The Sackbut Rebut

By Avishai Kallai

On April 10, 2000 I submitted to the Ludwig Mail List an outline of my rebuttal to an article that appeared on the website of the British Trombone Society. The author of this article, Ms. Sarah Gordon, challenged the long time consensus that Ludwig van Beethoven was the first composer to write for a section of trombones in a concert symphony. She put forward the name of Franz Ignaz Beck as the composer who should receive that honour. Her claim initiated my year-long Internet odyssey into the history and the development of the trombone, into the music libraries of several leading universities, and into the research of several musicologists. At the behest of several close friends, I was asked to expand my outline into a full-fledged article.

1. The article by Sarah Gordon.

In December 1998, I received an article from the British Trombone Society entitled Das Sinfonische Werk von Franz Beck written by Sarah Gordon. In her opening remarks, Gordon goes on the attack and contends that we have been duped to credit Beethoven with the laurels of being the first composer to write for a section of trombones in a concert symphony.

She ushers before us her candidate, Franz Ignaz Beck. Born in 1734, Beck started his music education under the tutelage of his father, Johann Aloys Beck, who was an oboist and rector in the Palatine Court in Mannheim. In 1742, Johann Beck died, but the Palatine Court under Elector Prince Karl Philip funded young Franz's education. The Court spared no expense and turned the youth over to Johann Stamitz, the founder and director of the Mannheim Court Orchestra. This court orchestra was regarded as the best in Europe at that time. Beck became a favourite of the Court, and the jealousy this created led to a carefully elaborated hoax in which Beck believed that he killed a rival in a duel. Beck fled to Venice where he studied composition under Baldassare Galuppi. He stayed in Venice a few years, then eloped to Naples with his patron's daughter. In the late 1750s, he arrived in Marseilles where he became the director of the Marseilles Music Theatre Orchestra. In the 1760s, he became the conductor of the Grand Théâtre in Bordeaux. He remained in Bordeaux until his death in 1809.

As a testimonial for Beck, Gordon quotes Barry S. Brook, who authored the book La Symphonie Française. Brook described Beck's symphonies as "among the most original and striking of the Classical period." A second testimonial comes from Robert Sondheimer, whom she claims was "Beck's most reliable biographer." Sondheimer considered Beck "as the predecessor to Haydn and Beethoven."

Gordon then introduces us to Beck's symphonies. She writes, "Beck wrote six symphonies between 1757-1766. The second symphony was written in 1760 and is in the key of E flat major. It is in three relatively short movements: Allegro con brio; Andante Funèbre/Menuett 1 and 2; Funèbre. The orchestration is for two oboes, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, and a full string section." She delves into the final movement, the "raison d'être" of her challenge. "The trumpets are not used until the beginning of the final Funèbre section and the trombones do not enter until the ninth bar from the end. The bass trombone enters first, doubled by the violas, celli, and basses. The second trombone plays later, and the first [trombone] two and a half bars after that. When the section is eventually playing together, the dynamic range is essentially forte, so Beck's use of trombones is as extra padding."

Gordon reproduces, with the permission of the publishers, the page of the score with the final Funèbre for the easy reference of her readers. Clicking on the score allows us to listen to the entire movement. We can clearly see two words: "Posaunen," which is the German word for trombones, and Funèbre, which is the French word for funerary.

Franz Beck: Symphony No 2

Franz Beck: Symphony No 2 (midi file)
(reproduced by permission from Bernoulli)

With all that said, Gordon rests her case. "So now we know that a section of trombones was used in a symphony 45 years earlier than first thought, by a man who was considered ahead of his time, which is probably the reason for his music not impressing the public of the day."

2. Picking up the gauntlet

Immediately, I commenced a search for recordings of Beck's symphonies on the Internet. Two compact discs were available.The first was under the Naxos label featuring Nicholas Ward and the Northern Chamber Orchestra playing five symphonies: B flat major, D major, G major, D major (opus 10/2), and E major (opus 13/1). The second was under the CPO label featuring Michael Schneider and La Stagione Frankfurt playing three symphonies: in G minor (opus 3/3), E flat major (opus 3/4), and D minor (opus 3/5). The accountant in me said, "Wait a second! That is eight symphonies!" Gordon explicitly stated six symphonies. I ordered both discs. It took quite a while for the CPO disc to arrive, but when it did I immediately skipped to the E flat symphony. With the score of the Funèbre in hand, I waited to hear that magnificent Funeral March that Gordon spoke about. To my amazement, instead of a solemn dirge lasting a minute and a half, there was a "Presto resolutto" lasting over three minutes! Not a solitary trombone note on either disc! Something was amiss here!

