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Unv. 16 Overture to a “Macbeth” by H.J. Collin; unfinished work. (Previously Biamonti 454)

(Landsberg 10 Skizzenbuch seite 133 )

Unv. 16 – Biamonti 454. Macbeth, notes for an opera based on a libretto by Collin, drawn from Shakespeare’s tragedy, 1808 (no later than late autumn).

As reported by Nottebohm (Vol. II, pp. 225–227), in 1808—or possibly even earlier—Beethoven had come to an agreement with H. J. von Collin regarding a libretto based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The poet completed the first act, which was published in the Wiener-Hof-Theater-Taschenbuch for 1809, but the libretto progressed no further than halfway through the next act. According to a note added by Collin’s brother, Matteo von Collin, in the collected edition of the poet’s works, the opera was abandoned because it “threatened to become too gruesome.”

A sheet preserved in the Royal Library in Berlin contains a musical sketch, reproduced by Nottebohm, which can only refer to the witches’ chorus that opens Collin’s libretto. This sketch is immediately followed by drafts for the Largo of the Piano Trio in D major, Op. 70 No. 1.

The stage direction for the witches’ chorus reads as follows:
“(Waldige Gebirgsgend. Die ganze Bühne erfullt sich mit Wolken. Die Hexen kommen auf Adlern, Greifen in der Luft geflogen).” Act One (mountainous wooded region. The entire stage fills with clouds. The witches arrive flying on eagles and griffins).

First Witch: Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.

Second Witch: Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.

Third Witch: Harpier cries:—’tis time! ’tis time!

First Witch: Round about the cauldron go; In the poison’d entrails throw.— Toad, that under cold stone, Days and nights has thirty-one Swelter’d venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot.

ALL: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble.

The proximity, contemporaneity, and identical key of the sketch with those immediately following for the Largo of the Trio “lead one to suppose,” says Nottebohm, “an association of states of mind. Whether Beethoven, through an earlier reading of the libretto and the thought of Shakespeare’s terrifying drama, was led to the ghostly tone of the Trio’s Largo—or vice versa—is difficult to determine.”

On a second sheet containing sketches for The Ruins of Athens, the following note appears:
“Ouverture Macbeth fällt gleich in den Chor der Hexen ein.”

Sketched between 1808 and 1811. The only existing drafts for the opera Macbeth appear on a sheet that belongs to the Pastoral Symphony and dates back to 1808. According to a short notice in the Fliegenden Blättern aus dem Portefeuille eines Reisenden im Junius und Julius 1808 (in the Journal des Luxus und der Moden, page 705), that year Beethoven set aside Macbeth in favour of a planned staging of Goethe’s Faust:
„Die Oper, zu welcher Herr Collin das Sujet bearbeiten sollte, componiret er nun nicht.“
(“He is no longer composing the opera for which Herr Collin was to develop the subject.”)

However, it seems that the project was not entirely abandoned. At the beginning of the Petter sketchbook, there is the following note:
“Ouverture Macbeths fällt gleich in den Chor der Hexen ein”
The Petter sketchbook likely dates from September 1811. Beethoven brought it with him to Teplitz, where he spent the summer. The news that the librettist Heinrich Joseph Edler von Collin (1771–1811) had died on 28 July of that year, and thus could not complete his libretto, evidently never reached him. Still, Collin had not worked on the text for quite some time. His brother Matthäus von Collin gave the reason for this in 1813:
„Macbeth, den er [Heinrich] gleichfalls für Beethoven nach Shakespeare zu dichten unternahm, ward in der Mitte des zweyten Actes unvollendet liegen gelassen, weil er zu düster zu werden drohte“
(“Macbeth, which [Heinrich] likewise undertook to write for Beethoven from Shakespeare, was left unfinished halfway through the second act because it threatened to become too dark.”) (Collin / Biographie, p. 422f)

Heinrich Joseph von Collin (Vienna, 26 dicembre 1771 – Vienna, 28 luglio 1811) (Litografia Proprietà di Armando Orlandi(

In his Memories, the actor Heinrich Anschütz recounted a conversation he had with Beethoven in the summer of 1822 about the musical setting of Macbeth. However, this did not concern the operatic project from 1808, but rather incidental music for Shakespeare’s tragedy:

