Opus 47 Sonata in A major for piano and violin
I) Adagio sostenuto – Presto – II) Andante with variations- III) Finale – presto.
Opus 47 Sonata in A major for piano and violin, Op. 47, dedicated to Rudolf Kreutzer, composed between 1802 and May 1803, published in Bonn by Simrock in April 1805. GA no. 100 (series 12/9) – B. 47 – KH. 47 – L. II, p. 257 – N. 47 – T. 111.
The original manuscript has been lost. The sketches for the final movement, originally intended—as mentioned—to serve as the Finale of the Piano and Violin Sonata in A major, Op. 30 No. 1, are found in the Kessler notebook; those for the first and second movements appear towards the end of the Wielhorsky notebook and in the so-called Eroica notebook, which covers the period from October 1802 to April 1804. Inside the cover of this latter notebook is the original note, written in Italian, which was later fully incorporated into the title of the work in the printed edition of April 1805: Sonata scritta in uno stilo (sic!) (brilliantly cancelled) molto concertante quasi come d’un concerto.
At the time we are referring to (early spring 1803), it cannot be said that there was anything definite yet regarding a new sonata by Beethoven for piano and violin; it was probably only the meeting between the maestro and the violinist Bridgetower that gave it a decisive impulse. Georg August Bridgetower (born in Biala, Galicia, probably in 1779, to an African father—who, though we cannot be sure how accurate this is, was called in London, where he lived for a long time, “the Abyssinian prince”—and a German or Polish mother) had started his career as a child prodigy, performing at the age of 11 in London in a concert on 2 June 1790, which also featured another young violinist, the ten-year-old Franz Clement (who would later be the first performer of the Concerto in D major, Op. 61).
Later becoming very famous, Bridgetower was appointed first solo violin of the chapel of the Prince of Wales (the future George IV of England). In 1802, taking advantage of a leave granted to visit his mother, who lived in Dresden, and to undergo spa treatments in Baden and Teplitz, he extended his concert activities to the German-speaking countries. Upon arriving in Vienna in April 1803, he quickly became known in artistic and aristocratic circles, also establishing what apparently soon became a very cordial relationship with Beethoven.
Naturally, he would have wished to perform some new composition by the maestro; this was surely to Beethoven’s liking, who was motivated to write something particularly suited to the fiery, if somewhat eccentric, temperament of his friend. Thus, the arrangement was made without difficulty; a subscription among nobles and music lovers was organised to guarantee, at least in part, the financial outcome. However, Beethoven had to complete the first two movements of the Sonata within a few days. Ferdinand Ries recounts having copied the violin part of the first movement from the manuscript score early on the morning of the concert itself (where the piano part was only “noted here and there”); as for the Andante, Bridgetower was forced to read it directly from the score, as there was simply no time to copy it.
We are rather sceptical about Bridgetower’s later claim, in a note added to the copy of the Sonata he owned, that Beethoven greeted the arpeggiated cadenza he improvised at the eighth bar of the first Presto with a warm outburst of joy, resembling that of the piano at bar 18. It is unclear whether the eccentric violinist took other liberties, more or less tasteful. However, it is quite plausible that Beethoven subsequently revised the Sonata before sending it to print, possibly incorporating amendments and modifications that a more considered critical examination revealed as necessary after that hurried first performance, in which there had been neither time — nor perhaps even a clear intention — to fix the music on paper in every detail.
According to a report also originating from Bridgetower, Beethoven had initially intended to dedicate the Sonata to him; but following a quarrel “because of a girl”, the dedication was transferred to Rudolph Kreutzer. A review published in the Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung of Leipzig (1805, VII, no. 48, cols. 769-770) after the work’s publication described it as extravagant and arbitrary in its originality, while nevertheless recognising the great genius of the artist.
Similarly, Berlioz, many years later, recounting Kreutzer’s judgment that the Sonata was “outrageously unintelligible,” added that this reflected the opinion of ninety-nine per cent of Parisian musicians at the time (that is, roughly around 1830). The concertante style, which places the two instruments almost constantly facing each other, is evident from the very first bars of the introduction (Adagio sostenuto), despite the linearity of the musical design itself.
This is then almost immediately followed by an exchange of brief phrases, gradually emphasising the suspenseful character of the semitone interval which, finally fixed in an ascending rhythmic impulse, gives the impetus to the Presto. Typical of this first movement is the stormy momentum in which piano and violin are equally engaged in what, to use a much overused phrase, is a hand-to-hand struggle. The effect of a momentary truce at the start of the second theme, resembling a solitary plea amid the turmoil, is precisely enhanced in its character by that very turmoil from which it arises and into which it is reabsorbed.
