Ludwig van Beethoven

German composer and pianist, 1770-1827

Beethoven is a crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 1 violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas, and 16 string quartets. He also composed other chamber music, choral works (including the celebrated Missa solemnis), and songs. In about 1800 his hearing began to deteriorate, and by the last decade of his life he was almost totally deaf. He gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose; many of his most admired works come from this period.

Source: Wikipedia

Beethoven, Ludwig van

Komponist (1770-1827). Autograph letter signed. ohne Ort und Datum [Wien, Mitte Februar 1826.]. Gr.-8vo. 3 pp. Mit Adresse auf der 4. Seite des Doppelblattes. Etwas fleckig. Randläsuren und Faltenbrüche behutsam restauriert.
$ 102,752 / 95.000 € (87995)

To Karl Holz, who played the second violin in the Schuppanzigh Quartet since 1824, a close friend of Beethoven’s whom the composer frequently entrusted with his quotidian missions. The background of the letter is obscure: it probably refers to an episode involving Beethoven’s housekeeper, Ms Lindner, with whose work he was dissatisfied, and to the problem of supervising the lifestyle of Karl, Beethoven’s troubled young nephew. “As token payment the cane did its job yesterday. I would much prefer if you located somebody to trace the K.

trail, perhaps we shall find something better than we expect – and only then is action to be taken according to conviction – whatever the cost, I will gladly refund all, only the matter must be approached cleverly. I ask you sincerely to instruct your sister, whom I send my regards, to buy two cubits of flannel according to this swatch; you can bring the cloth along when you visit me this noon – I only regret having to burden you in so many matters. In haste […]” Beethoven’s conversation notebooks reveal that Holz’s sister Anna attended to the requested purchase of the flannel in mid-February 1826. Beethoven, Briefwechsel, vol. 6, no. 2117 (“original unknown”), based on Kalischer’s inaccurate edition (1908), vol. 5, no. 1181. From the collection of Adolf Göttmann, Berlin (cf. MGG vol. 5, cols. 460f.)..

buy now

Beethoven, Ludwig van

Komponist (1770-1827). Autograph sketchleaf to op. 117, "König Stephan" ("Ungarns erster Wohltäter"). [Teplitz. 2 SS. in Tinte und Bleistift auf 16-zeiligem Notenpapier (322 x 234 mm), zweifach gefaltet. Drei Lochungen im linken Rand (Spuren ehemaliger Heftung). Dabei: Zwei eigenh. Briefe mit U. von Friedrich Wilhelm Künzel in Leipzig an Fred M. Steele in Chicago, .
$ 378,560 / 350.000 € (62186/BN45287)

A densely-used two-sided autograph sketchleaf containing music to opus 117, "König Stephan" or "Ungarns erster Wohltäter" ("Hungary's first Benefactor"), the front showing, among other motifs, the opening cello/bassoon line for the beginning of the first movement chorus, "Ruhend von seinen Thaten" (Andante maestoso e con moto, C major), and the verso with material from the end of the movement, all over with various freely written passages in ink and pencil, mostly on single staves, some with text underneath, containing many holograph corrections and instances where ink is written over pencil.

- The present sketchleaf, apparently hitherto unknown to scholarship, belongs to a book of sketches that Beethoven used while writing his stage music "König Stephan" in 1811. Beethoven created his own book from various paper on hand and used it while at the spa in Teplitz from late 1810 into mid 1811. He finished "König Stephan" between 20 August and mid-September 1811. The sketches are of the first chorus (after the overture). The musical play was commissioned for the opening of the new theatre in Pest along with "The Ruins of Athens". First performed on 9 February 1812, it was published as op. 117. King Stephen I founded Hungary in 1000. Emperor Francis I of Austria commissioned the new theatre, and Beethoven was chosen as the composer to honour the occasion of the opening. The Austrian Emperor was honouring Hungary's loyalty, thus the subject matter on a text by August von Kotzebue. - The Beethoven-Haus in Bonn holds four other sketches from this sketchbook (viewable in their digital online archive, as entries HCB Bsk 2/50, 3/51, 4/52, and Mh 81), all of which share the same three holes punched on the left-side margin of the present sketch. We would like to thank Dr. Carmelo Comberiati, professor of Music History at Manhattanville College, for his assistance in cataloguing this lot. - Provenance: Friedrich Wilhelm Künzel, Leipzig, before 1886; Collection of Fred M. Steele, Chicago, purchased from the above, 1886. Offered in the "Collection of Important Autographs in the estate of Mrs. Ella P. Steele, widow of Mr. Fred M. Steele" (Philadelphia, 1918). Acquired from the purchaser's descendants, last located in Greenwich, CT..

