Beethoven: from Für Elise to the Ninth Symphony

About Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven was baptised in Bonn on 17 December 1770; the family home in the Bonngasse is now the Beethoven-Haus museum. His father Johann, a tenor, taught him harshly, and he later studied with the court organist Christian Gottlob Neefe. In 1792 he moved to Vienna, where he took counterpoint lessons with Haydn and also studied with Johann Albrechtsberger and Antonio Salieri. His patrons included Prince Karl Lichnowsky, Prince Lobkowitz, Archduke Rudolf and Prince Kinsky; Rudolf, Kinsky and Lobkowitz eventually guaranteed him an annual pension.

Hearing loss began around 1798. In 1802, at Heiligenstadt, he wrote the letter to his brothers now known as the Heiligenstadt Testament, recording thoughts of suicide and his resolve to keep composing. He was never completely deaf, but he used conversation books from 1818. The heroic middle period produced the Eroica, the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, the Violin Concerto and the Emperor Concerto. Fidelio, his only opera, was first staged in 1805 and revised repeatedly. The Missa solemnis was completed in 1823, and the Ninth Symphony had its premiere in 1824; the late string quartets followed. He died in Vienna on 26 March 1827.

The catalogue holds 302 Beethoven scores, all public domain, with 51 lyrics-bearing entries and 1,250,304 notated notes across roughly 1,859 minutes. The difficulty spread is the widest of any composer here: 180 entries at complexity index 0, 48 at index 1, 38 at index 2 and 36 at index 3. The most-viewed titles are predominantly piano reductions of orchestral movements and well-known short pieces, which makes the collection useful to a pianist who wants to play familiar music without a full orchestra.

Listening and playing notes

These scores fall into two groups. The piano reductions of symphonies need orchestral thinking at the keyboard: clear voicing, a firm bass line and a sense of timbre behind each theme. The original piano works need the opposite — intimacy, rubato and careful pedal. Für Elise and the Moonlight first movement are easy to play badly by rushing; keep the left-hand arpeggios even and let the melody float. The choral finale of the Ninth is a reduction, so balance voices against the piano rather than trying to imitate an orchestra.

Selected scores

1. Beethoven Symphony No. 5 (1st Movement) Piano Solo

   The most-viewed score in the collection, a piano reduction of the movement built on the four-note motif.

2. Moonlight Sonata (Jazz Lead Sheet)

   A jazz lead-sheet treatment of the first movement of the Piano Sonata No. 14, the second most-viewed item.

3. Für Elise (Bagatelle No. 25, WoO 59)

   The bagatelle in A minor, among the most familiar piano pieces ever written.

4. Beethoven Symphony No. 7 (2nd Movement) Piano Solo

   The Allegretto of the Seventh, a movement famous for its steady, ostinato pulse.

5. Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (4th Movement) Piano Solo with Chorus

   The choral finale with the Ode to Joy, reduced for piano and voices.

6. Piano Sonata No. 14 – “Moonlight”

   The full sonata in a conventional piano edition, alongside the jazz lead sheet.

7. Beethoven Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral" (1st Movement) Piano Solo

   The opening movement of the Pastoral Symphony in piano reduction.

8. Minuet in G (Solo Violin)

   A short, widely taught piece, here in a solo violin arrangement.