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 HARVARD U N IV E R SIT Y
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

THESIS ACCEPTANCE CERTIFICATE

(T o be placed in Original C opy)

The undersigned, appointed by the

Division

Department M usic

Committee

have examined a thesis entitled

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Genre, Style, and Compositional Procedure
in Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata, Opus 47
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presented b y SUHNNE AHN

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candidate for the degree of D octor of Philosophy and hereby

certify that it is w o rth y u f acceptance.

Signature
Typed name LEWIS LOCKWOOD

............
Typed name INHQXjD ^RXN1CMANN

Signature ....
Typed name P.4Y-P
LD HUGHES

Date ..danuary...23.,...l,99.7. ..

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 Genre, Style, and Compositional Procedure in Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata, Opus 47

A thesis presented

by

Suhnne Ahn

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to
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The Department of Music
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in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

in the subject of
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Musicology

Harvard University

Cambridge, Massachusetts
January, 1997

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 UMI N um ber: 9 7 2 1 6 5 1

Copyright 1997 by
Aim, Suhnne

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All rights reserved.
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 I EW
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 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION

Ludwig van Beethoven's Sonata for Violin and Piano, Opus 47, also known as the
"Kreutzer" Sonata, possesses a rich compositional history. The last movement was

originally composed as the finale to Opus 30, No. 1, but was replaced by another finale for

aesthetic reasons. At a later date, a scheduled concert provided the impetus for the

completion of Opus 47, with the former last movement serving as the compositional

springboard for the entire work. Against this background, this study examines

Beethoven's Opus 47 from several angles.

First, an analysis of all three movements of the final work is presented. To

elucidate how the finale generates unique motivic, structural, and harmonic features in the

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other two movements, the movements are considered in their order of composition
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Movement III followed by Movements I and II.

Next follows an examination of the primary sources for Opus 47, with emphasis on
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Movements I and II. Transcriptions of relevant sketches from the Wielhorsky Sketchbook

offer tremendous insight into Beethoven's compositional process, including the evolution

of thematic material and the order in which individual sections within movements were
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composed. In addition, a comparison between the surviving autograph fragment with the

final version of the work demonstrates the degree of detail Beethoven paid at this late stage

of composition to both the ends of phrases and the continuity between them.
The subtitle of Opus 47, "scritta in uno stile molto concertante, quasi come d'un

concerto," indicates a departure from Beethoven's previous efforts in the accompanied

sonata. In the final section of this thesis, the mixture of genres and styles in Opus 47 and

the possible influences linked to the convergence of these strains are addressed. Closely

connected to the unusual subtitle is the elevation of the violin from a subordinate participant

to an equal partner. Other influences on the hybrid nature of Opus 47 include Heinrich
Koch's ideas on the genre of concerto and Rodolphe Kreutzer's Grande Sonate, available

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 for the first time in full score. Throughout this study, issues of historical context and

Beethoven's intention to leave Vienna for Paris around the time of Opus 47's composition

arise. External evidence suggests that France and the anticipation of a Parisian audience
were prominent in Beethoven's thoughts, and musical evidence further suggests that this

preoccupation resulted in Beethoven's incorporation of French genres and styles into a

number of works written at this time, of which Opus 47 stands as an example.

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 For My Family

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 C ontents page

Acknowledgements vii
List of Abbreviations viii

Introduction 1

Parti: Analysis
Chapter 1: Analysis of Individual Movements 8
Movement 3
Movement 1
Movement 2
Conclusion
Part II: Sources

Chapter 2: The Wielhorsky Sketchbook 60

Background
Overview
The Sketches:
The First Movement
The Second Movement
Summary
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Chapter 3: The Autograph Fragment 91
Hans Schmidt
Sieghard Brandenburg
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Comparison of passages
Conclusions about the cancellation

Chapter 4: the Engraver's copy 118

Past Scholarship
Tyson's identification of the copyists
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Brandenburg's completion
Ferdinand Ries's Role Revisited
Speculation on the autograph
The pasteover

Part III: Interpretation

Chapter 5: The French Connection: Kreutzer's Grande Sonata 137

Evolution of the Dedication to Kreutzer
A Review of the Sources
Kreutzer's Grande Sonate
Opus 47 and Kreutzer's Grande Sonate: the Musical Links
Score of Kreutzer's Grande Sonate

