Sonata No.9 | MYG 🔞

4| Kreutzer

Soundtrack: Sonata No.9 for violin and piano, "Kreutzer Sonata" I. Adagio sostenuto

The Beethoven Sonata No.9, or Kreutzer Sonata, is one of the most mythical classical pieces ever made. By its style, its length, its technical difficulty, it is one of the legendary compositions that if well-played (or bad played) can turn a musical career around.

It was written by Beethoven around 1800 for one of his good violinist friends, George Bridgetower, whose name was first used as the title of the creation. It is made of three unusually long movements; an energetic Adagio, a slow lyrical Andante, and a very strenuous and fast Presto, all in all making the whole piece a little over 40 minutes.

The first time it was interpreted, Beethoven was at the piano and George Bridgetower was at the violin. Prior to the show, they didn't have the time to rehearse at all and Bridgetower basically sight-read the sonata during the concert for the first time ever. Against all odds, the duo had a roaring success and the piece was immediately loved by the public because of its uniqueness and virtuosity.

A little later, both musicians celebrated their accomplishment in a bar, both drinking and praising each other as they toasted to their victory. Legend has it, it's at that precise moment a quarrel broke out between the two of them. Of course, it was about a woman (and although no one really knows what was said, history wants it that Bridgetower was the one to make an unflattering comment about Beethoven's lady).

Beethoven, who generally held grudges forever and had a very bad temper, was absolutely furious. He never spoke to Bridgetower again and changed the sonata's dedication to Rudolphe Kreutzer, a famous French violinist that he admired, before its publication in 1805.

Bridgetower was bitter for the rest of his life (although it is a good thing that the piece wasn't called the Bridgetower Sonata because it sounds kind of bad).

Ironically, Kreutzer thoroughly disliked the composition and always refused to play it, saying that it was "outrageously unintelligible".

He wasn't the only one to be distasted by Beethoven's work, some critics of the time even saying that the sonata was "pushing the concern for originality to the grotesque" and that the composer was an adept of "artistic terrorism".

On the other hand, Leo Tolstoy was fascinated with the piece, depicting it as holding a special power to arouse erotic feelings in his novella called (very originally) The Kreutzer Sonata.

Although some people loathed this iconic composition throughout the years, today, the Sonata No.9 is the most famous piano-violin Sonata of all times, known for its emotional scope, technical difficulty and unusual length.

And there was absolutely no way Yoongi would play it at the Juilliard Sonata Contest with a violinist rookie that hadn't even finished her studies at the Paris Music Conservatory.

"You do know that this is non-negotiable right?" Hoseok announced as he approached his face from Yoongi's his angry eyes darted at his friend.

They were both seated outside a coffee shop, enjoying the Paris summer heat with iced cappuccinos while looking at the passers-by, mostly tourists at this time of the year, looking ridiculous with their Eiffel tower t-shirts and selfie sticks.

Yoongi snorted, pushing his sunglasses up his nose. Hoseok, who was dressed in white from head to toes, his pearly hat forming a halo around his head, looked so bright under the sun that the pianist couldn't look at him for too long.

"Well I'm here, am I not?"

The musician had agreed, after many objections and arguments, to meet Seokjin's niece. He didn't know how, but Hoseok always managed to make him do things he didn't want to in the first place. Many years of practise had taught the manager to know exactly what to do and say to make Yoongi crumble under his pleas, using the right amount of emotional blackmail, strong arguments and cold logic.