Lecture 2, Question 2: What about the popularity of his early sonatas?

[Jill_Curtis Institute]

Early Sonatas Are Less Popular

Most of the early sonatas are less often heard than those that date from the middle and late periods. Op. 7, despite being a large-scale, ambitious work of extraordinarily high quality, is no exception. What might be the reasons for this?

[ander...@gmail.com]

Perhaps because the later compositions contain more commercial musical pieces, associated with popular culture. Also, not being a prodigy like Mozart, the masses believe that the quality of the works depend only on the age of the composer.

[wil...@maine.rr.com]

Perhaps the process of creation in its early form was difficult and less refined. More ambitious and reaching farther. I would argue that most creation is a process of something emerging and that process is often unresolved as the artist reaches for something new.

[Candlestud]

never thought of things that way. 

people are just boring and we chase after drama,, -- Beethoven's earlier career is not marked with any marketable 'flag's;

but later he lost his hearing, there were recorded anecdotes of him defying the riches and powerful... the person became more interesting, and so did his music. 

Totally unfair, but what do we know. we are humans. 

[olivierH (Paris)]

The fact that some pieces are omre often heard than other could simply be a matter of taste: the listeners simply prefer the later works. One would have then to analyse what distinguishes earlier and later works.

It could also be that later work are considered achieving more perfection? Then, if you assume that they may embed the material from earlier works, it is considered less interesting to hear the ealier works.

It could also be that Beethoven published his orchestral work, from 1800 onwards. 10 sonatas predate 1800. This publishing of greater works may cast a shadow over earlier creations ?

[cch...@gmail.com]

I mostly agree with Andres Artos' point. why do fewer recording artists choose to play this piece? I assume that the general public have not been exposed to the early sonatas in concerts and recordings but it is mainly a guess.

[harry.k...@gmail.com]

I think one thing that makes Op 7 less "accessible" to the general public because it does not have a prominent melody line.

This, by the way, is coming from someone who was HOOKED onto the Op 7 the second he heard its first movement. I heard it, loved it, learnt it, played it (and still play it). But for all its excitement and grandeur, there is nothing in it that jumps out at you and DEMANDS notice. It is an extremely "busy" sonata, full of the energy, excitement, lyricism of life; but I think to someone less "in to" classical music, there are other songs that are equally emotional, equally charged with such energy.

To give a contrast, take the 3rd Movement of the Waldstein. What is the most prominent thing that jumps at you? The melody line. C - G - G -- ED - G - C.
Repeated, like a mantra, no less than THREE times before something else happens - before it is repeated, AGAIN. It is regarded as one of the most difficult Beethoven sonatas, and yet it has at its core a simple melody that ANYONE could play, that ANYONE, even NON-classicists, can understand. And here I was thinking that FRSM pieces were always inscrutable things. To me, this was a revelation.

I am aware that what I am saying is quite controversial. But I would be interested to hear everyone's thoughts.

[Jay Williams]

I think much of the Sonata's modern successes can be attributed to piano teachers and University Music programs.  If a piece isn't wildly popular or iconically illustrative of a concept or technique, it takes the back bench.  We like what we regularly hear.   

[rikitra...@gmail.com]

The fact that opus 7 is large scale may be one of the reasons that it is not so popular. Perhaps listeners felt it would consume too much time to even give his music a chance. Some may have listened to the entire work from start to finish but felt insulted by his progressive pushes outward to the limits of classical structure. This opus could have broken ground for his later stages in opening the minds of his contemporary audience.

[chriswh...@gmail.com]

But the Op 18 quartets are just as often scheduled as the later quartets aren't they?

[Alex Barham]

I think part of the reason is that although there are features that set Beethoven apart, he is still modelling his compositional style after Mozart and Haydn. So in the body of work of piano sonatas at the time, these didn't stand out. His later piano sonatas did stand out, plus he was likely gaining in popularity. I think another possible reason for adoption in later years is the greater emotional depth of the later sonatas. Maybe people just related better to the emotional tone of the later sonatas??

