Home
Up
Music
Writing
Music News Page
Non-Artsy Stuff
Résumés and Bios

Bagatelle in Eb

Text Source

N/A

Music

A Beethoven Bagatelle previously unpublished; opus unknown; transcribed by Don "Orfeo" Rechtman

Instrumentation

Piano

 

 

 

Sheet Music

(To copy the score to your computer, right-click the link and select "Save target as... ".)

Piano Sheet Music A4 PDF

Recording

A Sibelius-generated MP3 of the music (6mb).

Video

A Sibelius-generated rendition of the music in "follow the score" format (16mb).

History

Beethoven in his lifetime published three sets of bagatelles, Opus 33, 119, and 126. He is also known to have written several that were either never published or were published posthumously, as is the case of his well-known Für Elise.

This transcription of this newly discovered unpublished bagatelle in E flat was prepared by Don Rechtman, who, according to the American Musicological Society, is arguably one of the worst musicologists to ever attempt to join the organization. It is his sincere hope that the presentation of this work by Beethoven will either reverse their opinion or provide sufficient cause to affirm their original impression.

During his brief stay in 1968 as a composition major at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, he accidently meandered into the closed archives in the attic of the library. He carefully borrowed several documents that he thought might be of interest, and for safe keeping, placed them in a box in his own attic where they resided for many years.

He came upon the aged manuscript during his first ever annual housecleaning, and quickly recognized its value. He worked tirelessly to transcribe Beethoven’s scribbles, and possessing a similar illegible style of writing, Don was able to record the manuscript in the form seen here. He attempted to include only those scribbles that seemed to make some sense, including metronome markings, dynamics, and pedaling.

Unfortunately, it was not ready in time for the Beethoven 250th Anniversary celebrations, but it at least is available for the 300th Anniversary celebration.

 

Don “Orfeo” Rechtman
Dec. 26,2020

 

Home ] Up ]
Last modified: 02/23/22