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Nicolas de Krufft – Sonata for Pianoforte Op. IV, Dedicated to Ludwig van Beethoven

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Nicolas de Krufft – Sonate pour le Pianoforte

composée et dediée à Monsieur Louis van Beethoven par le Baron Nicolas de Krufft Op. IV.

The texts and documents on this page are edited by Luigi Bellofatto.
The musical examples and videos on this page are by Sebastiano Mazzoleni.

Nicolas de Krufft – Sonata for Pianoforte, Op. IV

Composed and dedicated to Monsieur Louis van Beethoven by Baron Nicolas de Krufft

Freiherr Nikolaus (Niklas) von Krufft, known in musical publications by the French rendering Nicolas de Krufft (Vienna, February 1, 1779 – April 16, 1818), was an Austrian composer and pianist. He is primarily remembered for a small number of works for French horn, the only compositions of his that have remained in the active repertoire.

Son of Andreas Adolph Freiherr von Krufft, Minister of State, he studied philosophy at the University of Vienna between 1794 and 1799, earning a law degree the following year. In 1801, he was appointed Secretary of State (Staatskanzlei) and worked at the State Chancellery Tribunal (Staatskanzleirathe).

His musical passion began with piano lessons from his mother, Maria Anna von Haan, an accomplished pianist and connoisseur of classical music. He later studied composition with Johann Georg Albrechsberger, who also taught Beethoven. It is believed that a friendship developed between Krufft and Beethoven during this period, though documentation is scarce.

As Secretary of State, Krufft often accompanied Prince Metternich, including on diplomatic missions to Paris in 1815 and Italy in June 1817. For his service, which took him from Russia to Sicily, he was awarded a career medal.

Despite his demanding profession, music remained his true vocation. He composed during his free time—often in the evenings or at night. This intense dual life led to nervous exhaustion, and eventually, even the sound of the piano became unbearable to him. His premature death is thought to be linked to this stress.

Krufft is considered part of the early Romantic generation, and his works influenced Franz Schubert. His style blends Classical clarity with Romantic innovation, including adventurous harmonic language and distant modulations—traits shared with Beethoven.

He composed for solo instruments such as bassoon and French horn, as well as piano pieces. He also set texts by Friedrich von Schiller, Johannes Daniel Falk, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and other poets.


Score of Krufft’s Sonata – Property of the Beethoven Music Research Center www.lvbeethoven.org


Krufft’s Variations Dedicated to Dorothea Ertmann – Property of the Beethoven Music Research Center www.lvbeethoven.org

Notable Works and Dedications

  • Krufft received high praise from Ignace Pleyel, the famed publisher and piano maker, for his 24 Préludes et Fugues pour le Pianoforte dans les douze tons des modes majeurs et mineurs (Paris, 1814):
  • These preludes were dedicated to Archduke Rudolph of Austria, Beethoven’s great patron.
  • A set of variations by Krufft, shown on the page, was dedicated to Baroness Dorothea Ertmann, née Graumann (May 3, 1781 – March 16, 1849), Beethoven’s beloved “Dorothea-Caecilia” and dedicatee of his Sonata Op. 101.

  • In 1803, Krufft composed a sonata for pianoforte, dedicated to Beethoven: Sonate pour le pianoforte: Op. IV / composée et dédiée à Monsieur Louis van Beethoven par le Baron Nicolas de Krufft. Published in Vienna by Bureau d’Arts et d’Industrie, [1803], 15 pages. Mentioned in the Intelligenzblatt Nr. 15 of the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, June 1804.

Sonate pour le Pianoforte composée et dediée à Monsieur Louis van Beethoven par le Baron Nicolas de Krufft Op. IV. Sebastiano Mazzoleni – Piano

I – Allegro
II – Adagio
II – Menuetto
IV – Prestissimo

Archival and Biographical Sources

  • Oesterreichisches Archiv für Geschichte, 1831
  • Erneuerte vaterländische Blätter, 1817 & 1831
  • Leipziger Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, 1818 & 1819
  • Gaßner, Universal-Lexikon der Tonkunst, 1849
  • Bernsdorf, Neues Universal-Lexikon der Tonkunst, 1856
  • Schindel, Die deutschen Schriftstellerinnen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, 1823
  • Raßmann, Pantheon jetzt lebender Dichter, 1823
  • Oesterreichische National-Encyklopädie, 1835
  • Gerber, Neues historisch-biographisches Lexikon der Tonkünstler, 1813

? Related Research

Krufft also composed a lengthy version of the Lied “In questa tomba oscura”, which is the subject of a dedicated study on the Beethoven Music Research Center website.