Chapter 6: Sonata as "Quasi come d'un concerto 195

Evolution through the sources
Source A: The first edition
Source B: Landsberg 6
Sources C & D: The Engraver's Copy and
Letters by Carl Beethoven and Ferdinand Ries

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 Chapter 6 (cont'd)
Source E The Autograph Fragment as "Sonata Mulattica"
Influences on the Subtitle: Sulzer or Koch

Chapter 7: Concertante and Dialogue 217

Concertante as distinct from obbligato
A reinterpretation of the idea of dialogue
Chapter 8: Opus 47 in the Context of Beethoven's other works 238
Opus 47 as a bridge between Op. 37 and Op. 58
Opus 47 as an outgrowth of Opus 37
Opus 47 as a predecessor of Opus 58
Opus 47 in the context of the Violin Concerto
The Triple Concerto, Opus 56
The Romances, Opp. 40 and 50
Opus 40 and the slow introduction of Opus 47

Conclusion 259

Bibliography
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vi

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Research for this project was greatly facilitated by funds from both the Oscar Straus
Schafer Fellowship and the Paine Traveling Fellowship. The latter, in particular, allowed
me to travel to the Beethoven Archiv in Bonn and the British Library in London in order to
examine source material fundamental to this study. Special thanks go to the staff at the
Beethoven Archiv for making rare primary source material available to me. I would also
like to extend my appreciation to the staff at the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library at Harvard
who assisted with numerous library requests for microfilms and interlibrary loans. In
particular, I would like to recognize Nym Cooke, Bill Thauer, Julia Sullivan, and Millard
Irion.
To my advisors, I am grateful not only for their help in directing and shaping this
work but also for the generosity with which each gave his valuable time throughout my
years in graduate school. Professor Reinhold Brinkmann offered invaluable advice in
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matters of consistency and precision, and Professor David Hughes contributed enormous
clarity and delightful levity in his comments and suggestions for this text. Professor Lewis
Lockwood, my primary advisor, first steered me toward my topic and has never waned in
his enthusiasm for this project. Over the years, I have learned countless lessons from
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Professor Lockwood, but the most valuable resulted in a renewed appreciation for the
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healing power of hard work in a discipline to which one is devoted. His diligence,
strength, and integrity remain models for my future efforts in the field.
Throughout the vicissitudes of graduate school, many people have offered
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thoughtful advice and warm encouragement. A group of graduate students in the Music
Department once labelled the "lounge lizards" set a standard for collegiality that I shall
always remember with affection. Similarly, the community of tutors and scholars at
Lowell House headed by Co-Masters Bill and Mary Lee Bossert not only yielded
intellectual stimulation outside the subject of music but also offered a host of enriching
distractions to balance the rigors of writing a dissertation. Friends and colleagues to whom
I wish express my gratitude include Kathryn Welter, Kathleen Marshall, Lesley Williams,
Stephanie and Peter Wollny, Laura and Tom Kozachek, Naomi Andre, Daniel Beller-
McKenna, David Kidger, Roberta Lukes, Anne Stone, Daniel Melamed, Henry
Klumpenhouwer, Graeme Boone, Tim and Lorraine Markey, Sally Hadden and Bob
Berkhofer, and Bill and Eliot Bikales. For guidance and faith, I am especially indebted to
Professor Hilary Bender, whose kindess I can never repay. Finally, my deepest thanks are
saved for my sister and my parents, whose steadfast moral support sustained me
throughout this endeavor.

vii

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 ABBREVIATIONS

Literature

Anderson Emily Anderson, ed. The Letters o f Beethoven, 3 vols.

(London, 1961)
BS I, BS II, BS III Beethoven Studies, ed. Alan Tyson, vol. I (New York:
Norton, 1973); vol. 2 (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1977); vol 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1982)
JTW Douglas Johnson, Alan Tyson, and Robert Winter, The
Beethoven Sketchbooks, History, Reconstruction,
Inventory, ed. Douglas Johnson (Berkeley and Los Angeles:
University of California Press, 1985)

Kinsky-Halm Georg Kinsky, Das Werk Beethoven: themalisch-

bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner samtlichen vollendeten
Kompositionen, completed and ed. Hans Halm (Munich and
Duisburg, 1955)

