Opus 134 Piano four-hand reduction of the Great Fugue in B-flat major, op. 133
I) Overtura – Allegro
Opus 134: Piano four-hand reduction of the Great Fugue in B-flat major, op. 133, for string quartet, dedicated to Archduke Rudolf of Austria, August – early September 1826, published in Vienna, Artaria, May 1827; later by others and recently by Willy Hess in the eighth volume of the Supplement zur G.A., 1964. – B. 134 Hess 86- KH. 134 – L. IV, p. 303 – N. 134.
Official title: Opus 134 Große Fuge (B-dur) für Klavier zu vier Händen Widmung: Erzherzog Rudolph von Österreich NGAVII/1 AGA-SBG VIII/13 (Hess 86)
The original manuscript, long thought to be lost, has very recently been rediscovered and sold:
(source: Wikipedia: In July 2005 an authentic 1826 Beethoven manuscript entitled “Große Fuge” was found by a Pennsylvania librarian at the Palmer Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. The manuscript was authenticated by Dr Jeffrey Kallberg at the University of Pennsylvania and by Dr Stephen Roe, head of Sotheby’s Manuscript Department. This was the four-hand piano arrangement of the Große Fuge, op. 134. The manuscript had been missing for 115 years. It was auctioned by Sotheby’s on 1 December 2005 and was purchased for GBP 1.12 million (USD 1.95 million) by a then unknown buyer, later revealed to be Bruce Kovner, a publicity-shy multi-billionaire who donated the manuscript—together with 139 other original and rare musical items—to the Juilliard School of Music in February 2006. It has since been made available in their online manuscript collection. The known provenance of the manuscript indicates that it was listed in an 1890 catalogue and sold at an auction in Berlin to a Cincinnati, Ohio industrialist, whose daughter donated it, together with other manuscripts including a Mozart Fantasia, to a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1952. It is not known how the Beethoven manuscript came into the possession of the library.)
In the Bodmer collection of the Beethoven-Haus, only a single leaf containing the final 17 bars is preserved. Beethoven had entrusted the task of the transcription to the pianist Anton Halm, whom he greatly esteemed; however, he was not satisfied because of the excessive division of the parts between the first and second performer, and therefore undertook the work himself. Schindler’s claim that the piece represents merely a revision by the Master is contradicted by a statement by Halm himself, already reported in the Thayer catalogue.
Publication: Beethoven arranged the original version for string quartet (op. 133) for piano four hands in Vienna, working on it from August to the first days of September 1826. The first edition appeared in May 1827, published by Mathias Artaria in Vienna.
Around 11 April 1826, Mathias Artaria—the publisher of the String Quartet op. 130, for which the Great Fugue op. 133 had originally been composed as the original finale—wrote to Beethoven: „Es ist schon viele Nachfrage um die Fuge zu 4 Hände für Piano forte arrangirt erlauben Sie mir, daß ich sie so herausgebe? – Partitur[,] in Stimmen [,] die fuge à 4 Mains von Ihnen arrangirt auf einmahl heraus zu geben“ (BKH 9 p. 184F). And: Beethoven wollte das Arrangement zunächst nicht selbst erstellen, daher wurde der dem Komponisten bekannte Pianist, Komponist und Klavierlehrer Anton Halm (1789-1872) mit dieser Aufgabe beauftragt. Er besuchte Beethoven wenige Tage später, am 16. April, und diskutierte einige Details der Arbeit mit Karl Holz und dem Komponisten (BKH 9 p. 193F). As early as one week later, Halm wrote: „Ich habe Ihre Fuge, welche zu übersenden die Ehre habe, mit möglichstem Fleiße, und aller Sorgfalt beendigt. […] Was meine Umarbeitung betrifft, war es leider nicht möglich, daß die Suges immer in ihrer Gestalt geblieben, sondern öfters zerißen werden mußten. […] Ich werde bis längstens 1/4 auf 4 Morgen Nachmittag mit Uiberbringung Ihres Manuscripts so frei seyn, über meine Bearbeitung Ihre gütige Meinung einzuhohlen“. (BGA 2149). Halm was paid by Artaria for this work (Nottebohm / Beethoveniana II, p. 365). On 12 May Beethoven wrote that, on examining the manuscript, he had not been satisfied with Halm’s work (BKh 9, p. 254). Karl Holz wrote as follows on 9 June 1826:„Halm scheint es doch zu merken, daß Sie nicht zufrieden seyn; er getraut sich nicht zu Ihnen zu kommen“ (BKH 9 p. 282). Even at the beginning of July, the matter does not seem to have been resolved, as Karl Holz still asks: „Von der Fuge ist jetzt keine Rede mehr? Wird sie Halm machen? Oder läßt es Artaria ganz fahren?“(BKH 10 p. 24).
In August, the work, together with the entire transcription of Opus 130, was offered to Carl Czerny, but this option was probably also discarded (BKh 10, p. 107). At this point, Beethoven decided to transcribe the Fugue himself. Artaria paid him on 5 September (Nottebohm / Beethoveniana II, p. 365), confirming that the publisher had the manuscript at least by that date, probably received via Karl Holz. In an autograph letter by Holz himself, we read: „Ich gelange endlich zu meinem Wunsche, übermorgen eine Ausflucht auf mehrere Täge zu machen, in dieser rücksicht, ersuche ich sie Hr. Mathias A[rtaria] zu sagen, daß ich ihn durchaus nicht zwingen will meinen KlawierAuszug zu nehmen, ich sende ihnen deshalb den Haimischen K.A. mit, damit sie, sobald sie meinen K. Ausz. zurück empfangen haben, den Halm, [sehen] M.[athias] A.[rtaria] gleich einhändigen — will aber Hr. A. meinen Klawierauszug behalten für das aus 12 # in Gold bestehende Honorar, so verlange ich nichts, als daß dieses schriftlich von ihm gegeben wird, oder auch ihnen das Honorar eingehändigt wird – + zu welchem Behufe ich ihnen die Quittung hier beyfüge + der Klawierauszug kann mir als Schuldigkeit auf keine weise aufgebürdet werden -“ (BGA 2194).
First performance unknown.
Sketches: PL-Kj, Mus. ms. autogr. Beethoven Artaria 214, 6 pages. Facsimile: SBB. Autograph score: US-NYj, 4 B393gr 1826. Dating: from August to early September 1826. Title: page 1 recto „Overtura“. Dimensions: 41 leaves, 80 pages of musical text. Paper: horizontal format, approximately 24.5 x 30.5 cm.
