Friedrich Kuhlau, Sonatina Opus 20 No 1

After slipping on the icy streets of Lüneburg in northern Germany, the future German composer and teacher Friedrich Kuhlau went blind in one eye when he was only seven years old.
The family had only been there for a short time and was forced to move to a new place of residence from time to time because the father, a musician in a military band, had to follow his garrison when it was relocated.

A remarkable pianist

Born in 1786 in Uelzen, near Hanover, he finished his schooling in Brunswick at fourteen. But it was in Hamburg that he began to study piano and composition. There he composed his first works: some songs and chamber music.

And despite his early disability, by 1804 he had become a remarkable performer on the piano. Six years later, he would earn his living by giving recitals in Copenhagen, where he had fled from the Napoleonic troops that ravaged part of northern Germany in those years. He lived there until his early death in 1832.

Meeting Beethoven

Seven years earlier, in 1825, he had had the opportunity to meet Beethoven in Vienna. A great admirer of the master, after befriending him, he devoted himself to the task of making a good part of his work known in the musical circles of Copenhagen. The maestro must have been very grateful, presumably, first of all, because Beethoven was already old and had only two years left to live.

Friedrich Kuhlau (1786 - 1832)

Sonatinas, the pedagogical work

Kuhlau was a prolific composer, mainly of operas, chamber music and works for flute (the latter demanded by the economic contingency – in every house there would be a flute, we presume). Nevertheless, today he is mostly remembered for his piano works, which are highly pedagogical in value, including a concerto for the instrument. His sonatinas are the most recorded, and what we can most successfully listen to in encores. Not very demanding, they are an excellent ground for preparing the major challenge of the great sonatas, those of the maestro he admired, for example.

In a rendition by the Japanese pianist Mitsuro Nagai, the Sonatina No. 1 from opus 20, in C major, is presented here. Its eight minutes duration includes three sections: Allegro - Andante - Rondo (allegro).