buy now

Beethoven, Ludwig van

Komponist (1770-1827). Fidelio. Eine Grosse Oper in 2 Aufzügen. Wien. Gestochener Klavierauszug mit unterlegtem Text. Unbeschnitten. Qu.-Folio.
$ 302,848 / 280.000 € (72252/BN45718)

First printing of the first edition of Beethoven's only opera; of the utmost rarity. Inscribed on the title page, in Beethoven's own hand, to his benefactor Pasqualati (1777-1830), in whose house the composer then lodged: "Seinem werthen Freunde Baron von Pasqualati vom Verfasser" ("To his dear friend Baron Pasqualati, from the author"). No more than three copies of this first edition bearing Beethoven's autograph inscription are known; the present one is described by Kinsky/Halm as follows: "This copy from the collection of the Society of Friends of the Music in Vienna (cf.

no. 893 in the guide-book to the Centenary Exhibition, Vienna 1927) was presented to the conductor Arturo Toscanini by the Austrian Government on 1 November 1934 on the occasion of a performance of Verdi's 'Requiem', directed by him, as a gift of honour (cf. 'Philobiblon' VIII, 6)." - Professionally cleaned with repairs to gutter. Collection stamp of the Society of Friends of the Music in Vienna on title page and verso of final leaf. Beethoven's autograph inscription pencilled across the blank margin of the title page. - The present dedication copy was not publicly shown since the great 1927 exhibition in honour of the centennial of Beethoven's death; it was latterly considered lost (as are the other two dedication copies of "Fidelio" described in the catalogue of Beethoven's works). We acquired it directly from Toscanini's estate in spring 2016..

buy now

Beethoven, Ludwig van

Komponist (1770-1827). "Neue Liebe, Neues Leben". Autograph musical manuscript. [Wien. Qu.-Folio (ca. 316 x 226 mm). Braune Tinte auf Papier zu 16 Notenzeilen (Johnson, Tyson & Winter Nr. 2). 3 SS. auf 2 Bll. (separat, das 2. Blatt an ein weißes Blatt zeitgenössisches Papier angefalzt). Insgesamt 217 Takte (ohne Auftakte), durchwegs mit Til.
$ 378,560 / 350.000 € (87357/BN57846)

First draft for the lied "Neue Liebe, neues Leben", a setting of a 1775 poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, begun in late 1798. The present sketch, jotted down without interruptions in a very cursory, almost rushed hand already contains the melody and the words with no expression markings, but includes occasional bass sections as well as parts of the piano accompaniment at the end of verses; it shows several important departures from the version printed in 1810. At the head of the page, written in a different ink and pen and comprising the first four staves, are the first eight bars of the finale of Beethoven's String Quartet No.