[Michael Dolan]

In part because of fashion.  Just as composers have gone out of fashion, so can compositions.  If most performers most commonly play the later pieces, it is more likely that newcomers will gravitate to those pieces.,

Another factor may be a perception that the early Beethoven pieces are too heavily influenced by earlier composers, such as Mozart and Haydn.  The real Beethoven would only emerge later, in this view;  it is these later pieces that may seem more interesting  or authentic to performers,

[Piotr Podemski]

In my opinion early sonatas by Beethoven requires from performer a big brilliance and wonderful technic: for example you should be good at playing double 3rds and 4ths, when you are going to play Op 2 nr. 3. This Sonata is quite popular.  Op. 7 is one of my favourite. It requires a big endurance and concentration.  

[hartma...@gmail.com]

I have a completely different answer which will amuse hopefully some people here. I am from Austria and I visited the music school while I was in normal high school here from the age of 10 until 17.
Each year there were two recitals where the pupils of the music school would perform. My best friend was scheduled to play op.7. I was very envious, because I think in the same year I had to play rather easy pieces by either Moussorgski or Prokofiev.
I was very jealous of my friend. (I have to admit, that he is a real good musician. He later on played many instruments, but not piano anymore.)
I was allowed to play opus 2/1 one year later, but I would have liked to play opus 7.
Later on I played a lot of different music, but I got frustrated with op 7 very easily. There are some specific bars which give me extreme troubles.

Nowadays, I will have to practice it from scratch. I will be in retirement from next year on and I have a goal: I want to play all 32 Beethoven sonatas. (Currently I could say that I play around 20, but without the quality I would like to achieve. But when I am in retirement I plan to practice 4 to 6 hours a day and eventually I will also manage to play opus 7 with sufficient quality.
But I have to admit that I still don't relate to it. Not as closely as to all others of the first 7 sonatas, especially as to opus 10/3.
Something is missing for me.
I write this before having heard what Mr. Biss has to say about it. Maybe, I will find an answer in his lectures.

[hartma...@gmail.com]

I have already answered regarding opus 7.
As to the three sonatas op 10, I have read that Beethoven estimated opus 10/3 higher than the "Pathetique" or the "Moonlight" sonata.
Here the explanation is quite simple. The sonata ends in pp.
-
But one should notice that before the final run there is a truly swinging part in the 4th movement.
Having said that it is probably unnecessary to mention that op 10/3 is one of my favorite Beethoven sonatas.

[agami...@gmail.com]

In my opinion, the first sonatas are compositions where instead of themes with a melody, you find motives. And although these motives are very well elaborated, I think people likes better melodies.

Ana

[doris...@hotmail.com]

Perhaps audiences are not prepared to expect the unexpected, as in Op.7, and assume the early sonatas are not fully expressive of Beethoven's style and personality. It takes a more educated listener to appreciate the subtleties in this work's motives, harmonic changes, unusual order of movements, extraordinary final coda...One cannot expect the ordinary listener, one who has not tried to play the music, or who has not studied its composition, to appreciate its value. Again, I have to quote Aristotle, who argued that a listener cannot fully understand music; only the performer who has worked out every note, every phrase, the dynamics, the contrasts, the keys involved, and much more can understand what a work like Op. 7 offers. Thank you, Mr. Biss, for helping to make this work more accessible to those of us who are following you.

[mehmet...@gmail.com]

I read that Beethoven's early works basically the accepted classical form of the period - although innovative in harmony.

I think his later works were more innovative and were forerunners to the "Romantic" era. His middle and later styles were supposed to influence the likes of Chopin, Wagner etc. He was basically a "bridge" between eras - to my way of thinking at least.

