One of Beethoven’s more important but rarely discussed patrons was Count Moritz von Fries, proprietor of the prosperous Viennese banking firm of Fries & Co. and treasurer to the imperial court. Seven years Beethoven’s junior, Fries was a man of excellent breeding and culture and a true disciple of the Enlightenment. He traveled widely (Goethe mentioned meeting him in Italy), and lived for awhile in Paris, where he had himself painted by Élisabeth Vigée- Lebrun (remembered for her famous portraits of Marie Antoinette and Mme. de Staël) and, with his wife and baby, by François Gérard (court painter to Louis XVIII). Fries’ palace in Vienna’s Josefplatz was designed by one of the architects of Schönbrunn, the Emperor’s suburban summer residence, and housed an elegant private theater that was the site of frequent musical presentations. In April 1800, Fries hosted what developed into a vicious piano-playing competition between Beethoven and the visiting German virtuoso and composer Daniel Steibelt (1765-- 1823). Beethoven won in a unanimous decision. Following that victory, Beethoven composed for Fries two sonatas for violin and piano (Op. 23 and Op. 24) and the String Quintet, Op. 29, whose dedications the Count eagerly accepted. Fries remained among Beethoven’s most devoted patrons, providing him with a regular stipend until he tumbled into bankruptcy in 1825 following the Napoleonic upheavals. Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony of 1813 was also dedicated to Fries.

The two sonatas for violin and piano that Beethoven composed for Count Fries in 1800-- 1801 -- the passionate A minor (Op. 23) and the pastoral F major (Op. 24, appropriately subtitled "Spring") -- were apparently conceived as a contrasting but complementary pair, perhaps intended to be performed together. (Beethoven headed the manuscript of the F-major piece "Sonata II," and originally instructed the Viennese publisher, T. Mollo, to issue the two works under the single opus number 23. An apparent engraver’s error, however, caused the two violin parts to be printed in different formats -- one upright, one oblong -- making printing in a single volume awkward, so the sonatas were reissued separately with individual opus numbers.) The Sonata in F major, Op. 24 is one of Beethoven’s most beautiful. The opening movement’s sonata form begins with a gentle melody first chanted by the violin. The second theme is more rhythmically vigorous and chromatic in harmony, but maintains the music’s more elegant atmosphere. Scale patterns derived from the main theme close the exposition while the recapitulation and an extended coda based on the flowing main theme round out the movement. The Adagio is a quiet "song without words", a beautiful aria with an undulant accompaniemental figuration, delicately etched in melodic arabesques. The tiny Scherzo is the first such movement that Beethoven included in one of his violin sonatas. The Scherzo is followed immediately by the finale; a rondo that makes unexpected digressions into distant harmonic territories, and is richly lyrical.