New Grove
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The New Grove Dictionary o f Music and Musicians, ed.
Stanley Sadie, 20 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1980)
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Thayer I, II, III Alexander Wheelock Thayer, Ludwig van Beethoven's
Leben, 3 vols. (Berlin: F. Schneider, 1866, 1872, 1879)
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Thayer-Deiters- Alexander Wheelock Thayer, Ludwig van Beethovens

Riemann I-V Leben, continued Hermann Deiters, rev. Vol. I (Berlin,
1901); completed Hugo Riemann, Vols. IV-V (Leipzig,
1907, 1908), rev. Vols. II-III (Leipzig, 1910, 1911), rev.
Deiters's 1901 ed. of Vol. I (Leipzig, 1917); Vols. II-V
reissued (Leipzig, 1922-23)
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Thayer-Forbes Thayer's Life o f Beethoven, rev. and ed. Elliott Forbes, 2

vols. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1964)

Thayer-Krehbiel Alexander Wheelock Thayer, The Life o f Ludwig van

Beethoven, transl. into English and ed. Henry Edward
Krehbiel, 3 vols. (New York: Beethoven Assoc., 1921)

Wegeler-Ries Franz Gerhard Wegeler and Ferdinand Ries, Biographische

Notizen iiber Ludwig van Beethoven (Coblenz: K. Badeker,
1838), suppl. Wegeler (Coblenz, 1845)

Journals

AMZ Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung

JAMS Journal of the American Musicological Society

MQ The Musical Quarterly

viii

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 Introduction

From the time of its publication in April 1805, Beethoven's Sonata for violin and

piano, Opus 47, has been closely associated with the French virtuoso violinist Rodolphe

Kreutzer (1766-1831), to whom the first edition was dedicated. Before its publication,

however, the work had a previous dedicatee. George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower, a

"mulatto" violinist of West-Indian and European descent, then residing in England, was the

first to perform the work at a concert in Vienna's Augarten on May 24, 1803, almost two

years before the first publication. Beethoven's admiration for Bridgetower is evident from a

letter in which Beethoven recommends Bridgetower as "a very capable virtuoso who has a

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complete command of his instrument"1 Other letters indicate that the change of dedication

from Bridgetower to Kreutzer occurred more than a year after the first performance, but
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Beethoven's reasons for this change remain open to conjecture.2 Ironically, Rudolph

Kreutzer probably never even performed the work that informally bears his name.3
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Colorful circumstances surround the first performance of the sonata with Beethoven

and Bridgetower. First, the completion of Opus 47 was achieved in greate haste, and

Beethoven was so pressed for time while preparing for the concert that he called his friend
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Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838) in the early hours before dawn to help him in copying the
parts.4 Second, at the premiere of the work, a delightful exchange between Beethoven and

Bridgetower took place, demonstrating the spontaneity and exuberance filling the

atmosphere at one of Beethoven's performances. Bridgetower writes about the

performance of the first movement:

1 Elliot Forbes, ed., Thayer's Life o f Beethoven (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1967),
332; hereafter, Thayer-Forbes.

2 Erich H. Muller, ed., "Beethoven und Simrock," Simrock-Jahrbuch II (Berlin, 1929), 24fT.

3 Hector Berlioz, Voyage musical en Allemagne et Italie I (Paris, 1844), 261.

4 Thayer-Forbes, 332.

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 ...[A]t the repetition of the first part of the Presto, I imitated the flight, at the 18th
bar, of the piano forte of this movement thus:

[musical example in Bridgetower's hand writing elaborating the C major

arpeggio played by the piano in m. 36]

He [Beethoven] jumped up, embraced me, saying: "Noch einmal, mein lieber
Burseh!" ("Once again, my dear boy!") Then he held the open pedal during this
flight, the chord of C as at the ninth bar.5

From Bridgetower, we also have the story that he was denied the dedication of the work

because of a quarrel over a girl with Beethoven. As we shall see later, this may not have

been Beethoven's motive for dedicating the work to Kreutzer. Other circumstances and

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influences were more likely the impetus for the dedication change.6

This study of the "Kreutzer" Sonata takes its departure from two general areas of
inquiry: 1) questions and observations which arise from an analysis of the piece and an
examination of its existing primary sources; and 2) the work's apparent mixture of genres
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and styles as evidenced in its subtitle - and the numerous possible influences that

can be linked to the convergence of these strains in Opus 47. Among these influences, two

of particular importance for us will be Rodolphe Kreutzer's Grande Sonata and Heinrich
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Christoph Koch's ideas on the genre of concerto.

