The chamber music combination of mandolin and piano has a special tonal charm: the silvery sound of the mandolin blends in an entirely unique manner with the piano. In around 1800, these timbres inspired composers such as Beethoven and Hummel to compose for this unusual ensemble. During his sojourn in Prague in 1796, Beethoven wrote a number of such pieces for Countess Josephine von Clary-Aldringen, who played the mandolin. Sweetness and playful esprit present themselves here in many facets. Since Beethoven did not use any mandolin-specific turns of phrase, and since he wrote here for an instrument with g–d–a’–e”, tuning, these works are also readily playable on the violin. This Henle Urtext edition of Beethoven’s works for mandolin and piano offers the musical text of the Beethoven Complete Edition.

Read more about this edition in the Henle Blog.