Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) was a German
composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most
admired composers in the history of Western music; his
works rank among the most performed of the classical
music repertoire and span the transition from the
Classical period to the Romantic era in classical
music. His career has conventionally been divided into
early, middle, and late periods. His early period,
during which he forged his craft, is typically
considered to have lasted until 1...(+)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) was a German
composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most
admired composers in the history of Western music; his
works rank among the most performed of the classical
music repertoire and span the transition from the
Classical period to the Romantic era in classical
music. His career has conventionally been divided into
early, middle, and late periods. His early period,
during which he forged his craft, is typically
considered to have lasted until 1802. From 1802 to
around 1812, his middle period showed an individual
development from the styles of Joseph Haydn and
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is sometimes characterized
as heroic. During this time, he began to grow
increasingly deaf. In his late period, from 1812 to
1827, he extended his innovations in musical form and
expression.
Beethoven was born in Bonn. His musical talent was
obvious at an early age. He was initially harshly and
intensively taught by his father, Johann van Beethoven.
Beethoven was later taught by the composer and
conductor Christian Gottlob Neefe, under whose tutelage
he published his first work, a set of keyboard
variations, in 1783. He found relief from a
dysfunctional home life with the family of Helene von
Breuning, whose children he loved, befriended, and
taught piano. At age 21, he moved to Vienna, which
subsequently became his base, and studied composition
with Haydn. Beethoven then gained a reputation as a
virtuoso pianist, and was soon patronised by Karl
Alois, Prince Lichnowsky for compositions, which
resulted in his three Opus 1 piano trios (the earliest
works to which he accorded an opus number) in 1795.
He composed his Natural Horn Sonata in F Major, Op. 17
in 1800 for the virtuoso horn player Giovanni Punto. It
was premiered with Punto as the soloist, accompanied on
the piano by Beethoven himself in Vienna on April 18,
1800. Beethoven was not well known outside of Vienna at
the time of this composition, and after a performance
of the piece in Pest, played by Punto and Beethoven, a
Hungarian critic wrote, "Who is this Beethover (sic)?
His name is not known to us. Of course, Punto is very
well known."
This work was written for the natural horn and in the
cor basse idiom, i.e. Beethoven incorporates rapid
arpeggios in the first and third movement as well as
use of the factitious low G below the second harmonic.
These were all traits of cor basse playing, the genre
in which Punto specialised. However, like many works of
this period, to broaden the potential market for the
work, an arrangement of the sonata for cello was made,
probably by Beethoven, for publication. It was then
published as "Sonate pour le Forte-Piano avec un Cor ou
Violoncelle." Versions for violin, flute were also
made.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horn_Sonata_(Beethoven))
.
Although originally written for Horn & Piano, I created
this Arrangement of the Sonata in F Major (Opus 17) for
Flute & Piano.