Rare Beethoven works revisited - 2 preludes Op.39

[Peter]

2 Preludes for fortepiano or Organ Op.39


The Prelude in F minor WoO 55, written when Beethoven was fifteen and clearly reflecting a debt to Johann Sebastian Bach, was possibly an exercise for Neefe, his teacher in Bonn. It may be supposed that the two Preludes through all major keys for the Piano or Organ Op.39 written in Bonn in 1789 but not published until 1803 (by Hoffmeister), had something of the same purpose. Starting in C major and proceeding first through all the major sharp keys, making use of a repeated formula, the Prelude makes its way back, through the flat keys, to its original starting point of C major. The second Prelude follows a similar procedure, an exercise in modulation, as it moves more rapidly through the major keys, using a shorter formula that allows the procedure to be carried through twice.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v3W4usHcsE[/YOUTUBE]

[Michael]

I prefer the second prelude to the first though I think they really need to be heard on the organ. Back in the early nineties, I bought a CD called "Beethoven - Complete Music for Organ".
It ran for about an hour but I didn't discover until later that only those two preludes and one other work really belonged to the organ. The rest were arrangements of pieces originally written for mechanical clock. It did include a few fugues written as exercises which padded it out a bit.

[Peter]

I prefer the second prelude to the first though I think they really need to be heard on the organ. Back in the early nineties, I bought a CD called "Beethoven - Complete Music for Organ".
It ran for about an hour but I didn't discover until later that only those two preludes and one other work really belonged to the organ. The rest were arrangements of pieces originally written for mechanical clock. It did include a few fugues written as exercises which padded it out a bit.

I think you may be right - either piano or organ is specified but that was probably down to brother Carl attempting to get more sales as he must have negotiated the publication at the late date of 1803.

[Chris]

Interesting pieces, but I'm kind of surprised they were published, as they really don't seem like the kind of thing in fashion at the time. I wonder how well this opus sold?

[Peter]

Interesting pieces, but I'm kind of surprised they were published, as they really don't seem like the kind of thing in fashion at the time. I wonder how well this opus sold?

Well yes it's odd and my immediate thought was that they were part of a job lot Carl insisted on, but without checking I can't recall the exact dates he was involved in dealings with publishers. He was responsible for the 1805 publication of Op.49 against Beethoven's wishes but these preludes were with a different publisher and 2 years earlier. Odd that Beethoven would have agreed to publish such early works (1789) from his Bonn days, considering he didn't think anything prior to the piano trios worth an opus number!