{"id":1452,"date":"2026-09-11T08:24:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T08:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/accipite.com\/blog\/?p=1452"},"modified":"2026-09-11T08:24:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T08:24:42","slug":"rendering-beethoven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accipite.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/11\/rendering-beethoven\/","title":{"rendered":"Rendering Beethoven"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Composer Ludvig van Beethoven wrote thirty-two piano sonatas, nine symphonies, and many other works, most of these during the early part of the nineteenth century.  Of course, the first manuscripts for these works were written by Beethoven\u2019s own hand \u2013 the originals. Once completed, these autograph musical scores<\/em> would then be hand copied by professional copyists under contract. These copies would be reviewed and corrected by Beethoven himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because this was the nineteenth century, the next phase of preserving sheet music was the music publisher for engraving and printing. This was a painful and error prone process that took a lot of hours by highly specialized workers. The handwritten copy would be used to etch a reverse image of the music on copper plates which would be inked and pressed onto paper. Hundreds of copies of a sonata or symphony could be created from a set of corrected copper plates. These first editions<\/em> could be sold to professional musicians, orchestras, and music societies. They were not cheap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming each stage was error-free, and each copy was identical to the autograph original, it was not a sufficient means of conveying how to play Beethoven\u2019s music. Beethoven had to work directly with musicians who performed his compositions. He corrected, marked scores, rehearsed, and gave very specific instructions concerning performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some musicians who knew Beethoven personally became important transmitters of his performance practices, preserving aspects of the approach to his music that the written document alone could not provide. One especially prominent figure is Carl Czerny, a celebrated composer of his time. Czerny was Beethoven’s student and knew his teacher\u2019s playing firsthand. Czerny later wrote extensively about how Beethoven’s works should be performed and imparted that knowledge to his own student, Franz Lizst, another famous musician and composer of the nineteenth century.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, when I want to listen to a piano sonata or symphony of Beethoven\u2019s, I might purchase a compact disk or stream the music from Spotify. I especially like Symphony No. 6 \u2013 The Pastoral Symphony. But not only can I listen to this whenever I want, I can also choose the orchestra\/conductor that renders it: Wiener Philharmonic\/Karl Boehm, Berliner Philharmonic\/Herbert von Karajan, and many others.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And these renderings vary. The tune is recognizably the same, but the performance might vary in tempo, emphasis, technique, rest, interpretation, style. Some musicians may study the musical tradition that surrounds the piece and attempt to re-create \u201cauthentic\u201d Beethoven even using period instruments. Others may take the printed score and simply use their own judgement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if one wished to hear Beethoven\u2019s Sonata Path\u00e9tique or Pastoral Symphony exactly the way Beethoven himself would have played it, could that be done today from sheet music? Given that Beethoven himself had to work with musicians directly to ensure the piece was played faithfully to the composer\u2019s intent, the answer is no. And, if that were at all possible, every modern recording attempting authenticity would sound the same. But they do not, they sound different, substantially different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an illustration of this, I fell in love with Monteverdi\u2019s 1610 Vespers, something I had recorded onto tape from FM radio when I was a college student. I knew it was the 1610 Vespers but never caught the name of the ensemble. Nevertheless, I purchased a CD of the work performed by John Eliot Gardner thinking it would be the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alas, it was not the same, and it did not have the same effect on me.  Though I kept the CD, I never played it much and settled on the radio recordings until I figured out decades later that it was Andrew Parrot\u2014long story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But imagine if Beethoven established a school that trained musicians to play his Sonatas and Symphonies in the way he intended. And through this school he provided a method of training that could be passed down accurately from generation to generation so that while the school existed, the manner of playing his works would be maintained. The school would not replace the written music; it would teach the musicians how the composer intended that written music to be rendered. Although there might still be recordings of the sonatas from various artists with various interpretations, if one obtained a recording from a musician certified by this established school, presumably one would be able to hear a work exactly as Beethoven would have played it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theological Note<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The story of Beethoven and his music is an analogy for Christ and his teachings, except Jesus did not jot down the beatitudes, parables, and his arguments with the Sadducees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teachings of Jesus indeed come to us in written form in what we call the New Testament, but those are works provided by his disciples.  In the same way Beethoven\u2019s students studied under the composer, Jesus disciples \u201cstudied\u201d under him. In the same way Beethoven\u2019s students wrote extensively about their teacher\u2019s methods, Jesus\u2019 disciples wrote extensively about their master\u2019s life and teachings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same way that sheet music alone is inadequate to reproduce the intended music of Beethoven, the bible alone is insufficient to understand the teachings and life Jesus calls everyone to. In fact, the Gospel of John tells us there is not enough paper and ink to document all that Jesus said and did (John 21:25). You think that might be important?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, Jesus established a \u201cschool\u201d that from generation to generation preserves and transmits his teaching and his call to discipleship accurately including those things not written down. This school is called the Church founded by Jesus Christ and first built upon his apostles, notably Peter, and transmitted to us through apostolic succession. In the same way Beethoven taught Czerny and Czerny taught Liszt, Jesus taught John and John taught Polycarp not with books and writing but by a constant proximity to the source.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analogy of musical tradition to that of sacred tradition carries further. It\u2019s not as crucial for Beethoven\u2019s school of music to have the exact, inerrant sheet music of the composer since the tradition carries across copy errors, misattributions, and so forth. The written note is not the sole source of authority but a part of the school itself, the real authority on how to play Beethoven or, analogously, teach Christ to future generations.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But those trying to duplicate Beethoven from sheet music alone may not, and probably won\u2019t, get it right even if the score they have is completely void of error.  To improve their rendering, they will study the context of the writing, compare it to other works and so forth. They regard the sheet music as the source material, rather than any school, so it is essential it be accurate and free of mistakes. Even then, it\u2019s bound to fall short of the mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus did not write a Bible but transmitted his life and teachings through his disciples as a craftsman would transmit abilities to an apprentice. He established a Church that he promised would not be prevailed upon by the gates of hell. The Catholic Church has preserved this deposit of faith for two thousand years and continues to transmit it from generation to generation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Composer Ludvig van Beethoven wrote thirty-two piano sonatas, nine symphonies, and many other works, most of these during the early part of the nineteenth century.  Of course, the first manuscripts for these works were written by Beethoven\u2019s own hand \u2013 the originals. Once completed, these autograph musical scores would then be hand copied by professional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholicism"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/accipite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/accipite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/accipite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accipite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accipite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/accipite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1453,"href":"https:\/\/accipite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions\/1453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/accipite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accipite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accipite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}