The recapitulation of the movement, with passages similar to those at the beginning but, one might say, more furious, leads to the final motif of the first section, which is marked by a passionate urgency that is both desperate and triumphant. The development section, primarily based on this last motif, repeatedly highlights its driving force amidst fragmentations, tonal passages, progressions, and various other elaborative techniques. In the coda, the return of the initial semitone figure, expanded into a brief descending Adagio from violin to piano and so effectively coloured by the modulating passage, appropriately leads to the impetuous conclusion. It is well known what Leo Tolstoy wrote about this first movement, associating it with the story of his famous novel.
We have no intention of discussing Tolstoy’s ideas on art in general or music in particular, but it seems to us that he grasped, albeit in his own way, the obsessive violence that constitutes the singular individuality of this piece. Between the first movement and the finale (also marked Presto), the Andante represents an oasis of serenity. The variation form in which it unfolds undoubtedly helps to accentuate this character; and the attraction of the formal elaboration, the artifice of the somewhat constrained musical construction, while somewhat limiting the freedom of imagination, can on the other hand enhance the pleasure of contemplative beauty through the composure of the whole and the refinement of the details.
The finale (Presto) was originally intended, as mentioned, for the Sonata in A major Op. 30 No. 1. The separation must have occurred before the first movement of the new sonata was fully defined.
Yet even allowing that this first movement was not conceived with the intention of creating an appropriate “prelude” to the aforementioned finale, the two movements nonetheless appear linked by a natural ideological connection. The formal correspondence between the second theme in E minor of the first movement and that in A major of the finale helps to confirm this. The violent passion of the first movement contrasts with the sunny character of the second; both are manifestations of an equally intense ardour, albeit different in nature.
Schering associates the sonata with three episodes from Jerusalem Delivered. For some time, he notes, citing the names of several masters (Monteverdi, Lully, Salieri, Cherubini, Haydn, Winter, Michelangelo Rossi, Campra, Méhul, and others more or less famous), various episodes from Tasso’s poem had inspired musical compositions. Many of these were already known in Vienna when Beethoven arrived, who, moreover, was probably not unfamiliar with Jerusalem Delivered even in his time in Bonn, and was able in any case to deepen his knowledge during his new stay there (the German translation by J. De Gries had appeared in 1800).
Starting from this general explanatory premise, the German scholar believed he could establish an intimate relationship between the words, gestures, and music, concluding that the first movement refers to the combat between Tancredi and Clorinda (Canto XII, stanzas 52-70); the second movement depicts the episode of Rinaldo and Armida in the enchanted garden (voices of nature, the magical song of the birds, the lovers’ farewell at dawn) (Canto XVI, stanzas 12-26); and the third movement represents Rinaldo’s flight together with his friends, who come to free him from the spell and lead him back to the joys of active life (continuation of the same canto, stanzas 28-35).
[By Biamonti Giovanni – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati, Torino, ILTE 1968]
Official title: Opus 47 Sonate (A-dur) für Klavier und Violine Widmung: Rodolphe Kreutzer NGA V/2 AGA 100 = Serie 12/9 Beiname: Kreutzersonate
Composition and Publication: For the third movement of the sonata, Beethoven used the original final movement from Op. 30 No. 1, which he had already composed in the spring of 1802. The other movements were composed at the beginning of 1803, probably shortly before the first public performance of the sonata in May. The original edition in parts was published by Simrock in Bonn in April 1805. Beethoven likely wrote the sonata for the violinist of the premiere, George Bridgetower, whom he had met in Vienna. The work was composed in a relatively short time, as Ferdinand Ries reports:
“Bridgetower pressed him greatly because his concert was already scheduled and he wanted to practise his part. One morning Beethoven had me called at half past four and said: „Bridgetower drängte ihn sehr, weil sein Concert schon bestimmt war und er seine Stimme üben wollte. Eines Morgens ließ mich Beethoven schon um halb fünf Uhr rufen und sagte: .Schreiben Sie mir Diese Violinstimme des ersten Allegro’s schnell aus.1 – (Sein gewöhnlicher Copist war ohnehin beschäftigt.) Die Clavierstimme war nur hier und da notirt. — Das so wunderschöne Thema mit Variationen aus F dur hat Bridgetower aus Beethoven’s eigener Handschrift im Concerte im Augarten, Morgens um acht Uhr, spielen müssen, weil keine Zeit zum Abschreiben war“ (Wegeler/Ries p. 82f).
