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Newly Discovered Beethoven Piano Work Wins the Presto Music Award for ‘Sheet Music of the Year 2020’

Jan. 01, 2021

For Universal Edition's Wiener Urtext Edition, 2020, which marked the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, got off to an auspicious start. Universal Edition's editor-in-chief, Dr. Jochen Reutter, found some unpublished sketches among the original scores of Beethoven, including a 16-bar piece in F major for piano, which Dr. Reutter titled, Ländlerischer Tanz. This exciting find has been recognized by Presto Sheet Music as the most significant contribution to the sheet music business related to the Beethoven anniversary year.




Presto Sheet Music noted:

"Just in time for Beethoven's 250th birthday, a previously unknown piano piece by the composer has been found in the Vienna City Library (Wienbibliothek im Rathaus in Vienna). The work was recorded on two pages in a collection of sketches by Ludwig van Beethoven dating from the years 1790-1792. Among the multitude of different sketches in this milti-page collection, an Andante piano piece had been discovered some time ago. However, another complete little piano piece, previously overlooked, was also hidden on the first page. This newly-discovered piece does not bear a title and begins immediately following a previous sketch, making it difficult to find.

The short 16-bar piece does not yet bear an opus number or WoO number. It bears the musical character of a Ländler and has been titled Ländlerischer Tanz. Beethoven denotes the melodic line of the piece without gaps, even revising it in a few places, and noting the accompaniment in abbreviated form."


The urtext edition offers two slightly different versions of this work and is a must-have for pianists around the world. Learn more and order the score here.

For more information about the Wiener Urtext Edition, visit: wiener-urtext.com

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