[Natalia]

Well, when I studied piano in a Russian music school, in 1970s, I remember that some kids of grades 5-7 have played particular movements from early Beethoven sonatas. It was challenging though. In my musical college, also in Russia, Piano Faculty students played Beethoven's whole sonatas, more often the sonatas of the early and middle period than of the late.  Generally, I would say that in Russia it is not uncommon to hear Beethoven's early sonatas during rehearsals.

[elva.g...@gmail.com]

I think that as Professor Biss says, the first group is Beethoven showing off his brillance rather than showing his heart.

[robertelme...@gmail.com]

Very interesting and thoughtful replies here. To me the "middle period" sonatas are more accessible somehow. With Op. 7 my ears hear a master reveling in and building on his ability to manipulate our emotion expectations. He has full control but he is still making it a challenge to follow, perhaps because he wanted to showcase his technical brilliance as well. But if I'm not "listening" to this piece it doesn't engage me the same way as later pieces. When I Do listen closely, however, I am in typical Beethovian awe! I think by the middle period Beethoven made the music more digestible while upping the emotional and heroic essence of the music. The brilliance seemed more in service of getting the music across to a wider audience. His odd turns of phrase went from jarring but intriguing to odd in the most satisfying way imaginable. It had a deeper emotional appeal while also building on the intellectual and musical (so everybody's happy!). That's what these amateur ears hear.

[Vivien Naomi Lee]

Are they too challenging for performers to attempt/pull off confidently? I suppose anything that has not been performed much would definitely have less publicity, and that has a snowball effect.

Could it also be that Beethoven was less well-known at the time, and his style, while brilliant, still came across as 'traditional'. So perhaps it didn't stand out much.

Perhaps the reverse question could be, why are the later works heard so much more? I suppose it could be that Beethoven had already established some sort of high reputation by then and was probably even more daring in his compositions that it became 'fresh' and 'anticipated'

[jack....@gmail.com]

It would be interesting to know why so many pianists play the "Appassionata" Op. 57 and Op. 7 (like other great early Beethoven sonatas) has only a few great champions. Arturo Benedetto Michelangeli played Op. 2 No. 3, Opus 7, and some other early sonatas in concerts and I think there are discs and Youtubes of several of his renditions of early Beethoven sonatas. Horowitz played and recorded Op. 10 Nr. 3. Perhaps Jonathan's teaching and performances will educate the public better and have audiences asking for more early Beethoven.

I don't want to be unkind or unfair to the middle period. I love the three sonatas Opus 31. Jonathan's recently added second series has helped me appreciate the "Appassionata" again after years of being tired of it, and the "Waldstein" is magnificent when it's played well, and Opus 78 is exquisitely beautiful. But I especially like the early early and late late sonatas. All of the large sonatas are technically and musically very challenging, I think, but I think the late sonatas Op. 101, 106, 109, 110, and 111 are the most interesting of the whole body of work. I don't understand why young pianists given the choice to audition with only one Beethoven sonata of their choosing wouldn't pick one of the early or late late sonatas rather than Op. 57 where they would be provoking comparison with Horowitz and Rubenstein's recordings, Pollini in concert, and so many other popular virtuosi either on disk or in concert or both. Are they just playing what they think audiences want to hear?

[Sascha R]

Today I would suspect commercial reasons for it. Sonatas with nicknames (as you mentioned) are better sales. However, if these had a better start from the beginning I don´t know, but that could also be possible.

[lke...@gmail.com]

For one thing, they're musically difficult for the performer. They're sophisticated and perhaps not so immediately accessible as some of the popular later works. The technical challenges are bound up with the musical challenges in a way that isn't true of Chopin or Liszt. It takes an extraordinarily musical pianist to bring them to life.

Then there's the misconception that early works are "easy" and therefore not worth the attention of students, teachers or concert promoters. As Mr Biss said, Beethoven wrote many pieces before opus. 1 -- so opus 7 and the other "Early Period" sonatas are neither early or easy.

