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6:00 PM TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2018
BENNETT GORDON HALL
JONATHAN BISS,
piano
COMPLETE BEETHOVEN PIANO SONATAS
PART VI
Piano Sonata No.
Allegro
Allegretto
Presto
Piano Sonata No.
Allegro
Andante
Scherzo: Allegro assai
Piano Sonata No.
Allegro
Allegretto vivace
Minuetto: Moderato e grazioso
Presto con fuoco
–
–
Piano Sonata No. (“Hammerklavier”)
Allegro
Scherzo: Assai vivace—Presto
Adagio sostenuto
Largo—Allegro risoluto
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Piano Sonata No. in F major, op. , no.
Count Johann Georg von Browne and his wife,
the Countess Anna Margarete, were among Bee-
thoven’s most fervent patrons during his rst de-
cade in Vienna. Browne, a Russian imperial of-
cer of Irish extraction living in Austria, gained
his wealth through land holdings in Livonia. e
count’s personal tutor, Johannes Büell, described
him candidly: “I live with one of the strangest
men, full of excellent talents and beautiful qual-
ities of heart and spirit on the one hand, and on
the other full of weakness and depravity.” One
of his less-admirable habits—exorbitant spend-
ing—ultimately le him destitute and may have
contributed to his emotional instability.
e
count su ered a nervous breakdown in
and
spent some time in an institution.
Beethoven, who pro ted from this extrava-
gance, rewarded the count and countess with
the dedications of several scores. Eight pieces
are thus linked to the Browne family. A er the
Twelve Variations on a Russian Dance appeared
in
with a dedication to Anna Margarete,
the count presented Beethoven with the gi of a
horse. According to Ferdinand Ries, a composer
and pianist from Bonn who le a valuable col-
lection of reminiscences about Beethoven, the
composer rode the horse a few times then forgot
about it. His servant turned this absent-minded-
ness to his own advantage, hiring out the animal
and keeping the pro ts. Beethoven remembered
his equine gi only upon receiving an enormous
feed bill. He sold the horse soon a er.
In
, the Viennese publisher Joseph Eder is-
sued a set of three new piano sonatas by Beetho-
ven, which were dedicated to the Countess von
Browne. ese op. works, though still clearly
emerging from virtuosic impulse, re ected a
new maturity of musical thought and construc-
tion. Not all listeners endorsed his novel syn-
thesis of blazing technical demands, harmonic
and melodic experimentation, and thematic
integration. A reviewer for the
Allgemeine Musi-
kalische Zeitung
(
) criticized the composer
Tonight’s and tomorrow evening’s concerts mark the conclusion of
Jonathan Biss’s three-year cycle of Beethoven’s piano sonatas.
Ludwig van Beethoven by Carl Traugott Riedel (1801)
AUGUST 20 – AUGUST 26, 2018 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE
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