Before Beethoven, the cello primarily served as a basso continuo instrument in chamber music, but he elevated it to an equal partner with the piano in his sonatas.
Performer Biography
Daniel Müller-Schott plays the 'Ex Shapiro' Matteo Goffriller cello, made in Venice in 1727.
Composition History
The sketches for Beethoven's Cello Sonata in A major, Op. 69, are found alongside those for his Symphony No. 5, Op. 67, during his 'heroic' period.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Beethoven inscribed the epigraph 'inter lacrymas et luctus' ('amid tears and sorrow') on a copy of the Sonata in A major, Op. 69, for its dedicatee, Baron von Gleichenstein, likely referring to the political climate and his disillusionment with Napoleon.
Compositional Technique
Beethoven masterfully addressed the acoustical challenge of balancing the cello's sound with the increasingly voluminous sound of the developing piano in his five cello sonatas.
Composition History
Beethoven's Op. 5 cello sonatas were composed for King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, a keen cellist, and premiered by Jean-Louis Duport, a cellist at the royal court, and Beethoven himself.
Composer Biography
In 1796, Ludwig van Beethoven embarked on his only major concert tour, which included stops in Prague, Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin.
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