Two Johann Sebastian Bach manuscripts in the British Library’s music collections, the autograph manuscript of the second book Das wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 870-893) and of the cantata ‘Wo soll ich fliehen hin?’ (BWV 5), recently received some much deserved attention from our colleagues in Conservation – and thanks to generous support from The Leche Trust. This blog post focuses on the work undertaken on the Well-Tempered Clavier manuscript, which we’re pleased to say is now complete.

Autograph manuscript of the Prelude in C major, from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II (BWV 870). Add MS 35021, f. 1.

The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II

Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier (named after a system of tuning – ‘well temperament’) is one of those musical works that seems to justify the grand claims made about it. On the face of it, it’s a simple series of preludes and fugues in every key, major and minor: 24 in all, with two sets of these (giving the series its nickname ‘the 48’)’. But it’s also a jaw-dropping feat of compositional virtuosity, with Bach using his immense contrapuntal skills to weave together separate musical lines that fit together logically (but never too predictably) and yet also produce inspired music at the same time.

The British Library’s manuscript of the second book of the Well-Tempered Clavier (Add MS 35021 and Add MS 38068) is really a set of individual manuscripts for 21 of the preludes and fugues in the second book (those in C-sharp minor, D major and F minor are unfortunately not preserved here and must have been separated from the others at an earlier date). These were composed between 1739 and 1742.

Each prelude and fugue was mostly written out to (very satisfyingly) fit on a single side of an open folded page, avoiding the need to turn the sheet over – even if this at times means a bit of a squeeze. (No amount of squeezing was going to fit the lengthy prelude and fugue in A-flat major onto one side – this carries on over to the next side). Most of the pieces have been written out by Johann Sebastian Bach himself, apart from four and a bit which are known to be in the hand of his second wife, Anna Magdalena (those in C minor, D minor, E major, G major and the beginning of the prelude in F major).

 

Manuscript of the Prelude in C minor (BWV 871), in the hand of Anna Magdalena Bach. Add MS 35021, f. 2

Planning – what were the issues?

Unfortunately, even in optimal storage conditions, chemical and physical processes that pose a risk to manuscripts like these can, over time, still occur. We minimise threats to the collection as much as possible, by controlling factors like temperature and humidity, by using appropriate housing and by limiting access to, and use of, particularly vulnerable materials. However, even with strict environmental monitoring a common problem that is difficult to halt entirely is one of iron gall ink corrosion. Like much music of this period and earlier, these Bach manuscripts are especially at risk from this due to the make-up of the inks that were used – iron sulphate and acidic tannins in particular, which, over time, oxidise and ‘eat away’ at the paper. There’s an interesting blog post on this on our Collection Care blog.

When it came to planning conservation work, there were two main issues to consider. One was the corroding ink, as mentioned above. This is a particular problem where the ink is applied thickly to a small area, as tends to happen when writing music notation. There were various examples of this on the Bach manuscript, ranging from visible holes to less obvious hairline cracks, making it extremely vulnerable.

The effects of iron gall ink corrosion

The other issue was the previous method of preserving the manuscript. The manuscript pages were bound into a single large volume, with each folio mounted into paper windows. This mounting paper had aged poorly however, and you can see in the picture below how, over time, its acidic properties have led to it discolouring and becoming brittle – meaning some were no longer secure in the binding. Tension from the acidic border was also causing stress to the centre of each bifolio of the manuscript, increasing the risk of splitting. It was clear that the time had come to give the manuscript a more appropriate long-term home.

The old binding for Add MS 35021

Inside the old binding. Here you can see the manuscript in the old paper mounts.

Conservation over time

Something that really made an impression in the course of this project was the changing approach to conservation over the years – understandable given evolving knowledge, the emergence of new technologies and shifting emphasis in professional standards. So, while work undertaken decades ago might appear questionable now, nevertheless we can understand that it was done with the best intentions given the tools and knowledge available at the time.

A good example is in relation to iron gall ink. There are very few ways to fully halt the corrosive effects of the ink and limiting the damage is often the only approach. However, one treatment that emerged in the mid-1990s involves an aqueous treatment, using a Calcium Phytate solution to neutralise the acidic iron content in the ink.

In recent years, the British Library has established processes for this treatment. But still it is not something to be undertaken lightly. While extensive testing prior to treatment ensures that both the structure of the paper and the ink will remain secure, nonetheless the process has the effect of washing the paper, so removing dirt and accretions but also, potentially, valuable but less obvious evidence of historical use.  

The decisions are not easy, as weighed against the potential risk of sometimes losing potential sources of historical evidence, such as staining on the paper, is the risk of the manuscript deteriorating to such an extent that any kind of study becomes impossible.

Decisions

Given the iconic status of this manuscript, many people were involved in decision making and the project was a collaboration between curatorial and conservation teams. One objective that was clear was that the folios of the manuscript needed a new form of housing, which would keep them more secure.

In terms of treatment of the iron gall ink, we decided to take a cautious approach for now, and only apply calcium phytate treatment to two folios, which suffered from different and more pressing issues from the others. These (which contained the A-flat major prelude and fugue, ff. 13 and 14), had been removed from the bound volume more than a century ago. At different points since then they had received conservation work of differing levels of invasiveness, including a coating of transparent heat set tissue applied to one side of the prelude and repairs along the fold of that page too. The aim in focusing a higher level of treatment on these particular folios was to remove the corrosive properties of the ink on one of the most problematic examples among the Well-Tempered Clavier manuscripts and also to reverse some of the ill effects of previous treatments. This work would also make it possible to more safely and securely house these folios in the same way as the other folios, removing them from their temporary housing.

Prelude in A-flat major (BWV 886), showing previous conservation work. Add MS 35021, f. 13v.

Conservation work begins

All our manuscripts are special and unique of course, and receive due care and attention to ensure their long-term preservation. But sometimes there are those manuscripts that are so iconic that to even look at them fills you with awe: in these cases the responsibility of ensuring their long-term safekeeping is immense. This was certainly the case here and it was a wonderful, humbling moment when the volume containing the manuscripts was unpacked in the conservation studio. We took a moment to listen to the pieces as we looked at the score - with the notes on the page almost dancing in front of us!

After thorough documentation and testing, treatment began by disbinding the volume and removing the folios from the acidic inlay paper; this was done mechanically using a poultice of sieved gelatine mousse. Whilst removing the old acidic paper mounts we uncovered the edge of the text previously covered by the inlay.

