Sonaten für Violine und Klavier I

Volume 1 of Beethoven’s Sonatas for violin and piano includes the Three Sonatas Op. 12 composed around 1797/98 as well as the Sonatas Opp. 23 and 24 composed in 1800, the latter later becoming known under the epithet "Spring Sonata". Right from the start, Beethoven’s violin sonatas are duets for two equal partners. Musically, they are of different characters and are in no way inferior to the piano sonatas in terms of invention and boldness, both formally and harmonically.

The new edition is based on all surviving original sources, plus the carefully edited reprints by Simrock. In the edition, plausible divergences between the two instruments (e.g. in the slurring) were retained; unsubstantiated adjustments were deliberately avoided. The notes on interpretation trace the essential aspects of performance practice from Beethoven’s time, both from a violinistic and from a pianistic point of view.