1 in F major (Op. 18, No. 1, composed between 1798 and 1800, published in 1801), providing the violin voice with the theme chorus of triplets. - The lied in its present version (WoO 127) was published in early 1808, nearly a decade after this first sketch, by Simrock in Bonn as the first part of the "III deutsche Lieder", apparently without the composer's consent. Beethoven subsequently revised his work (the manuscript of that revision, dated "1809", is today kept at the Beethoven Haus in Bonn) and published it the following year with Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig as part of his "Sechs Gesänge" (Op. 75, No. 2). "Il s'agit du monologue d'un amant que la rencontre d'un nouvel amour a bouleversé au point de ne plus savoir où il en est : sa tentation est alors de fuir ce qui le rend étranger à lui-même" (E. Brisson). In 1811 Beethoven presented a manuscript copy of that second version, the first leaf of which is also kept in Bonn (while most of the remainder is at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York), to Bettina Brentano on the occasion of her wedding to Achim von Arnim. Nohl has pointed out that the present first draft with its "dramatic, aria-styled phrasings" retains a somewhat "grandiose and dark quality" as compared to the reduced later version, and "if one were to interpret the urgent stride so vividly apparent in this sketch, dashed off, as it seems, without a single interruption and in a mood of deep emotional excitation, then one feels instinctively that forces of an even greater passion than such as Bettina could have aroused in Beethoven must have been at work here" (cf. p. 695). - Occasional quite insignificant brownstaining; altogether very crisp. Both leaves annotated with Beethoven's name in a near-contemporary hand. At the head of the first page is the "mysterious caption" (cf. Nohl), also by a different, early hand: "Der Schluß von seinem letzten Septuor als Motto für den Text" (apparently referring to Beethoven's Septet, Op. 20, also written in 1799; a tentative explanation is advanced by van der Zanden, p. 168). - Beethoven manuscripts written before 1800 almost never come to market; no other complete autograph manuscript of this version is known. The two leaves formerly were a single bifolium owned by baroness Anna von Gleichenstein, the sister of Beethoven's friend Therese Malfatti (remembered as a possible dedicatee of "Für Elise"), which was soon separated. Even in 1865, when Nohl edited the first leaf, its counterpart was no longer in the possession of the Gleichenstein family. The first sheet later surfaced in the archives of the music publisher Schott in Mainz and was sold at Sotheby's in 2002 (6 December, lot 14: £65,725). The second leaf was offered in 1968 by Hans Schneider of Tutzing in his catalogue 136 (lot 37, DM 17,800; then again in cat. 142, lot 266, with illustration on p. 45) and was acquired in 1969 by a private collector who had it auctioned by Venator & Hanstein in Cologne in 2011 (cat. 118, lot 861: EUR 108,000). Now that both leaves have been reunited, Hans Schneider's words, written half a century ago about only the final 62 measures, are no less true: "Through Beethoven's synthesis of his own music with a text by Goethe we are presented with a musical autograph as desirable as it is beautiful" (cat. 136, p. 37)..

buy now

Beethoven, Ludwig van

Komponist (1770-1827). Autograph letter signed ("Beethoven"). [Wien. 1 S. Qu.-schmal-4to.
$ 102,752 / 95.000 € (87358/BN57848)

To Friedrich Sebastian Mayer, with instructions for the singer who performed the role of Don Pizarro at the premiere of "Fidelio" (in the original première of 20 November 1805 as well as in that of the reworked version of 29 March 1806): "Hier der Ite Akt - diesen Abend den Zweiten - wo eigentlich nur wenige Veränderungen gemacht worden - sobald beyde Akte geschrieben, bitte ich sogleich, mir sie wieder zu zustellen" ("Here is the 1st Act - the second will follow this evening - which in fact contains only few changes - when both have been copied, please return them to me directly").

- The reception of Beethoven's first "Fidelio" version had been lukewarm; the second had enjoyed greater success. However, it was not until 1814, when Beethoven produced a third version of his only opera, that the work met with resounding cheers. Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, one of the greatest tragic sopranos of the 19th century, who had accepted the role of Leonore in 1822, was instrumental for the opera's ever-increasing popularity. When Vienna's State opera, destroyed by Allied bombs during WWII, re-opened in 1955, it was Beethoven's "liberation opera" that was chosen to mark the occasion. - Slightly browned and wrinkled, overall in good condition..

