What is Beethoven's hardest sonata?

Hammerklavier The "Hammerklavier" was deemed to be Beethoven's most difficult sonata yet. In fact, it was considered unplayable until almost 15 years later, when Liszt played it in a concert.

en.wikipedia.org - Piano sonatas (Beethoven) - Wikipedia

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Piano sonatas written by Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote 32 mature piano sonatas between 1795 and 1822. (He also wrote 3 juvenile sonatas at the age of 13[1] and one unfinished sonata, WoO. 51.) Although originally not intended to be a meaningful whole, as a set they comprise one of the most important collections of works in the history of music.[2] Hans von Bülow called them "The New Testament" of piano literature (Johann Sebastian Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier being "The Old Testament").[3] Beethoven's piano sonatas came to be seen as the first cycle of major piano pieces suited to both private and public performance.[2] They form "a bridge between the worlds of the salon and the concert hall".[2] The first person to play them all in a single concert cycle was Hans von Bülow; the first complete recording is Artur Schnabel's for the label His Master's Voice.

List of sonatas [ edit ]

Juvenilia [ edit ]

The first three sonatas, written in 1782–1783, are usually not acknowledged as part of the complete set of piano sonatas because Beethoven was 13 when they were published.[4]

Early sonatas [ edit ]

Beethoven's early sonatas were highly influenced by those of Haydn and Mozart. Piano Sonatas No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 13, and 15 are four movements long, which was rather uncommon in his time. Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major

Middle sonatas [ edit ]

After he wrote his first 15 sonatas, he wrote to Wenzel Krumpholz, "From now on, I'm going to take a new path." Beethoven's sonatas from this period are very different from his earlier ones. His experimentation in modifications to the common sonata form of Haydn and Mozart became more daring, as did the depth of expression. Most Romantic period sonatas were highly influenced by those of Beethoven. After his 20th sonata, published in 1805, Beethoven ceased to publish sonatas in sets and published all his subsequent sonatas each as a single whole opus. It is unclear why he did so.

Opus 31: Three Piano Sonatas (1802)

Opus 90: Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor (1814)

Late sonatas [ edit ]

Beethoven's late sonatas were some of his most difficult works and some of today's most difficult repertoire. Yet again, his music found a new path, often incorporating fugal technique and displaying radical departure from conventional sonata form. The "Hammerklavier" was deemed to be Beethoven's most difficult sonata yet. In fact, it was considered unplayable until almost 15 years later, when Liszt played it in a concert.

Performances and recordings [ edit ]

In a single concert cycle, the whole 32 sonatas were first performed by Hans von Bülow.[5] A number of other pianists have emulated this feat, including Artur Schnabel (the first since Bülow to play the complete cycle in concert from memory), Roger Woodward,[6] Rudolf Buchbinder and Michael Houstoun, who has performed the full sonata cycle twice; first at the age of 40, and then 20 years later in 2013.[7] Claudio Arrau performed the cycle several times.[8] The first pianist to make a complete recording was Artur Schnabel, who recorded them for the British recording label His Master's Voice (HMV) between 1932 and 1935.[9][10][11] Other pianists to make complete recordings include Claudio Arrau,[12] Paul Lewis, Daniel Barenboim, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Mari Kodama, Alfred Brendel, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Maurizio Pollini, Richard Goode, Igor Levit, Anton Kuerti, Eduardo del Pueyo, Konstantin Scherbakov, Boris Giltburg and others.

References [ edit ]

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What is the shortest sonata?

Op. 10 No. 2 is the shortest among Beethoven's early sonatas. He dispenses with a slow movement, instead dividing a Haydnesque first movement and a mock fugal finale with an Allegretto that has the characteristics of a minuet, for all its minor-key earnestness.

bbc.co.uk - Radio 3 - Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 6 in F, Op. 10 No. 2 - BBC

Piano Sonata No. 6 in F, Op. 10 No. 2 Allegro

Allegretto

Presto

Beethoven dedicated the three sonatas of his Op. 10 to the Countess Anna Margarete von Browne. Her husband, Count von Browne-Camus, was an officer (of Irish descent) in the Russian Imperial Service in Vienna and himself a generous patron of Beethoven's between 1797 and 1803. He received a number of dedications of his own and, following the gift of these sonatas to his wife, he presented the composer with a riding horse, which Beethoven characteristically forgot until he received a large bill for fodder. Op. 10 No. 2 is the shortest among Beethoven's early sonatas. He dispenses with a slow movement, instead dividing a Haydnesque first movement and a mock fugal finale with an Allegretto that has the characteristics of a minuet, for all its minor-key earnestness.