Aqueous treatment of the two folios

The treatment of folios 13 and 14 was achieved in three stages: first the documents were washed then treated with calcium phytate and then calcium bicarbonate. This helped stabilise the corrosive properties of the ink and remedy some of the ill effects of the previous treatment. 

Removing the acidic paper inlay during aqueous treatment

Prior to immersion, multispectral images of these folios were also taken by our imaging scientist, ensuring we have a clear record of the manuscript prior to treatment. Multispectral imaging captures image data within determined wavelength ranges across the electromagnetic spectrum. It can be used to examine discolourations and staining, by comparing the "spectral fingerprint" of an accretion to a known chemical substance. It can also reveal things that are only visible on different parts of the spectrum and allow us to capture the true colours of the image to accurately assess any ink changes after treatment.

The existing condition of these particular folia made them a priority to treat in this way, but the experience of doing so will allow us to weigh in the balance the benefits or not of undertaking similar treatment on other folios in the future, should the degradation of the corrosive ink progress. For now, fragile inks on the other folios of the manuscript have been supported with a very fine toned Japanese tissue and gelatine using a low moisture technique. This was carried out over a light box to ensure any weakened areas of iron gall ink were spotted.

After Treatment

All the folios have now been housed individually in a more sympathetic, double sided mount. This rigid mount allows each page to be correctly supported and viewed in full, being secured to paper inlays with a very thin and transparent strip of Japanese tissue, adhered with gelatine mousse. The mounts are suitable for both storage and exhibition display, minimising the need for handling or further work in the future. These card mounts have then been stored in several specially made acid-free card boxes to offer protection on the shelf.

The new card mounts for each folio, with protective flaps at the front in back to keep the manuscripts safe in storage.

Add MS 38068, f. 1r, after treatment, in the new card mount.

Conclusion

This work, undertaken thanks to the expertise of colleagues in Conservation and with generous support from The Leche Trust, has ensured that the manuscripts themselves are now better preserved and protected for posterity.

The British Library’s responsibility as custodian of these iconic examples of Bach’s creativity involves finding a balance between protecting the manuscripts themselves and finding ways for them to be appreciated by a wide audience. High-quality digital images are a key tool for providing access, but this conservation project will also make it possible for researchers to work with the original material where this is necessary – further enhancing our understanding of Bach’s creative practice. It will also make it safer to exhibit these iconic collections beyond the reading room, in our gallery spaces, where you can join us and experience the real thing.

 

================

Samantha Hare (Conservator)

Chris Scobie (Lead Curator, Music Manuscripts)

Introduction

On 15 November 1950 the RAI (Radio Televisione Italiana) Third Programme broadcast I due timidi, an ‘opera radiofonica’ composed by Nino Rota to a libretto by Suso Cecchi d’Amico, for the first time. It had been commissioned by the Italian public broadcasting company, which aimed to create an original repertoire exclusively intended for radio. It was the beginning of a remarkable journey: over two decades the opera would be performed across different media, languages and cultures, ranging, with appropriate adjustments, from the darkness of radio to the limelight of the stage and television, constantly reshaping to adapt to new contexts, while keeping its own poetic, aesthetic, dramatic, and musical substance. This is indeed a fascinating story, with a relevant chapter unfolding in Britain during the 1950s, which documents preserved in the British Library allow us to reconstruct.

The work

Nino Rota (1911-79) and Suso Cecchi d’Amico (1914– 2010) were invited to create a new opera for broadcasting in late 1949. They had been close friends since their youth, sharing from different sides the exciting adventure of Italian post-war cinema. Rota, a talented pupil of Ildebrando Pizzetti and Alfredo Casella, was successfully making his way as a composer of both classical and applied music, and was already known in England as the author of the score for films such as The Glass Mountain. Cecchi d’Amico, the daughter of eminent scholar Emilio Cecchi and painter Leonetta Pieraccini and the wife of the distinguished music critic Fedele d’Amico, was successfully making her way as a screenwriter, the co-author of the script for Vittorio De Sica’s film The Bicycle Thief.

Working together in perfect harmony, in a few months they conceived and created an original story that takes place over a single day in a lower middle-class apartment block in an unnamed city – a recurring setting in Italian movies at the time. A young man, Raimondo, and a young woman pianist, Mariuccia, who are in love with each other from a distance but have never met, have settled close to each other, hoping to be able one day to declare their mutual love. Raimondo lives in a boarding house held by a mature landlady, while Mariuccia resides in a modest flat with her mother, gracefully practising the piano to Raimondo’s delight. However, fate has different plans for them. An accident and a subsequent misunderstanding cause each of them to declare their love to the wrong person, which turns out to be fatal: both Raimondo and Mariuccia are too shy to express their true feelings in order to put right the difficult situation. In an elliptical, bittersweet finale, set two years later, we hear an exhausted pianist practising at night-time – it is Mariuccia, now the wife of an elderly doctor, mother of two kids - and an angry male voice: Raimondo, now the landlady’s husband and the landlord of the boarding house, who is manifestly annoyed by that disturbing noise.

Flyer for the world stage premiere of I due timidi. BL MS Mus. 1743

I due timidi in the UK

I due timidi received a special mention at the Prix Italia 1950, where its immediate expressiveness and the fresh quality of its soundscape were greatly appreciated, including by delegates from the BBC. Within a few months the BBC Third Programme broadcast the Italian production of the opera and the operatic department at the BBC produced an English version, first aired on 5 March 1952, again on the Third Programme, under the title The two shy people. A few days later, on 17 March 1952, the opera received its world stage premiere at the Scala Theatre in London, a production of The London Opera Club in association with the Arts Council of Great Britain.

Typescript libretto of The two shy people

The intense British life of I due timidi during the 1950s is retraceable in detail from documents kept in a folder preserved at the British Library (MS Mus. 1743) presumably collected by David Harris, the BBC Opera Manager who was the producer of the opera’s BBC broadcast and the author of the English version of its libretto. The folder is rich in press cuttings related to the 1952 radio performance and to a new production, also curated by Harris and broadcast on the BBC Home Service on 1 April 1957, whose typewritten opening and closing announcements are preserved. The folder additionally contains a considerable number of reviews of the stage premiere, but no press cuttings referring to the BBC production of the opera for television, which adopted the English version by Harris and was first broadcast after his death, on 30 March 1961.