The fragment of the first movement, on which only the violin part with all markings is annotated, was probably a model for Ries’s copy, now lost. Beethoven later made another autograph, after which the model for the engraving of the original edition was produced. Ries also played an important role in these final stages before publication, revising the overall plan. As Sieghard Brandenburg explains in his fundamental essay on the textual history of the work, despite „der guten Absicht […] die Riesschen Korrekturen […] nicht unproblematisch“ (Brandenburg/Op47 p. 121).
On 25 May 1803 Kaspar Karl van Beethoven offered the publisher Nikolaus Simrock of Bonn „eine Grose Sonate mit Violin“ (BGA 139) for 30 ducats. Ries reported to Simrock on 6 August 1803: „Auch ist jetzt eine sehr große Sonate mit Violine fertig, die Sie aber schwerlich unter 50 bis 55 Gulden [recte: Dukaten] erhalten werden“ (BGA 152). On 22 October 1803 Ries confirmed this fee: „mir Beethoven schon gegeben und ich werde sie in 14 Tagen mit noch mehreren anderen Werken schicken“ (BGA 165).
At the beginning of December, Ries informed Simrock that „Die Sonate mit Violin accomp. erhalten Sie für 50 Gulden [siehe oben]“ (BGA 173). Subsequently, there were delays in publication, and Beethoven complained to Simrock on 4 October 1804:
„Lieber bester Hr. Simrock, immer habe ich schon, die ihnen von mir gegebne Sonate, mit sehnsucht erwartet – aber vergeblich – schreiben sie mir doch gefälligs[t], was es dann für einen Anstand mit derselben hat […] wo stekt dieser langsame Teufel – der die Sonate heraus treiben soll – sie sind sonst der geschwinde Teufel […] eilen sie also und geben sie mir na[c]hricht, wann ich die S. ans Tageslicht gebracht sehen werde – indem sie mir dann die Zeit bestimmen werden, werde ich ihnen sogleich alsdenn ein Blättchen an Kreuzer schiken, welches sie ihm bey Übersendung eines Exemplars (da sie ja ohnedem ihre Exemplare nach paris schicken, oder selbe gar da gestochen werden) so gütig seyn werden, beizulegen“ (BGA 193).
Simrock presented the finished edition at the Frankfurt Easter Fair in April 1805. The delay about which Beethoven complained was probably due to Nikolaus Simrock’s search for an English publisher to issue the work in London. Robert Birchall registered the request at Stationers’ Hall on 9 May 1805. A specimen copy of the Bonn edition did not reach Beethoven until 16 July 1805. When Kaspar Karl van Beethoven requested another five free copies (BGA 228), Simrock expressed his indignation towards Ferdinand Ries and described Kaspar Karl’s request as an „impertinentes Begehren“ (BGA 230).
Dedication: Rodolphe Kreutzer, born 16 November 1766 in Versailles and died 6 January 1831 in Geneva, composer, violin virtuoso, and conductor. Beethoven personally met Kreutzer in the spring of 1798 when he was in Vienna with the entourage of the French envoy, General Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (Kreutzer had arrived in Vienna on 8 February 1798 and, after the raising of the tricolour flag, which caused much scandal, had toured the city with Bernadotte, who left on 13 April 1798). In 1803, Beethoven decided to dedicate the sonata to Kreutzer. On 22 October 1803, Ferdinand Ries wrote to Simrock in Bonn: „Die Sonate mit Violin accomp. […] wird wahrscheinlich an [den französischen Pianisten Jean Louis] Adam und Kreutzer […] dediziert“ (BGA 165). Then on 4 October 1804, Beethoven wrote to Simrock about Kreutzer:
„dieser ist ein guter lieber Mensch, der mir bey seinem hiesigen Aufenthalte sehr viel vergnügen gemacht, seine Anspruchlosigkeit und Natürlichkeit ist mir lieber als alles Exterieur ohne interieur der Meisten Virtuosen – da die Sonate für einen Tüchtigen Geiger geschrieben ist, um so passend ist die Dedication an ihn. – ohnerachtet wir zusammen korrespondiren (d.h. alle Jahr einen Brief von mir), so — hoffe ich wird er noch nichts davon wissen.“ (BGA 193).
Despite Beethoven’s claim that he corresponded regularly with Kreutzer, no documents of this correspondence have survived except a sketch of a letter of recommendation from 1825, in which Beethoven describes himself as an “ancien ami” of Kreutzer (BGA 2087). There is no evidence that Kreutzer ever publicly performed the Sonata Op. 47.
The sketches will be featured in an article specially created for the Beethovenian Music Research Center, www.lvbeethoven.org
