Presents
Luise Adolpha Le Beau
Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Major, Op.17
Luise Adolpha Le Beau (1850-1927) was born in the German town of Rastatt. She began to study the piano with her father. Subsequently she studied composition with Johann Kalliwoda and piano with Clara Schumann after which she began a career as a piano soloist. She broke off her performing career to further her composition studies with Josef Rheinberger and Franz Lachner. She composed in most genres with chamber music playing an important part of her oeuvreand includes a piano quartet, a string quartet and string quintet as well as several instrumental sonatas. Her works won several prizes and were well regarded by such luminaries as Liszt, Berlioz, Bargiel, Joachim and several others.
In December of 1880, the prestigious music periodical Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, founded by Robert Schumann, announced a competition for new works for cello, in various forms ranging from easy pieces to more complex sonatas or concert pieces. Niels Gade and Carl Reinecke were the chief judges. Both the fifteen-year-old Richard Strauss and Luise Adolpha Le Beau, who at that point was twice his age, submitted sonatas. The entries had to be submitted anonymously, but were identified by a motto on the title page, in order that the scores could be returned to the correct composers after the contest. Strauss chose some lines by the famous Austrian playwright Franz Grillparzer, who wrote the eulogy recited at Beethoven’s funeral and also the epitaph for Schubert’s grave stone. Le Beau chose a rather simpler quote from Goethe. Neither sonata won any prize, however, Le Beau, who had submitted a second work, received an honorable mention for her Four Pieces for Cello and Piano, Op.24. (also published by Edition Silvertrust.)
Since it was known in advance as to who the judges were to be, and given the fact that both Gade and Reinecke were well-known as Mendelssohnian acolytes, it was no surprise that most of the works which were submitted, showed the influence of Mendelssohn. And this was certainly the case with Le Beau's sonata (as well as that of Strauss). The hand of the master can be felt in each of the threee movements of her sonata: Allegro molto, Andante tranquillo and the finale, Allegro vivace. However, this is no mere imitation but a very original work with its own ideas. It is an example of her fine compositional skill and her ability to create a substantial and expressive work for the cello.
Le Beau's Hamburg publisher, August Kranz, suggested that she arrange it also for violin. This she did and the sonata is also quite effective in this version.
| (A) Cello & Piano | $24.95 |
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| (B) Violin & Piano | $24.95 |
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| (C) All Three Parts | $31.95 |
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