Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Op. 24 And Op. 47, 'kreutzer'

Description

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)Sonata in F major Op. 24 (Spring) Sonata in A major Op. 47 (Kreutzer)Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn in December, 1770, the son ofJohann van Beethoven, a singer in the service of the Archbishop of Cologne,and, more important, the grandson of Ludwig van Beethoven, Kapellmeister to thesame patron, who died in 1773, but whose distinction lived on in the family,the possible cause of Johann van Beethoven's inadequacy both professionally andas a parent. In 1789, his mother now dead, young Ludwig van Beethoven took overresponsibility for the family and his two younger brothers.At home Beethoven had received erratic practical training in music, butwas able to follow a more consistent course of study from 1781 with the courtorganist Christian Gottlob Neefe, whose unpaid deputy he became. In 1784 heentered the paid service of the Archbishop as deputy court organist and playingthe cembalo or the viola in the court orchestra, as occasion demanded. In 1788he was sent to Vienna, where he hoped to study with Mozart, but was recalled toBonn by news of his mother's final illness, in 1792 he went to Vienna oncemore, this time to sti1dy with Haydn. He remained there for the rest of hislife.Beethoven established himself in Vienna at first as a virtuosokeyboard-player, his virtuosity including improvisation at the keyboard andcomposition. In this last he was helped by lessons from Albrechtsberger incounterpoint and from the Court Composer Salieri in vocal and dramatic setting.His lessons from Haydn proved less satisfactory. Armed with suitableintroductions, he was able to make influential friends among the aristocracyand it was with their support that he continued his career in Vienna, even whenincreasing deafness made performance at first difficult and eventuallyimpossible.It is a tribute to the discernment of Beethoven's patrons that theyperceived his genius, in spite of his uncouthness and increasing eccentricitiesof character, in the face of which they exercised considerable restraint andgenerosity. In Vienna he lived through turbulent times, through the years ofNapoleonic conquests and into the repressive age of Metternich. He died inMarch, 1827, his death the occasion for public mourning in Vienna at thepassing of a long familiar figure whose like the city was not to see again.The works that Beethoven w rote for violin and keyboard cover a periodfrom about 1792 up to 1819, the period of the Hammerklavier Sonata, startingwith a set of variations on an operatic aria from Mozart and ending with a setof variations on national themes. The most significant part of this repertoiremust be the ten sonatas which, although uneven in quality, represent a majorcontribution to the literature of the genre. In them Beethoven shows hisability to provide music that demands a partnership between the two players, nomore piano sonatas with optional violin accompaniment, whatever the title-pageof earlier works may have suggested. As in the mat