Premiering just 16 days after Beethoven’s first symphony was a Sonata for Horn and Piano. This was hastily written for a famous Bohemian horn virtuoso named Johann Wenzel Stich but known as Giovanni Punto.
“Punto blows magnifique!” was Mozart's praise of him 12 years earlier.
#Beethoven250 Day 124
Sonata in F Major for Horn and Piano (Opus 17), 1800
Only the most courageous of musicians play the horn. This is a student at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
In Beethoven’s day, horns had no valves. Today these are called natural horns, and the overtones must be controlled through lip tension, and by bending notes with the hand inside the bell, a technique called “stopping.”
#Beethoven250 Day 124
Sonata in F Major for Horn and Piano (Opus 17), 1800
This 1951 movie features British horn virtuoso Dennis Brain discussing and demonstrating the natural horn before playing on a modern horn. Dennis Brain died in an auto accident in 1957 at the age of 36
#Beethoven250 Day 124
Sonata in F Major for Horn and Piano (Opus 17), 1800
This performance on natural horn is accompanied by a fortepiano for an extra period-authenticity bonus.