Ignoring them is a shame, because they are extraordinary. All it would take is for one brilliant performer to make them a signature, as Martha Argerich did by playing Beethoven's Concerto No. 1 so often.

[lke...@gmail.com]

Pianists are eager to bang out the Appassionata, Pathetique and Waldstein, maybe prove themselves with the Hammerklavier. They think of the early sonatas as warm-up exercises. But when you get around to learning them -- oops, they're not easy at all. It's the little secret no one talks about.

[jack....@gmail.com]

Dear Vivian and Ikenner and hi to all,

Perhaps due to influence of Sigmund Lebert´s (the successor revising editor's of von Bülow's edition) difficulty-grading, which rates some quite difficult early sonatas, including Op. 7, only as intermediate ("Second Grade"), the combined technical and musical difficulty for the performer of the early sonatas may be widely underestimated, especially if you consider how difficult it is to pull the whole sonata performance off with an audience. But I would hope that seasoned professional pianists would go by deeper things planning their programs (musical depth, having something to say) than difficulty. Having nothing to prove pianistically, Claudio Arrau used to play the Opus 106 in concerts I´m sure because he loved it and wanted to share his interpretation.

[Arthur Glover]

Probably because they are not well known. This is the first I ever heard of these early sonata. There is also the possibility that musicians have not recorded them and if they did people were not familiar with them or didn't care to make them popular.

[pericl...@gmail.com]

Maybe because from the Op. 13 Pathetique Sonata, Beethoven took off as a composer writing some of the most beautiful, daring, audacious music

[jack....@gmail.com]

Nice contribution to discussion of this very interesting question. Op. 13 is certainly special, but Op. 2, Op. 7, and Op. 10 gave the world seven awesomely grand sonatas before the comparably great Op. 13 and other later "early" Beethoven sonatas (I'm thinking of Op. 22, 26, 27, 28, and 31, but others may think of Op. 31 and others of these as belonging to a later, maybe middle period). It takes a great pianist to pull them off in public performance, I think, even if a good listening audience is assembled. We are very fortunate to have been introduced or reintroduced to them (and great later-period sonatas, too) by Maestro Biss.

There is a lot of great music there and the market could come back for Early Beethoven, I think.

[kmus...@gullotta.it]

Quando Beethoven compone le prime Sonate, questa struttura compositiva è già stata portata ad un altissimo vertice stilistico e formale da alcuni “mostri sacri” come Haydn, Mozart, Bach (Johann Christian e Carl Philipp Emanuel) e il non sempre ricordato Clementi. Beethoven si colloca, dunque, storicamente in una fase che non può non fare a meno di questa eredità. Tuttavia adesso siamo in grado di cogliere come, anche nelle prime Sonate, Beethoven forzi questa tradizione per dirigersi verso una re-invenzione della Sonata non attraverso un attacco “frontale”, bensì erodendo la forma dal suo interno. L’op.7 si colloca in questa fase.

[kmus...@gullotta.it]

[yaj...@gmail.com]

T

[yaj...@gmail.com]

The nuances in style which differentiated Beethoven from his predecessors became evident after the composition of Opus 7 ??

[Cass Hansen]

Definitely because the early sonatas don’t have strong melodies or motifs for that matter! Beethoven kept his motifs simple so, as Professor Biss said, make them more malleable so he could show off his brilliance (as he’s known for in his first period) not only in playing, but also in his inventiveness and creative approach to what he “does” with these simple motifs in each movement, especially the first movements. Exceptional variety of transformation which can’t really be done if you choose a strong memorable motif or especially a long emotive melody.

[maragi...@gmail.com]

May be early sonatas are the most difficult to understand and appreciate. I had this feeling just paying attention to the Lessons, that opened so many ways of understanding this music, showing the achievements, the experiments, the ways to force expressivity of his music. Without these suggestions I think I would have considered these Opus, even n.7, as a normal and maybe academiv trials.

