Violin Sonata No. 9 (Beethoven) sight-read the sonata; he had never seen the work before, and there had been no time for any rehearsal. After the premiere performance Beethoven and Bridgetower fell out: while the two were drinking, Bridgetower apparently insulted the morals of a woman whom Beethoven cherished. Enraged, Beethoven removed the dedication of the piece, dedicating it instead to Rodolphe Kreutzer, who was considered the finest violinist of the day. The piece is in three movements, and takes approximately 43 minutes to perform: After its successful premiere in 1803 the work was published in 1805 as Beethoven's Op. 47, with its re-dedication to
The Kreutzer Sonata After the work had been forbidden in Russia by the censors, a mimeographed version was widely circulated. In 1890, the United States Post Office Department prohibited the mailing of newspapers containing serialized installments of "The Kreutzer Sonata". This was confirmed by the U.S. Attorney General in the same year. Theodore Roosevelt called Tolstoy a "sexual moral pervert." The ban on its sale was struck down in New York and Pennsylvania courts in 1890. In the Epilogue To The Kreutzer Sonata, published in 1890, Tolstoy clarifies the intended message of the novella, writing: Countering the argument that widespread abstinence would lead