The very last Beethoven composition

[Ludwig]

Sory about the silly question, but which is the very last composition of Beethoven, I mean the last notes written by him?

[Peter]

It depends whether you mean complete work or unfinished. His very last notes were probably sketches for the 10h symphony. His last complete works were the new finale for Op.130 and the quartet Op.135. He was also working on a string quintet.

------------------
'Man know thyself'

[gprengel]

His very last notes belong to a stringquintett for which he finished a majestic introduction and he sketched the main themes of the following Allegro, Andante, Scherzo and Rondo. All of this you can see and hear at my website www.gerdprengel.de

Gerd

[Rod]

Originally posted by Peter:
It depends whether you mean complete work or unfinished. His very last notes were probably sketches for the 10h symphony. His last complete works were the new finale for Op.130 and the quartet Op.135. He was also working on a string quintet.

I believe the very last notes he penned were for the quintet.

------------------
"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[Michael]

On the "Unheard Beethoven" website, I think they have available a short sequence of notes described as THE very last notation of any kind. But then again there have been so many candidates for this, including one of the canons. As Barry Cooper says, we really know very little actual facts about Beethoven.

Michael

[Lazza]

Originally posted by gprengel:
His very last notes belong to a stringquintett for which he finished a majestic introduction and he sketched the main themes of the following Allegro, Andante, Scherzo and Rondo. All of this you can see and hear at my website www.gerdprengel.de

Gerd

Thanks for the link to your website, Gerd.

I have just downloaded your mp3 files and listening to them as a type. I'm impressed!

Larry

[Roehre]

His very last notes belong to a stringquintett for which he finished a majestic introduction and he sketched the main themes of the following Allegro, Andante, Scherzo and Rondo. All of this you can see and hear at my website www.gerdprengel.de

Very impressive Gerd.
Though the fragment WoO 62 is for a string quintet, it is not completely sure that the other sketches are meant for a string quintet too.
Apart from the possibillity that they belong to the Tenth symphony, it is possible as well that these sketches belong to a quintet for flute and string quartet (See letter Brandenburg 2209 dated 26 september 1826 addressed to Diabelli)
Nevertheless: impressive (btw, have you had a look at the quintet version published by [Beethovenhaus director] Martin Staehelin in 1980?).

Back to the question of B's last notes, summarized:

Beethoven's last musical thoughts were most likely related to a quintet or a symphony.

The last completed "composition" is most likely the Canon "Wir irren allesamt..." (WoO 198) in a letter to Karl Holz from early [3?] December 1826 (Brandenburg 2234).

The last completed movement is the finale of opus 130,

the last completed "complete work" is the quartet opus 135.

[gprengel]

Very impressive Gerd.
...(btw, have you had a look at the quintett version published by [Beethovenhaus director] Martin Staehelin in 1980?).

Yes, I have this article, and what is presented there was actually the basis of writing the string quartett on my website. Here is the score of the first movement:

www.gerdprengel.de/WoO62-1.pdf
www.gerdprengel.de/WoO62-1.mp3
From Beethoven is about 95% of the introduction, the main theme of the Allegro at measures 25-28 and a second theme at measure 51 - 54 (with little changes in phrasing).

II. Andante cantabile con variationi:
www.gerdprengel.de/WoO62-2.pdf
www.gerdprengel.de/WoO62-2.mp3

III. Scherzo Presto:
www.gerdprengel.de/WoO62-3.pdf
www.gerdprengel.de/WoO62-3.mp3

IV. Allegro vivacce:
www.gerdprengel.de/WoO62-4.pdf
www.gerdprengel.de/WoO62-4.mp3