Throughout this study, particularly in relation to the mixture of genres exhibited in

the work, we will return to the question of historical context, and of Beethoven's intention

5 Thayer-Forbes, 333.

6 Bridgetower was an intriguing figure in the musical circles of Beethoven's day. He, along with
Joseph Boulogne de Saint-Georges (1739-99), were among the few prominent musicians of African descent
during that time. Hailed as a prodigy, Bridgetower performed a concerto by Giomovichi in the Concert
Spirituel at the age of ten. Capitalizing on his unusual racial background, he was dressed in exotic clothing
and eventually gained the title "African Prince." Later, in London, Bridgetower worked closely with
Giovanni Battista Viotti. For more on Bridgetower, see F.G. Edwards, "George P. Bridgetower and the
Kreutzer Sonata, Musical Times 49 (1908): 302; Betty Matthews, "George Polgreen Bridgtower, Music
Review (1968): 20-26; and Josephine R.B.Wright, "George Polgreen Bridgetower An African Prodigy in
England 1789-99," MQ 66(1980): 65-82. Much of the information in Edwards's 1908 article on
Bridgetower was based on an album of letters once belonging to Arthur Hill. Until recendy, this album,
which includes an autograph letter from Viotti to Bridgetower, was in die possession of a private collector
in Missouri.

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 to leave Vienna around the period of the work's composition, in a projected journey to

Paris. The external evidence to suggest that France and the anticipation of a Parisian
audience were prominent in Beethoven's thoughts during the time of Opus 47's

composition is compelling. Moreover, there is musical evidence to suggest that the

preoccupation with France resulted in Beethoven's incorporation of French genres and

styles into a number of works written at this time, of which Opus 47 stands as an example.

Analysis of the Work and Sources

An examination of the sources for Opus 47 confirms what Beethoven's

contemporary Ferdinand Ries wrote about the composition of the work: the order of

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movements followed a reverse chronology. More precisely, the last movement was written

first, followed by the first and second movements. Originally, the last movement was
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intended for the A major sonata for violin and piano, Opus 30, No. 1. Beethoven
discarded the idea and composed a new finale for Opus 30, No. I.7 What remained as the
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original finale for Opus 30 was thus reserved by Beethoven until the scheduled concert

with Bridgetower became the catalyst for the completion of this Opus 47.

As source evidence indicates, the finale, composed before the rest of Opus 47, in
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fact became a springboard for the work as a whole. The connections between Opus 47 and

Opus 30 have been addressed at length by two scholars. Richard Kramer's 1973

dissertation on the Opus 30 violin sonatas deals with the history, transcription and analysis
of the sketches.8 Since the three violin sonatas in Opus 30 immediately precede Opus 47

in the genre of sonata, and since the last movement to Opus 47 was originally the final

movement to Opus 30, No. 1, Kramer's work has direct bearing on my own. In addition,

7 Franz Gerhard Wegeler and Ferdinand Ries. Biographische Notizen uber Beethoven (Coblenz,
1838), 83; hereafter, Wegeler-Ries.

8 The Sketches fo r Beethoven's Violin Sonatas. Op. 30: History, Transcription, Analysis (Ph.D.
diss. Princeton University, 1973), esp. pp. 30 Iff.

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 Christopher Reynolds's 1984 article addresses the change in the Finale to Opus 30, No. 1.

Reynolds describes how the "second" finale to Opus 30, No. 1 fits into the work as a

whole.9

To clarify the extant sources, the table below summarizes the various sources and
their locations.

T able o f S o u r c e s

Location Call Numbers P age/F olio

num bers
Sketchbooks Kessler Vienna GdM (A34) SV pp. 88-10710
263
Wielhorsky Moscow SV 343 pp. 166-17311
stray leaves Modena Campori Coll.
Bonn Bodmer Coll.
Eroica
(Landsberg 6)
Krakow
W Mh 70
SV 60 inside back
cover
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A utographs "Vorautograph" Bonn NE 86; SV 543 pp. 1-12
Autograph? Missouri private
possession
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E n g rav er's Munich G. Henle Verlag pp. 1-117

Copy
Editions Simrock (2) Bonn (2 Beethoven
versions) Archiv
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New York NY Pierpont

Morgan Library
Cambridge, MA Houghton
Library;
Harvard
Birchall London British Public
Library

9 "Ends and Means in the Second Finale to Beethoven's op. 30. no. 1," in Beethoven Essays:
Studies in Honor o f Elliot Forbes, ed. Lewis Lockwood and Phyllis Benjamin (Harvard University Press,
1984), 127-145.

