Hess 107 – March in F major for mechanical clock: “Grenadiermarsch”
Hess 107 – March in F major for mechanical clock: “Grenadiermarsch” – 1807–1819. It was published by G. Kinsky in the Beethoven-Almanac der Deutschen Musikbucherei in 1927, Bosse editions. More recently, it was published by W. Hess in the seventh volume of the Supplemente zur GA, 1963. The march was reconstructed from roll No. 7 of the Flötenuhr No. 2061, preserved in the Heyer Museum in Cologne. This piece combines a march by Haydn, an unpublished transition, and a transcription of the march WoO 29.
Wilhelm Heyer (1849–1913) of Cologne, a papermaker, founded his collection in 1902 with the aim of illustrating the development of instrumental music by bringing together its means of expression. He wanted to preserve these testimonies of vanished artistic and cultural epochs, long silent, in order to provide a vivid view of the instrumental craftsmanship of past eras, while at the same time showing the close relationship between the development of musical instruments and the universal history of music.
To house the musical instruments, autograph manuscripts, letters, and photographs he had collected, Heyer had a building constructed on Worringerstraße in Cologne in 1905. In 1913, the Musikhistorisches Museum Wilhelm Heyer (Wilhelm Heyer Museum of Music History) opened its doors to the public. This event, however, was preceded by three major acquisitions that significantly enhanced the museum’s value. Heyer acquired the Wit collection in 1905, the Ibach collection in 1907, and the invaluable collection of Alessandro Kraus a year later.
Heyer took great care of his precious collection. A conservator was specially appointed to ensure the preservation of the artefacts. In 1909, Georg Kinsky (1882–1951) was appointed to conduct scientific research, a decision that soon proved wise. Just one year after taking up his post, Kinsky published the first volume of his catalogue series, a scholarly publication whose prestige continues to this day. Kinsky did not settle for a mere listing of objects; on the contrary, he went much further. He placed the exhibits in their respective musical and cultural contexts, described the occasions for which they were used, and identified important texts and illustrations published in earlier editions.
The museum remained open for many years after Wilhelm Heyer’s sudden death. In 1926, Heyer’s collection of musical instruments was acquired by the University of Leipzig.
Catalogues:
Georg Kinsky, Katalog. Musikhistorisches Museum von Wilhelm Heyer in Cöln, I: Besaitete Tasteninstrumente, Orgeln und orgelartige Instrumente, Friktionsinstrumente, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel, 1910.
Georg Kinsky, Katalog. Musikhistorisches Museum von Wilhelm Heyer in Cöln, II: Zupf- und Streichinstrumente, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel, 1912.
Georg Kinsky, Kleiner Katalog der Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel, 1913.
Autograph dedication by Georg Kinsky (Marienwerder, 29 September 1882 – Berlin, 7 April 1951) to Anthony van Hoboken (Rotterdam, 23 March 1887 – Zurich, 1 November 1983)
Property of the Centro Ricerche Musicali www.lvbeethoven.org
From our page on WoO 29 March in B-flat major for 2 clarinets, 2 horns, and 2 bassoons, “Grenadiermarsch”:
…“Other attempts to date the work by Georg Kinsky and Ernst Fritz Schmid were based on a transcription for Flötenuhr, in which Beethoven’s march was combined with a march by Joseph Haydn (Schmid/Flötenuhr pp. 215f). This is Haydn’s March in E-flat major Hob. VIII:6, also originally composed for two clarinets, two horns, and two bassoons, performed on a Flötenuhr made by Father Primitiv Niemecz (1750–1806) in 1793 (Hob. XIX:25). On another Flötenuhr built by Franz Egidius Arzt (1757–1812), the same Haydn march appears in an F major version on cylinder No. 7, followed by a 16-bar trio transition and then Beethoven’s WoO 29 march. The march bears an old inscription: ‘Granadirs Marsch arrangirt von Herrn Ludwig v. Beethoven’ (Kinsky/Flötenuhr p. 326).
The work for Flötenuhr, which was certainly built before 1812, comes from the estate of Prince Joseph Johann Nepomuk von Schwarzenberg, who knew Beethoven (Kinsky/Flötenuhr pp. 327f), and is now preserved in the Museum of Musical Instruments of the University of Leipzig. However, the year in which cylinder No. 7 was produced cannot be determined precisely, as it does not necessarily belong to the original equipment of this Flötenuhr and may have been delivered at a later date.
Of interest in this context is Beethoven’s handwritten comment at the head of the autograph score: ‘in D übesezt mit trio in der Mitte Kanonen / schuß,’ which shows that Beethoven intended to transpose the march and add a trio (Johnson/Fischhof vol. 1 p. 414), perhaps with the aim of replacing Haydn’s D major march with a newly composed trio in D major – in order to link it to the WoO 29 march version. The trio-like interlude – indeed with a pause (for a cannon shot?) in the middle – could therefore originate from Beethoven himself.
All this is contradicted by the fact that the Flötenuhr trio passage is found on a fourth Niemecz clock discovered in 1996 (which was probably not built by Niemecz himself, but by his assistant Gurck), on which the cylinders from the other Flötenuhr, and therefore Haydn’s music, can be played. This suggests Haydn’s authorship of the trio. Gallus Oberholzer therefore considered Haydn as the composer of the entire piece (i.e., March, Trio, and WoO 29). Consequently, Beethoven would have merely copied Haydn’s composition, perhaps in the course of preparing it for Schwarzenberg’s musical mechanism (Oberholzer/Grenadier March).
However, Egon Voss does not consider this hypothesis sustainable, given the existence of Beethoven’s sketches for the WoO 29 march. He also emphasises that Haydn scholars do not regard the main trio as a work by Haydn (Voss/NGA VI/1 pp. 368f)…”