Signed vocal score of I due timidi

 

The vocal score

The core of the folder lies in the musical material. The vocal score of the opera, a diazotype copy of a non-authorial manuscript of the original version signed by Harris on the cover and by the whole cast of the 1952 production inside, has Rota’s autograph dedication to Harris inscribed on the front page. The playbill flyer of the stage premiere is pasted on the inside cover.

The score clearly testifies to the work undertaken to make the opera more intelligible to a British audience. The English translation is added in red ink in exact alignment with the Italian text and carefully notes slight alterations to the original version, such as the addition of a 25-bar prologue before the original opening (using the same music as the closing 25 bars of the opera) followed by a brief spoken description of the scene.

Vocal score of I due timidi showing English additions in red

 

Recordings and UK revival

It is especially interesting to look at the musical material while listening to the recordings of the 1952 (Product note 1LL0011884-95) and 1957 (Product note 1LL0011487-1LL0011499) BBC broadcasts, which are kept in the Library and available for listening as audio files. There is still uncertainty over the exact identity of the recording of what seems to be a studio performance of the English piano version (Product note 1LL0012460-73, presumably dated 19 February 1961).

The documents as a whole prove to be an invaluable source to allow a close examination of the opera in its multiple versions and to integrate with the precious autograph material relating to the opera preserved in the Fondo Nino Rota at the Fondazione Cini, Venice.

I due timidi received its Italian stage premiere on 19 January 1971 at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari – a city in the South, where Rota was the director of the local Music Conservatory for almost 30 years. From that moment on, it was gradually included in the opera repertoire. Seventy years after the world stage premiere, the opera returns to the London stage, presented by the Guildhall School’s Opera Department at the Silk Theatre. We would like to imagine that Nino Rota, who had a special affection for London and was happy to have some of his operas staged by students in academic institutions, would be delighted to be together with his dearest friend Suso Cecchi d’Amico in the audience.

Prof. Angela Annese

Conservatory of Music “Niccolò Piccinni”, Bari

 

Further reading

Pier Marco De Santi, La musica di Nino Rota (Roma-Bari, 1983).

[BL Shelfmark: General Reference Collection LB.31.b.4190]

Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Storie di cinema (e d’altro); raccontate a Margherita d’Amico (Milano, 1996; Milano, 2002).

Francesco Lombardi (ed.), Fra cinema e musica del Novecento: il caso Nino Rota (Firenze, 2000).

Veniero Rizzardi (ed.), L’undicesima musa: Nino Rota e i suoi media (Roma, 2001).

Richard Dyer, Nino Rota: Music, Film and Feeling (London, 2010).

[BL Shelfmark (2nd edition, 2019): General Reference Collection DRT ELD.DS.550948]

Francesco Lombardi (ed.), Nino Rota: un timido protagonista del Novecento musicale (Torino, 2012).

Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Suso a Lele: lettere (dicembre 1945 – marzo 1947), a cura di Silvia e Masolino d’Amico (Milano, 2016).

[BL Shelfmark: General Reference Collection YF.2019.a.15133]

 

Further listening

Nino Rota: I due timidi (original radio production, 1950), Twilight Music TWI CD AS 06 27 (2006)

Nino Rota: La notte di un nevrastenico / I due timidi (live recording, Rieti, Teatro Vespasiano, 2017), Dynamic DVD 57830 (2018)

Nino Rota: La notte di un nevrastenico / I due timidi (live recording, Rieti, Teatro Vespasiano, 2017), Dynamic CDS7830.02 (2019)

Happy 150th birthday to Ralph Vaughan Williams!

Born on Saturday 12 October 1872, ‘RVW’ remains one of the towering figures of music in Britain in the first half of the 20th century. His wide-ranging works continue to be well-loved and frequently performed in many countries around the world; and his legacy, both through the music itself and through the support he gave to future generations of musicians (and continues to give, thanks to the work of the RVW Trust) is an enduring one.

Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1903. Photo credit: Vaughan Williams Foundation

 

Vaughan Williams manuscripts at the British Library

Vaughan Williams, along with Elgar and Handel, also takes a central position in the British Library’s music collections. In the years since his death in 1958 our manuscript holdings related to RVW have grown to become one of the most comprehensive for any composer represented here. Looking through our departmental files, it seems it all started in 1959 with the purchase of the autograph full score of the composer’s Fourth Symphony (Add MS 50140) – a work famously at odds with the perceived sound world of the composer’s music.

The next year saw the start of a series of generous gifts from Ursula Vaughan Williams, the composer’s widow. First was a series of letters and postcards to Vaughan Williams from Maurice Ravel (Add MS 50360). These date from between 1908, immediately following the period that Vaughan Williams spent studying in France, and 1919. The correspondence ranges from discussion of particular works (such as RVW’s song cycle, On Wenlock Edge), or particular performances (including of Ravel’s ballet, Daphnis et Chloé), through to the train times between Newcastle and King’s Cross.

Postcard sent by Maurice Ravel from Newcastle, to Ralph Vaughan Williams. 1911. BL Add MS 50360, f. 13

Later in 1960, following an enormous effort to bring all the material together in conjunction with Vaughan Williams’s various publishers, Ursula presented what was described by the Keeper of Manuscripts at the time as: “one of the largest collections of music of a single composer ever offered to the Museum”. Accessioned as Add MS 50361-50482, these 122 volumes include autograph scores and some sketch and draft material for most of Vaughan William’s major works, from the small scale to colossal works like his ‘Sea Symphony’.

'A Sea Symphony', first performed in 1910. Part of the opening with the text: 'Behold, the sea itself!'. BL Add MS 50365A. © The Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust. Reproduced by permission.

 

Further donations from Ursula Vaughan Williams

Over the next 48 years another five collections were presented to the BL by Ursula, alongside a number of individual items. All the material is described in our online catalogue, both at the level of the volume (which may contain several items, depending how things have been grouped) and at the level of the collection as it was presented. The links below will take you to the collection level description for each of these and from there you can choose ‘Browse this Collection’ to explore the collection hierarchy in a separate window – or select ‘See Contents’ from within the catalogue description. Alternatively you can search for a particular work in the search field to see what material the BL holds.

Some of the Vaughan Williams manuscripts at the British Library

 

Add MSS 54186-54191. Music manuscripts of Ralph Vaughan Williams (6 volumes)

Presented 1967. This collection includes Vaughan Williams’s earliest composition, written in 1878 at the age of 6. This collection also includes a series of notebooks used to write down the folk songs he heard in different parts of the country between 1903 and 1926. These are all digitised and available to view via the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library’s website, alongside the manuscript material they hold and details of the songs and tunes written down.

