WoO 209 (previously Hess 33) – Minuetto in A flat major for string quartet.
Version for string quartet and piano reduction
The musical examples on this page are by Antonietta Cappelli, Graziano Denini, Francesco Gussago and Sebastiano Mazzoleni.
The original manuscript is in the Library of the Paris Conservatory (Max Unger, pages 106/161). [Unpublished, 71 characters]
Minuet in A-flat major for string quartet; 71 bars, unpublished. [The piece, SV 214, written about 1790 and 1792, was published under the title “Ein Menuett von L. van Beethoven für Streichquartett“, in «Beethoven-Jahrbuch», 1961/64, Beethoven-Haus, Bonn 1966, p. 85-6, with three pages of facsimiles, edited by Paul Mies. The Beethoven-Jahrbuch edition also contained the detached parts inserted into the back of the volume.] The autograph is at the Paris Conservatoire, classified as Beethoven Ms. 61. [Now located at the NL.] The piece is without the trio. [This piece also exists in the piano version cataloged at number 88. The normal structure for a minuet of this type is: Minuet, Trio, Minuet da capo. A. Willem Holsbergen writes: “In the Kafka Sketchbook, there is a trio (for piano) that has been identified as belonging to number 88 of the Hess catalog (thus forming a complete piece). It does not seem to be the trio of the string quartet version of the minuet, if it ever existed.” The movement for string quartet was also published by Hess in SBG, vol. VI, 1963, p. 50.]
WoO 209 (previously Hess 88) – Minuet, in A-flat major, for string quartet, piano reduction
Version for string quartet and piano reduction
Piano transcription of the Minuet in A flat major for string quartet, previously listed in no. 33 of this catalogue. The already mentioned Parisian manuscript also contains a piano version. [The Paris manuscript described is Beethoven’s Ms. 61 or SV 214, formerly at the Paris Conservatoire and now at the NL. According to Cooper, it was written between 1790 and 1792; cf. C/C, p. 274.] This draft, partially unpublished, seems to have been written before the original quartet version. [Published by Hess in SBG, vol. VIII, 1964, p. 14. A revised edition was produced by J. Zürcher in Musikforschung 19, 1966, p. 304 et seq. Mark Zimmer writes: “While Hess catalogs this piano minuet as a piano transcription, there is a “Mineur” for the piano version that apparently never existed in the string quartet version of this little dance. The “Mineur” is found in Kafka’s miscellany at the British Library in London, where it is specified that it is for the minuet in A-flat major“. In the early editions in SBG, vol. VIII, the “Mineur” was omitted, but was added to the end of the volume in the most recent editions.]
The manuscript preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, département Musique, MS-61
Title of the book jacket: “20 Manuscript of Beethoven // bought for A. G. Kurtz // by // Sir Julius Benedict from Madame Fäglichsbeck [sic] // October 1872”. – Contents: f. 1°, unidentified fragments (Fuga?); “Menuett” for piano, Hess 88; f. 1 v°: “Contrapunto all’ottava”, excerpt from Johann Mattheson, “Der vollkommene Capellmeister”, Hamburg: Chr. Herold, 1739, p. 423; f. 1° – 2°, Menuet for string quartet, Hess 33, in score; f. 2 v°, fragment in the score of a modulating passage from the First Movement of the Piano Concerto Hess 14 (1st version of op.19), not used in the final version.
At the beginning, autograph notes: “Elementarbuch z [ur] psichologie” and “Ordnung der geschäfte”. – Ms. autogr. and sketches written in ink. – Johnson, Tyson and Winter dating; taken from Max Unger: probably 1794. – Notebook made of music paper 12 double sheets of 6 x 185 mm per page (border: 6 mm). – Detached: A letter from Julius Benedict to A. G. Kurtz, Liverpool, 21 October 1872 (6 pp. 18 x 11 cm), bound with the manuscript; a letter from Johann Fischhof to Prince Constantine of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Vienna, 22 December 1844 (1 sheet, 41 x 26 cm), folded and glued to the lower counterplate; finally the copy of the two minuets by Charles Malherbe, on unbound loose sheet, at the rear.
Sir Julius Benedict, born in Stuttgart on the 27th of November 1804 and passing away in London on the 5th of June 1885, was a German-born composer who later became a British citizen. He was the son of a Jewish-origin banker and received his musical education under the guidance of Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Carl Maria von Weber. In 1823, he took on the role of maestro di cappella in Vienna, a position that marked the beginning of his illustrious career.
Two years later, at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, his first opera, titled “Giacinta ed Ernesto,” was performed, setting the stage for his future successes. His compositional journey continued with works such as “I portoghesi in Goa,” with a libretto by Vincenzo Torelli, which was staged in 1830 at the same theatre in Naples, featuring Adelaide Tosi and Luigi Lablache. In 1836, he presented “Un anno ed un giorno” at the Teatro del Fondo in Naples.
By 1838, Benedict was already a conductor in London, and it was then that he premiered his first opera in English, “The Gypsy’s Warning,” a piece that added a new melody to his career. His musical output expanded to include symphonies and concertos for the piano, showcasing his versatility and depth as a composer.
His most renowned work, “The Lily of Killarney,” was crafted on a libretto by John Oxenford and was performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1862, capturing the hearts of London audiences. Two years later, he composed the operetta “The Bride of Song,” with a libretto by Henry Brougham Farnie, which premiered at Covent Garden in 1864. Benedict also composed significant choral works: “St. Cecilia,” an oratorio performed at the Norwich Festival in 1868; “St. Peter,” presented at the Birmingham Festival in 1870; and “Graziella,” a cantata staged two years later, again in Birmingham. Throughout his career, he conducted all the Norwich Festivals from 1845 to 1878, leaving a lasting mark on the musical landscape of his time.
“WoO 209 is part of the project ‘Research Becomes Art’.”
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