BEETHOVEN'S WORKS BY HESS NUMBERS 1-50
Compiled by Gary D. Evans
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Last Updated:
March 24, 2019 6:57 PM
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For an explanation of the Hess numbering system
& linked audio files see: http://www.unheardbeethoven.org/search/
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Hess
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TITLE - INFORMATION
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DATE Begun
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DATE Finished
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MISC. INFO
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1
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Original ending to the 8th symphony (op 93) - 1st movement | Final version = 34 bars, this = 10 | ||
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5
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Twelve German Dances (see: WoO 13) |
?1797
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6
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Military March in F (see: WoO 19) |
(? Date)
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12
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Oboe Concerto in F | Orig. lost. Mentioned by Haydn in letter to Maximilian Franz, Elector of Cologne. | ||
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13
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Romance for flute, bassoon, piano and orchestra in e |
1786?
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14
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Piano Concerto - 1st movement in Bb - fragment (mp3 here) | Eventually 2nd piano concerto: corresponds to measures 246-269. See also Hess 79. | ||
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15
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Piano Concerto #6 in D, Incomplete - 1st movement (midi here) | |||
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16
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Original introduction to Choral Fantasia, op 80 | op 80 begins with a piano solo - a cadenza, with the orchestra & chorus joining in the finale. As originally conceived, the piano and orchestra begin together with piano virtuoso sections coming within the piece. As B. had insufficient time (apparently) to complete the orchestral part, the published form thus has the piano beginning alone. | ||
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19
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Quintet in Eb |
1793?
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21
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Septet op20 arranged for military band - 1st variation of 4th movement & finale |
1802?
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16 pg. manuscript owed by Metternich, then Napoleon III, then Henry Ford. It is now at the Beethovenhaus in Bonn. | |
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24
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Fragments of 2nd movement to Duet for Viola and Cello WoO32 | Draft fragment of the 2nd movement of the "Duet for Obbligato Eyeglasses" WoO 32. These 23 bars are the only known portions of the low 2nd movement to survive. (Believed to have been written for Beethoven's friend Zmeskall.) | ||
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25
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Original finale to String Trio op 3. | Original version of the op 3 String Trio Finale. The differences between this and the published version are small: Bars 236 & 237 are written as quarter notes, whereas these bars of WoO are eighth notes and eighth rests. Bars 309 & 310 have a different cello part than WoO32. Here, in bars 362-369 the 1st note of the main motif is missing. The structure of this piece is that of a Viennese Rondo, that's to say: A - B - A - C - A - B - A (Coda). The C-section, in C minor (the parallel minor of the main key, E flat) is a passionate fugato, already pointing to Beethoven's middle period. A remarkable moment is the return from to C-section back to the refrain: three big chords announce the conclusion in C minor, yet the C itself is soft and in unison, and while the violin has a pedal point on C, the viola and cello murmur the main motif in f minor. Without a break and therefore totally unexpected the motif is taken over by the violin in its original form and key: the almost tragic mood changes back to the humoristic, teasing mood of the refrain, putting everything that went before in an ironic light. | ||
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28
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Second Trio to the Scherzo for String Trio op 9 #1 | This was apparently rejected from the autograph score. The original is at the Beethovenhaus in Bonn. | ||
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29
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Prelude and Fugue in e for 2 violins and cello (mp3 here) | 2nd Trio to the Scherzo for String Trio op 9 # 1 (1797-98). This 2nd trio appears to have been rejected from the autograph score. Original is in the Beethovenhaus in Bonn. | ||