 

'The Robin's Nest': Vaughan Williams's first known composition. 1878. BL Add MS 54186. © The Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust. Reproduced by permission.

Add MSS 57265-57295. Vaughan Williams Manuscripts (Second Collection) (37 volumes) 

Presented in 1971. This collection includes a number of smaller and occasional pieces as well as a volume of his compositions from his time as a student at the Royal College of Music and some miscellaneous sketchbooks.

Add MS 71476-71493. Supplementary Vaughan Williams Manuscripts (18 volumes)

Presented in 1994. This collection includes a number of unpublished works, such as the music for the masque ‘Pan’s Anniversary’, with music by Vaughan Williams and also arrangements of 16th century dances by his good friend, the composer Gustav Holst.

MS Mus. 153-165. Supplementary Vaughan Williams Manuscripts (13 volumes) 

Presented 1995. Vaughan Williams’s orchestral arrangement of the song cycle ‘On Wenlock Edge’ appears in this collection (MS Mus. 153), as well as a wider range of types of material, such as correspondence, awards, certificates, copyist manuscripts and annotated proofs. It also includes the so-called ‘Seatoller’ log book – a record of a reading holiday in Cumbria that RVW took around Easter 1895 with some of his fellow Cambridge students, including George Trevelyan (later a famous historian), Maurice Amos and Ralph Wedgwood. The volume includes contributions from all of them, in them of stories, jokes, drawings and more.

'The log book - Seatoller'. BL MS Mus. 163.

MS Mus. 1714. Papers of Ralph and Ursula Vaughan Williams (135 volumes) 

Bequeathed by Ursula Vaughan Williams, this material arrived at the British Library in 2008. The majority of the collection is made up of letters, but it also contains a large number of photographs and other papers, related to Vaughan Williams’s family history for example. It also contains items shedding more light on Ursula’s life too, both in her tireless work to continue Ralph's legacy, but also in her own work as a poet too.

A large selection of RVW’s letters were included in Hugh Cobbe’s 2008 collection, published by OUP, and they have since been joined by many, many more in the online Vaughan Williams Letters database. This freely accessible database is both endlessly fascinating and incredibly useful - with all of the letters conveniently transcribed for those of us who would otherwise struggle to read the composer’s notorious handwriting.

Beethoven’s tuning fork

This tuning fork, which is said to have belonged to Beethoven and then given by him to the violinist George Bridgetower, featured in our Beethoven exhibition last year (there is a bit more about it here). Less well-known is that, having been in Bridgetower’s family for a number of years, then passed to several other musicians, it then apparently ended up with the composer Gustav Holst in 1921. In turn, Holst gave it to Vaughan Williams, and then Ursula presented it to the British Library in 1992.

Material from other sources

The larger collections listed above are just one aspect to the variety of materials here at the British Library. Other items have entered the collections by other routes and from other owners. These include things like the autograph manuscript of the ‘London’ symphony, presented by Sir Adrian Boult in 1963 (Add MS 51317). Or, more recently, the draft vocal score for the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’, which was among the material donated by Joyce Kennedy in memory of her husband, Michael Kennedy (MS Mus. 1752/1/5). We are still acquiring Vaughan Williams material as well: earlier this year, a poem written by Vaughan Williams in the early 1950s to Eva Hornstein was generously donated by the dedicatee (MS Mus. 1870). And watch this space for another RVW acquisition announcement a bit later this year…

Poem by Vaughan Williams, written to Eva Hornstein. BL MS Mus. 1870. © The Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust. Reproduced by permission.

The only known manuscript for what must be Vaughan Williams’s most famous work, The Lark Ascending, is another item in this category (Add MS 52385). This was donated in 1964 together with some letters of the violinist Marie Hall, who gave the first performance of the work (the letters are from earlier in her career however). The manuscript is actually primarily a copy, and in the version for violin and piano, however there are many alterations and pasted over corrections in Vaughan Williams’s hand too, showing the often extremely detailed changes he continued to make to the piece. 

Title page, mostly in RVW's handwriting, for a manuscript copy of 'The Lark Ascending', in the version for violin and piano. Mostly in a copyist's hand, but with autograph annotations and corrections. BL Add MS 52385. © Oxford University Press.

 

RVW in context

It would be difficult to describe the Vaughan Williams materials here at the British Library as an archive as such, having been collected together from many different sources over a long period of time. But the end result is certainly archival in character, in its wide-ranging types of content and in the rich detail those items can provide about the life and work of a composer. And of course, this blog post has only focused on the manuscript materials here at the British Library: that material is further enriched by study of it alongside published sources, recordings and broadcasts.

What's more, neither Ralph Vaughan Williams nor the collection of material relating to him exist in isolation: as part of the wider British Library music collections the context in which he lived and worked is also represented - be it other composers, performers or musical institutions. While it would be impossible to collect on the same scale for every musician and composer, we nevertheless attempt to capture a representative cross section of music making at different times; to attempt to capture a sense of the breadth of what was going on.

More RVW...

On Monday 14 November we are holding a Study Day at the British Library Foyle Visitor and Learning Centre to celebrate his anniversary further. More information and details on how to book a place can be found on our What's on pages. There will also be a small display of his manuscripts in our Treasures of the British Library gallery in December (until then, you will be able to see the autograph manuscript of the Pastoral symphony in the main music display case, alongside Beethoven's tuning fork which he also owned). 

Vaughan Williams (2nd from the right), in the company of Handel, J.S. Bach and Virginia Woolf - at the entrance to the Rare Books & Music Reading Room at the British Library

As we come into the final few days of our Beethoven: Idealist. Innovator. Icon exhibition, open until Sunday 24 April, we are concluding our series of Beethoven blog posts with a blog dedicated to Beethoven’s legacy.

Join us also for our last events celebrating Beethoven on Friday 22 April at 19.00: Beethoven in concert, with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Bach Choir and on Saturday 23 April at 19.30: Late at the Library: The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble.

Drawing from the rich collection of Beethoven material kept at the Library, the objects on display have given visitors a unique opportunity to experience the composer’s manuscripts, published scores, notebooks, letters, and personal belongings in the flesh. The immediacy of Beethoven’s chaotic handwriting shows his creative imagination at work, his personal notebooks reveal an individual troubled by progressive hearing loss, and his letters show that Beethoven was as much an astute businessman as a composer. But whilst the intimacy of these objects gives us access to Beethoven the individual, it remains difficult to gain a single perspective on the composer.

