Dear friends,
From many places, people refer to Petrucci's site (IMSLP) — to download Beethoven scores — which is http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Beethoven,_Ludwig_van
To earn my rightful Crown of Thorns (but also because I have noticed many incomplete, erroneous, and missing files), I have decided to put the Alte Gesamtausgabe online myself. Complete. Without errors or tampering.
The Gesamtausgabe (GA) was published between 1862 - 1865, as well as being enriched with a supplement in 1888. (In reality, we are also including the second part of the supplement from 1890). The Gesamtausgabe is the first "complete" edition of the works of Ludwig van Beethoven. Its title reads: Ludwig van Beethovens Werke: vollständige kritisch durchgesehene überall berechtige Ausgabe. The edition contains 263 works divided into 24 "series," subdivided into one or more volumes (Banden), plus a supplement volume and one volume of critical apparatus for said volume (in this way, the works are brought to 309, which become 311 with the 1890 supplement).
It immediately became evident that these "series" were not adequate for the purpose, and at the fourth Congress of the International Music Society in 1911, musicologist Friederich Spiro proposed a general revision of the Gesamtausgabe. The musicologist also pointed out a series of inaccuracies and omissions, such as the four-hand piano version Opus 134 of the Grosse Fuge Opus 133.
Consequently, Willy Hess prepared a catalogue of all those works deemed authentic that were not included in the previous edition, which was published in 1957. Currently, a new edition of Beethoven's works is being published, Die Neue Beethoven-Gesamtausgabe (Ludwig van Beethoven, Werke. Gesamtausgabe, abbreviated NGA), of which you can find an overview on our site in the work details section.
There, now we no longer have the need to go to Petrucci (in reality, I have been to Paris a couple of times). The ultimate goal is to build an all-encompassing site; the path seems right to me.
Friendship,