„Eines Tages begleitete ich ihn [Beethoven] eine Strecke. Wir sprachen über Kunst, Musik und endlich über Lear und Macbeth. Wie zufällig warf ich die Bemerkung hin, daß mich schon öfter der Gedanke beschäftigt habe, ob er nicht als Seitenstück zur Egmont Musik den Macbeth musikalisch illustriren sollte? Der Gedanke schien ihn zu elektrisirert blieb wie angewurzelt stehen, sah mich mit einem durchdringenden, fast dämonischen Blicke an und erwiderte hastig: ,Ich habe mich auch schon damit beschäftigt. Die Hexen, die Mordscene das Geistermahl, die Kesselerscheinungen, die Nachtwandlerscene, Macbeth’s Todesraserei Es war im höchsten Grade interessant, seinem Mienenspiele zu folgen, in welchem sich die blindschnellen Gedanken jagten. In wenigen Minuten hatte sein Genius das ganze Trauerspiel duruchgearbeitet. Bei der nächsten Frage, die ich an ihn richtete, drehte er sich um und rannte einer flüchtigen Begrüßung davon. Leider aber war einer stürmischen Erregung nicht die Thragefolgt. Als ich nach einiger Zeit das Thema noch einmal berührte, fand ich ihn verdrießlich und schwieg.“
(Heinrich Anschütz, Erinnerungen aus dessen Leben und Wirken, Vienna 1866, p. 269)

Heinrich Joseph Edler von Collin’s Macbeth (1771–1811) was based on Shakespeare, but according to Dieter Martin, it is more likely that Collin had begun composing an opera based on this subject. In 1807, Collin had published a programmatic essay „Sul dramma cantato“, in which he called for a fusion of drama and opera. In Collin’s Macbeth, Martin suspects the attempt „den Versuch, ‚die deutsche Librettistik durch die musikdramatische tion einer Shakespeare-Tragödie zu fördern und damit einen nicht etablierten Opertypus in deutsche Musiktheater einzuführen’“ (Martin/Shakespeare, p. 10).

However, Collin failed in his programme. He did not complete the libretto but broke off halfway through the second act. The completed first act appeared in the Wiener Hof-Theater-Taschenbuch for 1809 (pp. 87–109). An anonymous reviewer of this publication found the plot “dark and horrible,” and also wrote: „Eine Handlung von solcher Beschaffenhet kann nicht der Stoff des Singspieles seyn“ (Review of the Vienna Court Theatre 1809, in: Annalen der Literatur und Kunst 2, 1809, p. 123, cited by Martin/Shakespeare p. 13).

(1) D-B, Mus. SM. autogr. Beethoven Landsberg 10, p. 133. Belonging to the Pastoral sketchbook (GB-Lbl, Add. Ms. 31766). Dated: 1808
(2) D-BNba, Coll. H. C. Bodmer, HCB Mh 59 („Petter“), folio 9verso, September 1811, facsimile: DBH

(see below)

Unv. 16 Overture to a “Macbeth” by H. J. Collin; unfinished work. (Previously Biamonti 454)

Sketches written for the concert held in November 2002 in Rennes (F) and for other circumstances

Programmatic Notes on Beethoven’s Macbeth Overture

Biamonti 454 (1808/11)

Shortly after the premiere of the Macbeth overture in Washington in 2001, an article appeared in the online version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica stating: “The desire of classical music enthusiasts for Beethoven’s music remains insatiable; and this desire is heightened by the knowledge that many of his compositions never saw the light of day.” This observation compels us to reflect: What is it about Beethoven’s music that provokes such enduring fascination? Why do scholars and musicologists dedicate themselves to the study of fragmentary sketches and drafts? The answer lies in Beethoven himself and his music: he wrestled with fate — not only his own, but that of humanity at large. His struggle — one of the great epic poems of the modern world — is embodied in a succession of powerful works that, in their humanity and unmediated immediacy, have never been equalled.

Through his personal battle, Beethoven became one of humanity’s heroes, and through his triumph, he was — and remains — one of its prophets. This is why scholars pursue unfinished works, seeking possibilities of completion. Musicologists and composers who, through their efforts, have shed new light on Beethoven’s genius are themselves musical heroes of the modern age. In expanding our understanding of Beethoven, they have broadened our understanding of ourselves. Against the skepticism of closed minds and at the risk of ridicule, they have liberated these works from silence; from our side, the only fitting response is sincere gratitude.

The sketches for Macbeth are essentially grouped into three collections. One page of sketches, preserved in the Beethoven-Haus, bears the inscription: “introduction… Macbeth suddenly joins the witches’ chorus.” Another notebook, held by the British Library, contains sketches for Macbeth alongside a trio entitled “Geist.” Some scholars, including Gustav Nottebohm — the most eminent Beethoven scholar of the nineteenth century — believed that the trio sketches directly relate to the witches’ chorus in Macbeth. A third sheet of sketches, preserved in Berlin, contains stage directions and outlines the introduction. The version featured on this recording, based on these sketches, was completed in 2000 by Albert Willem Holsbergen and is dedicated to Avishai Kallai, an Israeli musicologist.

