Cello Sonata in F major Op.5 No.1 (1796)

While Beethoven cannot have been the first composer to write seriously for cello and piano, his two Sonatas Op.5 are certainly the earliest examples of their kind in the regular repertoire. Written for the cello-playing Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, they are a convincing demostration that Beethoven had discovered in the cello its innate potential for serious thought and sustained argument. It is true that he did not include a full-scale slow movement in any of his five Cello Sonatas until he came to write the last of them in 1815. Both the Op.5 Sonatas do, however, begin with a slow introduction where cello and piano engage in a speculative exchange of ideas.

Although the Adagio sostenuto of the present works gets nowhere, in the sense that it anticipates none of the thematic events of the following Allegro, it does indicate that cello and piano can compete on equal terms – which they go on to do in an often dramatic and wide-ranging sonata movement. Abundant in melodic ideas, the Allegro is illuminated above all by the outstanding quality of the main theme which, though introduced by the piano, is just as well adapted to the cello. That theme dominates the development and it makes an emphatically conclusive final appearance on cello as the opening tempo returns to put the movement back on course after briefly disorientating Adagio and Presto interventions.

The dominance of one melodic idea is even more marked in the case of a rondo like the Allegro vivace, which tends to supply its episodes from variants of the rondo theme itself – as in the first of them, approached by a semiquaver run on the piano and introduced in C minor in a high register on the same instrument. It is followed, however, by the most striking material in the whole movement, a sort of Hungarian dance in B flat minor. But that is the one rival to the rondo theme, a timely last reminder of which occurs in the last few bars when the tempo slows down to a near-stationary Adagio.

Allegro vivace

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Cello Sonata in F major Op.5 No.1 (1796)

Adagio sostenuto – Allegro

Allegro vivace

While Beethoven cannot have been the first composer to write seriously for cello and piano, his two Sonatas Op.5 are certainly the earliest examples of their kind in the regular repertoire. They were written in preparation for a trip to Berlin – or, more likely, in Berlin itself – where the young composer could expect the cello-playing Friedrich Wilhelm II to take an interest in them and even have them performed by Jean-Pierre Duport, his cello teacher and one of the greatest instrumentalists of the day. In fact, Beethoven did play the sonatas with Duport and, in return for the dedication of the two scores, Friedrich Wilhelm presented him with a gold snuff box filled with louis d’or – “no ordinary snuffbox,” Beethoven later remarked, “but such a one as it might have been customary to give to an ambassador.”

There was surely more to the conception of Friedrich Wilhelm’s Sonatas than the hope of a handsome reward. It is clear from the scoring and the structure of both works that Beethoven had discovered in the cello its innate potential for serious thought and sustained argument and that he was keenly interested in exploring these qualities. It is true that he did not include a full-scale slow movement in any of his five Cello Sonatas until he came to write the last of them, in D major Op.102 No.2, in 1815. Both the Op.5 Sonatas do, however, begin with a slow introduction where cello and piano engage in a speculative exchange of ideas.

Although the Adagio sostenuto of the present works gets nowhere, in the sense that it anticipates none of the thematic events of the following Allegro, it does indicate that cello and piano can compete on equal terms – which they go on to do in an often dramatic and wide-ranging sonata movement. Abundant in melodic ideas, the Allegro is illuminated above all by the outstanding quality of the main theme which, though introduced by the piano, is just as well adapted to the cello. That theme dominates the development and it makes an emphatically conclusive final appearance on cello as the opening tempo returns to put the movement back on course after briefly disorientating Adagio and Presto interventions.

The dominance of one melodic idea is even more marked in the case of a rondo like the Allegro vivace, which tends to supply its episodes from variants of the rondo theme itself – as in the first of them, approached by a semiquaver run on the piano and introduced in C minor in a high register on the same instrument. It is followed, however, by the most striking material in the whole movement, a sort of Hungarian dance in B flat minor. But that is the one rival to the rondo theme, a timely last reminder of which occurs in the last few bars when the tempo slows down to a near-stationary Adagio.