WoO 16b – Hess Anhang 5, 12 Waltzes for small orchestra.
Two flutes, two horns (ad libitum) and strings.
The musical examples and texts on this page are curated by Graziano Denini and Luigi Domenico Bellofatto.
WoO 16b – Hess Anhang 5, 12 Waltzes for small orchestra. Two flutes, two horns (ad libitum) and strings.
On 21 March 1807, an advertisement appeared in the Wiener Zeitung, published by J. Traeg, concerning 12 Scottish Dances and 12 Waltzes by Beethoven, for two violins and double bass, with two flutes and two horns ad libitum, arranged from other works. These editions are today unobtainable, but the 12 Waltzes have been in the Haslinger-Rudolfinischen Sammlung mentioned above and, taken as a whole, refer back to well-known music by Beethoven. The first two pieces presented are rather naïve simplifications (the first derived from the scherzo of Symphony No. 2 and the second from the minuet of Symphony No. 1). It seems implausible that Beethoven himself should have produced such simplified versions of his own works. On the other hand, Beethoven himself confirms, with his signature at the beginning of the first volume, that all the works in the Haslinger-Rudolfinischen Sammlung are his original creations. We are therefore faced with a genuine enigma.
Contrary to what is maintained for WoO 16 by Kinsky/Halm, there is no reason to identify the Scottish dances listed as no. 3 in the present catalogue with the twelve pieces mentioned by Traeg and now lost. We know that no Scottish dance would have been composed by the master before 1810 (it was common practice at the time of Beethoven for some music publishers also to act as distributors and retailers of editions issued by other publishers). Even if the advertisement may have stated something like “available from J. Traeg”, we have no certainty that he was in fact the publisher of these pieces. An edition of the twelve Scottish dances was published by Rudolph Werckmeister in Berlin in 1806 and was rediscovered in the Netherlands by W. M. Duits in Oudewater. This edition is now held at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn. Martin Staehelin, in Beethovens’ Ecossaisen WoO 16 wiedergefunden, «Beethoven-Jahrbuch», X, Verlag des Beethovenhauses, Bonn, 1983, pp. 313–18, identified many of the thematic sources of the Scottish dances in well-known works by Beethoven. The first two pieces are in fact adaptations of thematic material drawn from Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2. He reiterates the opinion of Shin A. Kojima, according to which “non siamo di fronte alle edizioni della casa editrice di Traeg a Vienna, quanto piuttosto ai prodotti di … Rudolph Werckmeister di Berlino”. Hess’s assertion that “we know that no Scottish dance was composed by the master before 1810” may well be true, but today we also know that Scottish dances appeared under Beethoven’s name before 1810. Whether Beethoven wrote them or not remains a mystery.
Instrumentation: 2 flutes ad libitum, 2 horns ad libitum, first and second violins, basses.
The origin and history of the “Ecossaises WoO 16a and the Waltzes WoO 16b” are mysterious owing to the lack of sources; they are in fact extremely rare works, of which (in the case of WoO 16a) even the orchestral parts are unknown. To “track them down”, the co-authors traced the advertisements relating to these pieces in contemporary newspapers. These are reproduced below:
The first edition bearing Beethoven’s name was published by Werckmeister in Berlin in 1806.
Announcement of the publication of WoO 16 in the Wiener Zeitung 21 March 1807
Page from the catalogue of Beethoven’s works published by Artaria in 1828
Table drawn up by Shin Kojima (Beethoven-Kongress, 1977)
The first advertisements for the Ecossaises WoO 16a and the Waltzes WoO 16b appeared together in the supplement to no. 101 of the Hamburgischen Correspondenten of 25 June 1806: „Neue Musikalien, welche seit dem Januar d. J. bey Rudolph Werckmeister in Berlin erschienen sind […]: L. van Beethoven, 12 Walzer für 2 V und Baß (2 Flöten und 2 Hörner ad libitum.) 1 Rthlr. — Von demselben: 12 Ecossaisen für dieselben Instrumente. 12 Gr. — Beyde Tanz-Werke im Clavier Auszuge zu 16 Gr. und 8 Gr.“
The same advertisements appeared in the Reichsanzeiger on 9 July 1806.
On 21 March 1807, the Wiener Zeitung published an advertisement by Johann Traeg und Sohn announcing: „folgende neue Musikalien zu haben […] Beethoven. 12 Eccossaises p. 2 V. & B. (2 Fl. & 2 Cors ad lib.) 1 fl. 12 kr. — 12 detto p. le Clav. 36 kr. — 12 Walses p. 2 V. & B. (2 Fl. & 2 Cors ad lib.) 2 fl. 24 kr. — 12 detti p. le Clav.“
Repeated on 25 March 1807.
Also published in the journal Intelligenzblatt zur AmZ in January and February 1808 under the heading
„Neue Musikalien von verschiedenen Verlegern, welche bey Breitkopf u. Härtel zu haben sind“.
The advertisement citing Beethoven for the „12 Eccossaises p. le Pianf. 6 gr. “and „12 Walses p. le Pianof. 12 gr. “appeared in AmZ 10, 1807/08, Intelligenzblatt 6, February 1808, p. 28.
