Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

 wrote his 32 piano sonata

Piano sonata

A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement , two movements , five or even more movements...

s between 1795 and 1822. Although originally not intended to be a meaningful whole, they "form one of the most important collections of works in the whole history of music

History of music

Music is found in every known culture, past and present, varying wildly between times and places. Around 50,000 years ago, early modern humans began to disperse from Africa, reaching all the habitable continents...

." Hans von Bülow

Hans von Bülow

Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...

 even called them "The New Testament" of music (Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

's The Well-Tempered Clavier

The Well-Tempered Clavier

The Well-Tempered Clavier , BWV 846–893, is a collection of solo keyboard music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach...

being "The Old Testament").

Beethoven's piano sonatas "soon came to be seen as the first body of substantial serious works for piano suited to performance in large concert halls." Being suitable for both private and public performance, Beethoven's sonatas form "a bridge between the worlds of the salon and the concert hall".

In a single concert cyclus, the whole 32 sonatas were first performed by Hans von Bülow

Hans von Bülow

Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...

; the first to make a complete recording was Artur Schnabel

Artur Schnabel

Artur Schnabel was an Austrian classical pianist, who also composed and taught. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura...

 in 1927 (he was also the first since von Bülow to play the complete cycle in concert from memory).

List of sonatas

Opus 2: Three Piano Sonatas (1795)

• No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 1
  Piano Sonata No. 1 (Beethoven)
  Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2, No. 1, was written in 1795 and dedicated to Joseph Haydn. It is the first piano sonata written by Beethoven...
  
   in F minor
• No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 2
  Piano Sonata No. 2 (Beethoven)
  Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 2, No. 2, was written in 1796 and dedicated to Joseph Haydn.-Movements:It has four movements:*I. Allegro vivace 2/4*II. Largo appassionato 3/4 D major...
  
   in A major
• No. 3: Piano Sonata No. 3
  Piano Sonata No. 3 (Beethoven)
  Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2, No. 3, is a sonata written for solo piano, composed in 1796. It is dedicated to Franz Joseph Haydn...
  
   in C major

Opus 7: Piano Sonata No. 4

Piano Sonata No. 4 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 4, in E-flat major, Op. 7, sometimes nicknamed the Grand Sonata, dedicated to his student Babette Countess Keglevics, has four movements:#Allegro molto e con brio in E-flat major....

 in E-flat major ("Grand Sonata") (1797)

Opus 10: Three Piano Sonatas (1798)

• No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 5
  Piano Sonata No. 5 (Beethoven)
  The Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10, No. 1, was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is dedicated to Anna Margarete von Browne. The first movement of the sonata has a 3/4 meter, the second movement 2/4, and the final movement 2/2. Beethoven's Piano Sonata No...
  
   in C minor
• No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 6
  Piano Sonata No. 6 (Beethoven)
  Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10, No. 2, was dedicated to the Countess Anne Margarete von Browne, and written from 1796 to 1798.The sonata spans approximately 14 minutes.- Form :The sonata is divided into three movements:...
  
   in F major
• No. 3: Piano Sonata No. 7
  Piano Sonata No. 7 (Beethoven)
  Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10, No. 3, was dedicated to the Countess Anne Margarete von Browne, and written in 1798. This makes it contemporary with his three string trios opus 9, the violin sonatas of opus 12 and the violin romance that became his opus 50 when later...
  
   in D major

Opus 13: Piano Sonata No. 8

Piano Sonata No. 8 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, commonly known as Sonata Pathétique, was written in 1798 when the composer was 27 years old, and was published in 1799. Beethoven dedicated the work to his friend Prince Karl von Lichnowsky...

 in C minor ("Pathétique") (1798)

Opus 14: Two Piano Sonatas (1799)

• No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 9
  Piano Sonata No. 9 (Beethoven)
  The Piano Sonata No. 9 in E major, Op. 14, No. 1, is an early-period work by Ludwig van Beethoven, dedicated to Baroness Josefa von Braun. It was composed in 1798 and transcribed - not arranged - for string quartet by the composer in 1801 , the result containing more quartet-like passagework and...
  
   in E major (Also arranged by the composer for String Quartet in F major (H 34) in 1801)
• No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 10
  Piano Sonata No. 10 (Beethoven)
  The Piano Sonata No. 10 in G major, Op. 14, No. 2, composed in 1798–1799, is an early-period work by Ludwig van Beethoven, dedicated to Baroness Josefa von Braun. A typical performance lasts 15 minutes...
  
   in G major

Opus 22: Piano Sonata No. 11

Piano Sonata No. 11 (Beethoven)

Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 11 in B-flat major, Op. 22, composed in 1800.Prominent musicologist Donald Francis Tovey has called this work the crowning achievement and culmination of Beethoven's early "grand" piano sonatas....

 in B-flat major (1800)

Opus 26: Piano Sonata No. 12

Piano Sonata No. 12 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven composed his Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-flat major, Op. 26 in 1800–1801, around the same time as he completed his First Symphony...

 in A-flat major ("Funeral March") (1801)

Opus 27: Two Piano Sonatas (1801)

• No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 13
  Piano Sonata No. 13 (Beethoven)
  Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 1, composed in 1800–1801, has four movements:#Andante - Allegro - Andante in ternary form, ABA...
  
   in E-flat major 'Sonata quasi una fantasia'
• No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 14
  Piano Sonata No. 14 (Beethoven)
  The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2, by Ludwig van Beethoven, popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata , was completed in 1801...
  
