Three Piano Sonatas, WoO 47 (Beethoven)

The Three Piano Sonatas, WoO 47, were composed by Ludwig van Beethoven probably in 1783, when he was twelve years old.^[1] The sonatas show a certain level of precocity and serve as a precursor to the masterworks he later produced. They are dedicated to the Prince-elector (German: Kurfürst) Maximilian Friedrich^[2] and therefore also known as the Kurfürstensonaten.

Three Piano Sonatas
by Ludwig van Beethoven
Catalogue	WoO 47
Style	Classical period
Composed	1782 (1782)–1783
Dedication	Maximilian Friedrich
Published	1783 (1783)
Movements	Three each

Overview

Like Mozart's, Beethoven's musical talent was recognized at a young age,^[3] and these three piano sonatas give an early glimpse of the composer's abilities, as well as his boldness. Beethoven was writing in a form usually attempted by older, more mature composers,^[4] as the sonata was a cornerstone of Classical piano literature. Since they were written at such an early age (and Beethoven himself did not assign them opus numbers), the works have historically been omitted from the canon of Beethoven's piano sonatas. However, Barry Cooper included the trio in his critical edition of the sonatas created for ABRSM, arguing that "A complete edition has to be complete, and if you ignore early works, you don't show the longer trajectory of the composer's development."^[5] The inclusion of these three works raises Beethoven's total number of piano sonatas from 32 to 35.^[a][6]

The sonatas

No. 1 in E♭ major

1. Allegro cantabile
2. Andante
3. Rondo vivace

Beginning of No. 1 in E♭ major

No. 2 in F minor

1. Larghetto maestoso – Allegro assai
2. Andante
3. Presto

Beginning of No. 2 in F minor

No. 3 in D major

1. Allegro
2. Menuetto – Sostenuto
3. Scherzando: Allegretto, ma non troppo

Beginning of No. 3 in D major

See also

• List of compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven

References

Notes

1. With the incipit of a possible 36th identified by Thayer. A fragmentary work in D found in the Kafka Miscellany has been identified as a possible 37th.

Citations

1. Cooper 2017, p. 15.
2. Thayer 1921, pp. 71–74.
3. Thayer 1921, p. 59.
4. Cooper, Barry (2008). Beethoven (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 10.
5. White, Michael (2008-01-20). "Settling Old Scores by Beethoven". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-03-12.
6. Cooper 2017, p. 13.

Sources

• Cooper, Barry (2017). The Creation of Beethoven's 35 Piano Sonatas. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-4724-1432-8.
• Thayer, A. W. (1921). Krehbiel, Henry Edward (ed.). The Life of Ludwig Van Beethoven, Vol 1. The Beethoven Association. OCLC 422583.

Further reading

• Song, Moo Kyoung (2002). The Evolution of Sonata-Form Design in Ludwig van Beethoven's Early Piano Sonatas, WoO 47 to Opus 22 (PDF) (Ph. D. thesis). University of Texas at Austin.

External links

• Three Piano Sonatas, WoO 47: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project