The “Complete” Beethoven


Barry Cooper hypothesizes that the bagatelle known as the Allegretto in C also originated with the Waldstein Sonata. (Beethoven, p. 146) Perhaps it was originally a replacement for the removed Andante, or an additional movement coming between the Andante and the finale.

#Beethoven250 Day 178
Allegretto in C Major (WoO 56), 1803

Trudelies Leonhardt is perhaps the most persuasive advocate for performing Beethoven’s music on a pianoforte.

In other 1803 news, born on 11 December was Hector Berlioz, on whose music Beethoven was to be a major influence. Berlioz’s astonishing Symphonie Fantastique dates from just three years after Beethoven’s death, and in 1837–38, Berlioz wrote extensively on Beethoven’s symphonies.