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6:00 PM TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018
BENNETT GORDON HALL
DREW PETERSEN,
piano
BEETHOVEN
Piano Sonata No.
Allegro molto e con brio
Adagio molto [
attacca
]
Finale: Prestissimo
CHOPIN
ree Waltzes, op.
No. in A- at major
No. in A minor
No. in F major *
CHOPIN
Ballade No.
–
–
GRIFFES
Fantasy Pieces
Barcarolle *
Notturno *
Scherzo
BARBER
Piano Sonata
Allegro energico
Allegro vivace e leggero
Adagio mesto
Fuga: Allegro con spiritu
*
First performance at Ravinia
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Piano Sonata No. in C minor, op. , no.
Count Johann Georg von Browne and his wife,
the Countess Anna Margarete, were among
Beethoven’s most fervent patrons during his
rst decade in Vienna. Browne, a Russian impe-
rial o cer of Irish extraction, gained his wealth
through land holdings in Livonia. His person-
al tutor, Johannes Büell, described the count
candidly: “I live with one of the strangest men,
full of excellent talents and beautiful qualities
of heart and spirit on the one hand, and on the
other full of weakness and depravity.” One of his
less admirable habits—exorbitant spending—
ultimately le him destitute and may have con-
tributed 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 collection of reminiscences about Bee-
thoven, the composer rode the horse a few times
then forgot about it. His servant turned this ab-
sent-mindedness to his own advantage, hiring
out the animal and keeping the pro ts. Beetho-
ven remembered his equine gi only upon re-
ceiving 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 a virtuosic impulse, re ect new
maturity of musical thought and construction.
Not all listeners endorsed his novel synthesis
Ludwig van Beethoven by Joseph Willibrord Mähler
(1804–5)
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 10 – SEPTEMBER 16, 2018
98