BEETHOVEN’S PIANO SONATAS – EDITORIAL GUIDELINES
BEETHOVEN’S PIANO SONATAS – EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

Summary/Abstract: This article intends to offer assistance to the musicians who wish to approach the 32 piano sonatas written by Ludwig van Beethoven. We will analyze and remark upon some of the most important editions, revised by famous musicians who influenced the interpretative visions of the future generations. The Urtext editions are regarded as the most accurate and complete editions. Most of them affirm that they are reproducing the original text, based either on the manuscript or on the first editions. However, great importance is also attributed to the editors or, more exactly, to those revising the editions, who add most of the times the fingerings and the footnotes remarking upon various technical and performance problems. By comparing the numerous editions, I discovered valuable indications concerning the interpretation. We can mark down the L. Holle edition, edited by Franz Liszt, the G. Schirmer edition, edited by Hans von Bülow and Sigmund Lebert and the Curci edition, revised by Arthur Schnabel. In 2011, the established editions are the G. Henle edition, revised by B.A. Wallner, Münich 1975 and the Wiener Urtext Edition, revised by Peter Hauschild, 1999. By studying these editions in detail, we can understand their views on the interpretation of Beethoven’s piano sonatas in the central European space. At present, the editions revised by Franz Liszt, Hans von Bülow and Sigmund Lebert, as well as the edition revised by Arthur Schnabel are regarded with skepticism by the pianists, because of the small changes made to the text and because of the dynamics and agogic indications. However, the study of these editions can offer valuable interpretative clues that reveal the interpretative view of the pianist-editor. Due to the variety of information, these editions represent a text to be studied in all the cases when the musician wishes to approach a new interpretative view.

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