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New Beethoven work identified
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 25 October 2012
A University Of Manchester professor has said that notes in a sketchbook that belonged to Ludwig van Beethoven represent a previously unknown piece of work by the composer.
It’s previously been thought that the notes related to a known Beethoven piece, but Professor Barry Cooper says that the score actually represents an adaptation by the composer of an existing hymn, the Gregorian chant ‘Pange Lingua’. Cooper recognised the basic tune that Beethoven had reworked.
Cooper told the BBC: “When I looked at it, I thought, hey, that’s not just a series of notes, that’s a hymn tune with Beethoven’s harmony. It seems that people who are experts in plainsong [Catholic chants] don’t look at Beethoven sketches very much, and people who are experts in Beethoven sketches don’t look at plainsong very much. But I happened to know both”.
Noting that the work was unusual for Beethoven, Cooper added “to find him writing simple functional music for an ordinary church service is extraordinary”. It’s been speculated the adaptation was made for the service where Beethoven’s patron Archduke Rudolph Of Austria was made Archbishop Of Olmutz in 1820.
The new found Beethoven hymn will be performed later today at the University Of Manchester.