buy now

Beethoven, Ludwig van

composer (1770-1827). Autograph letter signed ("Beethoven"). Vienna. Small 4to (ca. 160 x 158 mm). 1 p. Stored in custom-made burgundy morocco chemise, interior finished with navy-blue morocco, inner front cover with a steel-engraved portrait of Beethoven under a silk matte.
$ 97,344 / 90.000 € (87359/BN57849)

To the Viennese civil servant Franz Rettich (1768-1818), who was to help Beethoven send urgently needed scores to Graz for a charity concert on March 29th, only six days hence: - "Es dürften bis Morgen abend wohl sicher noch die 2 overturen folgen, und so wird Ihnen geholfen, jedoch mit der äußersten Anstrengung. Schreiben Sie nur gefälligst, daß man in Graz sicher alles erwartete erhalte, jedoch muß man sich im Voraus gefaßt machen zur Probe, da die Sachen mit dem Postwagen zwar nicht zu spät, aber doch auch nur eben zur rechten Zeit ankommen werden [...]" ("The two overtures ought quite certainly to follow by tomorrow evening, and so you shall be accommodated, but only thanks to the greatest exertions.

Just kindly write that everything expected in Graz will dependably be received, but everyone must prepare for the rehearsal in advance, as the things will arrive by stagecoach, not indeed too late, but still only just in time [...]"). - In summer 1811 Beethoven had met the civil servant and patron of Graz, Joseph von Varena (1769-1843), who had persuaded the composer to support his charity concerts with music. Beethoven was enthusiastic and in late January 1812 promised Varena several pieces, including the overtures of "King Stephen" (op. 117) and "The Ruins of Athens" (op. 113), both of which were already intended for the inauguration of the German theatre in Pest on 9 February and were therefore in Hungary at the time of writing. Franz Rettich, secretary at the Superior Court of Justice in Vienna, was chosen to act as intermediary and messenger. (The father of the actor Karl Rettich, he had himself been a supporting actor at Vienna's court theatre between 1789 and 1797 before entering the civil service.) - In fact, the timing turned out to be extremely tight, as Beethoven's copyist Wenzel Schlemmer, the only man the composer would trust with the job, had fallen ill. In his present note to Rettich, Beethoven promises that the work will be finished in time, but warns that the orchestra in Graz will have very little opportunity to rehearse. Anxious to keep his word, Beethoven even forced Schlemmer to sign a declaration that he would complete the copies by March 26, noon - a pledge he would prove unable to keep. Ultimately, the copies were finished too late to go to Graz with Rettich by regular stagecoach and had to be sent by special courier, whom Rettich paid 21 guilders for the service, arriving at high noon on the day of the concert. The programme began at 6:30 that evening with a (very probably unrehearsed) performance of the "King Stephen" overture, but the overture from "The Ruins of Athens" had to be skipped. Still, the concert played an important role in making Beethoven known in Styria: "Varena, an ally from the very beginning, contributed much to that important first boost which launched a serious and lasting reception of Beethoven's works outside Vienna, enriching the musical life of Graz and amplifying with remarkable swiftness the structure of local concert programmes in the 19th century" (cf. Nemeth, p. 29). - Traces of original vertical and horizontals folds; in excellent condition. On the verso, Rettich has certified the receipt: "This message was written to me and I received it on March 23.".

buy now

[Beethoven, Ludwig van

Komponist (1770-1827)]. Anschlagplakat für Beethovens große musikalische Akademie am 2. Jänner 1814 im großen Redoutensaal. Einblattdruck. [Wohl Wien. 1 S. Qu.-gr.-folio (406:483 mm).
$ 19,469 / 18.000 € (90236/BN59707)

Extrem seltener, vermutlich unikaler Aushangzettel, für uns bibliographisch nicht nachweisbar. Am 31. Dezember 1813 hatte Beethoven im "Allgemeinen Intelligenzblatt zur Oesterreichisch-Kaiserlichen privilegirten Wiener Zeitung" (Nr. 209, 1317) unter dem Titel "Musikalische Akademie" folgende Anzeige veröffentlicht: "Der Wunsch zahlreicher, mir sehr verehrungswürdiger Freunde der Tonkunst, meine grosse Instrumental-Composition über Wellingtons Sieg bey Vittoria noch einmahl zu hören, macht es mir zur angenehmen Pflicht, dem schätzbaren Publikum hiermit anzukündigen, daß ich Sonntag den 2.

