Violin Sonata A major op. 47

Beethoven wrote ten sonatas for violin and piano during a period of only fifteen years (from 1797 to 1812). It is impressive how in this genre he again pursued the principle of finding a new model for each individual work. In the Sonata in A Major op. 47, which is published here separately for the first time, a new dimension is introduced to the genre right by the cadenza-like opening, by the unaccompanied violin and by the concertante-virtuoso style throughout.

On the original title page Beethoven aptly remarked: “scritta in un stilo molto concertante quasi come d’un Concerto” [written in a very concertante style, as if for a concerto]. He dedicated the sonata to the Parisian violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer, for which reason it is called the “Kreutzer Sonata”. Our meticulous Urtext edition is based on the fragment of the autograph, the German original edition, the English first edition and on an important manuscript copy from the workshop of copyist W. Schlemmer discovered by G. Henle Publishers.

This copy, with corrections by Beethoven, served as the engraver’s copy for the original edition. Editor and Beethoven researcher Sieghard Brandenburg was also responsible for this work in the Beethoven Complete Edition. His preface, with important details concerning the edition, rounds off our edition of this masterpiece.