Beethoven's 35 Sonatas..

[leonidas]

The new ABRSM edition includes the WoO earlier sonatas (3 of them at least), and actually I already own them seperately in a book entitled 'Seven Sonatinas', are these works comparable to his early sonatas? What do you think of them?

[jabbz]

Yes, early masterpieces, already beyond Mozart and other figures, not as fully developed as his (Beethoven) later style, but certainly masterworks. Go and love them!

[counterpoint]

Yes, early masterpieces, already beyond Mozart

Oh, really?

They are very good for a composer aged 11, but they cannot be compared with Mozart's Sonatas imho.

[jabbz]

Well, I my comment was perhaps a touch hasty. Technically they were beyond Mozart's examples (as far as I am aware, keep me right though), and they already showed some 'Beethovenisms' in character and form. Mozart's genius lay in his purity of Melody, and his ability to compose consistent quality in mass bulk. Very different gifts from Beethoven.

no slander of Mozart intended, Mozart is an Idol of mine!

[mcgillcomposer]

Mozart's genius lay in his purity of Melody, and his ability to compose consistent quality in mass bulk.

It did? I always thought there was more to Mozart's genius than 'pure' melodies and 'consistent quality' in bulk. I wonder if the publishing houses in those days employed a quality control team...

[jabbz]

You can hardly describe Mozart's melodies as anything but pure. They're largely non-chromatic (appogiturras don't count) and triadic, thats not pure? But Mozart's genius was more than just that, that however was the contrast I wishes to make with Beethoven.

And yes, there was quality control. If the music wasn't good, it wasn't published. End of.

[mcgillcomposer]

You can hardly describe Mozart's melodies as anything but pure. They're largely non-chromatic (appogiturras don't count) and triadic, thats not pure? But Mozart's genius was more than just that, that however was the contrast I wishes to make with Beethoven.

And yes, there was quality control. If the music wasn't good, it wasn't published. End of.

I wasn't disagreeing, I was just saying that pure melodies don't necessarily constitute genius.

And I beg to differ with your last statement - a hell of a lot of sh*t was published. My qualty control comment was sarcastic and meant as a joke.

[jabbz]

Ah, I see.

Among the bigger publishing houses, there was a pride in what they published, but quality was hard to monitor in the classical period. Lots of music sounded quite the same in the classical period, not all of it was good, and lots of it was dull.