   in C-sharp minor 'Sonata quasi una fantasia' ("Moonlight")

Opus 28: Piano Sonata No. 15

Piano Sonata No. 15 (Beethoven)

Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was named Pastoral or Pastorale by Beethoven's publisher at the time, A. Cranz. While nowhere near as widely recognised as its predecessor, the Piano Sonata No. 14, known often as the Moonlight Sonata, it is...

 in D major ("Pastoral") (1801)

Opus 31: Three Piano Sonatas (1802)

• No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 16
  Piano Sonata No. 16 (Beethoven)
  Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 16 in G major, Op. 31 No. 1, was composed between 1801 and 1802. Although it was numbered as the first piece in the trio of piano sonatas which were published as Opus 31 in 1803, Beethoven actually finished it after the Op. 31 No...
  
   in G major
• No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 17
  Piano Sonata No. 17 (Beethoven)
  The Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2, was composed in 1801/02 by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is usually referred to as "The Tempest" , but this title was not given by him, or indeed referred to as such during his lifetime; instead, it comes from a claim by his associate Anton Schindler...
  
   in D minor ("Tempest")
• No. 3: Piano Sonata No. 18
  Piano Sonata No. 18 (Beethoven)
  The Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat major, Op. 31, No. 3, is a sonata for solo piano by Ludwig van Beethoven, the third and last of his Op. 31 piano sonatas. The work dates from 1802...
  
   in E-flat major ("The Hunt")

Opus 49: Two Piano Sonatas (1805)

• No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor
• No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major

Opus 53: Piano Sonata No. 21

Piano Sonata No. 21 (Beethoven)

The Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53, also known as the Waldstein, is considered to be one of Beethoven's greatest piano sonatas, as well as one of the three particularly notable sonatas of his middle period . The sonata was completed in the summer of 1804...

 in C major ("Waldstein") (1803)

• WoO 57: Andante Favori
  Andante Favori
  The Andante favori is a work for piano solo by Ludwig van Beethoven. In catalogues of Beethoven's works, it is designated as WoO 57.-Composition and reception:...
  
   — Original middle movement of the "Waldstein" sonata (1804)

Opus 54: Piano Sonata No. 22

Piano Sonata No. 22 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 22 in F major, Op. 54, was written in 1804. It is contemporary to the first sketches of the equally concise Symphony in C Minor, #5. It is one of Beethoven's lesser known sonatas, overshadowed by its widely known neighbours, the Appassionata and the...

 in F major (1804)

Opus 57: Piano Sonata No. 23

Piano Sonata No. 23 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 is a piano sonata. It is considered one of the three great piano sonatas of his middle period . It was composed during 1804 and 1805, and perhaps 1806, and was dedicated to Count Franz von Brunswick...

 in F minor ("Appassionata") (1805)

Opus 78: Piano Sonata No. 24

Piano Sonata No. 24 (Beethoven)

The Piano Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp major, Op. 78, nicknamed "À Thérèse" was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1809. It consists of two movements:#Adagio cantabile - Allegro ma non troppo...

 in F-sharp major ("A Thérèse") (1809)

Opus 79: Piano Sonata No. 25

Piano Sonata No. 25 (Beethoven)

The Piano Sonata No. 25 in G major, Op. 79, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1809. It consists of three movements:#Presto alla tedesca#Andante#Vivace...

 in G major (1809)

Opus 81a: Piano Sonata No. 26

Piano Sonata No. 26 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major, Op. 81a, known as the Les Adieux sonata, was written during the years 1809 and 1810.The title Les Adieux implies a programmatic nature...

 in E-flat major ("Les adieux/Das Lebewohl") (1810)

Opus 90: Piano Sonata No. 27

Piano Sonata No. 27 (Beethoven)

The Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor is Ludwig van Beethoven's Op. 90. The work, written in the summer of 1814 in Beethoven's late Middle period, was dedicated to Count Moritz von Lichnowsky.- Form :...

 in E minor (1814)

Opus 101: Piano Sonata No. 28

Piano Sonata No. 28 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101, was written in 1816 and was dedicated to the pianist Baroness Dorothea Ertmann. This piano sonata runs for about 20 minutes and consists of four movements:...

 in A major (1816)

Opus 106: Piano Sonata No. 29

Piano Sonata No. 29 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106 is a piano sonata widely considered to be one of the most important works of the composer's third period and among one of the great piano sonatas...

 in B-flat major ("Hammerklavier") (1819)

Opus 109: Piano Sonata No. 30

Piano Sonata No. 30 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, composed in 1820, is the antepenultimate of his piano sonatas. In it, after the huge Hammerklavier sonata, Op. 106, Beethoven returns to a smaller scale and a more intimate character...

 in E major (1820)

Opus 110: Piano Sonata No. 31

Piano Sonata No. 31 (Beethoven)

The Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110, by Ludwig van Beethoven was composed in 1821. It is the central piano sonata in the group of three opp. 109–111 which he wrote between 1820 and 1822, and the thirty-first of his published piano sonatas....

 in A-flat major (1821)

Opus 111: Piano Sonata No. 32

Piano Sonata No. 32 (Beethoven)

The Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111, is the last of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas. Along with Beethoven's 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120 and his two collections of bagatelles—Opus 119 and Opus 126 —this was one of Beethoven's last compositions for piano. The...

in C minor (1822)