Lost Beethoven work

[Michael]

Didn't Nottebohm do this? How is a Cooper completion illuminating us anymore than that - I don't think for example that his 10th symphony realisation brings me any closer to what Beethoven would have actually written.

I'm curious why you're more fascinated by a reconstruction of a discarded Beethoven sketch than some of the many neglected Beethoven completed works which you may be unfamiliar with? How many of the following for example (out of many) are known to you?

Trio in G WoO.37
Duets for Piano and Mandolin WoO43/44
2 Preludes for fortepiano or Organ Op.39
March for piano duet Op.45 no.2
Duet from Leonore Hess 110 - 'Um in der Ehe froh zu leben'.
Tremate empi tremate Op.116
Duet for Soprano, Tenor and Orchestra 'Ne'giorni tuoi felici' WoO93
Aria 'O welch ein leben!' WoO91/1
Duet for Soprano, Tenor and Orchestra 'Ne'giorni tuoi felici' WoO93
In questa tomba oscura Woo133
Aria 'O welch ein leben!' WoO91/1
Sonata for piano (4 hands) in C major Op6
Kenst du das Land Op75/1
8 Variations on Gretry's Air "Une fievre brulante" G.184
Rondo for Piano in C Major WoO48
7 variations for piano on 'Kind willst du ruhig schlafen'
from Winter's opera 'Das unterbrochene Opferfest' G186
Aria - Primo Amore WoO92
Trio for English horn & 2 oboes Op.87
Prelude and Fugue for String Quartet in C major, Hess 31.

I could go on, but I'd better not!!

Good selection. To avoid cruelty to hobby horses, I will say no more.

[Quijote]

Can I take your silence to my previous response on this as confirmation of my 'agenda'? I suspect (and I will certainly eat humble pie if you say I'm wrong) that many of the pieces on that list (which itself is only a fraction of rarely performed B works) are unknown to you and that is why I'm irked by a sudden enthusiasm for a realisation of a discarded work.

Many of them are indeed unknown to me (unlike the rarely played 'cello variations Op. 66, WoO 45/46, Piano variations WoO 78/79 God save the King / Rule Britannia). Still, the remaining lacunae in my Beethoven listening and/or playing repertoire do not dampen for one moment my enthusiasm for reconstructions of sketches. Do these rarely played/heard works thrown light on an actual work as does Cooper's latest essay? No, is the short answer. Yes, one should really try and hear the works you list. Yes, one should find it perfectly natural to find discarded sketches interesting. Why do you seek to conflate two separate points?
I recapitulate: though Beethoven discarded his first version of the Op 18 quartet movement in question, no amount of fretting on your or Michael's part will stop me taking an interest in them. As to my "sudden" interest, well that simply reflects that they are in the news at the moment.
Clear now?

[Quijote]

And I'll make an educated guess here : I imagine that Cooper probably is familiar with your list (and beyond). So that's ok then. Carry on Baz, as you were.

[Quijote]

And I notice neither Headmaster or Michael have replied to Roehre's posting above. I give it again here :

In the case of opus 18 it isn't an academic exercise, as it is only by accident that the earlier versions of the first three of these 6 quartets haven't survived completely but for the F-major quartet.

Opus 18/1 has survived completely in its earlier version, no.2 and 3 have partly so, but also have many sketches of these works, including -and that is essential here- some of the continuity drafts.
With the latter as point of departure it is only a matter of placing the right sketches or passages from the published works or surviving parts on top of this continuity draft - more a solvable jigsaw puzzle than a conjecture like the 10th symphony.

[Quijote]

Oh, and hobby horses? Neigh, sounds like you've got a dose of the trots.

[Peter]

Many of them are indeed unknown to me (unlike the rarely played 'cello variations Op. 66, WoO 45/46, Piano variations WoO 78/79 God save the King / Rule Britannia). Still, the remaining lacunae in my Beethoven listening and/or playing repertoire do not dampen for one moment my enthusiasm for reconstructions of sketches. Do these rarely played/heard works thrown light on an actual work as does Cooper's latest essay? No, is the short answer. Yes, one should really try and hear the works you list. Yes, one should find it perfectly natural to find discarded sketches interesting. Why do you seek to conflate two separate points?
I recapitulate: though Beethoven discarded his first version of the Op 18 quartet movement in question, no amount of fretting on your or Michael's part will stop me taking an interest in them. As to my "sudden" interest, well that simply reflects that they are in the news at the moment.
Clear now?

Actually these rarely played pieces do throw a bright spotlight particularly on early, first period Beethoven and completely smash the misconception that he didn't 'get going' until the late 1790s - the early piano quartets for example reveal a composer of astonishing maturity for a 15 year old.

[Michael]

Don't forget the astonishing set of variations on Righini's "Venni Amore", WoO 65 composed 1790-91. I consider this to be Beethoven's earliest masterpiece (along with the first of the two Bonn secular cantatas).

For many years no copies of the original 1791 edition of the piano variations were known to exist. The earliest source was an edition of 1802 and it was generally believed for years that Beethoven must have substantially revised the work on the grounds that he could not have written such an advanced work as early as 1791.

When the original was discovered, it proved everybody wrong for it showed that no changes were made for the second edition, and that B had developed his compositional style much earlier than previously imagined.