Joseph Woelfl

[thalbergmad]

I have been spending some rather pleasant hours playing through some sonatas by Woelfl, namely the Op.28 and Op.33 and wondered if anyone else had any experience with his works. A search on this forum resulted in a nil return.

A few of his sonatas have been recorded now along with 3 out of his 7 piano concerti, and i must admit i am very impressed. Although he was contemporary with Beethoven, I find his music closer to that of Clementi. Thus far, I have not encountered many technical hurdles to overcome, but i have not yet tackled the "Nec Plus Ultra" sonata Op.41 which has some rather tricky sections in thirds. I must get my fingers in better condition before i have a go at this one. I cannot find a recording of this particular sonata, but if anyone knows of one, I would be obliged for some information.

Regards

Thal

[chill319]

I've wanted to explore Woelfl more (on the keyboard) but available scores seem to be sparse. His publication history is readily available, and from that it would appear that he supplied the Viennese public with sonatas on a regular basis.

I'm always a bit leery of comparisons with Clementi because that composer pulled himself up by his bootstraps from an enthusiastic, virtuostic, but musically undernourished beginning to become the composer of the magnificent late works (Gradus, Opus 50, etc.). Many of Clementi's so-called early works are revised versions from a period when he could have known, for example, Woelfl's sonatas (among many others).