From the Garret: Archives

When life imitates art

My current work-in-progress is a romantic suspense, the mystery of which centers on the discovery of Beethoven's Tenth Symphony. Of course, we all know that Ludwig only wrote nine symphonies but there have been persistent rumors that he had completed at least the first movement of an additional masterpiece. This inspired me to speculate on the mayhem that would ensue if the entire symphony was found, written in the maestro's own hand.

Proving that truth follows fiction, a Beethoven manuscript was just discovered languishing on the shelves of a seminary's library in Pennsylvania. The 80-page document is a transposition to piano of his famous (or rather infamous, since it was not well-received at its debut performance) "Grosse Fuge" for string quartet. The last public mention of this document had been in an auction catalog from Berlin in 1890. Speculation has it that industrialist and composer William Howard Doane bought it, and that his daughter donated it, along with some other rare musical manuscripts, to the seminary in 1950. Where it was promptly lost.

For research purposes, I decided I had to see the lost "Fuge". Fortunately, Sotheby's decided to exhibit it for three days in New York City before they shipped it off to London for auction. On the last day it was stateside, my husband and I found ourselves riding up the short escalator in Sotheby's starkly modern entrance foyer to the exhibition section of the great auction house.

I spotted the U-shaped display cases immediately and dashed over to examine their contents. I zipped past a short piece by Mozart and a few other documents which would have interested me had I not been on a mission. Then I came to an empty space with the label "Beethoven's Grosse Fuge". I think I probably said something unrepeatable out loud but then I composed myself and calmly approached the guard standing nearby.

"Is the Beethoven manuscript gone already?" I asked. My distress must have been apparent because he very kindly assured me that the "specialist" had simply taken it from the case for a little while, probably to show to someone serious about buying it. He said that it would definitely be back soon. So my husband and I went to lunch.

When we returned, my heart leapt with relief to see a crowd of twenty people bent over the previously vacant spot. Even better, the specialist was there too. He had the back of the display case open and was turning the pages so all of us spectators could see every single one. He allowed me to come around behind the case so that I could see the manuscript without any glass between us.

The "Grosse Fuge" manuscript is bound into a book. I had to take the photos through the glass; the white spots are light reflections.

Being a very amateur musician, I was amazed at how moving I found the experience of seeing Beethoven's handwriting in person. It is downright eloquent. When the music is fast and furious, his writing is bold and dark. When the tempo slows and softens, his writing does too.

Here the tempo is fast and his writing reflects the excitement.

His corrections and deletions show the mind of a genius at work. There are places where he used a pin to scratch out notes and literally perforated the rather thick paper. In others, he applied red sealing wax to glue entire pieces of paper over passages he decided to change dramatically. It made it look as though he had shed blood over his work, a feeling I often have as a writer. Several of the folks admiring the manuscript were musicians and it was quite fascinating to hear their comments on the differences they saw between this piece and the versions they had played personally.

Beethoven often changed his mind while the ink was still wet. You can see the smudge where he rubbed out something he didn't like.

I was bereft when the charming specialist closed up the case and I had to look at the slashing musical notes through the glass. Somehow, for a brief but magical time, I felt as though Beethoven was speaking directly to me.

Beethoven was famous for his dynamics. Here you can see a long written instruction above the musical staves.

Note: The "Grosse Fuge" manuscript was sold to an anonymous telephone bidder for $1.72 million in London on December 1st, 2005.