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Free sheet music · Noctave edition

Sonata Op. 49 No. 2 · I. Allegro ma non troppo

Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827

Intermediate · 6/101796G major3 min 42 sSonatinas
Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven, in moonlight

Listen

The first 22 seconds, played by the piano of Noctave (the app's SoundFont).

The piece

The two sonatas of Op. 49 date from the mid-1790s but were not published until 1805, under the title of easy sonatas. Each has only two movements. The one in G major starts with a full chord followed at once by a triplet arpeggio, then unfolds a complete sonata form in miniature: two themes, a development, a recapitulation. Nothing in it is showy, yet everything is exposed.

The right hand keeps switching subdivisions: eighth-note triplets in the opening arpeggio and in the transition, plain eighths elsewhere. Count "one-two-three" or "one-and" depending on the passage so you never blend the two. The left hand plays nearly as much as the right, at a little over four notes per second, first in triplet arpeggios and then in broken eighths under the second theme; it needs to stay supple and discreet. Most of the trills end with two grace notes leading back to the main note: fit them inside the beat without delaying the next quarter.

What makes it hard

Left hand
The left hand plays 48% of the notes, up to 4.3 a second.
Ornaments
Written ornaments: 4 trills and 10 groups of grace notes.

Measured on the score, repeats included, at the written tempo.

Play it in Noctave

The score, free. The version that falls in light, in Noctave: the notes come down to your keyboard at your tempo, then fade to leave you the score. Noctave is coming soon to Android: leave your address to hear when it is out.

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