Ludwig van Beethoven

Sonata in A op. 47

An autograph fragment of the Violin Sonata op. 47 is headed in Beethoven's handwriting: "Sonata mulattica composta per il mulatto Brischdauer, gran pazzo e compositore mulattico" - in German: mulattische Sonate komponiert für den Mulatten Bridgetower, den großen mulattischen Witzbold und Komponisten. The creation of the sonata, which was to go down in history as the Kreutzer Sonata, was closely linked to the visit to Vienna of the young violinist George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower (1778-1860), the son of an Afro-Caribbean father and a European mother. His ancestry made him a mulatto in the language of the time. Beethoven was obviously deeply impressed by his musicality and virtuosity. However, when the sonata was published in 1805, Beethoven dedicated it to Rodolphe Kreutzer and titled it: "Sonata per il Pianoforte ed uno violino obligato in uno stile molto concertante come d'un concerto". The work "in a very concertante style like a concerto" is probably Beethoven's most demanding violin sonata and was already included in the permanent repertoire of the greatest violin virtuosos in the 19th century.

Clive Brown's groundbreaking new edition of this sonata combines Urtext with practically available information on historical performance practice. The present edition is published with score and two individual parts for the violin: an Urtext part based on the scholarly-critical evaluation of all sources, and a part arranged by Clive Brown on the basis of historical performance practice.
In addition to an informative preface, the edition also contains information on early editions of this sonata and historical metronome markings.

The edition is based on Clive Brown's edition of the complete sonatas for violin and piano published by Bärenreiter (BA 9014, BA 9015, BA 9036), which was the first edition to appear with a complete Critical Report and a description of all relevant sources.

The authoritative Performing Practice Commentary by Clive Brown and Neal Peres Da Costa is available online as a practical performance accompaniment to each movement of this sonata. It contains information on violin and piano techniques of Beethoven's time, as well as contextualized notes on playing technique and design based on the evaluation of historical editions (including those by Czerny, Ferdinand David, Alard, Diémer, Grützmacher, Reinecke, Brodsky, Joachim, Rosé, Halir, Kreisler and many more).