Beethoven Manuscript Expected to Fetch Big Bucks
LONDON (Oct. 13) - A unique manuscript by Ludwig van Beethoven that was lost for more than a century will go on sale in London in December priced at over one million dollars.
Discovered in July at the bottom of a dusty filing cabinet at a religious school in Philadelphia, the manuscript is a work in progress for the composer's Grosse Fuge in B flat major -- one of his most revolutionary works.
"This is an amazing find," said Stephen Roe, head of auction house Sotheby's manuscript department. "The manuscript was only known from a brief description in a catalogue in 1890 and it has never before been seen or described by Beethoven scholars."
Not only is the 80-page document a working manuscript for the only piano version of a major work by Beethoven, it is one of his few compositions for a piano duet.
Sotheby's, which will auction the document on December 1, said it was the most important Beethoven manuscript to have come to market in living memory and would prompt a complete reassessment of his works.
It is the second time very rare musical documents have been found by chance at the former Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary -- now renamed the Palmer Theological Seminary. A Mozart manuscript was discovered there in 1990.
"At that time we called it the 'Mozart miracle'. It seems appropriate that this time we are thankful for the 'Beethoven blessing,'" said seminary president Wallace Charles Smith.
The German composer who continued to work as he went slowly deaf, wrote the work in 1826 -- one year before his death -- as the finale for his String Quartet in B flat major.
The piece is notoriously difficult to perform and, because it was musically far ahead of its time, did not immediately sit well with audiences either.
The manuscript is written in brown and black ink and includes annotations in pencil and red crayon.
Music scholars have welcomed it as breath of fresh air, clearly illustrating the working methods and thought processes of a musical genius.
The document contains multiple deletions and corrections and has places where the paper is rubbed through as Beethoven continuously tried and rejected different variations.
Because it is so obviously a working document, it is not easy to read and has no printer's marks. Sotheby's said it was clear this was not the finished version and as such would give deep insight when compared with the published work.
The path of ownership is murky, but it was last at auction in 1890 -- first in Paris in May of that year and then again in Berlin in October from where it is believed it was taken to the United States and lost to view until July this year.
10/13/05 12:19 ET
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Its pretty amazing what people find stuffed in old drawers and boxes.
One of the best new jazz albums I've heard in ages is an old live recording from a charity concert given in Carnegie Hall back in the 1950s. It features Thelonious Monk and Johnny Coltrane playing in a quartet together. Absolutely awesome, wonderful music. The original recording (never released) was found in an unmarked box in the Library of Congress last winter.
