Anhang 2
Quartets (6) in C major, G major, E flat major, F minor, D major, B flat major.
Hess (Anhang) 7 – KH (Anhang) 2 – Bruers 300, Biamonti Added note II-44, Köchel Anhang 291a- C. 20-05.
A Long and Complex Research
The six string quartets known in various catalogues as Kinsky‑Halm Anhang 2, Hess Anhang 7, Bruers 300, Biamonti Nota aggiunta II‑44, and Köchel Anhang 291a – C.20‑05, represent one of the most intricate and fascinating cases in the history of chamber music between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. For more than a century they remained unknown, unperformed, and enveloped in a complex story marked by shifting attributions and fragmentary documentation. The last official reference available before modern research dates back to 1968, in Giovanni Biamonti’s catalogue, which notes: “These quartets are preserved at the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. First attributed to Mozart, then by De Saint‑Foix to Beethoven. Authenticity doubtful.” For decades, this remained the only known information.
The Origins of the Story: Artaria, 1893
The documented history of the quartets begins in 1893, when the renowned Italian publisher in Vienna, Augusto Artaria, just months before his death, decided to compile a complete inventory of the manuscripts preserved in his publishing house. The earlier catalogue prepared by Guido Adler in 1890 was considered too brief. In the new inventory, entry 92i lists as a work by Mozart: “6 quatours pour violon, il est douteux qu’ils aient été composés par Mozart. Inédites.” Upon Artaria’s death, his son sold the entire collection to the highest bidder, and the six sets of quartets were acquired by Professor Koster.
The Intervention of Wyzewa and Saint‑Foix
In 1913, responding to a request from French musicologists Théodore de Wyzewa and Georges de Saint‑Foix, Koster made four of the six quartets available in score form. The outbreak of the First World War halted further study, and in the meantime the manuscripts were purchased by the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. Wyzewa died in 1917, but Saint‑Foix continued the monumental Mozart biography alone, eventually gaining access to all six sets of quartets. His findings appeared, surprisingly, in La Rivista Musicale Italiana in 1923, in the article “Nouvelle contribution à l’étude des œuvres inconnues de la jeunesse de Beethoven.”
The Attribution to Beethoven
In 1923, Saint‑Foix concluded that the quartets were not by Mozart but by Ludwig van Beethoven. According to the scholar, they were composed between 1790 and 1792, during Beethoven’s final years in Bonn, when he played the viola in the orchestra of the Electoral Chapel.
Wollheim’s Revision (1926)
In the centenary year of Beethoven’s death, violist Heinrich Wollheim, a member of the Berlin Chamber Orchestra and Opera, prepared a new score of the quartets in 1926. Despite his efforts, he was unable to secure any public performance.
New Studies and Comparisons (1927)
In 1927, the manuscripts returned to Saint‑Foix, who described them again in La Revue Musicale. For the first time, thematic similarities with other works by Mozart and Beethoven were examined:
- a theme in the first movement of Anhang 2 No. 5 is identical to a theme in the first of the three Piano Quartets WoO 36;
- another similar theme appears in the quartets attributed to Mozart, Köchel Anhang 20.07.
These comparisons opened a new chapter in the complex history of the quartets, highlighting their unique position within the landscape of Beethoven’s and Mozart’s youthful works.
After 1927: Silence, Dispersal, and a Slow Rebirth
After 1927, the story of the six quartets seems to fade. The scores prepared by Koster were lost, while the copies made by Heinrich Wollheim disappeared without trace. The Second World War further complicated matters: the collections of the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek were dispersed across numerous small German towns to protect them from bombing. Despite the severe losses suffered by the library, the score of the six quartets miraculously returned to Berlin in the immediate postwar period, preserving at least the essential core of the documentation.
The 2006 Request and Modern Reconstruction
In 2006, French musicologist Michel Rouch, long engaged in the study of spurious and doubtful works of the Master of Bonn, requested copies of the quartets from the Berlin library. The photocopies arrived in the same disorder in which they had been catalogued: unnumbered pages, mixed sets, misaligned movements. Reconstructing the entire corpus, analysing each movement, and preparing the material for a first modern performance required several months of meticulous, almost archaeological work.