Januar, die Ehre haben werde, mit dem Beystande der vorzüglichsten Tonkünstler von Wien, besagte Composition, mit neuen Gesangstücken und Chören vermehrt, im k. k. Redouten-Saale, zu meinem Besten, aufzuführen". - Auf dem Programm standen: "Erstens: Die neue große Symphonie [d. i. die 7. oder 8. Sinfonie]. Zweytens: Ein neuer feyerlicher Einzugs-Marsch mit Chören [Marsch Nr. 1 in F-Dur, "Yorckscher Marsch"), Drittens: Eine noch nie gehörte Baß-Arie, mit Begleitung des Chors, aus der Oper: Die Ruinen von Athen, die Scene des Oberpriesters im Tempel der Musen, gesungen aus Gefälligkeit für den Conzertgeber von Herrn Weinmüller k. k. Hofkapell- und Kammersänger [d. i. Festspiel nach Kotzebue, op. 113, wohl die Arie des Hohepriesters, "Will unser Genius noch einen Wunsch gewähren"], Viertens: Eine große vollstimmige Instrumental-Composition, geschrieben auf Welllingtons Sieg in der Schlacht bey Vittoria [d. i. "Sinfonisches Schlachtengemälde", op. 91)". - Bei dem im Aushang erwähnten Sänger Weinmüller handelt es sich um den deutsch-österreichischen Bass und Theaterregisseur Carl Weinmüller, dessen vorzüglichste musikalische Tat darin bestand, dass er 1814 zusammen mit Ignaz Saal und Johann Michael Vogl Beethovens weitgehend vergessene Oper "Fidelio" für eine Benefizvorstellung wählte "und den Komponisten damit zu einer grundlegenden Überarbeitung des Werkes anregte. Diese dritte, endgültige Fassung kam am 23. Mai 1814 im Theater am Kärntnertor erstmals zur Aufführung" (Wikipedia). - Etwas fleckig und abgegriffen; gefaltet..

buy now

sold

 
Beethoven, Ludwig van

Autograph sketchleaf for the Missa Solemnis containing drafts for the Sanctus and Benedictus and material for the Gloria.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

The recto of the leaf contains a passage in piano score of modulatory material in D major, followed by a long imitative passage in D and a setting of the words, "Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth;" additional material may relate to a setting of "Pleni sunt coeli". The verso of the leaf continues with triple time material without text; the second half of the page is marked by Beethoven in pencil "2te Theil Benedict[us]" followed by an additional four bars or more in 12/8 time. – Provenance: The present leaf was formerly in the possession of Anton Schindler (1795-1864), noted conductor, private secretary to Beethoven and author of the earliest biography of the composer. Schindler has annotated one side of the leaf with his identification: "Skizze zum Sanctus der 2ten Messe im 3/4 Takte" (Sketch for the Sanctus of the Second Mass in 3/4 meter) and, on the other side, written "Idee zum Benedictus 2ten Messe" (Idea for the Benedictus of the Second Mass). - A few minor tears to margins. In very good condition overall. - A highly important source, unknown until recently. Not in Douglas Johnson, Alan Tyson and Robert Winter: The Beethoven Sketchbooks, Oxford, 1985 or in Kinsky-Halm. Similar in proportion to Beethoven's large desk sketchbooks (rather than his smaller pocket-books), and in particular to the sketchbook known as "Artaria 195". – According Dr. William Kindermann, one of the most highly regarded authorities on Beethoven: "This is a noteworthy source that documents the genesis of the Sanctus as well as aspects of the genesis of the Benedictus and the Gloria. This sketchleaf was used repeatedly by Beethoven, and although it contains stab holes it is also folded down the middle, indicating that the composer at one point carried it about." Kindermann: Artaria 195 Beethoven's Sketchbook for the Missa Solemnis, pp. 43-46. – "The Missa Solemnis is a monumental work in every sense, and stands beside Bach's B minor Mass as one of the two towering pinnacles in the whole history of the genre. It cost Beethoven more time and energy than any other work, with the possible exception of Fidelio, and took nearly four years from conception to completion [1819-1823]." Cooper: The Beethoven Companion, p. 255.


