Orchestra Auction Reveals Rare Musicological and Ethnohistorical Find
A careful examination of a recent auction of music memorobilia on the NY Philarmonic’s
website’s probably engendered no great rush among the general public, for either discovery,
or purchase. However, for those musical cognoscenti and historians alike, there was one rare
find which stood out among the many items that the orchestra had acquired over the years.
The stated reason for this auction was one with which any homeowner could commiserate:
the need to reduce clutter and to only keep those things which were truly personal, relevant,
or useful. In a homeowner’s case, this might entail wading through boxes of old clothes or toys
while attempting to ignore the inevitable wails and complaints from those whose items were now
consigned to the trash bin. In the case of the Philharmonic, this “spring cleaning” uncovered
a find of great value, that was–nonetheless–put up for auction, as it did not have a personal
connection to the orchestra’s history; musicians; or management.
This “gem” was a musical manuscript with three claims to historical significance. The
first, and most obvious, was that it was composed by the great German composer, Ludvig von
Beethoven. Even with the loss of minute detail through which most computer documents are
viewed, it was possible to see the comments and musical notations in the composer’s own
hand, and through it, to feel the composer’s still-vibrant presence. That, in itself is not so
unusual, however. Many manuscripts still exist today that reveal the composer’s own spirit,
so to speak, through the vagueries of pen pressure; blottings-out and corrections; re-workings
of melodic lines; and many a staid musicologist has had an epiphany, of sorts, when viewing
through 20th-century eyes the works of the musical giants that came before him. Johann
Sebastian Bach’s manuscripts are readily available today and their “messiness” may come
as a surprise to many–although that disorder expressed, rather than concealed, the genius
within.
The second claim to musical significance is that this piece of music which was so improbable
an item to be consigned to discarded, was none other than the famous Kreuzer Sonata, written
by Beethoven and performed by the African-American/European violinist, George Bridgetower,
the third claimant to musicological significance.
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