I proceeded to correlate with supplementary biographical and musical material. Keith Anderson wrote the music notes that accompanied the Naxos CD. He maintained that Beck's compositions were published in Paris, Bordeaux, and Dresden. Beck conducted performances of his works, most notable of which was the premiere of his Stabat Mater in Versailles in 1783. The Bourbon Court expressed admiration for this epic composition. In 1806, Beck presented the same Stabat Mater to Napoleon Bonaparte and was venerated by the emperor.

Conductor Michael Schneider wrote the music notes attached to the CPO CD. He called attention to Beck's quick ascent to the top of the French music world. His symphonies were great attractions, were performed repeatedly, and were published recurrently. During the period of the French Revolution, Beck composed patriotic music, the most famous of which was the "Hymn to the Supreme Being" in 1794. The French government gave him special recognition in 1803. Beck occupied an outstanding place in French music history.

On a website dedicated to the Stabat Mater, I found background information indicating that Beck composed and published over twenty symphonies, as well as sets of keyboard works. Beck was renowned for his improvisation. In 1774, Beck was appointed organist of the Cathédrale St. Seurin.

The composer profile on Artaria's website stated that more than twenty Beck symphonies were published in quick succession by publishing houses in Paris before 1760. At least seven performances of his symphonies took place in Marseilles between 1760-1761, where he conducted the theatre orchestra and was its first violin. Although the last forty years of his life were spent in Bordeaux where he was the conductor of the Grand Théâtre and organist of the Cathédrale St. Seurin, his works were also published in Paris and Dresden. Beck was no hermit! He would travel to premieres of his important works, like his Stabat Mater in Versailles (1783) and his incidental music Pandore in Paris (1789). He was sought after as a teacher and received rave reviews for his improvisation at the keyboard.

The above sources are in absolute contradiction to the Gordon claim that Beck's music did not impress the public of his day. It is most difficult to understand how she can make such an accusation! Beck's music was played and published widely throughout France and Europe. Beck conducted, performed, and taught on a frequent basis. For over fifty years, he directed theatre music. During his lifetime, he won the acclaim of three different governmental regimes in France. That is most impressive!

The refutation of the Gordon article continues on the website of Artaria, where I found a catalogue of Beck's symphonies. Each of Beck's first four opus numbers consisted of a book of six symphonies! That is 24 symphonies! Each book had an E flat symphony, but none of them appear as the second symphony in any book.Six additional symphonies were catalogued, to bring the total to 30! The catalogue also stipulated the instrumentation. There were symphonies scored for strings only. There were symphonies scored for two horns and a complete string section. The largest orchestration was for two oboes, two horns, and a complete string section. No mention of trumpets! No mention of 4 horns! No mention of trombones! Something was definitely out of synchronisation here!

3. The Bernoulli score

In parallel, I employed a different tactic. I deemed it most important to find the score. I focused upon the websites of university libraries and publishing houses. The Gordon article proclaimed that the Funèbre reproduction was done with permission from Edition Bernoulli, Berlin. In the Sibley Music Stacks of the University of Rochester, I found the score.It was printed in 1927 in honour of the 100th anniversary of Beethoven's death as a series on the orchestral works of the 18th century, published and edited by Robert Sondheimer (1881-1956). It is the 21st volume of the Sondheimer series and it consisted of thirteen pages. The score existed!

I trawled the Internet for Bernoulli using all available search engines. I could not find any website, postal address, or e-mail address of a publishing house by the name of Bernoulli. I also searched music publishers' lists, general publishers' lists, and libraries to no avail.I thought it most unusual in this day and age that a publishing house would not appear on the Internet. A nasty thought gnawed in my mind that perhaps Bernoulli did not survive World War II.

I realised that if anybody knew how to contact Bernoulli, it must be the British Trombone Society. The BTS had received authorisation from Bernoulli! I contacted Edward Solomon, the Webmaster of the BTS. He responded immediately and informed me that the Gordon article was reproduced in its entirety on the website from a printed periodical - The Trombonist. He had no further information and suggested that I contact the BTS secretary, Anthony Parsons.

Parsons also responded promptly: "I got the score from the BBC library when I was in the symphony orchestra. I only photocopied the one page and took a chance on publishing it because we could not trace Bernoulli either." He could not supply me with the address of Sarah Gordon since she did not renew her subscription fees and no longer appeared in the BTS directory. Sarah Gordon lost yet another linchpin!

4. "A Bugger's Muddle"

I now had to address myself to the substance of the existent partitura that was published by a now non-existent Edition Bernoulli, Berlin. I wrote to Artaria and expressed my interest in the Sondheimer/Bernoulli series of 1927, with a special focus on a second symphony in E flat by Beck that was scored for trombones. I received an immediate answer from Dr. Allan Badley, managing director and co-founder of Artaria Editions, New Zealand. Dr. Badley is a musicologist who specialized in the music of 18th century Vienna. He is an expert on the music of Leopold Hofmann (1738-1793) and has catalogued Hofmann's works. He is the president of the New Zealand Musicologists' Society. He also conducts and lectures.

