Beethoven "Eyeglasses" Duo, WoO 32, and Kalliwoda, Six Nocturnes, Op. 186

My Sunday evening sonata partner plays the cello as well as the piano (and about a dozen instruments besides, but that's another story!) and so last week I got him to get his cello out of the basement to join me in one of my favorite pieces, the Beethoven Duo for Viola and Cello, called the "Eyeglasses" because of the note on the manuscript, "mit zwei obligaten Augengläsern".  It was never published in Beethoven's lifetime, and has the bizarre-looking catalog number "WoO 32", where "WoO" stands for "Werke ohne Opus", work without opus number.  Apparently, the first movement wasn't published until 1912, after it was discovered in one Beethoven's notebooks; the second movement was found in the same notebook in the 1940s.   I'm just happy it survived: it's just a fun, fun piece.  And it's the first piece I played when I started playing the viola again back in 2009 (with this same cellist, as it happens!)

As readers of this blog will remember, I'm on a real Kalliwoda kick, and my sonata partner was very indulgent, and read through with me his Six Nocturnes for Viola and Piano, Op. 186.  I think these are wonderful pieces: very "violistic", if I can coin that phrase.  My partner said that they were very sight-readable, because Kalliwoda never does anything in the least unexpected. :-(  Still, I think all violists ought to give these a try.  I may like the first one the best; listen and see if you don't think it's very pretty.  My sonata partner likened some of these pieces to melodies by Sir Arthur Sullivan, and to me, that's high praise (I used to be a huge Gilbert and Sullivan fan!)

I realized that there's a link here: both of these pieces are what I call "fun", and that's a thread that can be hard to find in chamber music, particularly in the romantic era.  Haydn certainly had fun, and created fun experiences for his players, as did Beethoven early in his career.  But somehow, music, particularly chamber music, took a very serious turn early in the nineteenth century, leaving "fun" to composers like Strauss, Offenbach, and Sullivan.  I mean, I just adore Brahms, but no one would ever consider calling his chamber music "fun"!