Beethoven's unsung quartets

[Balapoel]

Is it permissable (as it was in the past) to refer to unsung works by sung composers? If so, then my query is this. Does anyone have any information on 6 Quartets by Beethoven, WoO Anhang 2? They do not appear in Thayer's life of beethoven, nor Grove's. If they are spurious, any ideas on their author?

This is what I have:

Anh. 2, 1   HA07, 1   II-44#1      String Quartet in C, Anh. 2, no. 1 (spurious) movement 1 only
Anh. 2, 2   HA07, 2   II-44#2      String Quartet in G, Anh. 2, no. 2 (spurious) movements 2-3 only
Anh. 2, 3   HA07, 3   II-44#3      String Quartet in Eb, Anh. 2, no. 3 (spurious)            
Anh. 2, 4   HA07, 4   II-44#4      String Quartet in F, Anh. 2, no. 4 (spurious)            
Anh. 2, 5   HA07, 5   II-44#5      String Quartet in D, Anh. 2, no. 5 (spurious)            
Anh. 2, 6   HA07, 6   II-44#6      String Quartet in Bb, Anh. 2, no. 6 (spurious)            

Somewhere I picked up 3 mp3 files (almost certainly of midi realizations): String Quartets in C and G.

In terms of Beethoven's unsung, I highly recommend the reconstruction of his WoO 131 Erlkönig - available from Brilliant Classics (also on youtube).

[Alan Howe]

No problem at all with this thread. Can anyone help?

[eschiss1]

What I believe may be a description of Anh.2 no.6 in B-flat, with one incipit, based on a manuscript copy at Monumento Nazionale di Montecassino, Biblioteca Montecassino, can be found here at RISM. Though if so the conclusion in a G major movement (the 5th movement, Canone) is odd... (perhaps a 6th movement is missing- no idea who wrote it anycase. Anyone know enough quartets by enough late Classical composers- Vanhal, say- to hear tweaks-of-style (to compare and contrast to these works when and if one can hear them, I mean...)? They are there, sometimes...

will see if I can find those MIDIs of the two quartets you refer to- I think I may even know the site. at the least, I'd like to hear them anycase. thanks.

[Balapoel]

What I believe may be a description of Anh.2 no.6 in B-flat, with one incipit, based on a manuscript copy at Monumento Nazionale di Montecassino, Biblioteca Montecassino, can be found here at RISM.

Hmm. Original title: Quartetto per due violini | viola e violocello [!] | di | [...] Bhaetonen [!] | Flauto [!]
a google check for 'Bhaetonen' produced exactly 1 hit...

From the recordings, the C major Allegro appears typical of late 18th century quartets (as do the other movements), but the G major Adagio seems sparse in texture, rather homophonic, ala Haydn's earlier quartets, with the first violin presenting most of the melodic line.

And after a quick check, it seems the Adagio for the G major quartet is an actual live recording (with audience applause at the end). The other two appear still (to my ears) to be Midi.

[eschiss1]

Re Bhaetonen, that could also be someone's attempt to transcribe a difficult-to-read manuscript? It's hard to say what the ? means just offhand (one trouble I had when typesetting a manuscript was deciding how to distinguish "?"s I wanted to put in, that resulted from different kinds of uncertainties in e.g. transcription among other things, of which there were many- and of course from "?" that just meant "this is exactly what it says, I just don't know what it means" . Spend two minutes seriously studying a music manuscript of any inclarity... well, twenty minutes...

A minor example can be found from this, from RISM and signed to a copy of some Buxtehude preludes and fugues - "Presented to Mr Chas. C. Mellor / by H. Rohbock / March I. 1874. / this piece came in my possession 1833 / from Gottfried Moeller, a pupil of / Kittle. the piece is said to be a M. S. / of the composer Boxtehude. / H R." -  to which I (Eric, I mean) can only think- ok, Kittle I get... Boxtehude I - sort of get. (Rohbock is probably Henry Rohbock, a friend of Charles "Chas." Grobe among others and a composer himself.) (Johann Gottfried Moeller/Müller : 1774-1833, organist.