Beethoven’s compositions for violin and piano cover a period from about 1790 until 1818. An early set of variations on a theme from Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro and a Rondo were followed by the first complete violin and piano sonatas, a set of three published in 1799 and composed during the course of the preceding two years.
The sonatas were dedicated to the Imperial Kapellmeister Antonio Salieri, from whom Beethoven had sought lessons on his first arrival in Vienna.
The new Beethoven sonatas were not altogether well received. The critic of the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung describes them as “strange and bizarre”.
In later generations, the sonatas came to occupy an important position in the violin/piano repertoire, examples of sonatas in which the violin offers no mere optional accompaniment to a solo piano sonata but serves as an equal partner.
The Sonata No.3 in E flat major contains elements of virtuoso piano writing in its first movement. The C major slow movement has a characteristic principal theme, appearing first in the piano.
There are, however, some difficulties, not least in the harmonic explorations of the final rondo, which opens with a cheerful but potentially dramatic principal theme.
All of the above is best illustrated by listening to Beethoven’s music as played beautifully by violinist David Oistrakh:
