THE CONCERT OF OCTOBER 15, 2006, AND THE WORLD PREMIERE OF HESS 47 IN ITS TWO MOVEMENTS

Palazzo Doria Tursi is currently the seat of the Municipality of Genoa, as well as the largest and most imposing building on Via Garibaldi. Known by the Genoese as “Il Monarca” (despite the centuries-old Republic of Genoa), the palace was commissioned by Nicolò Grimaldi to the Imperia-born brothers Domenico and Giovanni Ponsello, who completed the monumental construction between 1565 and 1579. Another notable owner was Admiral Giovanni Andrea Doria, who acquired it at the end of the same century for fifty thousand gold scudi. It later passed to his son Carlo, Duke of Tursi. In 1820 it came under the House of Savoy, following the contested annexation of Genoa to the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1815. Since 1848, it has been owned by the Municipality of Genoa.

The piano nobile, with its Representative Hall—where this concert took place—was frescoed in the mid-19th century by Nicolò Barabino and Francesco Gandolfi with the cycle Christopher Columbus at the Court of Spain. In the Sala della Giunta, precious relics are preserved, including Paganini’s 1742 “Guarnieri del Gesù” violin, known as “Il Cannone,” and the urn containing Columbus’s ashes.

Situated in a prime location along the “Strada Nuova,” the palace showcases the interplay of colors in the materials used for its façade: Carrara marble, slate, and the highly prized stone from Finale Ligure. The configuration of the terrain behind the building allowed for the unusual arrangement of interior spaces. Its magnificent double staircase almost serves as a stage for Strada Nuova, a street lined with at least twenty buildings of great importance, whose façades were immortalized by Peter Paul Rubens. In the 19th century, the street was known as Via Aurea, and Madame de Staël even gave it a more illustrious title: “Rue de Rois,” the Street of Kings. Since 2006, the palace, together with the entire street and the “Rolli di Genova,” has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This exceptional venue hosted the world premiere of a previously unknown Beethoven work as a transcriber: the fragmentary Trio for piano, violin, and cello Hess 47, arranged from the String Trio Op. 3. This original transcription by Beethoven unfortunately ends at the 43rd measure of the second movement. The first edition, with commentary, was prepared by Wilhelm Altmann in Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft, III (December 1920), pp. 129–158. The autograph passed from collector Hans Prieger to benefactor H.C. Bodmer, who donated it to the Beethoven-Haus in 1956. Its catalog number is SBH 713.

Strangely, Willi Hess, in his catalog and at the head of the score (SBG, Volume IX, 1965, pp. 51 ff.), gives an extremely broad date of composition: from 1800 to 1817. While one must acknowledge the great popularity of the trio – the Serenade Op. 3 – it seems highly unlikely that the composer would have revisited a work that was already twenty years old. Moreover, we must not overlook the fact that in 1807 Beethoven published the Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 64, with Artaria, which is also a transcription of the aforementioned Trio Op. 3. Contrary to Hess’s opinion, who did not consider the sonata to be by Beethoven, we cannot ignore the article published in the Wiener Zeitung on 27 March 1807. The article explicitly states that the sonata was composed “sozusagen unter Beethovens Augen” (“so to speak, under Beethoven’s own eyes”), that it was given an opus number, and that both the composer and the publisher were very satisfied with this work.

So satisfied, I would argue, that we can assign the Beethovenian fragment Hess 47 to this period, namely 1806–1808; yet another exploration of the thematic material of the Serenade. The first movement – Allegro con Brio in E-flat major, 288 measures – has survived in its entirety. By making the obvious comparisons between the Trio Op. 3, the Sonata Op. 64, and Hess 47, one can easily see how refined this movement already is. Analyzing the score together with the members of the Frank Bridge Trio – Giulio Glavina, Mariangela Marcone, and Roberto Mazzola – we immediately realized that performing this first trio movement was certainly feasible.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the second movement, which breaks off at measure 43. The second movement of the Trio Op. 3 – Andante in B-flat major – consists of 141 measures, so Beethoven transcribed roughly a third of the original. The violin part remains almost entirely unchanged from the source score of Trio Op. 3, while the viola part is transferred to the left hand of the piano, creating a curious “mid-range” effect that tends to flatten the sound. However, this impression is balanced by the cello part, which restores depth and equilibrium to the overall texture.