‘Kreutzer’ Sonata

Nickname of Beethoven's A-major violin and piano sonata, Op. 47, composed in 1803 and dedicated to Rodolphe Kreutzer. The work is the subject of Leo Tolstoy's novel The Kreutzer Sonata, in which it has a disastrous effect on the morals of the characters. Beethoven and George Bridgetower gave the first performance of the work on 17 May 1803. It is also the subtitle of Janáček's first string quartet, composed 1923–24, based on a lost piano trio of 1908–09. This piece inspired by the Tolstoy novel, and bears no thematic relation to Beethoven's original sonata. It was first performed in Prague, Czechoslovakia (modern Czech Republic), on 17 September 1924.