The Early Sonatas

Beethoven, 1802

Emanuel Ax

on Op. 2, No. 2

Leif Ove Andsnes

on Op. 27, No 1, “Quasi una fantasia”

Audio Excerpt 1

Excerpts from Piano Sonata No. 9 in E Major, Op.14, No.1 (I. Allegro) and String Quartet in F, H. 34 (Transcription of Piano Sonata No. 9 in E)

Daniel Barenboim / Beethoven: Piano Sonatas / Deutsche Grammophon; and Kodály Quartet / Beethoven: String Quartets Vol. 7 / Naxos

The piano sonata was primarily a domestic genre in the 18th century; talented amateurs could play and enjoy most of them. But Beethoven’s early piano sonatas, composed between 1793 and 1802, were more demanding than most of their antecedents, showing the genre moving away from the drawing room and into the concert hall.

The increased difficulty partly reflected Beethoven’s desire to display his brilliant technique to Viennese patrons. Though Beethoven lacked some of the social graces that Viennese aristocrats expected, he quickly became a success among the music loving nobility. It was very common for aristocratic families to patronize musicians, and Beethoven was soon received by some of the same families who had supported Haydn and Mozart.

At the same time, the early sonatas also show the early signs of a lifelong struggle to reshape the form to express his own visionary artistic goals. Glenn Gould described the nature of Beethoven’s genius in the early piano works: “every texture is as carefully worked out as it would be in a string quartet.” Beethoven did arrange his ninth sonata for string quartet ( 1) and the eighth sonata, the “Pathetique,” sounds almost symphonic in its grand drama and scale. In these works, Beethoven began elevating the sonata to the more ambitious standards set by composers within the symphonic and string quartet genres. His use of a slow movement to begin a sonata, his frequent use of four rather than three movements and his sudden dynamic and harmonic shifts were among his innovations.

Featured Sonatas

Opus 2, Nos. 1–3 ›

Opus 13, “Pathétique” ›

Opus 27, Nos. 1–2, “Quasi una fantasia” ›

Opus 28, “Pastoral” ›