[droop...@gmail.com]

Je pense que les premières sonates sont moins originales, comme les deux premiers concertos, pourtant très beaux. On sent encore l'influence de Haydn et Mozart.

Le vendredi 9 janvier 2015 21:31:53 UTC+1, Jonathan Biss a écrit :
> Early Sonatas Are Less Popular
> Most of the early sonatas are less often heard than those that date from the middle and late periods. Op. 7, despite being a large-scale, ambitious work of extraordinarily high quality, is no exception. What might be the reasons for this?

[droop...@gmail.com]

Beethoven was not as famous as he was later. More, the first sonatas and concerti were beautiful but not so personal, we feel Haydn and Mozart influence in them.

[Marcos Juarez]

I personally had never heard (or can't remember) Sonata #4/Op 7.  I've heard the famous ones probably dozens of times, but this one, even though it's fully fleshed out, and a masterpiece in its own right, does seem to require a bit more attention/appreciation on the part of the listener.  

 

To me, the reason for early sonatas not being that popular stem from a combination of things, mostly laid out by Harry, Robert, Doris and Jack earlier in the discussion:

- No prominent melody line throughout the movements, unlike the Appassionata.  This is critical for audiences to appreciate and learn to like the music.

- Snowball effect of very few people playing them, which causes audiences to not recognize them, which causes pianists to avoid them, ad libitum.

- Brililance and technical complexity are lost on amateur audiences, especially combined with the two reasons above.

Just finished hearing the whole Op 7 sonata, and it's brilliant and technically/harmonically complex, but those qualities don't always translate to popularity.  May I suggest the sonata lacked "soul" or a "spiritual quality" to it? 

[Hans Hartmann]

"Lacking soul" this is a very harsh statement but I can relate to it. Even now, when I am practicing this sonata I sometimes have a similar feeling. Probably it is totally unjust to think like that. but I don't have to compare with the late sonatas. Opus 2/1 and 10/3 are offering so much more of "spirituality", at least for me. but may be it takes 5 more years for me, to understand fully. Opus111 is quite easy in comparison :)

[twisted....@gmail.com]

Beethoven's later work being more well-known doesn't necessarily reflect badly on the pieces themselves. Not everything an artist creates can be embedded into the culture or musical canon to the same degree - there just simply isn't room. As such, pieces that tend to stick are those with strong, memorable melody lines, like "Ode to Joy." Accessibility is also a factor, both in terms of finding the piece and also "getting it," which goes back to the idea of strong melody being common way people find a way into a piece.

[quince...@gmail.com]

I don't understand why because this has been one of my long time favorites. Recordings have burge oned since the advent of the CD and complete sets of works. In the days of vinyl the big 3 were the only sonata recordings many ever heard.
Perhaps there is a bias against lower opus numbers-clearly an unfortunate mistake

[littleh...@gmail.com]

On Saturday, January 10, 2015 at 7:31:53 AM UTC+11, Jonathan Biss wrote:
> Early Sonatas Are Less Popular
> Most of the early sonatas are less often heard than those that date from the middle and late periods. Op. 7, despite being a large-scale, ambitious work of extraordinarily high quality, is no exception. What might be the reasons for this?

I read the question "less often heard" in a way the other responders may not address- does "heard" mean by listening to commercial recordings? This *would* be the case a decade ago when we mostly listened to CD's or Vinyl recordings, so whatever the Recording companies commissioned would be what was available and one would assume these should be good interpretations to make it to a commercial standard.
Now with YouTube anyone can listen to anything- and good and bad interpretations! The whole scenario of what reaches the listener's ear is so different for children now than for the mature listener...anyone care to comment?

[kmp...@gmail.com]

Its because people believe that the more something is growing up the more mature, sophisticated and worth to pay attention is. That true especially for a listener without musical background and musical knowledge.

[Luis Samuel Gracida Aceves]

I don't feel I have enough information to give a fair answer to the question. But perhaps I can answer with more questions...

