🎼 Week 1: Pick Your Piece
Welcome to Week 1 of the Beethoven Challenge!
This week is all about choosing the piece you’ll work on for the month.
Here are a few ideas to help you land on a good fit:
Beginner Options
1. “Ode to Joy” (any simple solo arrangement)
2. Ecossaise in G major, WoO 23
3. Ecossaise in E-flat major, WoO 86
4. German Dance in C major, WoO 8 No. 1
5. Minuet in G major (attributed to Beethoven), WoO 10 No. 2
Intermediate Options
1. Bagatelle in G major, Op. 119 No. 1
2. Bagatelle in A minor, Op. 119 No. 9
3. Bagatelle in C major, Op. 33 No. 5
4. Six Variations on a Swiss Song, WoO 64
5. Bagatelle in E-flat major, Op. 126 No. 6 (first half only)
6. Sonatina in F major, Anh. 5 No. 2
7. Ecossaise in D major, WoO 83 No. 5 or No. 6
Feel free to pick any piece though -
When you’ve picked your piece, post it below so we can all see where everyone’s starting!
118 replies
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Hi, I'm a bit late to this, & as ever will probably not gather up the courage to record, but nevertheless hope to learn from the challenge. I don't have much sheet music for Beethoven, but have found the Sonatina in F major, so I'll give that a go.
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Andante favori - have fallen off the wagon so many times on this one, but I'm committing to learn it in time to share it with family during the holidays. This challenge is great timing for that!
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Dear all, very kind Dominic, thank you so much for the job proposal, I'm very happy! I've been working on the first sonata for a while, but with the third movement I can only get hurt... so for this challenge I'll be releasing the Bagatella op.119 n.1 that I love very much and I'll be excited to share it with you and listen to your suggestions for improvement.
For now, a big hug to everyone.😁 -
Hi All, my challenge will be the first movement of the Pathetique. I hope to get through the Grave introduction and the first Allegro con brio section. What happens after that remains to be seen. This is definitely a stretch for me. I participated in both the Debussy and Chopin challenges, and most of my "repertoire" (such as it is) tends toward the slower, more lyrical pieces. This is definitely outside my comfort zone. Wish me luck!
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15 years ago, I learned the 1st and 2nd movement of Op.79. My teacher at that time know that I was unable to reach the right tempo for the first movement at the time but she thought it was a good practice. I gave up in the 3rd movement.. 😅 for this challenge I will do thr 3rd one (and maybe refresh the first and second? We will see)
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Some years ago I bought a second-hand copy of the Diabelli variations. Having listened to Brendel's performance I took fright and filed the copy away (as had the previous owner judging by the pristine state of the sheet music). Anyway it will be a challenge for me to learn the theme and hopefully go on to variations 1 and 2 as well.
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Greetings Beethoven fans! I just started working on Opus 90. Hopefully I will have the exposition ready by Dec. If you have a chance, you may want to look up pianist Martino Tirimo on YouTube. He has recorded all the Beethoven Sonatas. I was lucky to have studied with him when I was a college student 40 some years ago 😳 and was so impressed by his attention to detail. Especially fingering! During one of my lessons he took my score, set it in his lap and began writing in all the fingerings - without actually playing them first. They were in his head! That's when I knew - Yikes - this is serious!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W30yEgeO8As
Now I am going to look up Ingrid Fliter. Thank you for the recommendation!
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I'll try the Bagatelle op. 119, no. 1. I'm currently playing on an old Yamaha Clavinova, so not sure if that's worth recording/ posting. I'm looking for a new piano though, so let's hope I'll get it before the end of this challenge!
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I'm going to work on a Bagatelle - Op 119, no 3. My teacher feels this is doable within the month for me. I think so too!
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So many people with so many wonderful choices! I have changed my mind every day this last week, I just couldn’t decide. So yesterday I decided to open a book of Beethoven sonatas at any page, and the first movement that came in at 6 pages or less was going to be ‘the piece’. What I’ve got is the prestissimo from the first sonata Op2 No.1, fantastic piece, I have played it before but it’ll be great to revise it through the tonebase lense.
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I really want to try my hand at the first movement of Sonata N. 62.
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Late to the party! Since it is not played much, I want to tackle Op 27 #1, E-flat, First movement (for now).