BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Thursday, June 27, 1822 (approximately)

Having apparently reached an agreement to sell Leipzig publisher Carl F. Peters three songs with piano accompaniment and four military marches, Beethoven sets about getting these things into order for publication. The songs are still only sketches or continuity drafts, and will require significant work, but the marches (which date from roughly 1809 and 1810) were performed over a decade ago and are present in Beethoven’s trunks in full score. But on reviewing them, Beethoven seems to realize that Peters will not be happy with the fact that the Marches WoO 18 and 19, both in F major, do not have proper Trios, and thus are too short. As a result, at about this time Beethoven composes new Trios for these two marches, which result in the variants Hess 7 (WoO 18 with Trio) and Hess 9 (WoO 19 with Trio). This work apparently does not take him long at all, and Beethoven indicates that the marches are ready for Peters on July 6. Unlike the versions published in the Gesamtausgabe (WoO 18 and 19 proper), these versions also include the “Turkish elements” of piccolo, cymbals and triangle as Beethoven had promised in his letters. Beethoven may, however, not be telling Peters the truth about the marches being ready; as of November, 1822 he still will not have sent the scores of the marches to Leipzig.

Here is the rarely recorded WoO 18 complete with the freshly-added 1822 Trio, Hess 7, performed by Marek Štilec and Ensemble 18+

And here is the same group’s recording of WoO 19 with the 1822 Trio, Hess 9:

Both marches are courtesy of Naxos Music, to whom we were honored to provide score materials used in the creation of their excellent 2020 “Beethoven Complete Edition” box.