Minuet for Orchestra, WoO 12 nr.1 in C (mp3)
In 1872 the librarian of the Vienna Kuenstler-Pensions- Institut discovered the handwritten orchestral parts of 12 Minuets, inscribed 'Del Sigr. Luigi de Beethoven 1799'. Soon these pieces were hailed as authentic music by Ludwig van Beethoven. Experts from all over the world praised the quality of these minuets, and noticed parallels with other Beethoven works. Kinsky-Halm numbered them as WoO 12 in their catalog published in 1955.
In 1977, when researching these minuets, Shin Kojima made a strange discovery. Holding the inscription 'Del Sigr. Luigi de Beethoven 1799' against the light, it was as if something else had been written beneath the name 'Luigi'. Originally there had been another name, and the other name turned out to be 'Carlo'. So, these minuets are by Ludwig's brother Carl van Beethoven!
But who was responsible for the forgery? Could it have been Ludwig? Could Ludwig have tried to appropriate the music of his brother Carl? Well, no. Further research showed that the ink used to change 'Carlo' into 'Luigi' was exactly the same ink with which the librarian of the Kuenstler-Pensions-Institut catalogued his discovery in 1872. (Cf. Jos van der Zanden, Beethoven, nieuwe onthullingen, ISBN 90 251 0703 6/CIP.)
Musically these 12 Minuets are just as fine as any other set of dance music (WoO 7, 8, 10, 13, 14) composed by brother Ludwig. It is clear that Carl had a real gift for melody; his understanding of harmony was state of the art for that period, while his orchestration, although on the thick side, has many subtle points, quite a few of which were unknown to Ludwig. Entertaining music, full of life, with many surprises, and highly unsuitable for obnoxious people.
WoO: 12