Opus 49, 2 Sonatas in G minor and G major for piano
OPUS 49 Sonatas (2) in G minor and G major for piano Opus 49, 1798, published in Vienna, Boureau d’ Arts et Industrie, January 1805. GA. nos. 142 and 133 (series 16/19) – B. 49 – KH. 49 – L. II, p. 265 – N. 49 – P. 100 – T. 106.
Official title: Opus 49 Zwei leichte Sonaten (g-moll, G-dur) für Klavier Widmung: – NGA VII/3 AGA 142-143 = Series 16/19-20
OPUS 49, 2 Sonatas in G minor and G major for piano Opus 49, 1798, published in Vienna, Boureau d’ Arts et Industrie, January 1805. GA. nos. 142 and 133 (series 16/19) – B. 49 – KH. 49 – L. II, p. 265 – N. 49 – P. 100 – T. 106.
Official title: Opus 49 Zwei leichte Sonaten (g-moll, G-dur) für Klavier Widmung: – NGA VII/3 AGA 142-143 = Series 16/19-20
Origin and Publication: The first sonata is preserved in a partially intact copy, likely dating from late 1797 or early 1798. The only surviving sketches for the second were probably made just before or during Beethoven’s stay in Prague at the beginning of 1796. Both works were offered by Kaspar Karl van Beethoven to the publisher André of Offenbach on 23 November 1802. However, the original edition was published in January 1805 by the Kunst-und Industrie-Comptoir in Vienna. Beethoven later used the page of the fine autograph copy, interrupted after seven bars, for sketches related to works 9 and 13. Since Op. 9 was published in July 1798, the composition of Op. 49 No. 1 may have been completed before that date.
The more extensive sketches for the second sonata have been identified on a sheet containing other drafts for Op. 65. Since Op. 65 was completed in Prague at the beginning of 1796, the earliest sketches might date from the months before the trip, and thus the sketches for the second sonata could have been conceived during this period (see also Johnson/Tour 1796, pp. 30-32). The theme of the second movement of No. 2 is identical to that of the Menuetto from Op. 20.
Carl Amenda reported to Beethoven in 1800 or 1801: “Deine Klaviersachen spielen manche, besonders die Schwester Mylichs, mit Entzücken. Auch hier kostete es Mühe das gute Mädchen, und besonders den alten Vater, der Kenner seyn will heraufzuziehen” (BGA 51). In his memoirs, Amenda recalls the acquaintance between Beethoven and Gottfried Heinrich Mylich: “A.[menda] führte auch Heinrich Mylich, mit dem er nach Wien gekommen war, bei B. ein, und hat Mylich recht häufig mit B. und A. Trios gespielt. […] Als B. einmal hörte, daß Mylich in Kurland eine Schwester habe, die recht hübsch Klavier spiele, übergibt er demselben eine Sonate im Manuskript, mit der Aufschrift: ‘Der Schwester meines guten Freundes Mylich'” (quoted from TDRII p. 118). Perhaps this sonata was one of the two compositions from Op. 49 (BGA 51, note 3).
On 23 November 1802, Kaspar Karl van Beethoven offered André in Offenbach, among other works, “2 kleine leichte Sonaten, wo jede nur 2 Stücke hat” (BGA 113), and after André’s refusal at the End of August 1803, he also turned to Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig: “Gegenwärtig habe ich 3 [!] kleine Sonaten für Klavier […] Ich glaube daß Sie bey diesen Stücken gewiß viel Absaz finden werden, besonders bey den Sonaten welche leichter sind wie die ändern von meinem Bruder” (BGA 153).
The Leipzig publishers also rejected the works, and the sonatas were eventually sold to the Kunst-und Industrie-Comptoir in Vienna. The Op. 49 Sonatas were advertised as “ganz neu erschienen” (together with Op. 38 and WoO 74, as well as works by other composers) in the Wiener Zeitung on 23 January 1805, with the same announcement repeated on 30 January in the “Werke des Herrn Ludwig von Beethoven”, “zu haben” at the Kunst-und Industrie-Comptoir. These early (and subsequent) advertisements from 1805 list the price as “1 fl. 30 kr.” In contrast, a larger commercial advertisement in the Wiener Zeitung of 1 July 1807 mentions “2 fl”. Contrary to what is stated in the old KH, this price can therefore be attributed to a later edition. (See also the copy auctioned by Sotheby’s, London, 21 May 2004, catalogue lot 22/3 with the price “1 fl. 30 X”, which, due to its origin from the collection of Prince Ferdinand Kinsky, is likely one of the first copies). The first performance is unknown.
Sketches: GB-lbl, Add. Ms. 29801 (“Kafka”), folgio 106. Date: late 1795 / early 1796 (Johnson/Fischhof vol. 1 p. 100f), facsimile and transcription: Kerman/Kafka. and again GB-Lbl, Add. Ms. 29801 (“Kafka”), folio 66. Date: before the end of 1797 / the beginning of 1798 (Johnson/Fischhof vol. 1 p. 183). Beginning of a nice copy. Title: opening title “Sonatine.”, top right: “par l.v. Bthvn.” Paper: landscape format, 23 x 31.5 cm, double-spaced. Facsimile and transcription: Kerman/Kafka. Description: Johnson/Fischhof Vol. 1 p. 179-182.
Opus 49 No. 1 Sonata in G minor
I) Andante – II) Rondo – Allegro
Some sketches for the B-flat intermezzo of the Rondo and the first bars of the Andante can be found in the Notierungsbuch of the Kafka Collection at the British Museum. Although composed two years after the other Sonata of Opus 49 (No. 2 in G major, see below), this small composition cannot, it seems, be considered separate from it, due to the affinity of spirit and the simplicity of its form and ideas.
Opus 49 number 2 Sonata in G major
I) Andante ma non troppo – II) Tempo di minuetto
The original manuscript is lost. Sketches are preserved in the Kafka Collection at the British Museum, alongside those of the Sextet Op. 71 and the Aria “Ah, Perfido!”. The two small piano sonatas in G major and G minor, published several years after their composition under the single opus number 49, were perhaps not originally intended for public performance. When, in 1802, Karl van Beethoven, the composer’s brother who was handling his affairs at the time, began to negotiate them, he did not immediately find any interested publishers and only in 1805 was he able to get them accepted by the Bureau d’Arts et Industrie. The composition dates are not the same for both sonatas. About a year separates them, and the first chronologically, which we are concerned with here, is the one numbered as No. 2. The initial theme of the Minuet from the Septet Op. 20 will be found again.