• When saying "less often heard" what do we mean? In academia? Your average classical music listener? Among musicians? 2017? 1990? 1950? 1900? 1850? Beethoven's lifetime? Has the popularity of certain sonatas changed over time? 
• We talked about the hypothetical three periods in Beethoven's music and what defines each one of them. How are the characteristics of middle and later periods perhaps more approachable by the average listener? 
• As Beethoven grew in popularity, my guess is that people paid more attention to his new music as it was published and therefore, his middle and later period music could have been more widely distributed, learned, and played. How could that have had an effect in the establishing of the reputation of certain pieces while some others were forgotten? 

That's a good set of initial questions... (More for me to answer for myself but if any of you has answers let them come!)

[rebecca sheridan]

honestly i dont know why but i would like to hear an early sonata. will i like it. could someone make the earlier ones popular? i would like to know what they sound like. i really doubt they are terrible. 

maybe they are supposed to be simpler.

[Kimberly Powell]

As Professor Biss touched upon, the earlier sonatas are brilliant and virtuosic but not so subservient to the higher musical purposes or as one could say, Beethoven's evolving search for deeper expressive gesture as found in his later works. In a recent conversation with pianist Yefim Bronfman, speaking about the Prokofiev Sonatas he talked about this, how difficult it is to perform the earlier sonatas of Beethoven and of Prokofiev because of the pure pianistic level of virtuosity required. And while the model for standard concert programming is thankfully not quite as rigid as it has been in the past, pianists have tended often enough to play representatively from a variety of periods. I think most pianists would opt for a Haydn or Mozart sonata if a classical era work was desirable and feel comfortable enough in terms of historical contrast to move on to later Beethoven but not necessarily skip that opportunity in favor of early Beethoven. With recordings, I think pianists (who aren't planning to record the entire cycle) have felt more led to make their mark in later repertoire perhaps tied to the dominance of later 19th and early 20th century pianism models, the finally evolved modern piano and the public's love affair with music of the so called "Romantic" era.

[kristinoh...@gmail.com]

I agree with what a lot of other people are saying; perhaps they are less popular because we hear them less and therefore they are performed and recorded less. A catch-22, really. I also agree with @Alex Barham's statement; that Beethoven early works still draw from Mozart and Haydn, perhaps not truly displaying his unique personality. It's a shame really, that we consistently pick and choose favourites without appreciating his life work as a whole.

[Nancy Schleier]

The early works serve as a calling card to the rest of the music world. As such, they are more difficult and lack, to some extent, the emotional, almost spiritual, essence of later Beethoven. 

[44hai...@gmail.com]

Our expectations might be characterized by a concept (though fals) that the early sonatas are Mozartian and therefore easy pieces of a composer getting up-to-speed and getting simplet works under her belt. Since indelible impressions rule our tastes more than experiemntation, consumers stick to what they believe will give them the most pleasure and challenge.
JWRT.

[cm.h...@ntlworld.com]

What a fascinating discussion. I am in the UK and have been looking at the syllabus for post grade 8 qualifications. The early Beethoven sonatas appear to have been assigned to lower qualifications - the later they are, the more likely they are to have been assigned to the most advanced levels. Yet many of the commentators have argued that they are not in fact easy or easier. I would agree that audiences relate more easily to romantic music than classical.

[hannah....@gmail.com]

I believe the answer for this might come from the previously asked question. His writings were so far "ahead of their time," the general audience might not have accepted them as amazing compositions until other music was drifting closer to Beethoven's style. People might have thought that as a young composer he did not have the right to change the methods that had been in position for quite some time. But once he grew in his writing and the cultural music grew as well, the general audience then accepted this as a new form.

[thhm...@telus.net]

Perhaps because the early sonatas were actually a bit advanced for the audiences of the day. Perhaps because they were most often performed for private functions earlier on.

[Anastasia]

His earlier works though brilliant are more traditional. Later works are more innovative.