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30
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Prelude and Fugue in F & C for 2 violins, 1 viola and 1 cello | |||
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31
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Prelude and Fugue in C (mp3 here) | |||
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33
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Minuet in Ab | |||
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34
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String Quartet in F, (Arranged from Piano Sonata in E, op. 14 #1) | |||
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35
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String Quartet Arrangement of Bach's b minor Fugue | |||
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36
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String quartet arrangement of the fugue from the Overture to Handel's Solomon | |||
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37
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Fugue in C minor for 2 Pianos, KV426 - revised by Beethoven (mp3 here) (see: "Unheard Beethoven" re: Hess 37) |
(? Date)
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Copy of Mozart's Fugue in C minor, KV426 Without any doubt, Mozart's Fugue in C minor for two pianos, KV426, is one of the greatest fugues ever written since the death of J.S.Bach. A staggering amount of canonic devices is let loose on the fugue's main subject, while maintaining a remarkable clarity of texture, demonstrating Mozart's total control of counterpoint. At the same time the music is pervaded with a holy anger one expects of a Beethoven, rather than a Mozart. In short, Mozart combines in this unique masterpiece Bach's intellectual techniques with Beethoven's deep passion. It's therefore important to realize that Beethoven not only knew Mozart's fugue, but even made a copy of it in his own handwriting. We must assume he was impressed by this work. It's somewhat surprising that, as far as we know, Beethoven never attempted to compose a similar fugue himself. This copy was mistakenly identified by Hess as an arrangement for string quartet by Beethoven, and was therefore given a number: Hess 37. The pages of the copy got scattered all over the world; presently the pages 1-2 and 5-6 are in the Robert Owen Lehman Collection in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, while the pages 3-4 are in the Beethoven-Haus, Bonn. There are 36 minor deviations in the copy compared to Mozart's original, most of them mere slips of the pen. Yet there are also several improvements by Beethoven, cf. the following revision account for the details. Revision account. Page 1. 1. bar 7, Left Hand 2nd piano, 1st and 2nd beat: the natural is missing before the E flat in Beethoven's copy. 2. bar 11, LH 2nd piano, 1st beat: natural missing before the A flat. 3. bar 14, LH 1st piano, 2nd beat: natural missing before the B flat - Beethoven thinks this to be in G minor, against Mozart C minor? 4. bar 17, Right Hand 1st piano, 3rd and 4th beats: trill missing on A flat. 5. bar 19, RH 1st piano, 2nd beat: Beethoven seems to have two 16th E flats, against Mozart a single 8th E flat. 6. bar 20, RH 2nd piano, 1st beat: Beethoven writes a G, against Mozart an E flat. This is not a slip of the pen; in so doing Beethoven corrects the concealed octave between RH 2nd piano and LH 1st piano. Page 2. 7. bar 24, RH 1st piano, 2nd beat: flat before D is missing. 8. bar 25, RH 1st piano, 3rd beat: apparently Beethoven misses Mozart's point here: chromatic anticipations are the key feature of this motif, only here the chromatic anticipation occurs before a F sharp, that's to say: an E sharp. Therefore Mozart writes a double augmentation before the E flat: a natural followed by a sharp. Beethoven gives the natural to the E flat, but the sharp to the following, 2nd, F sharp, where it is strictly speaking superfluous. 9. bar 32, RH 2nd piano, 3rd and 4th beats: trill missing on E flat. 10. bar 37, RH 1st piano, 2nd beat: natural missing before the B flat. Page 3. 11. bar 46, RH 1st piano, 4th beat: flat missing before G. 12. bar 50, LH 1st piano, 4th beat: Beethoven puts a natural before the A flat (although there is an A flat in the 2nd piano on the same beat). Does he interpret this as being in B flat minor, while Mozart clearly intends D flat major? 13. bar 52, RH 2nd piano, 1st beat: Beethoven has a G, against Mozart an E flat. 14. bar 52, RH 2nd piano, 3rd and 4th beats: trill missing on C. 15. bar 59, LH 2nd piano, 4th beat: natural missing before A flat. Page 4. 16. bar 63, RH 1st piano, 4th beat: Beethoven writes A flat - B, against Mozart: A - B; even more remarkable because an 8th earlier, on the same beat, Beethoven writes, following Mozart, A - B in the RH of the 2nd piano. 17. bar 69, LH 1st piano, 3rd beat: flat before B missing. 18. bar 76, LH 2nd piano, 3rd and 4th beats: Beethoven has added a flat to the trill on C; this is an improvement since the bar is in F minor. Page 5. 