Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)
Beethoven is the most powerful and dramatic of the Classical composers. He made his early living as a celebrity pianist in Vienna, but he played so loudly at people’s parties that he was usually put in a different room from the crowd. Contemporary musicians described his playing as a force of nature like a thunderstorm entering the room. Beethoven continued the tradition of Haydn, Mozart, and Clementi, writing 32 piano sonatas, which are central to the modern concert literature. The most famous sonatas are the Moonlight, Pathetique, Waldstein, and Appassionata. His many short piano pieces, called Bagatelles, are the equivalent of the preludes of Bach and Chopin, the most famous of which is Fur Elise.
Sonatas
- Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor
"Moonlight Sonata" - Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor
- Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor
- Piano Sonata No. 12 in A flat major
- Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major
- Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13
"Pathétique" - Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major
- Piano Sonata No. 9 in E Major
- Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor
- Piano Sonata No. 25 in G major
Other
- Bagatelles, Opus 33
- Bagatelles, Opus 119
- Two Piano Sonatinas (Anh 5)
- Sonatina in G major
- Sonatina in F major
- Bagatelles, Opus 126
- Bagatelle in A minor, "Für Elise" (WoO 59)
- Rondo in C major (Opus 51, No. 1)
- Six Variations on a Swiss song (WoO 64)
- 6 Variations on an original theme (WoO 77)
- 32 Variations in C minor (WoO 80)
- Six Ecosaisses (WoO 83)
