Sonatina In G (Beethoven): A Song History
A two-movement Sonatina in G major, a Moderato followed by a Romanze, has long circulated under Beethoven's name, but modern scholarship doubts that he wrote it.[1] It carries no opus number; it and a companion sonatina in F major share the label "Anh. 5," taken from the Anhang (German for appendix) of the catalogue of Beethoven's works that Georg Kinsky and Hans Halm compiled in 1955.[2] According to the reference entry consulted here, nothing documents how the piece was composed, and the entry itself gives conflicting dates and publishers for its first printing.[3]
Conrad Graf, Fortepiano, walnut-veneered spruce and oak, ca. 1838. A fortepiano by Conrad Graf, built about ten years after Beethoven's death, shown for the keyboard of his era; it has no connection to the sonatina.
Doubts over authorship have not kept it out of the classroom: it is well known to piano students and appears in sonatina albums.[3] It has also been arranged for violin and piano, for guitar, and for orchestra.[1] For mountain dulcimer, Larry Conger's The Classical Dulcimer, a Fingers Of Steel download of 29 arrangements with a separate PDF and an MP3 recording of each, includes a "Sonatina In G" credited to Beethoven, in DAD tuning, though the listing does not say which Beethoven work it is, so it may or may not be this sonatina.[4]
Sources
- IMSLP: "2 Sonatinas for Piano, Anh.5 (Beethoven, Ludwig van)".
- Arcana.fm: "Listening to Beethoven #30 – 2 Sonatinas for Piano".
- PTNA Piano Encyclopedia: "Beethoven, Ludwig van: Sonatine für Klavier G-Dur Anh5(1)".
- Fingers Of Steel: "Larry Conger, The Classical Dulcimer".
- Image: Conrad Graf, Fortepiano, walnut-veneered spruce and oak, ca. 1838. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.