For the last 12 years Mannes College the New School for Music has offered a Beethoven minifestival directed by the pianist Thomas Sauer, with master classes, lectures and performances by students and faculty.



On Tuesday evening the program for the first faculty concert of the series featured works representing Beethoven’s heroic style. Introducing the concert, Scott Burnham, a professor of music at Princeton University and the author of "Beethoven Hero" (Princeton University Press), said that associating Beethoven with the heroic is natural.

The composer “became the paradigm of the suffering artist” and also created a distinctive style that can be heard in works including the Symphony No. 5, “Fidelio,” the “Emperor” Piano Concerto and the “Eroica” Symphony.

The “Ghost” Piano Trio (Op. 70, No. 1) and the “Kreutzer” Violin Sonata (Op. 47), also composed during Beethoven’s middle period, represented new milestones in the genres. “We can hear Beethoven galvanizing chamber music,” Mr. Burnham said, adding that the “Kreutzer” should really be called the “Bridgetower.”

The 45-minute work was initially dedicated to the violinist George Bridgetower, who performed it with Beethoven at the premiere in 1803. But after a quarrel Beethoven dedicated it instead to Rodolphe Kreutzer, who thought it unintelligible and never played it.

[George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower (1780-1860) is featured at AfriClassical.com on a page researched and written by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com]

Comment by email:
Bill, I've done an on-campus lecture on the "K/B" Sonata of Beethoven titled "Beethoven, Bridgetower and Kreutzer: Mishaps, Misnomers and Misconnected History".  It's good to hear of Dr. Burnham's article; I'll get in contact with him about it.  Thanks for posting!!  TWH  [Dr. Timothy W. Holley]