Sonate für Klavier (f-Moll) op. 57

Listening samples

	1. Allegro assai (365 kB)
	2. Andante con moto (365 kB)
	3. Allegro, ma non troppo - Presto (365 kB)

Composition
1804 bis erste Hälfte 1806
dedicated to Franz Graf Brunsvik de Korompa

Beethoven made most of the sketches for the piano sonata in 1805 and finished it at the latest in 1806. In September he went to Silesia with his patron Prince Lichnowsky, to the latter's castle Grätz near Troppau. It is unclear whether he first finished the sonata in Grätz, but he certainly had it with him. During his stay Prince Lobkowitz asked Beethoven to play music for French officers. The composer was so angry at this request that he fell out with his patron and departed in a hurry. An account by Paul Bigot, husband of the pianist Marie Bigot, faithfully records the events, "During the journey, he [Beethoven] was surprised by a storm and driving rain, which soaked through the case in which he carried the Sonata in F minor which he had just composed. Following his arrival in Vienna he visited us and, laughing, showed the still wet composition to my wife, who took a closer look at it. Moved by the surprising beginning she sat down at the piano and begin to play it. Beethoven had not expected this and was surprised to see how Mad. Bigot did not let herself be stopped for a moment by the many erasures and changes which he had made. It was the original which he was in the process of taking to the publisher so that it could be engraved. When Mad. Bigot had played it and asked him to give it to her, he agreed and faithfully brought it back for her once it had been engraved". At this time Beethoven was very friendly with the Bigots. Paul Bigot's account is supported by the condition of the autograph score. The manuscript, which is now in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, did actually belong to Marie Bigot. And the autograph score also displays numerous water stains, which could have been made by the rain.

The expression mark "appassionato" means "passionately". In the Piano Sonata op. 57 this expression does not appear at any point. Its famous popular name "Appassionata", by which the sonata is mostly known, did not come from Beethoven. It was first found on the title page ("Sonata appassionata") of a version of the sonata for piano four hands, which the Hamburg publisher Cranz published in 1838. The association seems to have been successful, because the popular name "Appassionata" has since become inseparably linked with this piano sonata. (J.R.)

First editions
	Originalausgabe, op. 57, Bureau des Arts et d'Industrie, 521
	Titelauflage, op. 57, Bureau des Arts et d'Industrie, 521

Scores

Written documents
	Brief an Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig, Wien, 26. August 1804
	Brief an Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig, Wien, 10. Oktober 1804
	Brief an Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig, Wien, 24. November 1804
	Brief an Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig, Wien, 18. April 1805
	Brief an Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig, Wien, Mai 1805

Pictures
	Franz Brunsvik - Fotografie eines Gemäldes von Heinrich Thugut, um 1910 ?
	Franz Brunsvik und seine Ehefrau Sidonie - Fotografie eines wahrscheinlich von Bonifacius Heinricht stammenden Ölgemäldes, um 1920?
	"Appassionata": Beethoven-Maske, kombiniert mit dem Notentext der Sonate op. 57 - Fotomontage des Ateliers Horowitz unter Verwendung einer Plastik von Josef Müller-Weidler, 1969
	Beethovens Sonate Nr. 23 (f-moll, op. 57) - Fotografie eines Gemäldes von Radu Dragomir, um 1971

Literatur

	Berlin: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn-Archiv
	Frankreich, Paris: Bibliothèque du Conservatoire, in: Bibliothèque nationale de France

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