6 Bagatelles, Op.126

Bagatelle · Op. 126

Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827
Bagatelle
Form
Op. 126
Catalogue
Score
First page of 6 Bagatelles, Op.126

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Difficulty
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Themes & character
His last piano work·Conceived as a cycle·Late style in miniature·Composed 1824

At a glance

Catalogue
Op. 126
Form
Bagatelle

About the piece

Composed in 1824, these are the last pieces Beethoven wrote for solo piano, finished in the years of the Ninth Symphony and the late quartets. He described them to his publisher as a cycle, insisting they belonged together rather than as separate trifles, and they are linked by a scheme of related keys. Beethoven called such short pieces Kleinigkeiten, little nothings, but these are late works in miniature: compressed, harmonically strange, and moving without warning between serenity and violence.

The composer

Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
1770–1827

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer, conductor, and pianist. Regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music, he was mentored during the Classical period, and his musical style was a key driver of the transition to Romantic music, and the expansion of instrumental forms such as the symphony, the piano sonata and the string quartet. His compositions have attracted extraordinary casual and scholarly interest, and remain among the most performed in the world.

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