Beethoven - Sonata for Violin and Piano, No 3 in E-flat major, Op 12, No 3

Beethoven - Sonata for Violin and Piano, No 3 in E-flat major, Op 12, No 3 I Allegro con spirito II Adagio con molta espressione III Rondo: Allegro molto Mr Leung Kin-fung, Violin Dr Cheng Wai, Piano The premiere of one of the three sonatas for violin and piano of Beethoven’s Op 12 took place at a concert on 29 March 1798, played by the composer and his violinist friend Ignaz Schuppanzigh (1766-1830), who gave lessons to Beethoven and would be a foremost champion of his string quartets for almost a quarter of a century. At that first performance they very likely played from the manuscript because the set of sonatas was not published until December that year. The Third Sonata, when compared with the carefree joviality of its counterparts in the publication, seems to carry more weight, not least because it is set in Beethoven’s “heroic” key of E-flat major, which would be the key of his monumental Third Symphony written a few years later. The first movement features plenty o