in 1785 when the composer was aged 15. They are scored for piano, violin, viola and cello. He composed a quartet in C major, another in E-flat major, and a third in D major. They were first published posthumously in 1828, however numbered in a different order: Piano Quartet No. 1 in E-flat major, Piano Quartet No. 2 in D major, and Piano Quartet No. 3 in C major.
Piano Sonata No. 30 (Beethoven)
Work on Op. 109 can be traced back to early in 1820, even before Beethoven's negotiations with Adolf Schlesinger, the publisher of his last three sonatas. Recent research suggests that Friedrich Starke had asked Beethoven for a composition for his piano anthology "The Vienna Pianoforte School", and that Beethoven had interrupted work on the "Missa Solemnis". In the end, though, he offered Starke numbers 7–11 of the "Bagatelles, Op. 119".
Piano Sonata No. 30 (Beethoven)
The date of the first performance is unknown. The first pianists to undertake to bring Beethoven's last sonatas, including Op. 109, to public attention were Franz Liszt, who regularly included them in his programs between 1830 and 1840, and Hans von Bülow, who even included several of the late sonatas in one evening.
Sonatina in G major (attributed to Beethoven)
The Sonatina in G major is a composition for solo piano attributed to Ludwig van Beethoven (listed as Anh. 5 No. 1 in the Kinsky–Halm Catalogue). The work was published in Hamburg, Germany, after Beethoven's death; its authenticity is doubtful, as it uses styles never seen by Beethoven before.
Yellowhammer
Beethoven's student, Carl Czerny, and biographer Anton Schindler, both suggested that the composer got the idea for the first four notes of his 5th symphony from the yellowhammer's call, although it is more likely that the opening of the 4th Piano Concerto was actually the work in question. Beethoven also used the yellowhammer theme in two piano sonatas, no. 21 in C major (the "Waldstein", Op.53) and No. 23 in F minor (the "Appassionata", Op.57).
Variations on an original theme in E-flat major (Beethoven)
The Variations in E-flat major piano trio, Op. 44, by Ludwig van Beethoven, is a series of fourteen variations on a theme, written for piano, violin and cello. Although this may be one of Beethoven's early works (written at around age 22) it was assigned its opus number when it was published by Hoffmeister in Leipzig, more than a decade after Beethoven began writing it.
Piano Concerto No. 5 (Beethoven)
The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E major, Op. 73, by Ludwig van Beethoven, popularly known as the Emperor Concerto, was his last completed piano concerto. It was written between 1809 and 1811 in Vienna, and was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf, Beethoven's patron and pupil. The first performance took place on 13 January 1811 at the Palace of Prince Joseph Lobkowitz in Vienna, with Archduke Rudolf as the soloist, followed by a public concert on 28 November 1811 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig under conductor Johann Philipp Christian Schulz, the soloist being Friedrich Schneider. On 12 February 1812, Carl Czerny, another student of Beethoven's, gave the Vienna debut of this work.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (; ; baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in classical music, he remains one of the most recognised and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies; 5 piano concertos; 1 violin concerto; 32 piano sonatas; 16 string quartets; a mass, the "Missa solemnis"; and an opera, "Fidelio". His career as a composer is conventionally divided into early, middle, and late periods; the "early" period is typically seen to last until 1802, the "middle" period from 1802 to 1812, and the "late" period from 1812 to his death in 1827.
Ludwig van Beethoven
By 1793, he had established a reputation as an improviser in the salons of the nobility, often playing the preludes and fugues of J.S. Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier". His friend Nikolaus Simrock had begun publishing his compositions; the first are believed to be a set of variations (WoO 66). By 1793, he had established a reputation in Vienna as a piano virtuoso, but he apparently withheld works from publication so that their publication in 1795 would have greater impact. His first public performance in Vienna was in March 1795, a concert in which he first performed one of his piano concertos. It is uncertain whether this was the First or Second. Documentary evidence is unclear, and both concertos were in a similar state of near-completion (neither was completed or published for several years). Shortly after this performance, he arranged for the publication of the first of his compositions to which he assigned an opus number, the three piano trios, Opus 1. These works were dedicated to his patron Prince Lichnowsky, and were a financial success; Beethoven's profits were nearly sufficient to cover his living expenses for a year.
Piano Sonata No. 30 (Beethoven)
It has not been conclusively established whether Beethoven completed the sonata in the Autumn of 1820 or only in 1821. In letters to his publisher in 1820, he was already speaking of "Fertigstellung" (completion); but it is unclear whether Beethoven meant completed concepts, drafts or a fair copy that could be dispatched. The first edition was published by Schlesinger in Berlin in November 1821. It contained many errors, since Beethoven was prevented by illness from undertaking adequate proof-reading. The sonata is dedicated to Maximiliane Brentano, the musically gifted daughter of Franz and Antonie Brentano.
Piano Sonata No. 5 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10, No. 1 was composed some time during 1796–98.
Chamber music
Beethoven wrote eight piano trios, five string trios, two string quintets, and numerous pieces for wind ensemble. He also wrote ten sonatas for violin and piano and five sonatas for cello and piano.
Beethoven and his contemporaries
Beethoven had already read and studied Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's works intensively during his youth in Bonn, long before their first personal encounter. His first Goethe settings were produced around 1790. Beethoven announced his music to "Egmont" in a first letter to the poet in the spring of 1811 with the following words: "I am only able to approach you with the greatest veneration [and] with an inexpressibly deep feeling for your glorious creations." He had already set 18 texts by Goethe, and two others were to follow. Goethe therefore occupies a privileged position in Beethoven's vocal works.
Ludwig van Beethoven
In early 1813 he apparently went through a difficult emotional period, and his compositional output dropped. His personal appearance degraded—it had generally been neat—as did his manners in public, especially when dining. He took care of his brother (who was suffering from tuberculosis) and his family, an expense that he claimed left him penniless.
Beethoven was finally motivated to begin significant composition again in June 1813, when news arrived of the defeat of one of Napoleon's armies at Vitoria, Spain, by a coalition of forces under the Duke of Wellington. This news stimulated him to write the battle symphony known as "Wellington's Victory". It was first performed on 8 December, along with his Seventh Symphony, at a charity concert for victims of the war. The work was a popular hit, probably because of its programmatic style, which was entertaining and easy to understand. It received repeat performances at concerts he staged in January and February 1814. His renewed popularity led to demands for a revival of "Fidelio", which, in its third revised version, was also well received at its July opening. That summer he composed a piano sonata for the first time in five years ("No. 27, Opus 90"). This work was in a markedly more Romantic style than his earlier sonatas. He was also one of many composers who produced music in a patriotic vein to entertain the many heads of state and diplomats who came to the Congress of Vienna that began in November 1814. His output of songs included his only song cycle, "An die ferne Geliebte," and the extraordinarily expressive second setting of the poem "An die Hoffnung" (Op. 94) in 1815. Compared to its first setting in 1805 (a gift for Josephine Brunsvik), it was "far more dramatic ... The entire spirit is that of an operatic scena."