Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, commonly
known as Sonata Pathétique, was written in 1798 when the composer was 27 years old, and was published in 1799.
The third movement is marked Rondo: Allegro (Quickly) and is a popular movement for advanced piano students.
Here is a performance by Daniel Barenboim recorded in Berlin in 2006.
Beethoven Virus
The Rondo movement underwent a transformation into Beethoven Virus based on a 2008 MBC TV drama in Korea (베토벤 바이러스) .
Here is a recording of Diana Boncheva playing Beethoven Virus on violin.
And finally, here is a recording by the Korean American teenaged guitarist Sandra Bae.
What do you think of this transformation of a classical piano work into contemporary rock?
Posted by stuartcooper on September 15, 2012 at 5:12 am
The slow movement of this Beethoven Sonata has been “appropriated” still more,
most notably by Billy Joel in the chorus of “This Night will Last Forever” and by
KISS at the start of their song “Great Expectations” which has nothing whatsoever
to do with the great Dickens novel.
I once spent hours trying to find this movement in Mum’s book of Beethoven Sonatas.
It didn’t show up in the thematic index which had the first three or so bars of
the first movements only. It was a great joy to me when I finally discovered it
hiding as the last part of Opus 13.