Romanzen G/F-dur op. 40/50

When Ludwig van Beethoven wrote the present two works around 1800, the “Romance” as a genre designation for a soulful, melodious instrumental piece was anything but established, despite the occasional piece bearing this title. Beethoven himself named the pieces “Romance” in the autographs, but offered them to Breitkopf & Härtel for publication as “Solo.” His brother Karl even spoke of “2 Adagios” to the publisher. Nevertheless, Beethoven’s two Romances for violin achieved lasting popularity ever since the publication of the first editions in 1803 and 1805. The present Urtext edition takes the autographs and first editions as its main sources.