Beethoven’s image

It is the often-ambiguous image of Beethoven that carries his influence through music, literature, and the visual arts; to frequent adaptations and reinterpretations in popular culture; and that has allowed his music to be appropriated by diverse (often conflicting) political movements since his death. Beethoven’s image was elusive even during his lifetime. Prints of the composer circulated widely in Europe, and likenesses were contested by his contemporaries and even by Beethoven himself. The exhibition features several depictions of Beethoven that show the changing image of the composer in his life, death, and legacy.

The title image of the exhibition recreates a portrait of Beethoven by Carl Jager (1870). The painting was completed over 40 years after Beethoven’s death. It shows a highly Romanticised image of the composer with a thoughtful look and swept-back hair. After its completion, an engraved version was printed and distributed by major publisher Frederick Bruckmann who traded in Berlin, Paris, New York and London.

Johann Peter Lyser’s sheet of Beethoven sketches (1833) include a full-length image of Beethoven in a top hat and coat and one of his head in profile. Although Lyser had never met Beethoven, the lithograph was considered a good likeness and was popular throughout the 19th century. Lyser produced the image from written descriptions of Beethoven but implied its authenticity visually by writing ‘Created after an original drawing’ below the image and including a copy of Beethoven’s signature. The British Library’s copy of the print made its way to England via Ignaz Moscheles, co-director of the Philharmonic Society in London, who included it in his autograph book.

Johann Peter Lyser’s sketches of Beethoven in Ignaz Moscheles’s album. Zweig MS 215, f.7r

One of the most striking moments in the exhibition are the sketches made by Austrian painter and lithographer Josef Teltscher who attended Beethoven at his deathbed. The two images show a rough sketch of the deathbed scene (right) and a touched-up version (left). Teltscher’s depictions sit on the boundary of Beethoven’s life and legacy. The rough sketch on the left shows a stark representation of Beethoven’s death, departing life with fists clenched, hair dishevelled, and face grimaced, whilst on the right we are presented with an image of Beethoven at rest, his softened facial features and pillow detail remarkably peaceful in contrast. Between these two images we see the Romanticisation of Beethoven in process: the immediate observations of the artist’s preliminary sketch followed by the idealised reconstructed image, perhaps ready for reproduction in paint or print.

Josef Teltscher’s sketches of Beethoven on his deathbed. Zweig MS 207, f.1v-2r.

At the centre of the final section of the exhibition on Beethoven’s legacy sits a bust of Beethoven, copied from one sculpted by Johann Nepomuk Schaller (1777-1842). The bust presents the Romantic image of Beethoven in full swing. His swept back hair, classical attire, and piercing look form one of the most recognisable images of the composer today. The bust was donated to the Philharmonic Society in 1870 and has featured at every Society concert since 1871. The Society have adopted this image of Beethoven as 'a symbol of enduring musical excellence', and use the image for their prestigious gold medal.

Plaster bust of Beethoven from one sculpted by Johann Nepomuk Schaller (1777–1842). ©British Library Board, BLWA 43. Photography by Justine Trickett

Since the production of contemporary prints, the deathbed sketch, and Schaller’s iconic bust, Beethoven’s image has become ubiquitous in popular culture, reimagined in the screen prints of Andy Warhol (1987) and in Terry Adkins’ Synapse (2004) as part of his Black Beethoven series.

Legacy section

The legacy section of the exhibition provides a glimpse of the myriad ways Beethoven has influenced art, politics, and popular culture over the past two hundred years. Visitors are invited to contemplate the adoption of Beethoven’s music by a diverse range of political movements, his influence on countless composers, writers, and visual artists, and how his music and image have frequently found their way into popular culture.

A pamphlet of Wartime Songs from the BBC (1944) broadcast to Nazi-occupied France sees Beethoven’s music playing a part in the V for Victory campaign during the Second World War; May Byron’s romanticised fictional account of the composer’s daily life (1910) show his image being adopted into popular literature; Charles Schulz’s yearly celebration of Beethoven’s Birthday in his Peanuts cartoons brought Beethoven to a younger audience; and the Voyager Golden Record sees Beethoven’s music sent drifting out into deep space.

Charles Schulz highlighting Beethoven’s birthday in It’s a Dog’s Life, Charlie Brown. A New Peanuts book (1962). X.429/1504

The ‘Golden Record’ which included the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and the ‘Cavatina’ movement from the String Quartet in B flat major (opus 130). 1ss0013021

There are only a few days left to experience this Beethoven material on display, until the exhibition itself becomes part of Beethoven’s legacy. But the items on show only scratch the surface of the Beethoven material available at the library, and readers will be able to explore Beethoven through the rich physical and digital collections that have made this exhibition possible.

Dominic Bridge, Collaborative PhD student, University of Liverpool and British Library

Of the exhibits in our current Beethoven exhibition, no fewer than 12 come from the collection of autograph manuscripts assembled by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, and generously bequeathed to the British Library by his heirs in 1986.

Stefan Zweig by Bassano Ltd. 24 May 1939. NPG x156327 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Stefan Zweig as a collector

Zweig was a keen collector of autographs from an early age and built up one of the finest collections of its kind. He particularly sought out examples which he felt showed the process of creativity in the writers, composers and other historical figures he most admired. Beethoven was certainly one such, and fitted Zweig’s image of the true creative genius, but most of Zweig’s Beethoven material in fact comprised not music manuscripts that show Beethoven the genius composer at work, but items such as letters and notebooks that shed light on Beethoven the man.

This was no doubt in part because Zweig had an equally wealthy and eager rival when it came to collecting Beethoveniana, the Swiss bibliophile Martin Bodmer, but Zweig also had a liking for ‘relics’ of great men as well as actual examples of their work. One of his happiest moments as a collector came in 1929 when he was able to purchase Beethoven’s writing-desk and various other realia once belonging to the composer, such as a lock of hair, a violin and even a compass, from the descendants of Beethoven’s friend Stephan von Breuning. (These were later acquired by Bodmer and are now in the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn.)

Exhibits from the Zweig collection in the Beethoven exhibition

Two of the items from the BL Zweig manuscripts currently on display show a very humdrum side of Beethoven’s life: a laundry list and a page of kitchen accounts. The latter gives a glimpse into Beethoven’s diet: a lot of meat, bread and potatoes, spiced with mustard and horseradish, and washed down with wine and rum. Vegetables do feature, but usually lumped together as ‘Zuhspeis’ (literally a ‘side-dish’). Perhaps this was one of the reasons for his frequent ill health, referred to with a dash of self-deprecating humour in a letter of 1817 inviting his friend Johann Bihler to visit and mentioning that ‘Dr Sassafras’ will also be in attendance – a reference to the diuretic sassafras root.

