Classical Music | Cello Music

Recorded on 11/01/2005, uploaded on 01/15/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Ludwig van Beethoven composed only five sonatas for the cello and singlehandedly set the precedent for future composers in a genre that was practically non-existent. The instrument itself had only recently come into its own as a solo instrument, released from its restrictive role as part of the basso continuo largely by the efforts of Joseph Haydn. Though the cello had already assumed for itself a more predominant role in the string quartet, and secured a position in piano trio, there was nevertheless no example for Beethoven to follow in the composition of cello sonatas.

In the late spring of 1796, Beethoven travelled with Prince Lichnowsky to Berlin where he met the King of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm II, a music-lover and amateur cellist, and performed at the royal court. During his stay, he composed the first two of his cellos sonatas, which were later published as his opus 5. Though the sonatas were dedicated to the Prussian monarch in hopes of receiving a monetary reward, they were actually written for and premiered by Jean-Pierre Duport, the king’s first cellist and teacher, or possibly, as some recent scholarship suggests, his younger brother Jean-Louis. Both works consist of only two movements, the first of which in each case is preceded by a slow introduction, and display Beethoven’s already growing imagination and penchant for wide-ranging modulations.

The first sonata, in F major, opens with a lengthy introduction of a rhapsodic nature and concluding with dramatic pause on a dominant seventh before moving forward into the first movement proper. The principal theme is announced first by the piano, supported by the cello, and then again with the roles reversed. The movement’s secondary theme modulates to the expected dominant, yet Beethoven tinges the tonal landscape with the tonality of A-flat major. Broadening the landscape even wider, the development begins in A major and even reaches D-flat before the first theme is recapitulated in the tonic key. Looking forward to some of his later works, Beethoven unexpectedly returns to an Adagio tempo at the end of the movement, and then further inserts a Presto in cut-time before making a final statement of the principal theme. The finale is a frolicking rondo in 6/8 meter. It abounds in playful energy and Beethoven’s usual interesting treatment of rhythm. With the movement’s incessant motives and intricate dialogue between soloist and accompanist, all combine to form an exciting conclusion to Beethoven’s first sonata for the cello.     Joseph DuBose

__________________________________________________________________________

Sonata in C Major, Op. 102, No. 1 for Piano and Cello      Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven composed his last two cello sonatas in the late summer of 1815, but the impetus for their composition was an event that had occurred seven months earlier.  On December 31st, 1814, the palace of Count Andreas Razumovsky had burned to the ground.  The Count was the Russian ambassador to Vienna, but he is known to music lovers as the dedicatee of the Op. 59 "Razumovsky" string quartets.  In 1808, he had charged Ignaz Schuppanzigh, the great violinist and long-time friend of Beethoven, to assemble "the finest string quartet in Europe."  This Schuppanzigh had done, bringing with him the violist Franz Weiss, the cellist Joseph Linke and a gentleman known only to us as Sina playing second violin.

With the destruction of the Count's palace, however, came the demise of the quartet as well, for the Count had lost a great deal of his personal fortune in the fire. Linke found employment with the household of the Countess Erdödy, one of Beethoven's major patrons and a gifted pianist.  During the summer of 1815, the Countess and her husband were at their holiday residence on the Jedlersee.  We know that Beethoven joined them for a time.  After the summer idyll, the Erdödys and Linke left for Croatia.  Beethoven thus lost not just a patron, but two friends that summer.  Op. 102, then, was written as a farewell, a musical "thank you"; Beethoven was honoring his friend in the highest possible way.     Bion Tsang

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.