Менуэт для фортепиано Es-dur, WoO 82

Время создания: 1803 г.

Gianluca Cascioli (фортепиано)

The date of this composition has been set as early as 1783, which would make it the product of a 13-year-old. The work might seem too sophisticated for such a young mind, but it seems likely to have at least come from the penultimate decade of the eighteenth century, thus before the composer's twentieth birthday.

The form of the piece is quite simple: the main section is in two parts, each repeated, followed by a trio section, also repeated, and then closing with a restatement of the first section. This is the same model he used in other minuets, including his famous Minuet in G, part of the Minuets (6) for Piano, WoO 10. The main theme in this E flat minuet is not as distinctive as the one in the better known work, but its brightness does have appeal. The trio shows some skill when the main line changes over to the left hand, with the right immediately taking up the accompaniment.

Well-crafted though this little piece is, it is not a major work among those in the composer's oeuvre for solo piano. Still, it is attractive and, if it is the product of the Beethoven's early youth, a great accomplishment.

(All Music Guide)