His Sonata Op. IV is part of the project: “Research Becomes Art – Around Beethoven” A new life for works dedicated to Ludwig van Beethoven, curated by pianist Sebastiano Mazzoleni.

Krufft’s Sonata is part of the project “Research Becomes Art – Around Beethoven”

A new lease on life for works dedicated to Ludwig van Beethoven: An artistic exploration by pianist Sebastiano Mazzoleni

Ignaz Xaver Ritter von Seyfried’s Dedication to Clara Wieck (1838)

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Clara and Ignaz –

The Dedication of Ignaz Xaver, Ritter von Seyfried, to Clara Wieck, by Antonietta Cappelli

On 15 August 1776, in Vienna, one of Ludwig van Beethoven’s dear friends was born: Ignaz Xaver, Ritter von Seyfried. An Austrian musician who lived and worked in Vienna until his death on 27 August 1841, he had the good fortune to receive a first-rate education and to engage continually with all the great musicians of the Classical era, with whom he always maintained cordial and mutually respectful relations.

He studied with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Leopold Antonín Koželuh and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger; he served as conductor at the Theater an der Wien from 1797 to 1828. He edited the published editions of Albrechtsberger’s studies in harmony (1826) and later, in memory of the friendly bond that had united them, Beethoven’s studies in composition (1832).

Despite the honours accorded to this cultivated man, he never managed to reach the artistic heights of the great Viennese Classicists and today his music is absent from concert programmes.

Seyfried was especially esteemed as an opera and orchestral conductor and possessed a thorough knowledge of the rules of harmony. In addition to operatic works he composed sacred and instrumental music. It is well known that Beethoven chose him to conduct Fidelio and his Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37. Less well known is the fact that he dedicated to the young rising talent Clara Wieck an Impromptu in C minor, dated 31 January 1838.

At the foot of the manuscript staves appears the following dedication:

Clara Wieck, Polyhymnia’s High Priestess, as a small token of remembrance,

dedicated by her true admirer and devotee, Seyfried

Vienna, 31 January 1838.

It consists of 54 bars, distributed over five grand staves. The time signature is 3/4 with an anacrustic rhythm, and the marking “lively and energetic.” The piece is contrapuntal in character and rather sparse from both a melodic and harmonic point of view. It opens in C minor; from bar 19 onwards a series of micro-modulations begins, repeatedly returning to C minor before finally closing in C major, almost as if to emphasise the idea that Clara is regarded as a mythic figure.

The dedication itself is therefore very significant—more so than the musical content, which is rather academic in character.

As can be observed, even though the image is of poor quality, the handwriting is very clear and—assuming it was written in Seyfried’s own hand—suggests a person of orderly and precise habits. The contrapuntal style evokes music firmly rooted in the Classical school, yet it also points towards a newer musical form: the Impromptu.

The dedicatee, Clara Wieck, composed between 1834 and 1836 four characteristic studies for solo piano, Op. 5, known as Impromptus.

The term Impromptu was first used in 1817 by the journal Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung to describe a piano piece by the Bohemian composer Jan Václav Voříšek (1791–1825). The composition was later published in 1822 as Impromptu, Op. 7. It is a form characterised by a free, improvisatory style.

At this point, one might be inclined to think that it was no coincidence that Ignaz Xaver, Ritter von Seyfried chose precisely an Impromptu to dedicate to the young and rising Clara Wieck. In 1838 the concert pianist was nineteen years old—an adolescent performing on the Viennese stage, the most unforgiving musical arena of the time. Determination, energy, vitality and remarkable grit: the piece itself seems to reflect precisely these qualities, though it also contains delicate passages typical of a feminine sensibility. Seyfried’s Impromptu brings to mind the “crushed” figures (acciaccaturas) that Clara writes in her Impromptu No. 1 from Op. 5, known as Le Sabbat. In Seyfried’s work too, the acciaccaturas play a decisive role.

It is well known that Clara, from a very early age, was a concert pianist of renown throughout Europe.

During her concert tour in Vienna in 1838 she was received with great enthusiasm, and her public performances marked the height of her glory (the very glory that would be denied her in the same city eight years later). It was here that Clara met Franz Liszt in person. The young girl’s reputation had preceded her, and some time earlier Liszt had already written a favourable review of several of her compositions in the journal Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris: the Impromptus (Op. 5), the Sonata (Op. 11) and the Concerto without Orchestra (Op. 14).