The False Catalogue Entry and the Case of the “Six Capricious Quartets”
During this phase of research, another complication emerged: the six quartets, listed in Mozart’s catalogue as Köchel Anhang 20‑06, shared a false catalogue entry with another group of works, the so‑called “six capricious quartets.” These latter works, long attributed to Mozart, were eventually shown to be by Georg Anton Mederitsch, known as Gallus, a solid Viennese composer born before Mozart and deceased after Beethoven, author of no fewer than 44 quartets. This catalogue overlap confused scholars for decades, making it even more difficult to reconstruct the true identity of the Anhang 2 quartets. Only modern research has finally separated the two groups and restored the correct historical placement of the quartets.
In 2026: The Quartets Finally on CD
In 2026, after more than a century of silence, dispersal, uncertain attributions, and complex musicological reconstruction, the Six String Quartets Anhang 2 finally found a definitive place in the discographic landscape. The publication of the CD marks a historic milestone: for the first time, this chamber cycle—long inaccessible and almost legendary—is made available to the public in a complete, orderly, and philologically curated form.
The recording crowns a long process of research, beginning with the rediscovery of the Berlin manuscripts, continuing with the reconstruction of the movements, and culminating in the first modern performances. The 2026 CD finally allows listeners to hear these quartets in their entirety, giving voice to a fundamental chapter of Beethoven’s youthful production and offering a sonic testimony that had been missing for more than two centuries.
Digital Examples and the 2026 Recording
Below are digital examples of the six Anhang 2 quartets, useful for an initial consultation and for following the structure of the movements. To hear the quartets performed in full, in their complete and historically informed interpretative form, please refer to the 2026 recording by the Alla Maniera Italiana Quartet, now available on CD from major international retailers.
First Quartet in C major
Second Quartet in G major
Third Quartet in E-flat major
Fourth Quartet in F minor
Fifth Quartet in D major
Sixth Quartet in B-flat major
Anhang 2 as part of the project “Research Becomes Art”
The Alla Maniera Italiana Quartet and the 2026 world‑premiere recording of the Six Quartets Anhang 2 form an integral part of the broader project “Research Becomes Art”, which aims to bring forgotten or uncertain works back to life through rigorous scholarship and historically informed performance.
The “Alla Maniera Italiana” Quartet and the Recording of the Anhang 2 Quartets
The Alla Maniera Italiana Quartet is a chamber ensemble distinguished by its philological approach, meticulous attention to detail, and deep knowledge of historically informed performance practice. Their discographic activity reflects a constant commitment to rediscovering and enhancing eighteenth‑ and early nineteenth‑century repertoire, with particular focus on rare, forgotten, or complexly attributed works. Throughout their interpretative journey, the quartet has explored composers such as Francesco Zappa, Francesco Pasquale Ricci, and other leading figures of the galant style, bringing to the public music of great elegance and inventiveness. Their interpretative style—always attentive to clarity of line, transparency of counterpoint, and timbral balance—has made them one of the most authoritative chamber ensembles in the Italian musical landscape.
The recording project dedicated to the Six String Quartets Anhang 2 marks a decisive moment in the history of this chamber corpus. As stated in their official discography, the recording was released by Arcana as a double CD, representing the first world‑premiere recording of these quartets, which for more than a century remained in a state of uncertain attribution and complete absence from the concert stage. The Alla Maniera Italiana Quartet offers a historically informed interpretation grounded in the most recent musicological research and in the reconstruction of the Berlin manuscripts. This reading provides an original and valuable contribution to the understanding of the youthful works attributed to Beethoven, and fits naturally within the broader context of the Beethoven bicentenary celebrations, bringing to light a collection still shrouded in mystery.
Thanks to this recording, the Anhang 2 quartets finally find a stable place within the international discographic panorama. The work of the Alla Maniera Italiana Quartet is not merely an interpretative act: it is a fundamental step in the revival of a repertoire that, for decades, remained confined to archives, amid dispersions, controversial attributions, and long periods of silence. Their recording allows listeners today to experience these quartets in their entirety, giving voice to an essential chapter of the youthful production of the Master of Bonn and offering a sonic testimony that had been missing for more than two centuries.
