My Beethoven Collection

[Fidelio]

Hi all

Apologies for the downcast and gloomy post.

I have terminal cancer with a life expectancy of 6 months. I have not made any provisions for my collection of Beethoven books and CD's. My children alas have no interest and my wife has always complained about the amount of space they take up.

I turn to you all to ask if you know of any organization who may benefit from such a collection.

Thank you

[Peter]

I'm so sorry to hear your news Fidelio and can only admire your courage in sharing this with us. I can only suggest perhaps contacting local music libraries to see if they may be interested or perhaps one of the music colleges? Also perhaps try the Incorporated Society of Musicians (of which I am a member) to see if they can offer you any practical advice. I only wish I could be of more help to you but I hope that helps a little - only us true music lovers can appreciate the importance of our collections.

[Quijote]

Dear Fidelio, I have not had the opportunity to exchange directly with you on the forum (apart from one post on my part) and I am very sorry to read about your illness.
I tried to send you a PM (a private message) but it seems it didn't work. What I wanted to tell you via PM is that I will contact my university's music librarian to see if they might take up your kind offer. I'll get back to you as soon as I get a reply.

[Harvey]

So I consulted a friend who is a huge Beethoven fan. She says,

Hi there,
I re-read his post and he would lke to gift them to an organization. Here are a few thoughts:

#1 is the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, San Jose State University, in CA. I know people there.

Another option is the BU Center for Beethoven Research - I know the director. He might like these for the BU School of Fine Arts Music Library.

What kind of collection do you suppose he has?

In addition - there are university libraries where there are other Beethoven scholars - one is at Baylor/TX, another at Kent State (I believe), and could get you names. In fact - he could find them himself..

I don't know if any of these places would do anything for him for cost of goods or shipping.

Well, those are my best thoughts for this kind man.

[Hollywood]

My dear Fidelio, I too am so sorry to hear about your health news. I send my heartfelt thoughts and prayers to you and your family at these trying times.

I agree with all of the great ideas that have been posted here and hope that they will help you to find a good home for your Beethoven collection. All the best to you and your family.

[Chris]

Hi Fidelio, like the rest of our little community here, I am very sorry to hear about your illness, and you will be in my prayers. You have received some excellent suggestions about your collection, and it's so good of you to think about how it might be of value to others.

[Fidelio]

Thank you all for your kind words and suggestions. It's a great comfort at this difficult time.

I'm in the UK and sending anything oversees will be very costly. I work at a University and they were not interested as most institutions are going to an online resource only.

I'll follow up some other suggestions that people have kindly suggested.

[Zevy]

Hi all

Apologies for the downcast and gloomy post.

I have terminal cancer with a life expectancy of 6 months. I have not made any provisions for my collection of Beethoven books and CD's. My children alas have no interest and my wife has always complained about the amount of space they take up.

I turn to you all to ask if you know of any organization who may benefit from such a collection.

Thank you

Best wishes to you for the best of comfort in this difficult time.

[Michael]

Fidelio,I am very sorry to hear your news. I have no musical contacts (except this forum) but I hope the suggestions given by other members will offer a solution and give you comfort.

[Megan]

Fidelio, so sorry to learn of your illness. . When I had to downsize my book collection, I gave away books about Brahms and Beethoven , I know they went to good friends and musical friends who really appreciated them. Michael here was one grateful recipient. Gave them a good home. Some books and CD's I gave to Oxfam, which will go towards charity. I still kept some for myself.
You will not be forgotten by the BRS site, you. have contributed and shared so much with members. My thoughts and prayers for you and your family.

[Harvey]

A few more thoughts from my friend,

1. Well known scholar Barry Cooper (UK) may have some ideas - or students who would cherish these things.

2. A contact of mine at the Beethoven Society is from the UK - she may have contacts/ideas and believe used to teach (university) there.

3. Beethoven-Haus in Bonn may have ideas for places in the UK. May seem like a far-fetched idea - but Bonn drives Beethoven scholarship in Europe so far as I can tell.

[Fidelio]

Thank you Harvey. I have already contacted the Northern College of Music. I will contact the Beethoven haus today.

[Schenkerian]

Fidelio, so sorry to learn of your illness. . When I had to downsize my book collection, I gave away books about Brahms and Beethoven , I know they went to good friends and musical friends who really appreciated them. Michael here was one grateful recipient. Gave them a good home. Some books and CD's I gave to Oxfam, which will go towards charity. I still kept some for myself.
You will not be forgotten by the BRS site, you. have contributed and shared so much with members. My thoughts and prayers for you and your family.

