Eleven Dances for orchestra WoO 17
Composition
Allegedly summer 1819
Anton Schindler, in his Beethoven biography (Münster, 1845), writes of Beethoven's summer holiday in 1819 as follows: 'He also complied in summer 1819 [...] with the repeated strong request of the musical society, consisting of seven members, which used to play for the dances in one of the inns in Briel near Mödling. And wrote a few waltzes for them, for which he also wrote out the different parts.' In 1905 the musicologist Hugo Riemann found copies of parts for dances in the archives of the Thomasschule in Leipzig. At first he thought they were by Carl Maria von Weber, but then discovered that Weber's manner of composing dances was different and simpler. Having discounted Weber's authorship, he then came across the above account by Schindler, claimed the dances were for Mödling and attributed them to Beethoven. As the manuscripts he described disappeared in the Second World War, his claim is impossible to verify.
The authenticity of the Eleven Dances has, however, been questioned by Shin Augustinus Kojima: Schindler is, as we know today, an unreliable witness. He only met Beethoven in 1822, and any details from earlier years are to be taken with a large pinch of salt. Schindler was by no means present at the event, as he claims in the third edition of his Beethoven biography (1860). In addition he speaks of 'some waltzes', but WoO 17 also contains ländler and minuets left unmentioned in Schindler's account. Riemann also ignored another aspect: Beethoven's extensive use of sketches. If the dances are indeed by Beethoven, it is extremely unlikely that not a single sketch for WoO 17 exists among his many sketches from 1819. Kojima's last reason for disqualifying them is a stylistic analysis, against which WoO 17 fails to pass muster. (J.R.)
The authenticity of the Eleven Dances has, however, been questioned by Shin Augustinus Kojima: Schindler is, as we know today, an unreliable witness. He only met Beethoven in 1822, and any details from earlier years are to be taken with a large pinch of salt. Schindler was by no means present at the event, as he claims in the third edition of his Beethoven biography (1860). In addition he speaks of 'some waltzes', but WoO 17 also contains ländler and minuets left unmentioned in Schindler's account. Riemann also ignored another aspect: Beethoven's extensive use of sketches. If the dances are indeed by Beethoven, it is extremely unlikely that not a single sketch for WoO 17 exists among his many sketches from 1819. Kojima's last reason for disqualifying them is a stylistic analysis, against which WoO 17 fails to pass muster. (J.R.)