10 Sieghard Brandenburg, ed., Ludwig van Beethoven: Kesslersches Skizzenbuch, 2 vols. (Bonn,
1976 and 1978). The volumes consist of facsimile and transcriptions.

11 Natan Fishman, ed., Kniga estdzov Beethoven za 1802-1803 gody 3 vols. (Moscow, 1962).
The volumes consist of transcription, facsimile, and commentary.

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 As the table indicates, the sources exist at several levels. Sketches for the third
movement are found in the Kessler sketchbook, while those for the first and second

movements are contained in the Wielhorsky sketchbook. In the Eroica sketchbook, or

"Landsberg 6," by contrast, no music for Opus 47 is to be found. However, the words,

"Sonata scritta in uno sdlo molto concertante [with the word "brillante" crossed o u t], quasi

come d'un concerto" the phrase which eventually came to serve as the famous subtitle to

the work, are scribbled on the inside cover, and their presence in that sketchbook bears
interest for some notable compositional aspects of Opus 47.
In addition to the three sketchbooks, there are three important sources related to

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Opus 47 to which several scholars have made reference during the past two decades. In

1980 Sieghard Brandenburg first described in detail two of these sources.12 The first is a

so-called "Vorautograph" acquired in 1965 by the Beethovenhaus in Bonn; the second is

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the Stichvorlage or engraver's copy for the entire movement, now in the possession of
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Henle Verlag in Munich. Along with these two sources, there is the possibility that the

autograph may have been owned by a private collector in Missouri.

The "Vorautograph" contains in score format the exposition for the first movement
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of Opus 47. Building on previous work by Fishman, Forbes, and Tyson, Brandenburg

uses the "Vorautograph" to re-examine the evidence surrounding the genesis of Opus 47.13
The existence of the "Vorautograph" confirms the numerous contemporary accounts that
Bridgetower was indeed the original dedicatee of the work. It also contains in Beethoven's

handwriting the following attribution: "Sonata mulattica composta per il Mulatto

12 "Zur Textgeschichte von Beethovens Violinsonate, op. 47," in Musik-Edition Interpretation

Gedenkschrift Gunther Henle, ed. Martin Bente (Munich, 1980), 111-124.

13 Fishman in Kniga esfdzov Beethoven za 1802-1803 godv and in "Autographen Beethovens in

der USSR," Beilriige zur Musikwissenschaft 3 (1% I): 22-29; Thayer-i-orbes, 333; Alan T>sun in Tin;
1803 Version of Beethoven's Christus am Oelberg," MQ 56 (October 1970): 551-84.

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 Brischdauer gran pazzo e compositore mulattico." Brandenburg challenges Forbes's

previous conclusion that the sonata was completed considerably before Bridgetower's
arrival in Vienna. Forbes's argument rests primarily on the placement of the sketches for
movements one and two in the Wielhorsky sketchbook. Brandenburg, however, takes

issue with this idea based on a reconstruction of events preceding Bridgetower's arrival in

Vienna and Tyson's research on Beethoven's writing habits.14

The engraver's copy is in the hand of three different copyists. Although

Brandenburg does not identify them, he differentiates among the thiee and labels the
contribution of each within the manuscript.

Finally, in addition to the "Vorautograph", the engraver's copy, and the autograph,

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there are two editions of the work: the first, Simrock's first edition and another early

edition of Opus 47 which was printed by Birchall in London.15 Tyson first asserted the
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possibility that an English edition of Opus 47 may have been published based on another

line of sources that did not survive. However, Brandenburg concluded in 1980 that the
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Birchall edition was in fact based on the Simrock edition.16

Genre and Syle in Opus 47

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The composition of Opus 47 falls within a period of experimentation and innovation

on the part of Beethoven, particularly concerning his writings in the genre of concerto.
Beethoven's curious reference to the genre of concerto in this sonata both serves as a point

of interpretative interest and provides a hint for an important line of inquiry. The final

inscription which appeared on the title page of Simrock's first edition contained the phrase,

14 "Notes on Five of Beethoven's Copyists," JAMS 23 (1970): 439-471.

