Beethoven's Op 26 sonata - orchestration

[Dave2002]

Does anyone know if there is an extant orchestral version of the slow movement of this sonata? Apparently this was the only movement from the sonatas which Beethoven orchestrated, and it was played at his own funeral.

If it still exists, is there a recording?

[Jonathan]

I think the Funeral march was orchestrated as part of the incidental music to a play, possibly something like Tarpeja (or a similar name). I can't confirm this at the moment (not enough time over lunch) but this might give you a starting point!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Not quite - Ignaz von Seyfried wrote Funeral Music, for four-part men's chorus, based upon the slow movement of Op 26, but I can't find any evidence that this was performed at the funeral. The Mozart Requiem wa performed at a memorial service a fortnight after his death (and a week after the funeral) but the only evidence I can find of any Music being performed at the funeral itself was a Miserere for voices and trombones. (Solomon, 1977, p 293)

http://www.all-about-beethoven.com/beethovenlastyears1.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Ludwig_van_Beethoven#Funeral_and_burial

Beethoven did orchestrate the Funeral March, in 1815, as part of Incidental Music for a play Leonora Prohasta. Appropriately, it is here conducted by Stanislaw Skrowaczewski:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDoSLRpVL7A

[David-G]

Beethoven did orchestrate the Funeral March, in 1815, as part of Incidental Music for a play Leonora Prohasta. Appropriately, it is here conducted by Stanislaw Skrowaczewski:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDoSLRpVL7A

Very interesting. I had never heard of this. The play seems to have been actually called "Leonore Prohaska". Very interesting Wikipedia article on the real Eleonore Prochaska who it seems was a Prussian woman soldier who fought in the Napoleonic wars.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The play seems to have been actually called "Leonore Prohaska".

[vinteuil]

If it still exists, is there a recording?

.

http://amzn.eu/bTTDXNf

.

http://amzn.eu/5rJex3G

.

http://amzn.eu/hVZGUjB

.

http://amzn.eu/dyuTChe

EDIT - and I see that the Skrowaczewski / Minnesota recording is lurking in the brilliant 'Complete Beethoven' box :

http://amzn.eu/2mk4Kkb

.

[Dave2002]

Thanks everyone. Actually the orchestrated version is not that thriilling, but there it is. Also the orchestration must have been done much later than the writing of the sonata, which was around 1801-2, while Eleonore Prochaska [sic] died in 1813. Quite how the name change for the drama happened seems uncertain, but maybe there were alternative spellings of her name, or perhaps there were transcription and read errors giving rise to the change.

Beethoven WoO 96 - 1815.