Professor Barry Cooper’s reconstruction of the original slow movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in G, Opus 18 Number 2, will be heard in something like its original form this week, in a performance by the University’s resident string quartet Quatuor Danel. The movement was composed in 1799 but was discarded a year later and lost when it was replaced by a new movement now known to music lovers across the world.
It is almost certainly the first time, says Professor Cooper, that the piece will have been performed since Beethoven’s day. He said: “This movement is of particular importance as it stands out as the last substantial work that Beethoven composed in full and apparently had performed in 1799 before it was discarded and lost.
“With other works that he revised, like his opera Fidelio, discarded movements still survive more or less intact.
“So the prospect of hearing a Beethoven work that has been absent for over 200 years should be of much interest to anyone who loves his music, even if my reconstruction may differ slightly from what the composer wrote.”
A 28-year-old Beethoven had delivered the manuscript copies of three new quartets - Op 18 Nos 1-3 - to Prince Lobkowitz for 200 florins in October 1799.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-lost-beethoven-masterpiece.html
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