A page from Beethoven’s kitchen accounts. British Library Zweig MS 209, f.1r

Other items show more ‘elevated’ aspects of Beethoven’s life. A notebook from the early 1790s lists expenses from his first months in Vienna, including a series of composition lessons with Joseph Haydn, the main reason he had come to the city. Another collection of notes from 1815 contains transcriptions of poems by Johann Gottfried Herder with some snatches of music and some reflections on nature by Beethoven. By this time Beethoven’s loss of hearing loss was very advanced, but he writes that this seems not to trouble him in the countryside and that “every tree seems to speak to me, saying ‘Holy! Holy!’” Despite a number of health and personal problems at this time, another piece from 1815 strikes a similar note of optimism: a short three-part canon written in the autograph album of fellow-composer Ludwig Spohr sets words from a play by Friedrich Schiller, “Kurz ist der Schmerz und ewig ist die Freude” (“Pain is brief and joy is eternal”).

Beethoven’s three-part canon in Spohr’s autograph album. British Library Zweig MS 11, f. 1r

Beethoven’s admiration for Schiller’s work would culminate of course in the setting of the ‘Ode to Joy’ in his Ninth Symphony, but he also set works by the other literary giant of the age, Goethe. Zweig was particularly pleased to acquire the manuscript of the song ‘Die Trommel gerühret’ (‘The drum is beaten’) from Beethoven’s incidental music to Goethe’s play Egmont as it combined the work of both men. In the play the song is sung by Egmont’s mistress Clärchen, who dreams of dressing as a soldier to follow her beloved to war. It is one of the pieces that forms the soundtrack to the exhibition, along with another work owned in manuscript by Zweig and on display, the 1808 Sonata for Piano and Cello in A major.

Beethoven’s initial musical ideas for the song ‘Die Trommel gerühret’ (op. 84 no. 1), sung by the character of Clärchen in his music for Goethe’s play Egmont. British Library Zweig MS 8, f.1r

The last Zweig items displayed relate to Beethoven’s death and funeral. A book of sketches by Josef Teltscher includes two studies of the composer on his deathbed. Teltscher was in attendance and his moving images of an exhausted Beethoven are no doubt more realistic that the legend that Beethoven died shaking a fist in defiance. A list of expenses for Beethoven’s funeral shows what a costly affair it was, with details of money spent to pay the priests and to provide candles and roses. It was one of the most lavish funerals ever granted to a commoner in Vienna and the streets were packed with onlookers. Access to the service was by invitation only; the invitation on display is thought to have belonged to Stefan von Breuning. Finally there is a list of donors to a fund to help Beethoven’s servants after his death, something that brings us back to the household accounts and laundry list and reminds us of the people behind them who ran Beethoven’s various households in Vienna.

Drawing of Beethoven on his deathbed by the artist Josef Teltscher. British Library Zweig MS 207, f.1v

Some of Zweig’s contemporaries – and more recent critics – may have been cynical about the relic-hunting aspect of Zweig’s collecting, something nowhere more obvious than in his Beethoven holdings. But these items can help us to see a more rounded picture of Beethoven and his world rather than just the genius at work.

Susan Reed, Lead Curator Germanic Collections

References/further reading:

Arthur Searle, The British Library Stefan Zweig Collection: Catalogue of the Music Manuscripts (London, 1999).

Oliver Matuschek (ed.), Ich kenne den Zauber der Schrift: Katalog und Geschichte der Autographensammlung Stefan Zweig, mit kommentiertem Abdruck von Stefan Zweigs Aufsätzen über das Sammeln von Handschriften (Vienna, 2005).

Oliver Matuschek, Three Lives: a Biography of Stefan Zweig (London, 2011).

Michael Ladenburger, Das “kollektive Sammler-Empfinden”: Stefan Zweig als Sammler und Vermittler von Beethoveniana: Begleitbuch zu einer Ausstellung des Beethoven-Hauses Bonn, 12. Mai-4. Oktober 2015 (Bonn, [2015]) (A brief PDF guide to the exhibition that this book accompanied can be found here:)

Next week we are proud to host cellist Adrian Brendel and pianist Simon Callaghan as they perform Beethoven’s Cello Sonatas at the Knowledge Centre (Thu 31 Mar 2022, 19:30 - 21:00). To mark the occasion, this blog explores through our collections Beethoven’s collaborations with eminent cellists during his life who inspired and helped to shape aspects of these works.

Beethoven composed five sonatas for cello and piano, between 1796 (op. 5 nos. 1–2) and 1815 (op. 102 nos. 1–2). One of the collection items in our current Beethoven: Idealist, Innovator, Icon exhibition are sketches for his third cello sonata, the op. 69 in A major, considered a masterpiece in the genre (Zweig MS 6).

The sonata, entitled Grande Sonate pour Pianoforte et Violoncelle, was composed in 1808, in the year when Beethoven was also working on his Fifth and Sixth symphonies. The sketches in Zweig MS 6 are for the third and fourth movements, and are mostly written on single staves with piano or ‘cello indicated above at relevant points.

Beethoven’s sketches for his Cello Sonata op. 69. Zweig MS 6 f.1v

Beethoven dedicated the sonata to his close friend and supporter Baron Ignaz von Gleichenstein (1778–1828) who was also an amateur cellist. The sonata was first performed by the cellist Nikolaus Kraft and pianist Dorothea von Ertmann (1781-1849), who was a pupil of Beethoven, in March 1809.

Nikolaus Kraft

Nikolaus Kraft (1778-1853) was the eldest son of the cellist Anton Kraft (1749-1820). In 1801 he travelled to Berlin together with his father where he received cello lessons for one year from the virtuoso cellist Jean-Louis Duport (1749-1819), who was employed there at the Prussian court of King Friedrich Wilhelm II. Nikolaus, as well as his father, was also for a time a member of the Schuppanzigh string quartet – named after its founder the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh (1776-1830) – which gave a number of first performances of Beethoven’s string quartets.

The Krafts were not the only cellists with whom Beethoven worked during his life. In spring of 1796 Beethoven visited the Prussian court in Berlin, where he also met Jean-Louis Duport, and it was there that his op. 5 cello sonatas originated. These sonatas are regarded today as the first ‘true’ sonatas for cello and piano, as the two instruments are given equal importance.

