Description
A minuet in E-flat major from Beethoven's early years. It is one of his works without opus number, and its exact date is disputed, but the style is unmistakably that of the eighteenth-century court dance — a different face from the composer of the later, stormier music. What survives in it is the everyday functional music Vienna expected at the time.
In triple time, it follows the standard plan: a minuet, a contrasting trio, and the minuet again. The harmony is clear and the melody is built in balanced eight-bar units. E-flat major suited the wind instruments of the day, and the round, soft sonority of the piece comes from that choice of key.
It is marked for beginners, but at over three minutes and more than eleven hundred notes it is a large one by that standard. Since no single figure is hard, the work lies in holding the tempo steady to the end and varying the dynamics between repeats so the piece does not flatten out. Simply taking the trio a level quieter already gives the whole a clear shape.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Born in Bonn and active in Vienna, Ludwig van Beethoven is among the towering figures in music history, bridging the Classical and Romantic eras. Despite losing his hearing in later life, he continued composing, pursuing innovative forms and intense emotional expression in his symphonies and piano sonatas. His beloved piano piece "Fur Elise" and his 32 piano sonatas remain widely performed. This site includes "Für Elise," the two sonatas of Op. 49, movements from his early piano sonatas, and sets of variations.
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