19. bar 81, LH 1st piano, 2nd beat: trill missing on C. 20. bar 81, RH 2nd piano, 3rd and 4th beat: natural missing before G. 21. bar 81, LH 2nd piano, 4th beat: trill missing on B. 22. bar 85, LH 1st piano, flag of the last 8th note missing. 23. bar 86, RH 2nd piano, 4th beat: tie to the 1st beat of bar 87 missing. 24. bar 88, RH 1st piano, 4th beat: Beethoven has here a quarter note, instead of an 8th rest followed by an 8th note. 25. bar 88, LH 1st piano, 4th beat: E should be E flat. 26. bar 89, RH 1st piano, 3rd beat: C instead of E flat. 27. bar 89, RH 2nd piano, 4th beat: F instead of A flat. 28. bar 90, RH 1st piano, 1st beat: D instead of F. When seen in context, it becomes clear that deviations 26, 27 and 28 are no slips of the pen on Beethoven's part, but deliberate changes to Mozart's text. By increasing the intervals from a third to a fifth in all these three cases, Beethoven wants to highten the expressiveness of the melodic lines. 29. bar 98, RH 2nd piano, 3rd beat: Beethoven deliberately changes Mozart's B flat to a B natural. Page 6. 30. bar 105, LH 2nd piano, beats 3 and 4: naturals before the A flats are missing. 31. bar 108, LH 1st piano, beat 4: natural before F missing. 32. bar 108, LH 2nd piano, beat 4: natural before F missing. 33. bar 112, LH 2nd piano, 1st beat: F should be G. 34. bar 113, RH 2nd piano, 4th beat: natural before B flat missing. 35. bar 114, LH 2nd piano, 1st beat: F should be G. 36. In the final 4 bars the 2 pianos play in unison, and rather than writing out the 2nd piano part in full, Beethoven merely indicates it should follow the first piano. In so doing, he overlooks the fact that in bar 118, LH 2nd piano, 4th beat, the G drops one octave compared to the first piano |
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38
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String quintet arrangement of Bach's Fugue in bb from Well-Tempered Clavier (Book 1 of the '48') | Found in Autograph Gr. 14 in Berlin. This arrangement of Bach's fugue appears to be done for purposes of Beethoven's own studies. At about the same time Beethoven also made quartet arrangements of fugues by Handel. | ||
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39
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Quintet in F, [lost] |
(? Date)
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40
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Prelude and Fugue in d, Fugue part incomplete (mp3 here) | This quintet movement may have been intended to be the prelude to a fugue; only the very beginning of the fugue has survived, if it was ever written. Found in autograph Artaria 185a in Berlin. | ||
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41
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String Quintet - fragments of movements 1,2,3,4 (WoO 62) (mp3 here) - last written work | |||
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46
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Violin Sonata in A - fragments (mp3 here) | Only a portion of this sonata is extant; the beginnings of both movements are missing, as is the balance of the sonata after these fragments. The first section was likely part of a set of theme and variations. The missing openings of both movements makes reconstruction almost impossible. The fact that it says "Da Capo" 2 times in the Presto suggests we're dealing with a Rondo, and that the fragments are the 1st and 2nd alternatives, the main theme itself (refrain) missing. Of the first movement we have 5 bars before a repeat, but there is no clue how long that phrase originally was: 8, 12, 16 bars? At bar 7 there is the beginning of a second repeat, but no clue where the end of that repeat is: at bar 33 a new section starts in the minor key ... is that section to be included in the repeat? That's somewhat odd from a structural point of view (though not impossible). However, both movements are in A major, which suggests to me the sonata consisted originally of just these 2 movements. Had there been more, then the slow movement (the one in 3/8) would probably have been in a different key, such as D major. Upon closer inspection, we see that bars 20-33 are an (almost) exact repeat of bars 6-19. | ||
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47
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Piano Trio arrangement of of op 3 String 2nd (mp3 here) |
?1817
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Only the first movement and the first 43 measures of the second movement are extant. It is unclear whether any more than this much was ever written out by Beethoven. The addition of piano gives the trio a depth that is lacking in the string version--in particular the long crescendos on pounding eighth notes have a much greater effect here than in the original. However, the piano part is rather simplistic and little is added to make it more interesting. As in the original, Beethoven humorously injects several false conclusions to unsettle the listeners. | |
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48
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Allegretto in Eb for Piano, Cello, and Violin |
?1817
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