15 See Tyson, The Authentic English Editions o f Beethoven (London: Faber & Faber, 1963),
49ff.

16 Brandenburg, "Zur Textgeschichte...," 121 fT.

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 "Sonata, scritta in uno stilo molto concertante, quasi come d'un concerto." This
description was so striking that a contemporary writer in the Allgemeine Musikalische

Zeitung called attention to it in the opening of his review of the work, describing the title

as, "wunderlich, anmassend und prahlerisch."17

By the inclusion of such an addendum to what is outwardly a sonata for violin and

piano, Beethoven seems to have characterized his own work as a departure from his

previous sonatas for violin and piano. One is naturally led to wonder to what end or ends

he invokes the term, "concerto." Yet a number of studies of Opus 47 appear to have
sidestepped this second issue, or else led away altogether from a comparison of the work
with the genre of concerto.

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In his 1988 article, Owen Jander suggested that certain ideas found in Johann

Georg Sulzeris Allgemeine Theorie der Schonen K'unste were influential to Beethoven's
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notions about the concerto.18 Jander argues that the underlying aesthetic of dialogue was
crucial to the genre of concerto and is manifested in the Opus 47 Sonata. One of the aims
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in the second half of the present work will be to re-examine the arguments put forth by

Jander, and to introduce into this discussion the work of Heinrich Christoph Koch, a

theorist and contemporary of Sulzer. Koch's theories on the genre of concerto illuminate
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some of the questions raised by the subtitle of Opus 47.

In addition, the second half of this study will search for other sources of influence
on Beethoven's Opus 47. Specifically, we shall examine the relation of Opus 47 to a

sonata written by its namesake, Rodolphe Kreutzer. We shall also draw connections to

other compositions within Beethoven's own oeuvre, especially in the genres of concerto
and relatives of the concerto.

17 Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung 7 (1805): 769; hereafter, AMZ

18 "The Kreutzer' Sonata as Dialogue," Early Music 16 (February 1988): 34-49.

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 Chapter 1: Analysis
In his celebrated Essays in Musical Analysis, Sir Donald Francis Tovey wrote of

Beethoven's Opus 47, "So popular a classic as the 'Kreutzer' sonata needs either no

analysis or else a very detailed one."1 Devoting little more than a page to his discussion of

Beethoven's masterpiece for violin and piano, Tovey decided the former was more
appropriate.

Indeed, few analyses of Beethoven's Opus 47 exist Rudolph Reti's wrote an

exhaustive motivic analysis of the sonata, demonstrating motivic connections between all

three movements.2 Reti's work stressed the importance of the half-step motive in Opus 47

by pointing out every occurence and permutation of the motive in the work. Since Red

chose to emphasize what he called "thematic particles," his analysis overlooked large-scale
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harmonic features. More importantly, Red wrote his analysis without the knowledge that
the finale was written before movements one and two.

As we stated in the introduction, the last movement of Opus 47 was originally

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intended as the finale to Opus 30, No. 1, but it was considered too brilliant, and Beethoven

chose instead to write another finale for that work. To the completed and now "free

standing" movement, Beethoven then wrote the first and second movements of what
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became Opus 47. The sketchbooks reveal that these first two movements were both written

quickly and within close proximity to one another in time. Red's demonstration of the
strong motivic connections between movements one and two supports this as well,

indicating the close relation is in part due to the speed with which the two were written.

In another analysis of Opus 47, Han Hollander supplemented the work of Red to

some extent.3 Hollander observed the similarity of main themes in all movements, while

1 Donald R ands Tovey, Essays in Musical Analysis: Chamber Music (London: Oxford
University Press, 1945), 135-136.

2 Rudolph Rdti, T h e Thematic Pitch of the Kreutzer Sonata," Thematic Patterns in Sonatas o f
Beethoven (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1967), 145-165.

3 Hans Hollander, "Das Finale-Problem in Beethovens 'Kreutzersonata," in Neue Zeitschrifl fu r

Musik 130 (1969): 182-184.

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 keeping in mind the chronology of the composition of the movements. With the
knowledge that the finale was originally composed for Opus 30, No. 1, Hollander also
draws similarities between the main themes from the first movement of Opus 30, No.l and
the other movements of Opus 47.
Among the remaining writers on Opus 47, there are representatives of extremes.

