Episode
Beethoven's 'Bridgetower Sonata?
- Podcast
- Composers Datebook
- Published
- May 24, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 120
- Processing state
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Summary
Synopsis On today’s date in 1803, violinist George Polgreen Bridgetower, 33, and pianist and composer Ludwig van Beethoven, 32, gave the first performance in Vienna of a new sonata for violin and piano, a chamber work now regarded as one of Beethoven’s greatest. At the first rehearsal, Bridgetower had to read from Beethoven’s manuscript score — no easy task considering Beethoven’s poor penmanship — and at one point felt compelled to improvise a passage, which so enchanted Beethoven that he added Bridgetower’s improvisation to his score. In fact, the two young men became fast friends, and were inseparable for a time. Bridgetower was an English violin virtuoso born in Poland of a European mother and an African father. His Viennese friendship with Beethoven came to a sudden end, he later claimed, when the two men became interested in the same young lady. And so, even though it should be known as the Bridgetower Sonata , when this music was published as Beethoven’s Op. 47, Beethoven dedicated the music to another contemporary virtuoso, a French violinist named Kreutzer, who apparently never performed it. Despite that fact, to this day, the work is known as Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata . Music Played in Today's Program Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Violin Sonata No. 9 ( Kreutzer ); Pamela Frank, violin; Claude Frank, piano; MusicMasters 67087