The Problem
When Beethoven died (as with many other composers), he left a great many compositions behind. In Beethoven's case, a sizable majority of his works were published. However, some works were not published, and some works were unfinished, either because he had laid them aside, or died before he could finish them. The catalogues described here are attempts to organize and identify with precision all of these works in ways that are useful to musicologists, musicians, and the listening public.
Most of Beethoven's best known works were published in his lifetime, and bear opus numbers, with which they may be reliably identified. The short piano piece "Für Elise" is a notable exception: it is usually designated WoO (Werke ohne Opuszahl – literally, "works without opus number") 59.
Read more about this topic: Catalogues Of Beethoven Compositions
Famous quotes containing the word problem:
“My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income.”
—Errol Flynn (1909–1959)
“Great speeches have always had great soundbites. The problem now is that the young technicians who put together speeches are paying attention only to the soundbite, not to the text as a whole, not realizing that all great soundbites happen by accident, which is to say, all great soundbites are yielded up inevitably, as part of the natural expression of the text. They are part of the tapestry, they aren’t a little flower somebody sewed on.”
—Peggy Noonan (b. 1950)