Another Beethoven centered beam

[John Ruggero]

This one comes from the first movement of the Sonata op. 28:

Beethoven op 28.1 MS.png (472.94 KiB) Viewed 547 times

In this case, Beethoven uses the centered beam to preserve normal stem direction for the three notes involved. But not to obey "the rules". He does it because he wants the stem direction to stay the same for the phrases on either side: up stems for the octave melody and down stems for the following little "fill" in mostly triplets.

It went against his musical instincts to write what was engraved in the first edition:

Beethoven op 28.1 1st ed..png (185.57 KiB) Viewed 547 times

I see this again and again. It killed these composers to change stem direction in the middle of a musical unit and they only did it when forced to.

Here's an example of that from the same movement. The stems are going the "wrong way" at the arrow because he is continuing from the two voice writing immediately before. And it wouldn't do to change stem direction in the middle of a phrase (but that is exactly what later editions do). Then in the next measure he resumes normal stem direction because a new figure has started.

Beethoven op 28.1 MS ex c.png (929.8 KiB) Viewed 544 times

[John Ruggero]

Here's another interesting Beethoven sighting. Note the broken beam in both first editions of the third movement of the sonata op. 31 no. 1. This appears to be another attempt to preserve the phrasing implications of a difficult-to engrave centered beam in the manuscript. See viewtopic.php?t=1074 Unforuntately, Beethoven's manuscript is lost so we will never know for sure.

op 31 no1.4 Naegeli .png (340.14 KiB) Viewed 507 times

op 31 no1.4 Simrock.png (370.46 KiB) Viewed 507 times

Later editions don't break the beam, probably because such a strong break is not called for here. In some situations, a centered beam may have implied a milder shaping to musicians of the time.

[NeeraWM]

What did you choose for your edition, in the end?

[John Ruggero]

I decided to use a centered beam with a footnote explaining the situation, Neera

It seems that the tradition of converting centered beams into broken beams didn't die out in the 19th century. Here is what Schenker did with a passage from the third movement of Beethoven's Sonata op. 31. 2. First excerpt is from one of the two first editions, the second from Schenker's edition from the 1920s:

Beethoven op 31 no 2.3 1st edition.png (938.53 KiB) Viewed 452 times

Beethoven op 31 no 2.3 Schenker.png (264.14 KiB) Viewed 452 times

[NeeraWM]

Good choice, John!
A pain to realise, perhaps, but much more expressive!

[John Ruggero]

Thanks, Neera. I've done so many of these centered beams now that it has become much easier. Of course it would be great if the software were doing this automatically. But I don't think I'll suggest it at Dorico headquarters. They have enough "regular" stuff on their hands.

I just found that the 1999 Wiener Urtext edition also breaks the beams in the example from op. 31 no. 2.3 immediately above! So the phrasing implications of centered beams seems to be well-accepted by some.

Edit. Actually by everyone, it seems. The Breitkopf Complete Works, von Buelow, Old Peters, Schnabel, Assocated Board, Arrau, Henle editions, all break the beams! This tradition goes way back before Schenker. The question is who started it. Perhaps it was Breitkopf Complete Works. The sources before that at IMSLP like Hummel and Andre use centered and non-centered unbroken beams at this spot as in the first editions.

[NeeraWM]

Here’s an excerpt from an edition I’ve recently curated.

IMG_1886.jpeg (259.9 KiB) Viewed 435 times

The first edition (Breitkopf, 1840) has the centred beam as I’ve decided to keep, while the two revisions that followed (Breitkopf & Litolff, both 1890-1910, not sure of the exact date) forced the beam all in one direction—whichever you choose in this case makes the slur look awkward.

[John Ruggero]

The centered beam and slurring look fine to me. Centered beams over large intervals never really went out of fashion. I did wonder about the numbers. Is that piano fingering?

[NeeraWM]

Ahah, sorry, it lacked a tiny bit of context!
These are duets for two cellos, and the numbers are fingerings, yes!

[John Ruggero]

Fooled me. I thought: very strange piano fingering...

I'm accustomed to seeing a straight brace for instrumental duets rather than a piano brace. I went looking around at IMSLP a little and found one use of a piano brace. Maybe a cello tradition? The rest were straight braces.