[jxris...@gmail.com]

With Beethoven, there’s so much to choose from, in terms of music to learn.  It’s a matter of making choices.  Perhaps people are more drawn to the spiritual qualities of his latter works than to the sheer brilliance of his earlier music.  

[rucke...@hotmail.com]

Perhaps Beethoven's early innovations went unappreciated or seemed incomprehensible to audiences raised on Haydn and Mozart. Maybe audiences gradually connected to his continuing innovations and moved into the Romantic era in their sensibilities. In this sense, Beethoven educated his audiences.

[i.hy...@gmail.com]

I was thinking that if the characteristics, speaking generally and reductively, attributed to Beethoven's earlier sonatas could be described as his exploration and experimentation of the forms and possibilities of the medium for communication, his latter works demonstrate those experimentations leading to personal, semiotic, spiritual purposes, the messages that the medium carries. And while many of us who are unfamiliar with the significance of the exploration of the musical form itself may be unable to appreciate the early works to fuller extent, the latter works communicate messages that is persuasive and self-evident to even those who does not have a musical background.

[Shirley C]

I watch quite a lot of period drama films, and although they do have a lot of chamber music and dancing and this seems to be quite a fine art and important part of the culture of the time, I would imagine that the fiercely challenging works Beethoven produced, in whatever period, might have been somewhat difficult for the ordinary musician to tackle?  I have no idea if this assumption is true, but maybe he was very much ahead of his time and it would only have been possible for his amazing work to become more "popular" and possible as the instrument and the study of his work became more developed and prevalent.  What a pity that so many missed out so much of the opportunity to enjoy such beautiful, enthralling and grand works as those produced by this immensely productive and cleverly passionate master.  

[Chris Whiley]

Was this the case in Beethoven's own time? I would have thought that their showmanship and reference to their classical antecedents would make them more popular than the later, much more challenging, works.

[robertg...@gmail.com]

Well, yes it is less known that the op.13, op. 27 no. 2, op 53, or even op. 57. Perhaps it takes more time for amateur listeners to discover and find delight in this particular sonata. Well for me, the first time i heard this sonata, i immediately fell in love. When talking about popularity, we might say that many people would be easily attached when listening to a particular piece is because they feel such affinity first time hearing it. Many do not have the technical approach to analyse and understand the composition intrinsically. That being said, what might be the reason for its less popularity is the public reception. We can say that it is less heard in public, but not less heard amongst professional musicians, conservatory students, or music professors. It is definitely a work that stands out apart from other sonatas.  

[gavin...@gmail.com]

Part of this is performance practice/tradition and part of it is our obsession with the textbook innovations in classical music history. We always study and pay close attention to the innovators (Beethoven, Wagner, Debussy, Schoenberg are some examples). Following this logic, it makes sense that Beethoven's late period works earn so much attention. The middle period, on the other hand, caters best to the popular image of Beethoven: moody, defiant, monumental, dramatic. Comparatively, the 'early period' appears more as a launching point than as a self-contained, fulfilled period of Beethoven's compositional life. I personally don't subscribe to this belief, but see how it makes sense for those with only a cursory acquaintance with Beethoven.

[samir...@gmail.com]

I guess it is because some of the works he wrote later became more popular and more performed and listened to because they are even more revolutionary works.

[zull...@gmail.com]

Puede ser porque los temas de las sonatas que son más famosas son melódicamente más "bonitas" o agradables para la mayoría de personas. 

[esalcedo...@gmail.com]

In regard to popularity, I have no idea why their later sonatas are the most famous ones (Moonlight, for example). In all his sonatas, he shows mastery of perefction and brilliant experimentatation though

[afur...@gmail.com]

Perhaps the audience preferred the later sonatas rather than the earlier ones?