Clara’s personal acquaintance with Liszt is documented in the letters she wrote constantly to her beloved Robert Schumann, who was not yet her husband at the time.

The concert repertoire she performed was managed by her father, Friedrich Wieck, who did not allow the young pianist to perform works by Johann Sebastian Bach or Ludwig van Beethoven. Clara only introduced these composers into her repertoire from 1840 onwards, the year in which she became Mrs Schumann.

There are no documents attesting to a meeting between Clara and Seyfried, apart from the holograph manuscript preserved at the Saxon State and University Library Dresden.

One might suppose that, since Seyfried was a Viennese citizen closely connected with the foremost musical circles of the city, Clara’s concerts led him to recognise her talent and admire the young performer, prompting him to compose the piece in question. The work does not appear to have been published by any publisher. The date recorded—“1 January 1838”—may indicate the date of composition, which does not necessarily coincide with the date on which the composer might have presented it to Clara, if indeed he ever did. It might even have been offered as a New Year’s greeting, perhaps accompanied by small lucky sweets typical of Austrian culture, in a grand Viennese salon filled with music and dancing for the New Year celebrations. Many hypotheses could be advanced, each capable of telling a different story.

Who knows whether Clara ever played these notes, whether she noticed the resemblance to her own Impromptu, and whether she smiled while reading Seyfried’s musical texture.

Bibliography

rodoni.ch/schumann

jstor.org – 19th-Century Music, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Summer 1980), pp. 70–76; University of California Press

Wikipedia.org

imslp.org

Treccani.it/enciclopedia

The Impromptu in C minor forms part of the project “Research Becomes Art.”

A new life for the unknown works of Ludwig van Beethoven and his time: an artistic exploration curated by the pianist Professor Antonietta Cappelli.

XX) Beethoven’s Transcriptions and Studies on the Works of Johann Joseph Fux

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Ludwig van Beethoven – Transcriptions from Johann Joseph Fux

List of transcriptions and studies that Beethoven made of the works of Johann Joseph Fux (1660 – 1741)

Johann Joseph Fux (c.1660–1741) stands as one of the central figures of the late Baroque in Austria, remembered less for his operas and sacred music than for his enduring role as a teacher and theorist. Born around 1660 in Hirtenfeld, Styria, to a modest peasant family, Fux’s rise to prominence was remarkable. His early education likely took place in nearby Graz, where his musical gifts were quickly recognized. By the 1680s he was studying at the Jesuit university in Ingolstadt, serving as organist at St. Moritz, and absorbing the contrapuntal traditions that would later define his theoretical work.

At some point in these formative years, Fux traveled to Italy, where he encountered the music of Corelli and the Roman school. This exposure to Italian style—its clarity of line, its expressive vocal writing—would deeply influence his own compositions. By the mid‑1690s he had settled in Vienna, where his career advanced rapidly. In 1696 he became organist at the Schottenkirche, and only two years later he was appointed court composer to Emperor Leopold I. His reputation grew steadily: in 1705 he was named vice‑Kapellmeister at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and in 1715 he rose to the prestigious post of Kapellmeister of the imperial chapel, a position he held under three emperors—Leopold I, Joseph I, and Charles VI.

As a composer, Fux was versatile. He wrote 18 operas, numerous oratorios, masses, and instrumental works. His grand opera Costanza e Fortezza, performed in Prague in 1723 for the coronation of Charles VI, was a monumental spectacle involving hundreds of performers. His sacred music, meanwhile, combined the grandeur of the Venetian polychoral tradition with the elegance of the emerging galant style, making him one of the most admired composers of his generation.

Yet Fux’s greatest legacy lies in his treatise on counterpoint, Gradus ad Parnassum (1725). Written in Latin and cast as a dialogue between master and pupil, the book distilled the principles of Renaissance polyphony, especially the style of Palestrina, into a clear pedagogical method. It became the single most influential manual of counterpoint in Western music. Generations of composers—including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven—studied it, and its method of “species counterpoint” is still taught today. In this way, Fux served as a bridge between the polyphonic ideals of the 16th century and the Classical style of the 18th.

Fux’s later years were marked by declining health, but he remained a respected figure at court until his death in Vienna on 13 February 1741. Though his operas are rarely staged today, his sacred works are occasionally revived, and his Gradus ad Parnassum continues to shape the education of musicians worldwide.

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