Beethoven's 'Hammerklavier' Sonata, Op. 106, marked the beginning of what is commonly called the composer's 'late style,' following a uniquely unproductive year for him in 1817.
Critical Reception
The 'Hammerklavier' Sonata was initially difficult to sell, with a music publisher employee noting that even in Milan, "not a person lives there who can play such a thing."
Composer Biography
Franz Liszt, as a child, was described by his teacher Carl Czerny as a pale, sickly-looking child whose playing was quite irregular, untidy, and confused, yet possessed astonishing natural talent.
Compositional Technique
The 'Hammerklavier' Sonata presented unprecedented difficulties, including an aggressive and rapid first movement with an 'impossible' metronome marking, and a craggy fugal finale.
Compositional Technique
Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor, completed in 1854, is a single-movement work of half an hour that can be understood as one long sonata-form movement or four interconnected movements.
Notable Performances
Franz Liszt's 1836 performance of Beethoven's 'Hammerklavier' Sonata in Paris was reviewed by Hector Berlioz, who called it "the ideal performance of a work reputed to be unperformable."
Composition History
Beethoven's 'Hammerklavier' Sonata, Op. 106, published in September 1819, was considered so difficult that even experienced pianists like Nanette Streicher, a respected piano builder, struggled with it for a year.
