L.v. Beethoven. First edition of the Ninth Symphony, 1826

Ludwig van Beethoven

Sinfonie mit Schluss-Chor über Schillers Ode: "An die Freude" für grosses Orchester, 4 Solo- und 4 Chor-Stimmen componirt…von Ludwig van Beethoven. 125^tes. Werk [full score], Mainz and Paris: bey B. Schotts Söhnen, Antwerp: bey A. Schott, [1826] 

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, OF THE NINTH SYMPHONY, 226 pages, folio (33 x 25.5cm), engraved music, lithographic title, printed subscribers’ list, without metronome marks, plate number 2322, original pale blue upper wrapper bound in, inscribed by Albi Rosenthal on inside front cover, contemporary half calf, modern slipcase, without blank final leaf, covers scuffed, light wear to spine

A MAGNIFICENT COPY.

The first edition of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, of which this is a particularly fine example, was advertised for sale at the end of August 1826. This is the first issue, containing the subscribers’ list, but not the composer’s notorious metronome markings which were added in later issues. 

The Ninth Symphony is of course a landmark of western civilisation. It is the first major symphony to include a choral finale and set the model for future large-scale choral symphonies. It influenced and constrained later nineteenth-century composers such as Wagner and Brahms. For the former, apart from his own operas, it was the only work permitted to be played at the Festsspielhaus at Bayreuth. For Brahms, it meant that he could only approach the form with distinct circumspection, and he was 43 years old before his first symphony was performed, after twenty years of gestation. That his first symphony should be dubbed "Beethoven’s Tenth", was an indication of the debt Brahms owed to his illustrious predecessor.

LITERATURE:

Beethoven Werk-Verzeichnis, p.828; Hoboken, ii 501

PROVENANCE:

Otto Haas