Where our cultural artifacts will end up is, of course, a source of concern for many of us who have items personally valuable. Sadly, with Kindle and electronic streaming books and CDs have little currency anymore. Aside from our friends taking them there will be little demand for what we have. I've had this experience personally when packing for downsizing and marketing our house for sale. I took a large number of very good books to a local second-hand dealer (many of them not very old and others very good texts). I ended up with $10 in my pocket, not even covering the cost of the diesel to take them there. A couple of friends have taken some (Mozart's letters ed. Anderson and Journals of Sylvia Plath) but the rest have gone to the home recycle bin. All my Signet edition Shakespearean plays - to the bin - along with many books of poetry (Pope, Keats, Donne) as these were over 30 years old and had turned yellow and brittle. I just won't have room for these in my new home, where I'm starting out with much that is new. Will keep my major reference books and biographies and most of the scores once we unpack, but these days less is more.

CDs? Nobody wants them save for a few close friends. The local university library had given theirs away a few years ago. I've given some friends those which I never listen to; the rest will remain in a plastic tub until I can decide 'where to'? The CDs I cannot live without will remain closely by my side. Until death us do part.

My piano is also going, along with other assorted high quality furniture. The really valuable things will remain with me for reading, hearing and watching. But all is not lost; I'm having the house wired with ethernet cabling to high speed internet with a streaming device for international classical music station Radio Stephansdom and a Loewe TV for the Berliner Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall. Moving further into the electronic age with Smart TVs and other devices does bring rewards. Wi-fi is strictly for the birds these days!! I used to subscribe to MediciTV but found them an absolute rip-ff when I was unable to cancel my subscription and American Express had to intervene on my behalf to cut them off at the pass (bless them!).

You have Oxfam and such in the UK. In my country the charity organizations are rather fussy about what they'll take these days, often casting a judgmental eye over furniture and objects d'art with the discernment of a Christie's auctioneer!!

[Peter]

Where our cultural artifacts will end up is, of course, a source of concern for many of us who have items personally valuable. Sadly, with Kindle and electronic streaming books and CDs have little currency anymore. Aside from our friends taking them there will be little demand for what we have. I've had this experience personally when packing for downsizing and marketing our house for sale. I took a large number of very good books to a local second-hand dealer (many of them not very old and others very good texts). I ended up with $10 in my pocket, not even covering the cost of the diesel to take them there. A couple of friends have taken some (Mozart's letters ed. Anderson and Journals of Sylvia Plath) but the rest have gone to the home recycle bin. All my Signet edition Shakespearean plays - to the bin - along with many books of poetry (Pope, Keats, Donne) as these were over 30 years old and had turned yellow and brittle. I just won't have room for these in my new home, where I'm starting out with much that is new. Will keep my major reference books and biographies and most of the scores once we unpack, but these days less is more.

CDs? Nobody wants them save for a few close friends. The local university library had given theirs away a few years ago. I've given some friends those which I never listen to; the rest will remain in a plastic tub until I can decide 'where to'? The CDs I cannot live without will remain closely by my side. Until death us do part.

My piano is also going, along with other assorted high quality furniture. The really valuable things will remain with me for reading, hearing and watching. But all is not lost; I'm having the house wired with ethernet cabling to high speed internet with a streaming device for international classical music station Radio Stephansdom and a Loewe TV for the Berliner Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall. Moving further into the electronic age with Smart TVs and other devices does bring rewards. Wi-fi is strictly for the birds these days!! I used to subscribe to MediciTV but found them an absolute rip-ff when I was unable to cancel my subscription and American Express had to intervene on my behalf to cut them off at the pass (bless them!).

You have Oxfam and such in the UK. In my country the charity organizations are rather fussy about what they'll take these days, often casting a judgmental eye over furniture and objects d'art with the discernment of a Christie's auctioneer!!

Having been involved with Oxfam I know they are also quite fussy these days and wouldn't be too keen on old classical cds - they simply don't sell. I'm dreading the downsizing day when it eventually comes as I have 2 beloved pianos, one an 1814 square piano and my 1895 Bechstein grand which is not going to fit easily into smaller accommodation.

[Schenkerian]

I fully sympathize and it's a problem for all people who have any kind of 'collectibles' Those beloved pianos of yours do sound valuable and sometimes giving away our possessions is like losing a limb. But the day must come and ours has arrived. What we want now is "lock and go".

My piano is a 1986 Kawai and I haven't touched it for years, having unsuccessfully tried to sell it about 4 years ago. My sons are going to put it onto Facebook Marketplace for me. The decisions about what will go and what will stay were made some months ago, so I've reconciled myself to my earlier ruthless decisions. All we can do now is look forward to a brand new home and all the landscaping and interior fittings to follow; that should take my mind off my thinned out libraries, at least for a while.