The Violin Sonata in A major, Hess 46, is a fragmentary and possibly unfinished work for piano and violin composed by Ludwig van Beethoven sometime between 1790 and 1792. Discovered by musicologist Willy Hess, it may be one of Beethoven's first attempts at composing a work for this combination of instruments. [1]
The surviving manuscript comprises three pages containing parts of two separate movements, both of which are missing several pages including their openings. Violinist Eimar Heeney identifies the two fragmentary movements as being the slow movement and concluding rondo. [2] Musicologist Sieghard Brandenburg also reconstructs the fragments in this way and adds that he believes the finale was never completed because the score ends abruptly with plenty of space remaining on the page. [3]
Both authors agree that the work was balanced in such a way that the violin has a purely accompanying role. Brandenburg characterized the fragments as demonstrating that at this point in his career Beethoven possessed a sound understanding of the techniques used in classical violin sonatas, but may not have had the skill to use them effectively. [3] Heeney agrees with the assessment regarding the balance between the violin and the piano in this work and adds that the violin part did not contain anything outside the skills of a typical amateur musician of the period. [4] Scholar Richard Kramer commented that the style of the work was heavily influenced by Mozart's Violin Sonata in A major, K. 526. [5]
The Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24, is a four movement work for violin and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was first published in 1801. The work is commonly known as the Spring Sonata (Frühlingssonate), although the name "Spring" was apparently given to it after Beethoven's death. The sonata was dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries, a patron to whom Beethoven also dedicated two other works of the same year—the String Quintet in C major, Op. 29 and the Violin Sonata No. 4—as well as his later Symphony No. 7 in A major.
Sonata, in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata, a piece sung. The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until the Classical era, when it took on increasing importance. Sonata is a vague term, with varying meanings depending on the context and time period. By the early 19th century, it came to represent a principle of composing large-scale works. It was applied to most instrumental genres and regarded—alongside the fugue—as one of two fundamental methods of organizing, interpreting and analyzing concert music. Though the musical style of sonatas has changed since the Classical era, most 20th- and 21st-century sonatas still maintain the same structure.
In musicology, the opus number is the "work number" that is assigned to a musical composition, or to a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer's production. Opus numbers are used to distinguish among compositions with similar titles; the word is abbreviated as "Op." for a single work, or "Opp." when referring to more than one work.
The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked Quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi. The name Moonlight Sonata grew popular later, likely after Beethoven's death.
The String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18, No. 1, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven between 1798 and 1800, published in 1801, dedicated to the Bohemian aristocrat Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz. It is actually the second string quartet that Beethoven composed.
Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most influential figures in the history of classical music. Since his lifetime, when he was "universally accepted as the greatest living composer", Beethoven's music has remained among the most performed, discussed and reviewed in the Western world. Scholarly journals are devoted to analysis of his life and work. He has been the subject of numerous biographies and monographs, and his music was the driving force behind the development of Schenkerian analysis. He is widely considered among the most important composers, and along with Bach and Mozart, his music is the most frequently recorded.
The Violin Sonata No. 8 in G major, Op. 30, No. 3, by Ludwig van Beethoven, the third of his Opus 30 set, was written between 1801 and 1802, published in May 1803, and dedicated to Tsar Alexander I of Russia.
Willy Hess was a Swiss musicologist, composer, and famous Beethoven scholar. He achieved fame after compiling and publishing a catalogue of works of Beethoven that were not listed in the "complete" edition. He orchestrated the Piano Concerto No. 0, in E-flat from a piano score.
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, the result containing more quartet-like passagework and in the more comfortable key of F major.
Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, Op. 27 No. 1, "Quasi una fantasia", is a sonata composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1800–1801.
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, composed in 1820, is the third-to-last of his piano sonatas. In it, after the huge Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106, Beethoven returns to a smaller scale and a more intimate character. It is dedicated to Maximiliane Brentano, the daughter of Beethoven's long-standing friend Antonie Brentano, for whom Beethoven had already composed the short Piano Trio in B♭ major WoO 39 in 1812. Musically, the work is characterised by a free and original approach to the traditional sonata form. Its focus is the third movement, a set of variations that interpret its theme in a wide variety of individual ways.
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 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.
The Violin Sonata No. 3 of Ludwig van Beethoven in E-flat major, the third of his Opus 12 set, was written in 1798 and dedicated to Antonio Salieri. It has three movements:
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.
The Violin Sonata No. 4 in A minor, Op. 23 is a three-movement work for violin and piano composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1801. It was published in October that year, and dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries. It followed by one year the composition of his first symphony, and was originally meant to be published alongside Violin Sonata No. 5, however it was published on different sized paper, so the opus numbers had to be split. Unlike the three first sonatas, Sonata No. 4 received a favourable reception from critics.
The Violin Sonata No. 6 of Ludwig van Beethoven in A major, the first of his Opus 30 set, was composed between 1801 and 1802, published in May 1803, and dedicated to Tsar Alexander I of Russia. It has three movements:
The Violin Sonata No. 10 in G major, Op. 96, by Ludwig van Beethoven 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.
The Flute Sonata in B-flat major, Anh. 4 is a composition for flute and keyboard attributed to Ludwig van Beethoven found amongst his papers after his death. It remained unpublished until 1906.
Sieghard Brandenburg was a German musicologist, who stood out especially as a Beethoven researcher.
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