Beethoven – creator of concert overtures?

Posted on September 28, 2020 by Peter Jost

Illustration with kind permission by the Beethoven-Haus Bonn.

Beethoven as the great innovator of forms and genres generated by his predecessors – that has by now become indisputable common knowledge. And our Beethoven blog posts keep showing the numerous innovations, even in lesser-known detail, with major future potential. This most recently came to light in the post on the trombone, since Beethoven is regarded as the “founder of symphonic trombone scoring”.  Today’s topic goes another step further: Beethoven is mentioned not only as an innovator, but as actually the creator of a new genre type. The question mark in the title already indicates that the matter is not so simple as it initially seems. Continue reading →

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Beethoven’s easy piano sonatas. BEETHOVEN’S EASY PIANO SONATAS???

Posted on September 14, 2020 by Norbert Müllemann

The title for today’s blog post was so easy to write down from our large Beethoven blog-plan list, though whilst my fingers were still typing, my brain was switching on (perhaps a bit too tardily) and objecting: Beethoven’s easy piano sonatas? There aren’t any!  So, this could now be a very short blog post, but as you’ve already suspected – we never make it easy for ourselves…. Continue reading →

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On the way to the Romantic orchestra – the trombone in Beethoven’s symphonies

Posted on August 31, 2020 by Dominik Rahmer

Last May my colleague Norbert Gertsch dealt with Beethoven’s relationship to an instrument that’s not usually the centre of attention: in his case, this was the viola (read his blog post here). We will deal today with a perhaps even more “esoteric” instrument, namely, the trombone. Continue reading →

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Summer Break

Posted on July 27, 2020 by publisher

Summer is here and the Henle blog is saying “goodby” for a short summer break. But not to worry, it will pick up again on 31 August 2020 with more exciting Beethoven-Year blog posts.

Until then we wish you a lovely summer, despite coronavirus (COVID-19) – stay well!

G. Henle Verlag

 

 

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More than “Ode to Joy” – the whole range of Beethoven’s vocal work

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Annette Oppermann

Although the melody of the 9th Symphony’s choral movement, “Freude schöner Götterfunken” (Joy, beautiful spark of the gods), is most likely one of Beethoven’s best known tunes, it is the composer’s instrumental work that is primarily linked today to his popularity and musico-historical significance: The 32 piano sonatas as the “New Testament of piano music”, the 9 symphonies as the milestone in symphonic music, the string quartets as the epitome of Goethe’s idea of conversation amongst “four reasonable people”.  So far, so good, but as vocal music editor at Henle publishers, I naturally look at the matter somewhat differently – and with this post I’m inviting you to a little stroll through the whole range of Beethoven vocal works that we have ready for you here at Henle. Continue reading →

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“The Hammerklavier Sonata opened the door for me” – Interview with Ian Fountain on Beethoven’s piano music

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Peter Jost

Ian Fountain

Today we’d like to continue our series of musicians’ views on Beethoven, begun in February, by interviewing the British pianist Ian Fountain. He is responsible for the fingerings in the Henle Urtext editions of Beethoven sonatas (HN 894) and variations (HN 913) for cello and piano, in collaboration with David Geringas who has done the cello markings – as demonstrated in the CD recording of Beethoven’s Sämtliche Werke für Cello und Klavier [Complete Works for Cello and Piano] (SWR Music/Hänssler Classic, 2011). Fountain will also continue to provide the fingerings in volume 2 of the revised edition of the Beethoven piano variations (HN 1269), which includes the Diabelli Variations op. 120 that he recorded in 1997 (CRD Records). Continue reading →

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Part 3: Beethoven from the artist’s perspective

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Wolf-Dieter Seiffert

Starting from Beethoven Feature Films (1), then going to Beethoven Documentaries (2), we’ve now arrived at Beethoven From the Artist’s Perspective (3), the final part of my efforts at annotating comprehensively Beethoven Filmography. It is, after all, primarily the artists who are dealing lifelong with the music, the notes, but also with the Beethoven biography, to bring us closer to his music through their interpretations. Continue reading →

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Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” sonata – The stony path to a reliable music text

Posted on June 1, 2020 by Norbert Gertsch

Almost exactly 20 years ago – as I had just finished my editorial work on the Missa solemnis for the Complete Edition [GA] – the Beethoven-Haus approached me about whether I might be interested in co-editing the GA’s final piano-sonata volume. Besides the three late sonatas I was also offered the “Hammerklavier” sonata. Who wouldn’t want to seize the opportunity there! Continue reading →

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“Beethoven Complete” – part 2: from the Old to the New Complete Edition

Posted on May 18, 2020 by Peter Jost

A few weeks ago my colleague Annette Oppermann reported on the start of Beethoven’s complete editions, or rather, on the numerous attempts to publish such – the most enterprising and successful being those of Tobias Haslinger (from 1828) and Franz Philipp Dunst (from 1829) that were begun immediately after Beethoven’s death. Following up on this, I would now like to report on ventures from the second half of the 19th century, concentrating in particular on the two most important of these editions known to the world as the “Alte Gesamtausgabe [Old Complete Edition]” (AGA, 1862–65) and “Neue Gesamtausgabe [New Complete Edition]” (NGA, since 1961). Continue reading →

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Beethoven and the viola

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Norbert Gertsch

Illustrations with kind permission by the Beethoven-Haus Bonn.

Piano concertos and sonatas, violin concerto and sonatas, cello sonatas – but where are the solo works for viola from Beethoven’s pen? Was the instrument too alien to him, wasn’t he aware of the viola’s special value and timbre? This certainly can’t be the case when we think of his unique string quartets and string trios. And the fact that Beethoven himself played the viola! It’s worth taking a closer look at the matter! Continue reading →

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