Ludwig van Beethoven

(1770-1827)
Ludwig van Beethoven. Image courtesy of The New York Public Library.

Biographical Entries

Grove Music Online

Harvard Collections

Critical Editions

Werke (1961). Edited by the Beethoven-Archiv, Bonn, under the direction of Joseph Schmidt-Görg.

Werke: kritischer Bericht. Edited by Hans Werner Küthen.

Skizzen und Entwürfe. Published by the Beethoven-Haus, Bonn.

HOLLIS search results

Vocal and choral music (scores)

Vocal and choral music (recordings)

Online Scores

Beethoven-Haus Bonn Digital Archives: scans of composition sketches, manuscripts, early editions, and correspondence, with sound files and extensive curatorial notes

Lied aus dem Ferne [Jüngling in der Fremde], manuscript score, from the Music Division, Library of Congress

Five Arias with Orchestra. Melville, NY: Belwin-Mills, 196-?.
Contents: Ah, perfido!; Tremate, empi, tremate; Opferlied; Bundeslied; Elegisher Gesang . Digital copy from the Variations Project, Indiana University.

Symphony no. 9, op. 125, D minor

Manuscript score, from the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
Full score, first edition, first issue (Mainz: B. Schotts Söhnen, 1826), from the Loeb Music Library's collection of Digital Scores and Libretti
Full score (Mineola, NY: Dover, 1997), digital copy from the Variations Project, Indiana University

Online Audio

Naxos Music Library

Songs and Song Cycles, from Classical Music Library

Symphony no. 9, op. 125, D minor, from Classical Music Library

Other Resources

Beethoven-Haus Bonn, the world's largest collection of Beethoven materials. The site features virtual tours of the museum and exhibitions, online scores and correspondence, a research bibliography, and information about archival holdings in other museums and libraries.

Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, San Jose State University. The largest Beethoven collection outside Europe. Hosts the Beethoven Gateway (formerly The Beethoven Bibliography Database), an online index of first and early editions of Beethoven works, and of books, dissertations, theses, book chapters, and journal articles about Beethoven or related topics.

Ludwig van Beethoven at the Lied and Art Song Texts Page

Clive, Peter. Beethoven and His World: a Biographical Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Cooper, Barry, et al., eds. The Beethoven Compendium: A Guide to Beethoven's Life and Music. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1992.

Cooper, Barry. Beethoven's Folksong Settings: Chronology, Sources, Style. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Kerman, Joseph. "An die Ferne Geliebte." In Beethoven Studies 1, edited by Alan Tyson: 123-57. New York: W.W. Norton, 1973.

Loesch, Heinz von and Claus Raab, eds. Das Beethoven-Lexikon: mit 615 Stichwörtern, 116 Abbildungen, einigen Notenbeispielen sowie, einem Werkverzeichnis, und einer Chronik. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag, 2008.

Youens, Susan. Beethoven In "Song Cycle." Grove Music Online.