The discographic project devoted to the Six String Quartets Anhang 2, released in 2026 by Arcana – Outhere Music France, represents a turning point for these works, which for over a century remained in obscurity, suspended between uncertain attributions, dispersed manuscripts, and complex musicological reconstructions. The recording by the Alla Maniera Italiana Quartet—made between 24 February and 1 March 2025 at L’arboreto – Teatro Dimora in Mondaino—finally restores a clear and defined voice to this chamber cycle, offering the public the first complete modern interpretation of all six quartets.
The accompanying booklet opens with an essay by Gabriele Riccobono, who retraces the fascinating and intricate history of these works. Riccobono recalls an anecdote reported by Ferdinand Ries, in which Beethoven wryly observed how often “giving listeners the name of their favourite” is enough to convince them of the authenticity of a work. It is a reflection that perfectly suits the destiny of the Anhang 2 quartets, whose attribution has long oscillated: first Mozart, then Beethoven, and finally uncertainty. The first documented reference dates back to 1893, when August Artaria included in his catalogue six quartets “for violin,” attributed to Mozart but with reservations. These parts, acquired in 1901 by the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, bear a heading that reads: “Six Quartets for 2 Violins, Viola, and Cello by W. A. Mozart.”
It was Georges de Saint‑Foix who, in 1923, proposed attributing the quartets to Beethoven, arguing that they were the work of the young composer, written under the impulse of his ardent admiration for Mozart and before the latter’s death. Saint‑Foix based his thesis on presumed graphic similarities between a rewritten passage found in the Berlin manuscript and material preserved in the British Library. However, in 1978, Shin Augustinus Kojima demonstrated that the handwriting in question belonged not to Ludwig, but to his brother Kaspar Karl van Beethoven, undermining the principal argument on which the attribution rested.
Today, the main catalogues place the quartets in their appendices: “incorrectly attributed” in the case of Mozart, and “not attributable with certainty” in the case of Beethoven. Yet, as Riccobono observes, certain motivic and formal similarities make the attempts at attribution understandable: the opening theme of Quartet No. 5 recalls that of Beethoven’s Piano Quartet WoO 36 No. 3; the movement structures, the cello writing, the preference for symmetrical constructions, and the juxtaposition of ideas are features that could bring these works close not only to Beethoven, but also to other composers active in the Viennese environment, such as Johann Baptist Wanhal. Nor can one exclude, as Julia Ronge suggests, that even Kaspar Karl himself might be considered among the possible authors.
The CD recorded by the Alla Maniera Italiana Quartet was conceived precisely with the aim of drawing renewed attention to these works, on the eve of the Beethoven bicentenary and a century after Saint‑Foix’s original attribution. Founded in Como in 2019 and specialising in historically informed performance, the ensemble approaches the quartets with meticulous care and interpretative sensitivity, reflected in their choice of instruments: two historic violins by Nicola Giorgis (1710) and Giuseppe Catenari (c. 1730), a viola by Antonio Mariani (c. 1690), and a cello by the Panormo family (c. 1820). The quartet—Giacomo Coletti, Stefano Raccagni, Alessia Menin, and Anna Camporini—is today recognised as one of the very few international ensembles capable of combining philological rigour with interpretative freshness, earning the title “Ensemble of the Year 2025” from the Fondo Morosini per la Cultura e per la Musica.
The recording, produced by Fabio Framba, reveals the variety and complexity of the six quartets: five in major keys and one in minor, all structured in three movements except the sixth, which has two and concludes with an Andante con variazioni. The formal choices, thematic expositions, fugato passages, minuets, and harmonic solutions testify to a style fully rooted in the late‑eighteenth‑century chamber tradition, yet marked by enough originality to make these quartets a unique case in music history.
The booklet closes with a note dated Vienna, February 2026, placing the publication within the context of the Beethoven celebrations and underscoring the ensemble’s intention: to bring back to light a chamber cycle which, although not attributable to Beethoven with certainty, belongs fully to the history of his reception, his sources, and his enduring myth.