The Introduction is a miniature version of the opera’s dramatic action. It begins — as does Shakespeare’s drama and Collin’s libretto — with thematic material representing the “witches’ chorus.” This is followed by the thematic exposition defining the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Macduff and his troops are evoked through a musical depiction of the battle in which “Birnham wood” moves to attack Dunsinane Hill. The material of the witches’ chorus then returns. Holsbergen writes, “I like to imagine a listener familiar with Shakespeare’s drama who, upon hearing this work for the first time, perceives that it has been written solely for Macbeth, and no other drama.”

Preliminary Draft of CD Article: Macbeth Overture

The Macbeth Overture, Biamonti 454: from the virtual to the real.

When, in the spring of 2000, Willem Holsbergen shared with me the definitive reconstruction of the Macbeth overture, Biamonti 454, we had many reasons to feel satisfied. Not only was the website www.unheardbeethoven.org receiving countless monthly visitors, but for the first time a work of considerable intellectual depth had been completed. Both the sketches—of remarkable quality—and the reconstruction appeared to us as the most ambitious project attempted up to that point. The MIDI file was uploaded in the site’s summer update of the same year, yet it took a long time before the work took on the tangible form of a public performance.

The opportunity arose from a meeting between James Green, Mark Zimmer, and the renowned conductor Leonard Slatkin, music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, in the spring of 2001. From this fruitful encounter came the world premiere of the overture at the Kennedy Center in Washington on 20 September 2001. Unfortunately, due to a tragic coincidence, this concert was overshadowed by far more momentous events that shook the world at that time. Although the newly unveiled overture was met with warm applause, reflection focused more on the meaning of the word “life” than on the meaning of “art.”

The second public performance took place in a decidedly different atmosphere, in the charming city of Rennes, Brittany. The European premiere was entrusted to the vigorous baton of Stefan Sanderling, conductor of the Orchestre de Bretagne. On 29 November 2002, at the Opera de Rennes, as the second part of a concert-recital by Fazil Say, the overture filled for the first time that Europe Beethoven so cherished. People and artists divided by an ocean met for the first time on that occasion; what distance divides, art unites.

This recording edition is the fruit of the passion and dedication of conductor Roberto Diem Tigani. Roberto honoured us by conducting the overture’s first performance on Italian soil on 9 December 2003, leading the Orchestra Sinfonica Teatro e/o Musica di Sassari at the Sala Concerti “Pietro Sassu.” This concert demonstrated, if ever it were necessary, the sensitivity with which Inedita embraces new musical propositions.

Conceived in 1808 and never completed, the overture has been given new life and brought to completion through the work and love of all these artists. This recording marks the first great step toward the work’s consecration. The final words, therefore, belong to Macbeth himself, and seem addressed to those who, with dedication and passion for research, always feel they have only just begun their journey in Art: “My strange illusion is the fear of the initiate, who needs rigorous practice. We are still novices in the work.”

The overture “Macbeth” Unv. 16 is part of the project “Research becomes Art”

A New Life for the Unknown Works of Ludwig van Beethoven: An Artistic Exploration by Ensemble Accademia Ducale. Musical adaptation by Giovanni Claudio Traversi

Macbeth Overture premiered on 14 September 2022 in Potenza, at the Teatro F. Stabile.
The reduction for instrumental ensemble, by Giovanni Claudio Traversi, was based on the version by Roberto Diem Tigani, composer and conductor, who in turn worked on the version by Albert Willem Holsbergen. The concert, sponsored by the Municipality of Potenza, was part of the concert season I nuovi fiori dell’Accademia, which has received recognition from the Ministry of Culture – General Directorate for Performing Arts for the 2022–2024 triennium.

ENSEMBLE ACCADEMIA DUCALE
Michele Fiore, flute
Maria March Vazquez, oboe
Erminia Nigro, clarinet
Marco Coviello, bassoon
Antonio Fracchiolla, horn
Fabio Macchia, timpani
Francesca Cicolecchia*, violin I
Mirko Palmieri, violin I
Michele Barbieri, violin I
Ludovica Del Bagno*, violin II
Davide Moro, violin II
Maria Grazia D’Agostino, violin II
Carmine Caniani*, viola
Rosalba Potenza, viola
Vito Stano*, cello
Vincenzo Lioy, cello
Giuseppe D’Amico, double bass

CONDUCTOR
Simone Genuini

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