Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor

The popular image of the young Beethoven as an unruly firebrand taking the musical world by storm is only part of the story. Behind the scenes his career planning was meticulous. Having quit his home city of Bonn for Vienna in 1792, he began work on a set of three Op. 1 Piano Trios (published in 1795) and three Op. 2 Piano Sonatas with a view to securing patronage. The dedication of the trios went to Prince Karl Lichnowsky (1761-1814), who promptly invited him to premiere the sonatas—dedicated to Haydn—at his palace. Beethoven chose to open the set with Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, a strikingly dramatic key he returned to for two middle-period trailblazers: the “Appassionata” Sonata and the “Serioso” String Quartet. The intensely dramatic opening “Allegro” immediately grabs the attention with its rising “skyrocket” figuration borrowed from the Mannheim symphonists. Beethoven then relaxes the tension with a serene “Adagio” based on an earlier piano quartet, before a strangely mournful “Menuetto” sets up the driving momentum of the “Prestissimo” finale.