35. Night and Day
from The Concert - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Hosted by Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 20 in G Major, Op. 49, No. 2 Beethoven: Sonata for violin and piano No. 7 in C minor, Op. 30, No. 2 (“Eroica”) On this week of “The Concert,” we’ll listen to two sonatas by Beethoven, one for piano solo, and another for violin and piano, that seem about as different as night and day. Written around the same time as Beethoven’s infamous “Heiligenstadt Testament,” an anguished letter about his worsening deafness, the violin sonata’s grim mood is often interpreted as a direct reflection of Beethoven’s sorrow over the loss of his hearing. Before that, though, something much cheerier: Beethoven’s piano sonata number 20, opus 49 number 2, played by pianist Paavali Jumppanen. Though written several years before the violin sonata, this piece wasn’t actually published until a few years later, when Beethoven’s brother apparently sent it off to a publisher without Beethoven’s knowledge. Interestingly enough, though, he thought well enough of this sonata that he used the finale as the basis for a movement of his eighth violin sonata, a curious connection between the two seemingly different pieces on our podcast today.
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