The New Hess Catalog of Beethoven's Works

This book, The New Hess Catalog of Beethoven’s Works is far more than a mere translation of Willy Hess’s groundbreaking 1957 catalog of Beethoven’s works, Verzeichnis der nicht in der Gesamtausgabe veröffentlichte Werke Ludwig van Beethovens. This new, revised edition includes four new appendices, an expanded concordance and a first edition of a hitherto unpublished piano transcription of the beginning of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony by Beethoven himself! It is a systematic overhaul of all 401 entries in the previous German edition. In addition to much new information on each entry, it clarifies misunderstood entries, and corrects mistakes. This new edition adds some much needed complete bibliographic references and incorporates forty-five years of Beethoven research into a single useful volume. Since 1851 there have been nearly a dozen catalogs of Beethoven’s works printed; however, this is the first ever to appear in English. The Hess catalog is a fascinating book and a considerable amount of work went into updating the catalog to the current state of Beethoven research.