Beethoven Gesamtausgabe
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The Ludwig van Beethovens Werke: vollständige kritisch durchgesehene überall berechtigte Ausgabe, also known as the Beethoven ''Gesamtausgabe'', was the first collected edition of the works of
Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
published 1862–1865. Its full title means ''Ludwig van Beethoven's Works: complete, critical, thoroughly revised, authorized edition''). Although this was the first collected edition to be finished, there was at least one previous attempt at a complete edition by Tobias Haslinger between 1828 and 1842.


Description

The ''Ludwig van Beethovens Werke: vollständige kritisch durchgesehene überall berechtigte Ausgabe'' (which roughly translated means ''Ludwig van Beethoven's Works: complete, critical, thoroughly revised, authorized edition'') was the first collected edition of the works of Beethoven. It was published between 1862 and 1865, with a supplementary volume appearing in 1888. The edition contained 263 works arranged in twenty four "series". While a groundbreaking achievement, its limitations soon became apparent. Musicologist Friedrich Spiro delivered a paper to the Fourth Congress of the International Music Society in 1911 that advocated a revision of the ''Gesamtausgabe''. Spiro pointed out both numerous inaccuracies in its musical text and various authentic works of Beethoven that were never included (such as Op. 134, Beethoven's own piano duet arrangement of his Große Fuge, Op. 133). In 1957 Willy Hess published a catalogue of authentic works of Beethoven not included in the ''Gesamtausgabe''. In providing annotation for the celebrated recording of Beethoven's
piano concerto A piano concerto, a type of concerto, is a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for piano accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuosic showpieces which require an advance ...
s by Steven Lubin and
Christopher Hogwood Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood (10 September 194124 September 2014) was an English Conducting, conductor, harpsichordist, and Musicology, musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on h ...
, Prof. Robert S. Winter noted that the parts available for the concertos at the time of the recording (1987) were the same ones available when the ''Gesamtausgabe'' was completed. He points out both that the original sources which have come down to us of the concertos can be ambiguous, and that even in instances where they were not, "the anonymous editors of the concertos n the ''Gesamtausgabe''dressed them in 1860s garb—a wholly understandable response. In other instances they simply misconstrued the sources". Part of this, Winter suggests, can be attributed to the fact that the
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
changed significantly between Beethoven's time and the time when the ''Gesamtausgabe'' appeared. (A similar phenomenon is observable when one compares the piano concertos of
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
as originally written by the composer and the versions of the ''
Alte Mozart-Ausgabe The ''Alte Mozart-Ausgabe'' is the name by which the first complete edition of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is known. It was published by Breitkopf & Härtel from January 1877 to December 1883, with supplements published until 1910. Th ...
'' published in the 1870s; the latter have numerous changes, particularly in matters of phrasing.) A new complete edition of Beethoven's music began publication in 1961, initiated by the Beethoven-Haus in
Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...
. However, the work on this was reported in 1991 by Nicholas Marston to be proceeding slowly. According to their website, 56 volumes are projected of which 43 have now been published.


See also

*
List of compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven The list of compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven consists of 722 works written over forty-five years, from his earliest work in 1782 (variations for piano on a march by Ernst Christoph Dressler) when he was only eleven years old and still in Bonn ...


Sources

*Nicholas Marston, "Beethoven Literature: Editions of the Music," in Barry Cooper, ed., ''The Beethoven Compendium'' (Ann Arbor, MI: Borders Press, 1991). . pp. 314–6. *Robert S. Winter, "Beethoven and the Piano Concertos," liner notes to ''Ludwig van Beethoven: The Five Piano Concertos'' as performed by Steven Lubin, piano, and the
Academy of Ancient Music The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) is a British period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after an 18th-century organisation of the same name (originally the A ...
directed by Christopher Hogwood, L'Oiseau Lyre 421 408-2, released in 1988.


References


External links


"The Unheard Beethoven"
Website containing numerous Beethoven works omitted from the "Gesamtausgabe" and catalogued by Hess.
Gesamtausgabe
from the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn. {{Ludwig van Beethoven Collected editions of classical composers Gesamtausgabe