The Kreutzer Sonata - Manchester Music Festival

Start: Thursday, July 17, 2025 7:30PM
End: Thursday, July 17, 2025 9:30PM

Beethoven’s complex ninth sonata reverberates to the present day. Originally written for his friend, George Bridgetower, the two fell out and the piece was rededicated to another notable violinist of the time, Rudolphe Kreutzer. Against this backdrop, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rita Dove conjured a narrative for the biracial Bridgetower in her poetry collection Sonata Mulattica: A Life in Five Movements and a Short Play. The sonata itself became a key plot point in Tolstoy’s dark novella of the same name, which in turn inspired Janácek’s String Quartet No. 1. Pianist Michael Stephen Brown and violinist Philip Setzer perform Beethoven’s sonata; and the eminent violist Paul Neubauer will be featured on Janácek’s tone poem, as well as on Schumann’s exuberant Piano Quintet in E-flat major. The program will be underscored with readings from Dove and Tolstoy’s works by actor Linda Setzer.