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I was wondering does anyone know why alot of music schools won't allow Beethoven's Sonata op.49 no.2 for an audition piece? I've been looking at music schools and noticed that most don't allow that piece and I just wondered why. (Also if anyone knows of any good music schools I am open for suggestions.)Thanks!

The short answer, which will no doubt be controversial is:

It's too easy.

That's not to say it isn't a wonderful piece (it is), or that it's easy to play well (it's not), but it doesn't require the same level of technical accomplishment that the other sonatas do. Op. 49#2 is routinely played at the junior high level; it appears in Suzuki Book 4, and diligent students with strong Suzuki training can pass book four at age 9 or 10. A program containing Beethoven Op. 49 won't be competitive enough to warrant admission and scholarship to a performance program at a good school.

op.49 sonatas (both no.1 & 2) are in sonatina scale basically, and therefore are considered as too easy for audition pieces.

Yep, its one of the easy sonatas. That being said, I love the G minor one very much, and it was the first I learned..

Ok thanks I figured that had to be it but I wasn't sure I was just curious.

Each of the Sonatas of Op. 49 was entitled, by Beethoven himself, as "Leichte Sonate" ("Easy Sonata").

Regards,

Yes, they are pretty easy. I played them at first sight just the other day, although I can improve of course when I play them again (and I will), but basically I didn't find any difficulties... Still... they are very nice I think, I enjoyed them.

They are easier sonatas, as others have said, and so they don't really let the auditioner show of their technical skills. However, I do think that they are hard to play well musically and are wonderful pieces. I don't think all schools would exclude those, but many more competitive ones would.

While they're difficult to pull off musically....the other Beethoven sonatas are difficult in that sense as well (mostly more difficult), as well as having the technical and structural challenges the op.49 sonatas lack.

wow, first sight? I'm trying to play it at 58th sight now LOL.
Some people find op 49-2 dull, I disagree, I think it is great, very bright and happy. The 49-1 is said to be more difficult, also more interesting as music.

After studying the early sonatinas in F and G, I tackled the Op. 49/2. I was admittedly a youngster, but by that time I had begun to listen to the 'mature' sonatas, and I felt a very great sense of accomplishment at 'arriving' on the doorstep of a composer who -to this day- ranks as my number one.

I have a very warm spot for that Beethoven sonata. Interestingly, I taught myself to read an orchestral score by following the Toscanini recordings of the symphonies with the miniature scores.

How excited I got with the finale of the 7th!

Is op 2-1 accepted (sonata in F minor, the very first of the 32) as an audition piece? Seems to be tougher than the 49's but easier than the rest.

Others here will know better than I if it is 'accepted' as an audition piece -probably dependent on the school?- but I would not particularly call it easy. The counterpoint in the development group of the first movement is challenging for memorization, and the last movement -at proper speed- certainly demands an accomplished player.

Maybe related to it being "too easy," but with a different wrinkle: It's just not that good. There's not that much in it, and so it's not that challenging musically, and therefore doesn't really show that much of what you can do.

There are pieces that are just as "easy," or easier -- like, the 1st movement of the Moonlight Sonata, or the slow movement of the Pathetique -- which show much more.

I basically agree with you, Mark, but methinks you're being a bit too hard on it. Certainly it's 'early' Beethoven, but just in the sense that it receives the second opus number Beethoven provided. He had certainly written a fair amount of music before that, including some piano quartets that I have always enjoyed. (Yes, I know some of the themes found their way into later works.)

But to me Beethoven always has something fascinating for us, be it early works or the much maligned works of his 'Congress of Vienna' period.

It is always a joy to hear this F minor sonata in a professional recital.

Indeed I was.

I was trying to be as brief and clear as possible, and when we do that, we often have to oversimplify.

Now I'm confused. I thought Mark was referring to the op.49 sonatas, not the op.2/1 that argerichfan was talking about.

You're right -- that's what I was referring to.
I'm the one who was confused.

My first post was a reply to Kreisler's post -- which was the first reply on this thread and was about 49/2, as per the OP.
Since Argerichfan was replying to me, I assumed he meant that too. I just didn't catch that he said "second opus number," nor "F minor." I mean, I did see the latter and didn't quite understand it; it didn't occur to me that he might be referring to a sonata other than 49/2 since it's the piece in the title of the thread and in the post that he was replying to.

Yeah, but after al-mahed's post about Op. 2 no. 1, some people thought the discussion had shifted in that direction.

I have just started Op. 14 no. 1. I needed something doable at my advanced age. Son is plowing through Op. 31 no. 2. I'm hearing lots of Beethoven these days.

Op. 2/1 probably isn't going to get you in to Peabody, but it's fine for some schools.

For auditions, it also depends what else is on the program. If your other pieces are a Bach invention and Schubert Op. 90#2, then the program isn't nearly as strong as putting it with something from the Well-Tempered Klavier and the Mendelssohn Rondo Capriccioso.

It also depends on your degree plans. I assume we're talking performance. If we're talking composition, BA, or music ed, then Op. 2/1 is a fine choice.