Sonatas Nos.1–3, Op. 2

Emanuel Ax

on Op. 2, No. 2

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 and Beethoven: String Quartets Vol. 7 / Deutsche Grammophon and Naxos

Audio Excerpt 2

Excerpt from Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2, No. 2 (II. Largo Appassionato)

Murray Perahia / Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Op. 2, Nos. 1–3 / Sony Classical

Beethoven dedicated his set of three sonatas, Opus 2, to Joseph Haydn, with whom he had studied privately in Vienna. Though their relationship was cordial, Beethoven complained privately that he never learned anything from Haydn. (For his part, Haydn had hoped Beethoven would also write “Pupil of Haydn” on the title pages of the sonatas.) Beethoven may have been dissatisfied with Haydn’s instruction, but Haydn seemed quite pleased with his pupil, and even predicted that Beethoven would “in time fill the position of one of Europe’s greatest composers.” He also attempted to secure for Beethoven financial support from a patron, and once declared, “I shall be proud to call myself his teacher.”

Material for two of the three Op. 2 sonatas dates back to sketches from Beethoven’s teenage years in Bonn. Though they reveal the influence of Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven’s first sonatas show a tendency to expand rather than merely emulate the forms established by his musical predecessors. Beethoven not only wrote sonatas with four movements instead of three—he also imbued his slow movements ( 1) with nearly unprecedented expressive intensity, and his outer movements ( 2) with virtuosic technical demands.