Beethoven, Ludwig van

Eigenh. Schriftstück.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

A shopping list, written for a servant, comprising six items to be obtained in Vienna: "Beym Met Uhrmacher den Metronomm. / MäuseFall / ZündMaschine / BalbierMeßer 3 / WaschSeife an der Bognergaße / Bücher Maschin in der Wohn[un]g des Hr. Bruders" ("Metronome at the watchmaker's; mousetrap; lighter; 3 razors; washing soap from Bognergasse; book machine in my brother's flat"). Below are some pen tests in another hand. - The "metronome watchmaker" must be the mechanic Johann Nepomuk Mälzl, the inventor of this device, who also had long built ear trumpets for the increasingly deaf composer. The soap was very probably purchased at the well-known spice store and druggist "Zum schwarzen Kameel" in Vienna's Bognergasse (no. 340). The last item on the list gives an indication of the date of the autograph: after his brother Kaspar's death in Vienna in 1815, Beethoven took his nephew Karl, then nine years of age, under his tutelage. In 1816 he entrusted Karl to the private school of Cajetan Giannattasio del Rio in Vienna. The item referred to as the "book machine in my brother's flat" could be a so-called reading machine - a wooden letter case with letter boards and a reading board, used for reading instruction. This would be consistent with Beethoven's efforts to educate his young nephew, around the year 1817. The commissioning of a metronome would correspond well to this dating: Beethoven closely followed Mälzel's work on his metronome project, which then had just been completed, and he was the first composer to publish a work with metronomic times. - Traces of old folds; somewhat irregularly torn along the edges. Provenance: auctioned in Cologne in 2011 as "the world's most expensive shopping list"; since kept in a private French collection, from which it was acquired.


Beethoven, Ludwig van

Eigenh. Brief mit U. ("Beethoven").
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

Probably to Ferdinand Ries, requesting him to proof-read a piano concerto published at the Kunst- und Industrie-Comptoir - very likely op. 37, the Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor: "Would you have the kindness to look at the parts for me, as far as I see not all parts have been engraved entirely, you will have to see Sonnleitner about that; - but make haste now - I will once more examine the piano part myself [...]." - Joseph Sonnleithner (1766-1835) was a partner in the Vienna "Kunst- und Industriecomptoir", publisher of op. 37. The composer and pianist Ries (1784-1838), student, secretary, and friend of Beethoven's, frequently assisted his teacher with such proofreading tasks during his first stay at Vienna during the years 1801-05. "If Ries is indeed the addressee, then this letter must refer to the first proofreading of the original edition of op. 37 [...] The engraving of this original edition of op. 37 was probably not begun until after the performance by Ries, on July 19 or 26, 1804, after the definitive text of the concerto and, in particular, the solo voice had been prepared [...] It could not have appeared before the second half of September 1804" (cf. Beethoven, Briefwechsel GA). On July 19 or 26 Ried made his piano début in the Vienna Augarten, performing the Piano Concerto op. 37, Beethoven's only piano concerto in a minor key. - Slight edge defects, some brownstaining; torn off closely on the left edge (barely touching the writing). Includes old collection folder and an old typed transcription (carbon copy). Provenance: in the collection of Miss Emilie Schaup (d. 1942) in 1927.


Beethoven, Ludwig van

A lock of hair, taken on the composer’s deathbed in 1827.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar


Beethoven, Ludwig van

His personal visiting card „Ludwig van Beethoven“.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar