Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2 (composed in 1802) is often called The Tempest or Der Sturm in German. The name, and the legend, comes from Anton Schindler, who for a period was the secretary of Beethoven. According to his recollection, when asked how to interpret this piano sonata, Beethoven replied, “Read [Shakespeare’s] The …
Beethoven composed his piano trios with the same dedication as he did his string quartets. Many consider them equal to the string masterpieces. This article will summarize the most important aspects of these works. Piano trio is group music, a form of chamber music, with piano and two other instruments, most often violin and cello. Piano trios are usually written …
Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 is commonly known as Sonata Pathétique. He composed this sonata at the age of 27, still in his first, classical period. It was written in 1798, published the following year. The Pathétique piano sonata made an immediate sensation all over Europe. Today, the word Pathétique (pathetic in English) …
Beethoven’s Violin Concerto Op.61 is a central work of violin literature and his only violin concerto. It was composed in his most creative and productive period of his life, in the first decade of 1800s. Even this concerto is understood to be written in just a few weeks time. The piece was commissioned by his violinist friend Franz Clement, director …
These Quartets are the very last pieces Beethoven wrote on this Earth. They are exceptional and were very intimate to him. Introduction to Beethoven’s Late Quartets For the sake of easier understanding and accessibility, Beethoven’s string quartets are categorized into three groups, based on artistic periods in his life: early, middle and late quartets. The Late Quartets, sadly, also …
In this article we discover who was Galitzin, what is the story of the Quartets named after him and whether he was a good payer or not. Who was Nikolai Borisovich Galitzin? Nikolai Borisovich Galitzin (8 November 1794, Saint Petersburg, Tsardom of Russia – 22 October 1866, Kursk Governorate, Russian Empire) was a Russian an aristocrat from the Galitzin-family. Just …