Our Purpose
Why does the Beethoven Music Research Center (C.R.M.B.) exist?
Founded in 2002, renovated in late 2016, and constantly updated, the site has a simple ambitious aim: to make Ludwig van Beethoven’s entire musical output accessible to all visitors—enthusiasts, students, or scholars.
To achieve this goal, we work on several levels:
Drawing upon a contemporary system of cataloguing, made possible by the publication of the Ludwig van Beethoven: Thematisch-bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis, edited by Kurt Dorfmüller, Norbert Gertsch, and Julia Ronge in collaboration with Gertraut Haberkamp and the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn (Henle Verlag, 2014; ISBN 978-3-87328-153-0), this revised and substantially expanded edition of the 1951 Kinsky/Halm catalogue represents a significant advancement in Beethoven scholarship. It duly incorporates and critically engages with earlier foundational sources, ranging from Gustav Nottebohm and Alexander Wheelock Thayer to Wilhelm von Lenz and Antonio Bruers
We intend to leave no catalogue of the Master from Bonn unexamined: Opus numbers, WoO (Works without Opus number), WoO Anhang, Hess, Hess Anhang, the newly introduced UNV, Biamonti, as well as works without official numbering, fragments, sketches, spurious and doubtful compositions, and the entire parallel corpus of works that emerged after Beethoven’s death
Through the newly established section Research Becomes Art—curated by the Beethoven Music Research Center (www.lvbeethoven.org)—we are honored to collaborate with distinguished pianists such as Antonietta Cappelli, Francesco Gussago, Sebastiano Mazzoleni, Diego Moccia, and Emanuele Stracchi. Together, we aim to explore not only the most hidden folds of Beethoven’s compositional output, but also those works that orbit around his artistic legacy. This initiative seeks to bridge rigorous scholarly inquiry with interpretative artistry, offering fresh perspectives on both canonical and peripheral repertoire.
By providing a detailed description of Beethoven’s works, beginning with the Biamonti Catalogue – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven: comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati (Chronological and Thematic Catalogue of Beethoven’s Works: Including Unpublished Works and Unused Sketches) by Giovanni Biamonti (I.L.T.E., Turin, 1968), we draw upon a resource that, for over fifty years, has served as a benchmark for scholars devoted to Beethoven’s oeuvre.
Its scholarly depth, completeness, and refined prose have established its cultural authority to such an extent that only the aforementioned Dorfmüller-Gertsch-Ronge catalogue may now be considered its equal. Regrettably, this volume— in a place of honor in any serious Beethovenian library—is today difficult to find. We have therefore taken the Biamonti catalogue as our foundation, increasing it with new discoveries and corrections sorted up over recent years.
Fortunately, Beethoven research has made significant strides in recent decades, particularly in terms of source accuracy and availability. Wherever possible, we will include photographs of original sketches, manuscripts, and first editions. We have also embraced the genre-based classification of works, following the updated divisions recommended by the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn.
Through the publication of dedicated scholarly articles addressing these topics and the events connected to the site—ranging from the world premiere of the Trio Anhang 3, the six Quartets Anhang 2, and the Fantasy Biamonti 213, to the restoration of Beethoven’s pendulum clock, which I had the honor of executing in 2011—this section of the site continues to grow.
It offers visitors the opportunity to rediscover lesser-known or unjustly neglected aspects of the Beethovenian universe. Within this space, contributors are also welcome to share their own research, not necessarily focused on Beethoven’s compositional output, but formally related to his life and artistic career.
For the first time on the web, one may read and listen to the rare Blumenlese and Neue Blumenlese für Klavierliebhaber (1782/1785–1787), as well as the Ludwig van Beethoven’s Studien im Generalbasse, Contrapuncte und in der Compositions-Lehre by Ignaz von Seyfried, complete with over 400 musical examples, all available for listening.
Of particular interest are also the articles by French musicologist Michel Rouch, a collaborator of the C.R.M.B., and the two-part study Beethoven and the Art of Horology – The Watches of Beethoven, published in Bonner Beethoven-Studien, Volumes 9 and 11 (2011 & 2014), authored by Luigi Bellofatto (Bovisio Masciago) and Armando Orlandi (San Biagio di Valpolcevera – Genoa): Beethoven and the Art of Horology. The Watches of Beethoven, Tobias Haslinger and Alexander W. Thayer, Part 1: The Watches Belonging to Beethoven and Part 2: Addenda & Corrigenda.
The website also offers an extensive Bibliography —arguably the most comprehensive available online—comprising over 420 volumes, representing nearly the entirety of Italian-language publications on Beethoven and continously udapted. This list is includes by a section of books and scores available online, from the private collections of the site’s collaborators, and made freely downloadable for the first time.
In addition, through a monumental effort, we have digitized the historic yet enduringly relevant Gesamtausgabe, the complete edition of Beethoven’s works published between 1862 and 1888, including its supplements, now accessible in PDF format. The site also features the Beethoven Breviary, curated by the late Dr. Prof. Carlo Alberto Pagni—a precious anthology of anecdotes, quotations, and letters that illuminate the human and artistic dimensions of Beethoven.
Armando Orlandi