Three Piano Sonatas, WoO 47 (Beethoven)
The Three Piano Sonatas, WoO 47, were composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1782 and 1783, when he was eleven and twelve 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 Prince elector (German: Kurfürst) Maximilian Frederick[1] and therefore also known as the "Kurfürstensonaten".
Overview[]
Like Mozart's, Beethoven's musical talent was recognized at a young age,[2] and these three sonatas give an early glimpse of the composer's abilities, as well as his boldness. Beethoven was writing in a form usually attempted by older, more mature composers,[3] as the sonata was a cornerstone of Classical piano literature. Since they were written at such an early age (and Beethoven himself did not assign them opus numbers), the works have historically been omitted from the canon of Beethoven's piano sonatas. However, Barry Cooper included the trio in his critical edition of the sonatas created for ABRSM, arguing that "A complete edition has to be complete, and if you ignore early works, you don't show the longer trajectory of the composer's development."[4] The inclusion of these three works raises Beethoven's total number of piano sonatas from 32 to 35.[a][5]
The sonatas[]
No. 1 in E♭ major[]
- Allegro cantabile
- Andante
- Rondo vivace
The beginning of No. 1 in E♭ major |
No. 2 in F minor[]
- Larghetto maestoso – Allegro assai
- Andante
- Presto
The beginning of No. 2 in F minor |
No. 3 in D major[]
- Allegro
- Menuetto – Sostenuto
- Scherzando: Allegretto, ma non troppo
The beginning of No. 3 in D major |
See also[]
References[]
- ^ With the incipit of a possible 36th identified by Thayer.
- ^ Thayer 1921, pp. 71–74.
- ^ Thayer 1921, p. 59.
- ^ Cooper, Barry (2008). Beethoven (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 10.
- ^ White, Michael (2008-01-20). "Settling Old Scores by Beethoven". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-03-12.
- ^ Cooper, Barry (2017). The Creation of Beethoven's 35 Piano Sonatas. Routledge. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-4724-1432-8.
Sources
- Thayer, A. W. (1921). Krehbiel, Henry Edward (ed.). The Life of Ludwig Van Beethoven, Vol 1. The Beethoven Association. OCLC 422583.
Further reading[]
- Song, Moo Kyoung (2002). The Evolution of Sonata-Form Design in Ludwig van Beethoven's Early Piano Sonatas, WoO 47 to Opus 22 (PDF) (Ph. D. thesis). University of Texas at Austin.
External links[]
- Piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven
- 1783 compositions
- Music dedicated to nobility or royalty
- Compositions in E-flat major
- Compositions in F minor
- Compositions in D major
- Sonata stubs