Beschreibung:

Beethoven, Ludwig van A COMPLETE COLLECTION OF HAYDN, MOZART, AND BEETHOVEN'S SYMPHONIES, IN SCORE...NO. [XXVII], [TITLED ABOVE THE MUSIC: "BEETHOVEN'S SYMPH: III. SINFONIA EROICA COMPOSTA PER CELEBRARE LA MORTE D'UN' EROE"], LONDON: CIANCHETTINI & SPERATI, [APRIL-MAY 1809] first edition of the score of Symphony no.3 (the "Eroica"), [2] & 128 pages, large 8vo (c.25 x 18cm), engraved throughout, plate "No.27", modern quarter morocco, the general title annotated on verso, trimmed to plate, slightly affecting the plate number on p.123, foxing and some browning Rare. Printed full scores of symphonies were rarely published at this time. The autograph manuscript of the "Eroica" Symphony, one of Beethoven's greatest works, is lost. The first edition of the "Eroica" was published in Vienna in 1806, but only as orchestral parts; a complete set of those is almost unobtainable today. Kinsky & Halm (p.54) observe that the present "most praise-worthy edition" (which pre-dates the first German edition by thirteen years) barely circulated on the Continent because of the Napoleonic blockade on trade with Britain, and it remained practically unknown in Germany. Outside Britain, we understand there are nine copies in institutional libraries, including at Bonn, Berlin, Paris, San José (Beethoven Center), Harvard and the Library of Congress. We have traced no copies in the great institutional libraries in Oxford, Cambridge, New York or Vienna.