Between Vienna and Paris - Beethoven’s “Adam/Kreutzer” Sonata Op. 47

[This concert is being organised twice: at 18.00 and at 20.00]

The distinguished violinist Alessandro Moccia (residing in Ghent and concert master of the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées) will team up with Tom Beghin in a performance of Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata Op. 47.

Alessandro Moccia, violin
Tom Beghin, piano

Pianos: Walter and Erard

There are two stories to the “Kreutzer” Sonata.  One is that Beethoven wrote it in 1802 for a concert in Vienna featuring the young English violinist George Bridgetower.  Bridgetower allegedly had to look over Beethoven’s shoulders to read the freshly finished autograph score.  But the other is that he famously dedicated this molto concertante sonata in 1805 to Rodolphe Kreutzer, who was then one of the three violin professors at the Paris Conservatoire.  At one point, Beethoven in fact contemplated a co-dedication of Op. 47 not only to Kreutzer, but also to Louis Adam, Kreutzer’s colleague and the Paris Conservatoire’s foremost piano professor.

We will give you glimpses of the “Bridgetower” Sonata and will compare it to the “Kreutzer/Adam” Sonata by alternating pianos: a Viennese Walter fortepiano as might have been used at that Vienna Augarten concert on May 9, 1802; and an 1803 French Erard Frères piano, which is a copy of the piano that Beethoven started owning that year and exactly the kind of piano that Adam and Kreutzer would have used had they indeed played the piece together.  The sound worlds of these respective pianos are drastically different, just as violinists in Vienna vs. Paris would have used different bows and applied different techniques.

As it happens, around this time (in 1803) Beethoven was seriously planning to relocate to the big and exciting city of Paris. So, exactly how French was his “Adam/Kreutzer” Sonata?  That’s what we propose to try and find out.

Registration

Free admission, but registration is required. (Now closed)

To comply with the official COVID-19 regulations for professional arts organisations in Belgium, the Orpheus Institute has taken the following prevention measures:

• This concert is being organised twice (at 18.00 and at 20.00) to allow only a limited amount of people and have enough time to ventilate and disinfect the concert hall between the two concerts.
• A maximum of 25 people is allowed per concert. We have designed a new seating plan to guarantee social distancing.
• When attending the concert with someone from your 'bubble', chairs next to each other can be provided. Please let us know via the registration form.
• Registration is required for everyone. Your name and phone number will be asked for contact tracing purposes. This information will be stored for 30 days.
• Wearing a face mask is obligated at all times. (Please note that wearing a face mask is also mandatory on the street in the city centre of Ghent.)
• Hand sanitizer is provided at the entrance and in the concert hall.
• You will be sent an email a day before the event in case of updates and to remind you of the regulations.