Jean-Louis Duport

Jean-Louis Duport was one of the most influential cellists of his time. In the early 19th century he published a violoncello treatise entitled: Essai sur le doigté du violoncelle et sur la conduite de l’archet (Essay on fingering the violoncello and on the conduct of the bow) (Paris, 1806). This became one of the most influential cello treatises in the history of the cello; the exercises (Études) that are included in it are still practised by cello pupils today. An English translation by John Bishop (1817-1890) was published in London in 1853:

Title page of John Bishop’s translation of Jean-Louis Duport’s Essai. British Library h.1124.

At the time of Beethoven’s visit, Jean-Louis Duport was principal cellist in the opera orchestra and, together with his brother the virtuoso cellist Jean-Pierre Duport (1741-1818), also instructed the king on the cello. Several cello parts in the king’s music collection – now at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – include fingerings and other performance annotations marked in red crayon, which are probably in the hand of Jean-Louis Duport or his brother, such as in the first violoncello part of Luigi Boccherini’s string quintet op. 31 no. 5.

Beethoven and Jean-Louis Duport performed his op. 5 cello sonatas for the king, and apparently, Beethoven also intended to dedicate the two sonatas to him. This is evident from a letter, now lost, which Duport sent to him where he wrote: ‘Duport, acknowledges the dedication to him of Beethoven’s two sonatas for piano and violoncello and expresses the wish to play them with the composer’.[i]

In the end the op. 5 cello sonatas were dedicated to the King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm II. This was not the only occasion where Beethoven would change his mind about the dedication of a particular work. He had also originally dedicated his Violin Sonata op. 47, the ‘Kreutzer’, to the British violinist George Bridgetower (1778-1860) before changing the dedication to the French violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766-1831). These initial gestures, however, show an appreciation of the musicians Beethoven worked with, and an intent to acknowledge them.

No autographs of the op. 5 cello sonatas survive but the ‘Kafka’ sketch miscellany (Add MS 29801) –  selected leaves from which are also on display in the exhibition – includes a number of sketches for the two op. 5 cello sonatas, revealing Beethoven’s compositional processes and initial ideas for these.

Sketches for Beethoven’s Cello Sonata op. 5 no. 1 in the ‘Kafka’ sketch miscellany. Allegro movement. Add MS 29801, f. 83v

In Beethoven’s ‘Kafka’ sketch miscellany scholars have also noted a leaf where Beethoven wrote ‘Billet an duport Morgen frühe’ (note to Duport tomorrow morning) (f. 57v) and on another leaf, in a different hand, what appears to be scales and double stops with fingerings for the violoncello (f. 109r).[ii] These resemble fingering patterns in Duport’s Essai, which has lead scholars to assume that these could be in the hand of Jean-Louis Duport himself, or possibly his brother.[iii] No autographs of Jean-Louis Duport’s compositions are known to survive which would allow a comparison of his musical handwriting with the exercises in the ‘Kafka’ sketchbook, apart from some letters in his hand at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, which however don’t include any music notation.

Scales and double stops with fingerings for the violoncello in the ‘Kafka’ sketch miscellany. Add MS 29801, f. 109r.

Fingerings for scales and double stops in Duport’s Essay on fingering the violoncello and on the conduct of the bow. British Library h.1124. pp. 12 and 60 respectively.

Beethoven was not the only composer to have been influenced by the techniques of the Duport brothers. Several years before Beethoven’s visit, in spring of 1789, Mozart had visited the Prussian court of King Friedrich Wilhelm II for whom he began composing a set of string quartets, which later became known as the ‘Prussian’ quartets (K 575, K 589, K 590). In the autograph of the first of the ‘Prussian’ string quartets we find solo passages for the cello in the high register of the instrument. These are furthermore written in the treble clef as was the customary, French notation style that the Duport brothers adopted at the Prussian court for writing for the cello in that register, as opposed to the Italian notation style of using movable ‘C’ clefs.[iv]

Solo passages in the violoncello part in Mozart’s ‘Prussian’ quartet in D Major K 575. Add MS 37765 f 1v.

Joseph Linke

That fact that Beethoven worked closely with cellists throughout his life is further documented in a note that he sent to the cellist Joseph Linke (1783-1837), who, like the Krafts, was for a period a cellist in the Schuppanzigh string quartet and for whom Beethoven composed his op. 102 cello sonatas. In 1814 Beethoven wrote to him: ‘Dear Linke, Do me the favour of breakfasting with me tomorrow morning, as early as you like, but not later than half past seven. Bring a cello bow, for I have something to discuss with you.’[v]

The sketches of Beethoven’s cello sonatas and related archival documents reveal his openness in learning new instrumental techniques and his engagement and collaboration with eminent performers of his time, who influenced and helped to shape aspects of these works.

The concert on Thursday 31 March with Adrian Brendel, cello, and Simon Callaghan, piano will include a performance of Beethoven’s cello sonatas op. 5 no. 2 and op. 69.

References and further reading

[i] Theodore Albrecht, Letters to Beethoven and other Correspondence (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996), vol.1, pp. 52-53.

[ii] Lewis Lockwood, ‘Beethoven’s early works for violoncello and contemporary violoncello technique’, Beiträge ’76-78: Beethoven Kolloquium 1977. Dokumentation und Auffürungspraxis (Kassel, 1978), pp. 174-182.

[iii] Lewis Lockwood, ‘Beethoven’s early works for violoncello and contemporary violoncello technique’, Beiträge ’76-78: Beethoven Kolloquium 1977. Dokumentation und Auffürungspraxis (Kassel, 1978), pp. 176, 181.

[iv] Valerie Walden, One Hundred Years of Violoncello: a history of technique and performance practice, 1740-1840 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 74-78.

[v] Emily Anderson, The Letters of Beethoven (London: Macmillan Press, 1961), vol.1 no.515, pp. 482.

Loukia Drosopoulou, ‘Music copyists at the court of Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia’ Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (2013), pp. 277-311.

Joseph Kerman (ed.), Autograph miscellany from circa 1786 to 1799: British Museum Additional Manuscript 29801, ff. 39-162 (The Kafka sketchbook) (London: British Museum, 1970).

Alan Tyson, ‘New light on Mozart’s ‘Prussian’ Quartets’, The Musical Times, 116 no. 1584 (1975), pp. 126-130.

