The Sonata Form and Beethoven's Unique Style
Dillon Lobban
The great Hungarian born pianist Andras Schiff has given a set of lectures on all thirty two Beethoven's Sonatas. The lectures were done appropriately in chronological order .
The first Sonata (sonata #1) started with the "Manheim Rocket," a musical phrase which permeated Beethoven's works in general and his sonatas in particular. According to the Encyclopedias Britannia, the "Manheim Rocket" came out of the Manheim School in Germany where a set of composers worked under the patronage of German duke, Duke Karl Theodor (1743–99) the elector palatine.
I found listening to the lectures a great way to pass the time while exercising at the gym.