In his first letter, Dr. Badley warned me about Robert Sondheimer. "Sondheimer's claims should always be treated with great care. You may recall that the same scholar claimed to have discovered 90 new symphonies by Haydn! No Beck symphony, as far as I am aware, ever employed trombones." [The emphasis is Dr. Badley's.] He reiterated the designated instrumentation as indicated in the Artaria catalogues: early symphonies for strings only or strings with a pair of horns; later works for oboes, horns, and strings. He closed by saying that trombones appeared occasionally in quasi-symphonic works before Beethoven. Trombones were very common in church music and Hofmann included a pair of trombones (alto and tenor) in Pastoral Symphonies, which were intended to complement Nativity motets and other sacred works.

I sent him the score of the Funèbre and asked for his opinion. In his second letter, Dr. Badley expressed fascination. "I will have to double-check, but I am pretty sure this work is not included in Anneliese Callen's thematic catalogue of the Beck symphonies." He, too, had trouble with the problematic distinction of "number 2." He continued, "Beck wrote several symphonies in E flat [and] none of these can remotely [be] called 'number 2' and none corresponds with this work."

He resumed with several other salient points. "Stylistically speaking, the work looks much later to me.It is certainly far more advanced texturally than the 'authentic' symphonies of the late 1750s and early 1760s. The claim that Beck wrote complex wind parts in slow movements is fascinating. None of the 'authentic' symphonies has wind instruments in the slow movement." He zeroed in on the connotation Funèbre and its "churchliness" as factors that increase the chance of the authenticity of the trombone parts and the work itself. Nonetheless, he was sceptical. "The edition looks pure Sondheimer: loads of suspect articulation markings and dynamics." He promised to do his best to follow this up and keep me informed.

In a third letter, Dr. Badley answered several lesser queries of mine. I had asked if he knew how I might be able contact Bernoulli or Anneliese Callen, the cataloguer of Beck. He regretted that he could not assist me in that area. He made a few suggestions but they did not yield any tangible results.

Dr. Badley's fourth letter was a reverberating thunderclap! He had checked old research notes and found very damning material. "Callen states that Sondheimer's editions are 'heavily edited, combine movements from several works, add instrumentation, and alter context.'" There were two (!) E flat symphonies in the Bernoulli 18th century series that Sondheimer edited and both were "typical Sondheimer pastiches." Dr. Badley elucidated from where Sondheimer scavenged the movements for these E flat symphonies. "His edition of Callen 28 (this is probably your work) comprises [movements] 1 and 3 from Callen 16, [movement] 2 from Callen 11, and the Minuet from Callen 28 as the Finale! The trombone parts are certainly spurious and the Funèbre direction added by Sondheimer [is] entirely his own creation. It is, as we would say in New Zealand, a complete "Bugger's Muddle". So much for Sondheimer!" I was absolutely astonished! From "Menuet" to "Marche Funèbre" with the aide of three "saqueboutes!" [Translation at the end of section 5]

Dr. Badley and I continued our correspondence and during the course of it admitted that he was very fond of Beck's symphonies. "The music is small in scale but has real intensity and deftness of organisation, which is quite fascinating." I asked him if he could explain how Sondheimer could hoodwink Bernoulli since one would think that Bernoulli would not want to honour the centennial of Beethoven's death with a series of bogus works. "Sondheimer was not a deliberate fraudster. He was certainly no musicologist either! I think he merely worked the style of his day. He belonged to a generation, which was only a few years removed from Mahler and co., and he doubtlessly felt that no one could conceivably be interested in small-scaled symphonies scored for oboes, horns, and strings. He felt that it was necessary to 'bring the works up to date' if Beck was to have any chance of being noticed. He could not have foreseen the huge explosion of interest in period practice and scholarly editions which was only a decade or so away."

5. A liberating lament over a grave

During the course of my "Trombone Trek," I ran across a promising book: Foreign Composers in France 1750-1790.Richard Viano, Anneliese Callen, and Donald Foster edited this book. Garland of New York published it in 1984. Callen and Foster edited Beck's works while Viano edited all the rest. I sought contact with these editors to correlate the information at hand. Since the tactics I used with Dr. Badley reaped such an abundant harvest, I decided to adapt them again.

I caught Richard Viano in New Mexico, far away from his library and his copy of Foreign Composers in France. The "trombone symphony" sounded very interesting to him. He advised me to check Barry Brook's book La Symphonie Française and recommended a source that might know how to reach the other two co-editors.

Anneliese Callen, the cataloguer of Franz Beck, is no where to be found. I was most disappointed as I looked upon her as a most reliable reference.