I, for instance, did not really listen to Beethoven's earlier sonatas (such as the opus 7) until I looked at this lecture (lecture no.2). However, I really liked the Pathetique sonata (op.13) and started to learn it. I think that as time evolved, Beethoven's sonatas changed greatly and overtook the glory of the earlier sonatas, and many people may not even know about them. After I took a look at some of Beethoven's earlier sonatas, I realised the difference between the earlier and later sonatas. For example, the opus 7 creates a calm, gentle sort of image in my head whereas opus 14 (the Moonlight sonata) paints a slow, melancholy (1st movement), light (2nd movement) and desperate (3rd movement) image. 

I think that the public was not shown the early sonatas as much as the later sonatas by Beethoven, which decreased the popularity of  the earlier sonatas.

[MI YOUNG YOO]

I like Beethoven's early works, so I never thought about this. I think it's because the early works are not as grand or ambitious as the later ones. It seems that the images of Beethoven's works have a lot to do with "magnificence" and "ambitiousness".  In the case of the op7, it is as grand and dynamic as his later works. Especially the 1st movement. I dare to guess that's why Mr. Biss named it as "Grand"  on his album.

2015년 1월 10일 토요일 오전 5시 31분 53초 UTC+9에 Jill_Curtis Institute님이 작성:

[Gary Ngan]

It's probably not the main reason, but I think having a nickname like pathetique, moonlight, appassionata - makes the pieces a lot more easy to spread through word of mouth (before the internet) and it's has an easier search optimization (after the internet). 

One other point is that nickname "moonlight" is kinda far away from what B was painting with that sonata to show that having a name people can relate to, even if it's somewhat inaccurate, would work. Obviously we can no longer prove how much populartiy moonlight got because of the tune or because of the nickname... 

But calling a piece by opus, number, major/minor is really no easy feat... especially to the generally public.

[Roger Kranz]

I agree with your comment about the "real" Beethoven.  The middle and late period works are uniquely Beethoven. the revolutionary Beethoven. the Beethoven who's revered as the GOAT composer (at least in the running for the title).

On Sunday, April 12, 2015 at 10:35:53 PM UTC-4 Michael Dolan wrote:

In part because of fashion.  Just as composers have gone out of fashion, so can compositions.  If most performers most commonly play the later pieces, it is more likely that newcomers will gravitate to those pieces.,

Another factor may be a perception that the early Beethoven pieces are too heavily influenced by earlier composers, such as Mozart and Haydn.  The real Beethoven would only emerge later, in this view;  it is these later pieces that may seem more interesting  or authentic to performers,

[Dalia King]

Maybe, as many people, Beethoven wasn't quite recognized as a great composer until his middle and late period works. Once people started to realize his genius, they mainly listened to those works that they heard, not feeling the need to explore other Beethoven works. Even though any of the given early period works, especially Op. 7, may have been works of genius, they weren't widely known or cared about by most of the public; they were satisfied with the same few songs that had  become so popular.

[Holly Anderson]

It may be more so that a more established Beethoven understood the market or more so that the market bent and commercialised itself around him, who he evolved to become and how his works ended up sounding and, therefore, earlier renditions weren't as successful in popularity because it predated this era.

[Anita Fetsch Felix]

As a listener to the op. 7, hearing for the first time, my impression is that I am hearing elements of late Beethoven String Quartets ( the use of silence and the motive continuing after the rest--fragmented) mixed with interesting ornamental flourishes ( slow movement) that reminds me of Baroque harpsichord music. I hear the tenderness and interruptions of drama, but curiously interspersed with silences and a sense of winding down that for me at least, tests the listeners attention and patience.  I think the later sonatas are still searching for ways to test boundaries, but the boundaries to be broken have been set by Beethoven, rather than his predecessors, making the works more finished and perhaps more often heard.

[Emanuel Espitia]

I think that the fact that most of Beethoven's early works are less popular is because people most likely knows about the “rebellious” Beethoven of his last and most mature works, like, for example, his majestic and grand 9th symphony or his last piano sonatas and string quartets which show, also, a Beethoven that has passed through a tough and hard life.