Product Description
This composition is a premiere, speculative, yet as faithful as possible "embodiment" of all of Beethovens sketches for his String Quintet in C major, Hess 41 (WoO 62), as they have been left by the composer. The usefulness and integrity of more or less hypothetical "completions" of sketches by great composers remains from case to case controversial. Due to the paucity of the sketches for the aim of attempting a true "reconstruction", the present composition in no way falls within such category. It is obviously quite different from what Beethoven himself would have produced if he had lived more, also due to the fact that he usually transformed his preliminary sketches substantially during the compositional process. However, there are some of his frequent, subtle thematic relationships between the sketches for the Quintet movements, and probably some features in the sketches would have been kept in the completed composition. The four-movement design hypothesized by Martin Staehelin and others, as well as other retrospective or relaxed features in the sketches may be a result of a still early stage of the compositional process, or perhaps an indicator of a "fourth", "neoclassical" creative period, together with Op. 135 and the new Finale for Op. 130.
To generate a continuity draft of the Quintet, all of Beethovens sketches for it were used, with the addition of several ones from the same context within the respective sketchbook and which could be related to the identified Quintet sketches: some sketches are clearly labeled as being for the Quintet, while others are thematically related or written down close to them. With the possible exception of bars 75-94 and 136-155 in movement II (which are variations on the theme) and bars 140-145 in movement IV (which fill in the blank bars in the sketch with a progression based on it), virtually every bar of this composition includes the notes from the sketches in at least one of the instruments. Some of those notes were subject to transpositions and adaptations to fit the formal design, and to editorial choices for the unclear pitches and duration in the sketches.
This publication includes the score, parts and continuity draft, the latter being marked with the sources in the sketches for each passage.Total duration: 33 minutes. The mp3 audio clip is the 3rd movement. Performing Rights Organization: SOCAN.
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