I found Donald Foster. Leafing through the copy of his book he replied, "I do not find any [entries] that mention a Bernoulli edition of a Beck symphony in E flat 'numbered 2,' though there are references to Bernoulli/Beck number 20 and number 21, both also in E flat. And there are several other E flat symphonies by him as well." Foster, like Dr. Badley and I, had trouble with that enigmatic "number 2." His referring to Bernoulli/Beck number 21 dovetails with the 21st volume of the Sondheimer series. The "other" E flat symphony is apparently volume 20. "I also notice in the Garland index that none of Beck's symphonies listed has any trombones. And if they did, especially four, it would have been remarkable for the time!" A section of trombones is three, not four, but that detail is not relevant. He closed his first letter by informing me that Barry Brook had passed away, and that he had completely lost all contact with Anneliese Callen.

I sent him the Gordon article and awaited his reaction. It arrived quickly! "My reaction to the article is a dubious one. It appears to be the schoolwork of someone who came to the subject as a student performer rather than as a musicologist. The erroneous mention of there being only six symphonies between 1757 and 1762 alone alerts me to the lack of any real knowledge about them." Gordon actually mentioned the period between 1757 and 1766. The thrust of Foster's argument is that Beck was, by far, more prolific.

Foster then turned his attention to the Funèbre annotation. "What can I say, after seeing the score of the minuet, is that it is part of one of the works that appear in the Garland volume, but, based on Callen's commentary, in a very different form and movement order than that which appears in Sondheimer's Bernoulli volume 21. In the Garland volume, the minuet is the third of four rather than the last of three movements. And Sondheimer's other two movements each came from different other E flat symphonies by Beck. Furthermore, Callen makes no mention, either of trombones or of the designation Funèbre in connection with the minuet." It is amazing to see two musicologists, Badley and Foster, who live on opposite ends of the world, echo each other with such precision! Foster concluded this segment with a summation for emphasis. "So, with all her attention to detail, Callen makes no mention of either trombones or the designation Funèbre. Surely, if she had known either, she would have mentioned them, especially the unheard of use of trombones in a concert symphony, though they were known, of course, in opera orchestras and church music."

Foster then delivered the "coup de grâce" by bringing the most damaging witness possible: Robert Sondheimer! In a reprint of his dissertation Die Sinfonien Franz Becks that appeared in 1921-1922, Sondheimer spoke most highly of this minuet. "Perhaps the most beautiful caprice by Beck, probably something as deep as he ever created, is found in the minuet. It is no longer a minuet. Since Sammartini, the minuet has been just a formal designation because it has been more and more diverted from the vantage point of a dance. Here it seems to be a moving and liberating lament over a grave." How odd! To laud this minuet so highly, yet to omit all notice of the trombones! Foster concentrated on the last sentence of the quotation: "...A moving and liberating lament over a grave." Foster asked, "Could he have taken this thought and run with it by adding Funèbre and trombones, long associated with death in opera?" No less astonishing than Dr. Badley's account! From "dainty dance" to "dark dirge" with the aide of three "draucht trumpets!"

6. The coda

With all due respect to Franz Ignaz Beck, and his contribution to Classical music in general and French music in particular, he was dealt a most cruel injustice by the man who was his "most reliable biographer," Robert Sondheimer. One hundred years after Ludwig van Beethoven's death, Sondheimer's helping hand changed an obscure minuscule minuet into a funeral march and added a section of trombones for special effect. This would have probably gone unnoticed to the musical world; however, an innocent trombonist by the name of Sarah Gordon stumbled over the score while doing a dissertation. So, we return to that bitter cold evening of December 22, 1808 at the unheated Theater an der Wien, where Beethoven mounted a four-hour marathon "Akademie." Eight "entirely new and unheard" compositions were premiered. And that evening, for the first time in the history of concert symphonies, the sensational sonority of the trombone was heard, in both his 5th and 6th symphonies. "It was thus that Fate knocked at the door!"

7. Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Dr. Allan Badley, who took the time to respond to a layman like myself, despite his preoccupation with editing Artaria's 2000 catalogue. He also introduced me to the wonderful music of L. Hofmann, F.J. Gossec, and J.M. Kraus, for which I am most appreciative. I wish to thank Donald Foster, who I am sure had better things to do than write a detailed three-page analysis on a fabricated score. Special thanks goes to Gail Altman, who borrowed the Bernoulli score from the University of Rochester and photocopied it for me. I am proud to say that I now own a genuine copy of a fake Beck score! And last, but certainly not least, I say "Takk for hjelpen!" to Finn Lovfold for translating the "liberating lament," and for his repeated reminders to explain to the readers that sackbut, saqueboute, Posaune, and draucht trumpet are all synonyms for trombone!

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