Soloist: Giltburg, Boris

---

Composer: Beethoven, Ludwig van

Piano Sonata No. 20 in G Major, Op. 49, No. 2

---

Venue: Fazioli Concert Hall, Sacile

Date of Concert: 2020

Playing Time: 00:07:44

Television Director: French, Stewart

Catalogue Number: NVF1239

UPC: 730099623919

---

As Boris Giltburg wrote, the two sonatas Op. 49 were not, in fact, written at the time their numbers (19 and 20) would suggest - that is, between Sonata No. 18 (1802) and Sonata No. 21 (1804). Instead, they are much earlier works. Based on sketches in one of Beethoven's notebooks, Sonata No. 20, Op. 49, No. 2 was probably composed immediately before Sonata No. 4, Op. 7, while Sonata No. 19, Op 49, No. 1 is likely to date from 1797 or early 1798, around the time of composition of the Sonatas, Op. 10, and before the Pathetique.

The manuscripts then lay unpublished for years until in 1802, Beethoven's brother Kaspar Karl, serving as part-time secretary to Beethoven, included them in an offer to a publisher. They are mentioned almost as an afterthought: 'two little easy sonatas of two movements each', following a list of more major works available for publication: a symphony (No. 2), a grand piano concerto (No. 3) and two adagios for violin with complete instrumental accompaniment' (the violin Romances Nos. 1 and 2). Considering the very long delay since their composition, it is probable that Beethoven never intended these 'two little easy sonatas' to be published at all. To quote Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven's friend and pupil, 'all trivial pieces and many things which he never wanted to publish, because he did not regard them as worthy of his name, secretly came into the world through his brothers, even small compositions which he had written down in notebooks were thus stolen and engraved.'

https://beethoven32.com/