Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

Violin Sonata No.4 in A Minor, Op. 23
Violin Sonata No.10 in G Major, Op. 96
Variations on 'Se vuol ballare'
from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, WoO 40

In 1792 Beethoven left his native city of Bonn to seek his fortune in the imperial capital, Vienna. Five years earlier his patron, the Archbishop of Cologne, a scion of the imperial family, had sent him to Vienna, where he had hoped to have lessons with Mozart. His plans were frustrated by the illness and subsequent death of his mother, which made it necessary to return to Bonn and before long to take charge of the welfare of his younger brothers. Beethoven's father, overshadowed by the eminence of his own father. Kapellmeister to a former Archbishop, had proved inadequate both as a musician and in the family, of which his son now took control.

As a boy Beethoven had been trained to continue family tradition as a musician and had followed