Song Analysis

1) Beethoven: Piano Sonatas WoO 47, Kurfustersonaten 1. Larghetto maestoso.

The Three Early Piano Sonatas, WoO 47, "Kurfürstensonaten" were composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1782 and 1783, when he was eleven and twelve years old. Though lacking a distinct musical identity, the sonatas show a certain level of precocity and serve as a precursor to the masterworks he later produced. They are dedicated to the Elector (Kurfürst) Maximilian Frederick. Like Mozart, Beethoven's music talents were recognized at a young age, and it is in these three sonatas that we are given an early glimpse of the composer's abilities, as well as his boldness(Turina, pp. 16). Even at his young age, Beethoven was writing in a form usually attempted by older, more mature composers, as the sonata was a cornerstone of Classical piano literature. This trio of works is also referred to as the "Max Friedrich" sonatas, after their dedicatee, Archbishop Maximilian Friedrich. They and the Nine Variations for Piano, in C minor, on a march by Dressler, WoO 63, were the first works Beethoven wrote--or at least the first he cared to recognize and publish. The composer himself is the source of this information. There is some uncertainty about the dates of the works, however. But it appears that the Dressler Variations were written in 1782, and these sonatas likely were composed that same year also. Some musicologists, though, date all these pieces to 1783.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn in December, 1770, the son of Johann van Beethoven, in singer in the service of the Archbishop of Cologne, and, more important, the grandson of Ludwig van Beethoven, Kapellmeister to the same patron. It was the very distinction and strength of character of the head of the family that lay at the root of Johann van Beethoven's inadequacy as a father and final professional incompetence. The elder Ludwig died in 1773, but was to remain for his grandson a powerful posthumous influence, while Johann slid further into habits of dissipation, with Ludwig, his eldest surviving son, assuming in 1789 the role of head of the family, with responsibility for his two younger brothers.

In Bonn Beethoven received erratic musical training at home, followed by a much more thorough course of study with Christoph Gottlob Neefe, who was appointed court organist in 1781. In 1784 he entered the paid service of the Archbishop as deputy court orgainist, employed as a viola-player or as cembalist in the court orchestra, and turning his hand increasingly to composition. A visit to Vienna in 1778 for the purpose of study with Mozart led to nothing, cut short by the illness and subsequent death of his mother, but in 1792 he was to return to the imperial capital, again with his patron's encouragement, to take lessons with Haydn.

Beethoven came to Vienna with the highest recommendations and was quick to establish himself as a pianist and composer. From Haydn he claimed to have learned nothing, but he was to undertake further study with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger ...