Beethoven's sonatas

You can certainly classify them by opus number or in chronological order of composition... which probably do not match (see the famous case of the first 2 Piano and Orchestra Concertos!). Nothing else comes to mind. Let's wait for the experts.

Credible or not, W. von Lenz divided Beethoven's production into three periods, namely:

the Early Beethoven from 1770 to 1802;

the middle Beethoven (or "heroic") from 1803 to 1814;

the Late Beethoven from 1815 until his death.

Perhaps it might be useful to you.

It seems like a good idea to delve into specific pieces, perhaps following Carlos's suggestion, based on Beethoven's stylistic changes.

Since we are talking about classifications and categories, as I wrote in this topic

http://www.pianoconcerto.it/forum/index.php?/topic/546-tremolo-di-ottave-spezzate/

I possess a relic (which I found about twenty years ago in Prague) where the title page says:

Edited by Franz Liszt

Newly revised by C. Kuhner

Bosworth Edition

Arranged according to difficulty

Liszt proposes the sonatas in the following order:

Op. 49 n. 2

Op. 49 n. 1

Op. 79

Op. 14 n. 2

Op. 14 n. 1

Op. 2 n. 1

Op. 10 n. 1

Op. 10 n. 2

Op. 2 n. 2

Op. 2 n. 3

Op. 10 n. 3

Op. 13

Op. 22

Op. 28

Op. 7

Op. 78

Op. 26

Op. 31 n. 3

Op. 31 n. 1

Op. 90

Op. 27 n. 1

Op. 27 n. 2

Op. 54

Op. 31 n. 2

Op. 53

Op. 81a

Op. 57

Op. 101

Op. 110

Op. 109

Op. 111

Op. 106

Perhaps useful

Carlos will surely be useful to me

Frank wrote:

It seems like a good idea to delve into targeted pieces, perhaps as Carlos suggested, based on Beethoven's stylistic changes.

In fact, I will adopt it as a criterion; if we could then deepen the discussion on these styles, it would be of great help to me.

@Frank

Regarding the list of sonatas, it could be useful from the pianist's point of view; with the right mix of Carlos's indications, one could choose a couple of significant sonatas for each style, and so on.

What do you think, any suggestions? If you had to choose... let's say 6, which ones would you study or which ones would it be unacceptable not to study?

Ismaele wrote:

You can certainly classify them by opus number or in chronological order of composition...

The Urtext presents them in chronological order, right?

Ismaele wrote:

that probably do not match (see the famous case of the first 2 Piano and Orchestra Concertos!).

By 'do not match', do you mean for example (making up numbers) that opus 10 was written before opus 9?

Pio wrote:

The urtext proposes them in chronological order, right?

I don't know what you mean by "urtext" (apologies for my ignorance!), anyway here you find the chronological order of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas.

Apparently, the numbering of the Sonatas is "almost" chronological, with the sole exception of Sonatas No. 20 and 19 (i.e., Op. 49), which should be placed between No. 3 (Op. 2, No. 3) and No. 4 (Op. 7).

Pio wrote:

By "doesn't match," do you mean for example (making up numbers) that opus 10 was written before opus 9?

Exactly.

Referring to the example I gave, Piano Concerto No. 2 (i.e., Opus 19) was written before No. 1 (or Opus 15).

Ismaele wrote:

I don't know what you mean by "urtext" (apologies for my ignorance!)

It is a publishing house, probably one of the most accredited as an edition

Arzigovolato3 wrote:

It is a publishing house, probably one of the most accredited in terms of edition

No, careful: "urtext" means "original text", it is not a publishing house. Henle, Bärenreiter, Breitkopf are publishing houses that publish "urtext" versions of Beethoven's Sonatas etc. etc.

Carlos wrote:

No, watch out: "urtext" means "original text," it is not a publishing house. Henle, Bärenreiter, Breitkopf are publishing houses that publish "urtext" versions of Beethoven's Sonatas etc. etc.

I am a beast, I immediately associated the word with Henle

Eheh perché la Henle lo scrive a caratteri cubitali...

Arzigovolato and I could shake hands... I meant that publishing houses usually publish them in opus number order.... at least I think so...

Thank you Ismaele