Walter Engelsmann's rather unorthodox approach to analysis ultimately obscures that

which he seeks to elucidate.4 Max Rostal's more recent book on the Beethoven's sonatas
for piano and violin is a useful guide for performance of the work with regard to tempi and

dynamics, but offers little in the way of analysis.5

Finally, one would expect Opus 47 to make a healthy appearance in Charles

W
Rosen's The Classical Style, but Rosen makes only passing references to the work in three

passages. In one of these, he cites Beethoven's Opus 47 as a work in which the finale
IE
seems "inadequate even when judged by classical standards."6
EV

The development by Beethoven of a unity of conception, rhythmic and harmonic as

well as thematic, very close to the concepts of Haydn and Mozart although on a
larger scale takes shape during the years 1804-06. In 1803, the Kreutzer Sonata
has a first movement unequalled in formal clarity, grandeur, and dramatic force by
anything that Beethoven had yet written; the beautiful slow movement, however, a
set of variations in F major, belongs to a totally different style, elegant, brilliant,
PR

ornamental, and a little precious, the style of the F major Variations for Piano, Opus
34 without the tatter's original harmonic scheme and dramatic contrasts, but with a
more artistic care for detail; the finale, a light and brilliant tarantella, was written for
another sonata altogether. Beethoven never again presented such a hybrid as one
work. 7

4 Walter Engelsmann, "Plan-Kreuzungen," in Beethovens Kompositionspldne, dargestellt in den

Sonaten fu r Klavier und Violine (Augsburg, 1931), 149-184.

5 Max Rostal, "Sonata No. 9 in A major. Op. 47," in Ludwig van Beethoven, die Sonaten fu r
Klavier und Violine, transl. Horace and Anna Rosenberg (London: Toccata Press, 1985), 131-161.

6 Charles Rosen, The Classical Style (New York: W.W. Norton, 1972), 277.

7 Rosen, 399.

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 Clearly in Rosen's mind, the finale is anticlimactic to the rest of the work. This sentiment

was shared by the first reviewer of the work and also by Leo Tolstoy in his famous short
story entitled, "The Kreutzer Sonata."8
Without dismissing Rosen's judgment of the third movement as the least innovative

of the three, it is possible to modify the negative connotations of his observations by

understanding more clearly the compositional relationship among the three movements.

It is also possible to argue that the structural connections between finale on the one hand

and movements one and two on the other are more discernible than Rosen's statement
indicates. Reti gave a partial demonstration of this through his motivic analysis. I believe a

broader analysis of the piece, following the order of composition (i.e., Mvt III, I, II), bears
this out as well. EW
Keeping in mind that Opus 47 was not the only piece in which the Beethoven's last

movement was the first in order of composition, we can begin by posing the question in
I
regard to Opus 47, whether this is true of the relation between the last movement and the
EV

first and second.9 Was the third movement, written as it was for the Opus 30, No. 1
sonata, merely "tacked on" to movements one and two of Opus 47 without much attention

to structural coherence?
PR

8 The first reviewer of Opus 47 found the finale "the most bizarre movement of all." AMZ
1805, translated and reprinted in Brandenburg's "Violin Sonatas, Cello Sonatas, and Variations" in Ludwig
van Beethoven (New York: Praeger Publisher, 1970), 135-149. In Tolstoy's work we have the following
description: "After the presto they played the attractive but unoriginal andante with its rather trite
variations, and then the finale, which is really weak." The Kreutzer Sonata, transl. David McDuff (London:
Penguin Books, 1985), 98. For an unusual discussion of Tolstoy's short story with regard to the issue of
mysogyny and the use of Beethoven's music in the narrative, see Richard Leppert's T h e Piano, Misogyny,
and The Kreutzer Sonata," in The Sight o f Sound: Music, Representation, and the History o f the Body
(Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1993), 153-271.

9 See Lewis Lockwood, "The Earliest Sketches for the Eroica Symphony," in Beethoven: Studies
in the Creative Process (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992), 134-150. The situation
resembles the composition of "Eroica," but not exactly. In his Third Symphony, Beethoven's earlier work
on the variations provided the springboard for the composition of the rest of the work. When it came to the
actual composition of the symphony, he re-composed for orchestra. In the case of Opus 47, Beethoven had
already composed the movement by the time the first two movements were written. This will be discussed
at greater length in the chapter on the engraver's copy.

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