Beethovens Orchestermusik und Konzerte: Das Handbuch ed. by Oliver Korte, Albrecht Riethmüller (review)

Abstract

Orchestermusik und Konzerte: Das Handbuch. Edited by Oliver Korte and Albrecht Rieth- muller. (Das Beethoven-Handbuch, vol. 1.) Laaber: Laaber-Verlag, 2013. [582 p. ISBN 9783890074719. euro98.] Music examples, illustrations, bibliog- raphy, indexes.Beethovens Orchestermusik und Konzerte is first volume in a six-volume set of books that publisher's Web site claims is the most comprehensive Beethoven-Panorama of all time. Laaber's impressive publishing program includes in their Handbuch series recently complete, or in progress, multivol- ume musical lexica devoted to com- posers Mozart, Handel, and Bach, a double- volume of which was previously reviewed by this reviewer in this journal (Notes 71, no. 1 [September 2014]). Three other volumes of six-volume Beethoven-Handbuch are, like this one, devoted to specific subsec- tions of oeuvre: piano music (vol. 2), chamber music (vol. 3), and the- atrical and vocal music (vol. 4), while final two volumes deal with composer's world (Beethovens Welt, vol. 5, still in prepa- ration), and a broad range of reference topics {Das Beethoven-Lexikon, vol. 6).In outline, at least, organization for this collection of books parallels other composer Handbuch series from this pub- lisher. Orchestermusik itself is arranged in twenty-two unnumbered chap- ters, fifteen of which deal with specific pieces, individually or in groups, and seven of which deal with topics that more gener- ally relate to orchestral music as a whole. As examples, fourth (pp. 107- 16), fifth (pp. 117-29), and sixth (pp. ISO- 46) symphonies each have a chapter written by Larissa W. Kirillina, and ninth sym- phony has its own chapter (pp. 279-318) by Frederic Dohl, while five piano concer- tos share a chapter (pp. 350-92) by Birger Petersen, and violin concerto and ro- mances together with triple concerto share a chapter (pp. 393-415) by Frederik Knop. Examples of chapters that deal with topics spanning orchestral repertoire include Beethoven as Conductor, his Musicians, and Organization of his Akademie Concerts (pp. 95-106; Beetho- ven als Dirigent, seine Musiker und die Organisation seiner Akademien; transla- tions throughout this review are my own) by Friederike Wismann; Beethoven's Sym- phonies: Printing, Marketing, Distribution (pp. 216-32; Beethovens Sinfonien: Druck, Vertrieb, Distribution) by Julia Ronge; and Social Numbers and Particu- larities of Orchestra in Vienna in Time of Early (pp. 319-49; Soziale Chiffren und Wiener Besonder- heiten des Orchesters zur Zeit des fruhen Beethoven) by Oliver Vogel. The book includes fifty pages of source readings (pp. 481-530) by an eclectic range of fig- ures: Hector Berlioz, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Hans von Bulow, Ferruccio Busoni, Claude Debussy, Wilhelm Furt- wangler, Franz Liszt, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Andre Previn, Elly Ney, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Richard Wagner, and an Anhang (or appendix) that includes a bibliography of works cited; a brief catalog of orchestral music; indexes of personal names, of works, and of works by other composers; and biograph- ical sketches of fifteen contributors.While sheer quantity of shelf space inhabited by a six-volume series could im- ply a sense of completeness, it becomes clear, glancing at bibliography of volume under review, or any other recent bibliography of materials dealing with Beethoven, that only a small fraction of what has been written, even of most im- portant work, can possibly be reflected here. A text on back cover suggests editorial goal for this volume: Orchestermusik describes performance and reception conditions and shows context of period of creation of these works (beschreibt ihre Auffuhrungs- und Rezeptionsbedingungen und zeigt den Kontext ihrer Entstehungszeit auf). This book falls into a category somewhere be- tween a single-volume composer reference and a detailed monograph of an individual work. …