Composer

Ludwig van Beethoven

1770–1827

7,703 works in the index

Era: Classical
Nationality: Electorate of Cologne
Born in: Bonn

Beethoven sits on the hinge between the Classical style he inherited and the Romantic one he made possible, and the catalogue spans both: thirty-two piano sonatas, sixteen string quartets, nine symphonies, five piano concerti and a large body of songs and chamber music.

The piano sonatas are the most-bought and the most misjudged. The famous ones — the Moonlight, the Pathétique, the Waldstein — are advanced works, and the first movement of the Moonlight being playable early does not make the rest of it so. The genuine starting points are the two sonatas of Op. 49 and the bagatelles, including the one everyone knows as Für Elise.

He revised heavily and his manuscripts are difficult, so editions disagree about specific notes and markings more than you might expect from a composer this recent. If you are working with a teacher, use theirs.

Catalogue

Ludwig van Beethoven

Works page 120 of 161

Symphony No. 5, Movement 3

Sonata No. 09 in E Major, Op. 14, No. 1

Sonata No. 26 in E-flat Major, Op. 81a

String Quintet in C Major op. 29

Symphony No. 1, Movement 4

Symphony No. 1 in C Major

Symphony No. 2 in D Major

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major

Symphony No. 5, Movement 2

Sonata No. 05 in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 1

Sonata No. 27 in E Minor, Op. 90

Leonore Overture no. 3, op. 72b

Leonore Overture no. 1, op. 138

Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 14, No. 2

Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101

Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp Major, Op. 78

Egmont Overture, Op. 84

King Stephen Overture, Op. 117

Leonore Overture no. 2, op. 72a