Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas are often referred to as the ‘New Testament’ of the pianist’s repertoire, and for many pianists they offer a remarkable, quasi-religious journey – physical, metaphorical and spiritual – through Beethoven’s creative life. This is truly “great”

As you can tell from the title, Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio was a long time in the making. In fact, the process of composition and revision took nearly 10 years, from the first failure in 1805 to the premiere of

It has never been a big secret, but the piano is definitely my favorite instrument. For me, no other instrument possesses that kind of versatility. Actually it’s ideal as a means of musical expression for both the amateur and the

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” premiered on 7 April 1805 at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna. It was immediately recognized as an important work of unprecedented length and complexity. All the movements depart in unexpected ways from his previous

A recent recording by Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, and the Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos provided an interesting examination of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2, but as arranged for piano trio. The music was arranged by Beethoven’s right-hand man, Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838).

The year 1802 was a year of despair for Beethoven. His hearing had been declining since 1796 and he had been consulting doctors everywhere. Finally, in mid-1801 he found Professor Johann Schmidt, who became his personal physician until his death

During his formative years in Bonn, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1828) took organ and keyboard lessons from Christian Gottlob Neefe. Concurrently, he received instructions on the violin and viola from the court musician Franz Georg Rovantini and from Franz Ries, Electoral-Court

Ludwig van Beethoven probably wasn’t actually born on 17 December, but in the absence of an authentic record of birth, we rely on the registry of his baptism in the Catholic Parish of St. Remigius in Bonn on 17 December