Beethoven: "Kreutzer" Violin Sonata No. 9 // ROSENTHAL & AUER

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The Violin Sonata No. 9 of Ludwig van Beethoven, commonly known as the Kreutzer Sonata, was published as Beethoven's Opus 47. It is known for its demanding violin and piano parts, unusual length (a typical performance lasts slightly less than 40 minutes), and emotional scope — while the first movement is predominantly furious, the second is meditative and the third joyous and exuberant.

In the composer's 1803 sketchbook the work was titled "Sonata per il Pianoforte ed uno violino obligato in uno stile molto concertante come d’un concerto". The final movement of the work was originally written for another, earlier, sonata for violin and piano by Beethoven, the Op. 30, no. 1, in A major.

Beethoven gave no key designation to the work. Although the work is usually titled as being in A-major, the Austrian composer and music theoretician Gerhard Präsent has published articles indicating that the main key is in fact A-minor. Präsent has revealed interesting connections to the 6th violin sonata op.30/1, for which the third movement was originally composed, and he believes that the unusual opening bars for solo violin form a kind of transition from the earlier sonata (or from its structural material), supporting the belief that the acquisition of the finale of Op. 30/1 for the "Kreutzer" was a compositional intention — and not a result of lack of time, as long suspected.

Performed by: Edward Auer, piano and Paul Rosenthal, violin