Minuet in G, WoO 10 No. 2
by Ludwig van Beethoven · arranged by Shinichi Suzuki
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Composed
- 1796
- Duration
- 2'45''
- Publisher
- Alfred Music
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About this piece
Beethoven wrote this Minuet as No. 2 of his Six Minuets for piano, WoO 10 (dated 1796 on IMSLP). It became one of his most-arranged pieces: IMSLP has early-20th-century versions by Maud Powell for violin, by Willy Burmester, and for wind band, and Serge Koussevitzky recorded it on double bass in 1929. Cellists learn it from the Suzuki Cello School, where it is piece No. 5 in Volume 3 (revised edition; cello part 0483S, piano accompaniment 0484S, Summy-Birchard, distributed by Alfred Music). The book's notes say that Volume 3 focuses on accurate changes into second, third and fourth positions. The Suzuki arrangement is set for RCM Grade 5 (List A) and Trinity Grade 4. A public-domain cello-and-piano version, from Burmester's Stücke alter Meister with a cello part by Jacques van Lier (Lienau, 1906), is on IMSLP for teachers who want an alternative.
Technical overview
A single short minuet with trio, about two and a half to three minutes with repeats, in G major. In the Suzuki volume it serves as a lyrical position-work piece that calls for clean shifts, even phrasing and a singing tone (going by the book's stated aims; the minuet's own page was not seen).