Dr Loukia Drosopoulou, Curator, Music

We are pleased to announce a number of new additions to our Music e-resources offer this year:

Medici.TV

Medici.TV is a world-leading classical music channel, offering access to live performances and classical music programmes to viewers worldwide. More than 150 live events are broadcast each year, in partnership with the world's most prestigious venues, opera houses, festivals and competitions. Their platform also features over 3,000 programmes, including: concerts and archived historical concerts; operas; ballets; documentaries, artist portraits; educational programmes and masterclasses, which are available to stream in HD.

Medici.TV is currently available in our reading rooms and can be accessed via the Find Electronic Resources webpage.

RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals (Full text) and RIPM Preservation Series: European & North American Music Periodicals (Full text)

RIPM (Répertoire international de la presse musicale) offers online access to thousands of European and North American music periodicals from the mid-18th to the mid-20th century. This includes articles in music journals, daily newspapers, literary periodicals, theatrical journals, and magazines, constituting a remarkable documentary resource to music historians.

We now subscribe to the full-text versions of both RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals and RIPM Preservation Series: European & North American Music Periodicals, which can both be accessed in our reading rooms via the Find Electronic Resources webpage.

Music Online: Classical Scores Library Volumes I-IV

This multivolume series contains more than 53,000 titles of the most important scores in classical music, ranging from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. More than 4,600 composers are included, from traditionally studied composers such as Mozart and Tchaikovsky to contemporary artists including Kaija Saariaho, Peter Maxwell-Davies, and John Tavener.

Music Online: The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music

Music Online: The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music is the first comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world's peoples. More than 9,000 pages of material and 300 audio recordings, combined with entries by more than 700 expert contributors from all over the world, make this the most complete body of work focused on world music.

 

 

Music Online: Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries

Music Online: Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries is the largest and most comprehensive streaming audio collection of world music. With nearly 3,000 albums and more than 40,000 individual tracks of music, spoken word, and natural and human made sounds, this collection includes the published recordings owned by the non profit Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label together with the archival audio collections of the legendary Folkways Records, Cook, Dyer-Bennet, Fast Folk, Monitor, Paredon and other labels.

You can browse the full range of Music e-resources available in our reading rooms and/or remotely via the Find Electronic Resources webpage:

For any enquiries on how to access and use our e-resources please contact our Music or Sound & Vision Reference Teams.

We’ve had two very exciting additions to our Beethoven exhibition recently, in the form of loans from the Music Department and Mendelssohn Archive of the Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

With a big drumroll…

We are thrilled to announce that the autograph manuscript of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony has arrived – its first time in the UK. The piece is often thought to be among Beethoven’s greatest achievements and, with its famous ‘Ode to Joy’ movement, one of his most immediately recognisable works. Its arrival in the UK is especially significant as the piece was first commissioned by the Philharmonic Society in London. It is even more of a privilege that the manuscript has been lent for the exhibition, since it became the first musical score to be added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2001.

Autograph score of the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, p. 89. Mus.ms.autogr. Beethoven, L. v. 2; Mus.ms.autogr. Beethoven, L. v., Artaria 204. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn-Archiv.

The first complete score

The autograph score from Berlin represents the first complete manuscript of the symphony, committed to paper by Beethoven between 1822 and 1824. The pages on display show a climactic passage in the final part of the setting of the ‘Ode to Joy’, a poem by Friedrich Schiller celebrating universal friendship and equality.

How does it relate to London and the exhibition?

In November 1822 the Directors of the Philharmonic Society in London decided to offer Beethoven £50 for a new symphony for their season the next year: this was to become the Ninth. The minute books from that meeting are among the objects in the exhibition showing some of the realities behind the creation of famous works of art – a receipt, signed by Beethoven for his £50 fee, is another one. 

Minutes of the Directors of the Philharmonic Society, agreeing to offer Beethoven £50 for a new symphony. British Library RPS MS 280, f.2.

The commission was supposed to have given the Philharmonic Society the premiere of the new work and exclusive rights for 18 months after, but Beethoven in fact arranged for the first and second performances of the piece to be held in Vienna in May 1824.

A neat manuscript, prepared by copyists under Beethoven’s supervision and incorporating some changes in his hand was sent to London in fulfilment of the commission at some point in 1824, probably after those first Vienna performances. This, a star item from the Royal Philharmonic Society Archive, acquired by the British Library in 2002, is also on display in the exhibition: the first time the two manuscripts will have been side by side since 1824.

Side-by-side, the autograph manuscript of the Ninth Symphony together with the copy sent to the Philharmonic Society. On the left: Mus.ms.autogr. Beethoven, L. v. 2; Mus.ms.autogr. Beethoven, L. v., Artaria 204. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn-Archiv, p. 89, and on the right: British Library, RPS MS 5, f. 143r.

Conversing with Beethoven

Another artefact on loan from Berlin, of no less significance in telling the story of Beethoven’s life, is one of the composer’s conversation books. By 1818 Beethoven’s hearing had deteriorated to such an extent that he carried with him a ‘conversation book’ so that his companions could write down their contribution to the dialogue. Beethoven normally replied verbally, so only one side of the conversation survives in most cases. The book on display dates from April 1824, with several visitors giving insights into an assortment of unconnected and unremarkable issues from Beethoven’s daily life. However, a musical excerpt in the composer’s hand appears on one of the pages on display, showing him explaining that the emphasis in the final line of the ‘Ode to Joy’ should be on the word ‘Sternen’ (‘stars’).

A page from Konversationheft 61, on loan to the British Library from the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn-Archiv. Mus.ms.autogr. Beethoven, L. v. 51,59.

Persistent URL to digitised content: http://resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/SBB00022DB400000000

Beethoven’s hearing loss

The conversation book joins several other items in the exhibition that help to illustrate Beethoven’s struggles with increasing deafness through his life. This theme is reflected in some of his own writings, in the accounts of people who met him and in a specially-created installation that allows visitors to experience Beethoven’s music through vibrations and visualisation.

Visit the exhibition!

Both loans had had to be postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions that were implemented before the opening of the exhibition in December 2021. Happily though, the loan has now been able to go ahead. With the exhibition open until Sunday 24 April, we hope as many people as possible get to see these iconic manuscripts from Berlin, alongside the diverse and surprising range of scores, letters and other artefacts from the British Library’s own collections.

Inside the British Library Beethoven: Idealist. Innovator. Icon exhibition. Photo by Chris Scobie.

Chris Scobie, Lead Curator, Music Manuscripts