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Hess 236 – Two‑part fugues on 30 themes given by Albrechtsberger (Fugarum themata ad semirestrictionem et restrictionem apta).

I) for two voices
The texts and documents on this page are edited by Luigi Bellofatto, the music by Gerd Prengel.

We indicate these fugues with the new numbering from the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn: 2 (for two-part fugue) followed immediately by the ordinal number of the fugue itself. Therefore, the fugue “Hess 236 2.03 Ronge page 78 original by Beethoven” should be understood as: Catalog number Hess 236, two-part fugue, third fugue, from the book Beethoven Kompositionsstudien by Julia Ronge, page 78 of the transcription and Beethoven’s original before Albrechsberger’s correction.

The two-part fugues on 30 themes given by Albrechtsberger (Fugarum themata ad semirestrictionem et restrictionem apta) (Hess 236) were reported by Nottebohm (Studien, pp. 73–88), who listed 18 of them, reproducing 11 in the book Beethoven Studien; another fugue in G major is reported by Seyfried, pp. 187–188. The modern reference source for these studies is…

BEETHOVEN WERKE
GESAMTAUSGABE BEGRÜNDET VON JOSEPH SCHMIDT-GÖRG HERAUSGEGEBEN VON BERNHARD R. APPEL IM AUFTRAG DES BEETHOVEN-ARCHIVS BONN

ABTEILUNG XIII • BAND 1 (IN DREI TEILEN)

Kompositionsstudien

bei Joseph Haydn, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger und. Antonio Salieri
G. HENLE VERLAG MÜNCHEN

BEETHOVEN

KOMPOSITIONSSTUDIEN

BEI JOSEPH HAYDN, JOHANN GEORG Albrechtsberger UND ANTONIO SALIERI
HERAUSGEGEBEN VON JULIA RONGE

1. TRANSKRIPTIONEN
2014

G. HENLE VERLAG MÜNCHEN

The manuscripts are preserved almost entirely in Vienna, at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, also known as the Musikverein. (Their location is A-Wgm. A 75 II, folios 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11.) These manuscripts may not be published or reproduced by third parties. The two-part fugues (of the 30 given themes, 19 will be used, specifically from the 2nd to the 19th and the 28th, preserved in Berlin, D-B, Mus. ms. autogr. Beethoven 28, folio 50 recto). The fugues are mostly in a more or less defined draft state. Where necessary, we will provide both Beethoven’s original version (with deleted variants), Albrechtsberger’s corrections, and the notes of the student and the teacher. The orchestration of the fugues is provided by Gerd Prengel.

Fugue for Albrechtsberger Hess 236.2-15
Autograph 28 Sheet 50 verso lines 1-6

Fugue for Albrechtsberger Hess 236-28
Autograph 28 – Sheet 50 recto (complete page)

Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (Klosterneuburg, 3 February 1736 – Vienna, 7 March 1809). He studied music at Melk Abbey and philosophy at a Benedictine seminary in Vienna, becoming one of the most cultured and skilled counterpointists of his time. After being engaged as organist at Rahab in 1755 and Maria Taferl in 1757, he was appointed Thurnermeister at Melk Abbey. In 1772 he was appointed organist at the court of Vienna, and in 1792 Kapellmeister of the Vienna Cathedral.

His fame as a theoretician brought him a few pupils, some of whom later became eminent musicians. These include Ludwig van Beethoven and Wolfgang Mozart. Beethoven had arrived in Vienna in 1792 to study with Joseph Haydn, but he was not satisfied with the lessons and studied harmony and counterpoint with Albrechtsberger.

His published compositions consist of preludes, fugues and sonatas for piano and organ, string quartets, and other composition but most of his works, vocal and instrumental, exist only in manuscript form.  They are in the library of the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Around 1765, he wrote at least seven concertos for harps and strings (three of which are still in good condition and are in the Hungarian National Library in Budapest). These are pretty and well-written works. Among his most noteworthy works is the Concerto for alto trombone and orchestra in B flat major. Since the trombone does not boast many compositions dedicated to it during the classical period, this concerto is held in high esteem by trombonists.

Perhaps the most important contribution he has made to music, however, is in his theoretical works. In 1790 he published a treatise on composition in Leipzig. A collection of his writings on harmony, in three volumes, was published by his pupil Ignaz von Seyfried (1776–1841) in 1826. His compositional style derives from the counterpoint of Johann Joseph Fux.

Albrechtsberger died in Vienna; his tomb is in St. Marx’s Cemetery.

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