Anton Schindler spent much of his life riding on the coattails of
Ludwig Van Beethoven. After Beethoven's death, not much changed. In 1844, Schindler made claims to the world that Beethoven, shortly before his death, had completed a sketch of a tenth
symphony in E flat. If this were true, it would undoubtedly once again re
structure the face of symphonic
music.
Indeed, if it were true is the main matter of our
speculation here.
Since 1844,
evidence supporting Schindler's claim has come to light here and there: a letter in Schindler's hand but signed by the
maestro mentioning in detail a completed sketch of a tenth symphony; Karl Holz (another
secretary of Beethoven's) claiming to have heard Beethoven play through a piano reduction.
However, much of the emerging
information has also gone against what Schindler put before
antiquity. Gustav Nottebohm dismissed the sketches Schindler lauded as nothing but passing thoughts. He was qualified to do this, being widely considered as the leading Beethoven
scholar of the
19th century.
Apparently, Beethoven had
sketched the openings of dozens of other "symphonies" throughout his life. Being a
composer myself, I can support this line of thinking because there are always pieces of
staff paper scattered hell to breakfast with mad
scribblings on them.
Beethoven's notes in and of themselves are often a
mystery. They are difficult to
discern as anything but scratching and usually consisted of a single line without a
clef,
key signature, or
time signature.
The debate went on for decades. In 1977 Robert Winter, through a
systematic dating process of Beethoven's more than 8,000 pages of notes, insisted that with no major gap in Beethoven's
productivity after the
Ninth Symphony, there could be no missing major
notebook containing a tenth symphony. Research and
perserverance would prove him wrong.
While there was no secret notebook, the
twentieth century and the
technology that came along with it allowed for a greater level of
deciphering and understanding of Beethoven's notes.
Several researchers either doing
incidental research on his ninth symphony or his notes in general discovered
cohesive sketches containing related
thematic material from a period directly after the ninth symphony. As the composer's regular working patterns and creative process became clear, scholars (Dr. Barry Cooper in particular) were able to
assemble what would have been the first movement of Beethoven's tenth symphony had he been well enough for long enough to do it himself. It was all present and complete; it just hadn't been laid into stone yet.
The piece itself, available from
London Universal Edition, is sort of a
reconstruction of one movement - it is not a new Beethoven symphony nor will it ever be. But the impression we get from studying this secret look into the genius' brain is that on the edge of this abyss, sometimes even the masters become mastered by what they see. The
forms, harmonies, and
developments are advanced beyond even his last three complete symphonies. They are altogether something new which still rings of the best Beethoven had to offer.