In the catalogue of Beethoven’s works published by the copyist Schlemmer in 1807 (A-Wst, MH 10 833; see Kojima / Authentizität p. 307), the dances are also listed with the publisher given as Berlin.
In 1808 the publisher Werckmeister was experiencing financial difficulties, and in October 1809 he offered his publishing and commercial stock for sale on favourable terms, presenting it in a printed sales catalogue (Elvers / Werckmeister). The catalogue opens with his own publishing titles, including Beethoven’s Ecossaises and Waltzes of 1806: the Ecossaises with 35 copies of the orchestral edition and 25 copies of the reduced score; the Waltzes with 42 orchestral copies and 20 copies of the piano reduction.
Traeg’s advertisement of 21 March 1807 may be interpreted as long-distance advertising for Werckmeister’s editions. Alexander Weinmann likewise records no divergence from Traeg and describes the repetition of the advertisement of 25 March 1807 (he did not take the first advertisement into account) as a simple “interval” (Weinmann / Traeg p. 45). For Alexander W. Thayer, Kinsky / Halm and Willy Hess, on the other hand, it made sense to regard Traeg’s advertisements as his own, since Werckmeister’s advertisements and editions were unknown to them (Thayer / 1865 p. 73 no. 136; Hess 3 and Hess Anhang 5). In any case, it cannot be entirely ruled out that Traeg, alongside Werckmeister, also issued his own editions of the dances.
Thus, the only reference to these waltzes is the advertising of the two editions of 1806 by Rudolph Werckmeister of Berlin. Copies of this edition have not yet been traced. However, in volume 15a of the Haslinger-Rudolphinische Sammlung (A-Wgm) there exist twelve waltzes for two flutes, two horns (ad libitum) and strings (and in a reduction for two violins and bass), bearing Beethoven’s name, derived from themes from symphonies and piano works and which, according to Shin Augustinus Kojima, are the pieces published by Werckmeister (see Kojima / Authenticity). This publication is the source for the present page.
Alexander W. Thayer, who presumably knew the copy in the Haslinger-Rudolphinische collection, observed that the twelve waltzes are „keine originellen Stücke, sondern Scherzos aus Symphonien und Sonaten sind“(“not original pieces, but scherzos from symphonies and sonatas”) (Thayer / 1865 p. 73 no. 136). The thematic sources of these waltzes have been identified: Waltz No. 1, Op. 36, Scherzo and Trio; Waltz No. 2: Op. 21 / III; Waltz No. 3: Op. 26 / I and II; Waltz No. 4: Op. 49 No. 2 / II; Waltz No. 5: Op. 33 No. 3, Op. 2 No. 1 / III; Waltz No. 7: Op. 14 No. 1 / II; Waltz No. 8: Op. 14 No. 2 / III.
WoO 16b – Hess Anhang 5 12 Waltzes for orchestra.
General notes, by Graziano Denini.
In the original source the order of the wind instruments is the two horns (on a single stave), the two flutes (on two separate staves), followed by the strings (without double basses). For convenience, we have placed the flutes above the horns.
In the Flute I part, where it doubles the First Violins, slurs are missing that are present in the Violin I part; I have therefore added them in dashed form so that each performer may decide whether to use them. Naturally, I have also added them, again dashed, to Flute II where it coincides with Flute I.
Waltz No. 4
The horns in D should have two flats in the key signature; these are not indicated in the score, but in our transcription, we have, of course, added them. At the beginning of the waltz, the First Violins should have a slur between G and F, as found in bar 16; the same applies in bar 4 of the Trio. In bar 5 of the First Violins, the score places the slur between the two Fs, but in my view, it should be between F and G, as at the beginning of the waltz. In bar 14, First Violins, the slur is missing. In bar 20, First Violins, the slur between F and G is missing in the score. In bar 5 of the Trio, the flutes lack the slurs that appear in the first bar; the same applies in bar 13.
Waltz No. 7
In bars 1–2 and 5–6 of the First Violins there are trills that do not appear in the Flute I part, which doubles the violin line at the octave; I have preferred not to add them and to leave the flute part without them.
Waltz No. 9
The only changes I have made concern the Trio: in bar 5 of the second repeat, I added a slur to the basses to match bar 5 of the first repeat. In bars 5 and 6 I modified the slurs in the Second Violins to make them identical to those in the first repeat. In bar 6 of the first repeat, in the First Violins, I added a short staccato (wedge) to the A in the third beat so that it corresponds to the A in bar 6 of the second repeat.
Waltz No. 10
The only small change is found in the upbeat to bars 1 and 5 (bar 4, third beat) of the Trio in the First Violins, where I added slurs to make them consistent with the upbeat to bar 5 of the second section (bar 4, third beat).
Waltz No. 11
In bar 4 of the first repeat of the Waltz, the First Violins have a slur that is absent in the Flute I part; I have added it in dashed form so that each performer may interpret it as preferred. In this waltz there are also some errors: in bar 2 of the first repeat of the Trio, Flute I has E-flat–C–E-flat–C–A, whereas it should be E-flat–C–E-flat–B-flat–A, as in the First Violins. More difficult is the problem of the upbeat at the beginning of the second section of the Trio, where Flute I plays A–F while the First Violins play A–B-flat; in the absence of other evidence, I have opted for the First Violin version, adding the slur as in the flute part.