Beethoven's "Eroica" Sketchbook A Critical Edition

A central source of insight into Beethoven's creative mind at a crucial stage of his career

Beethoven's many surviving sketchbooks bear witness to the vast creative labor that lay behind the musical masterpieces he left to posterity. Among them, one of the most famous is the "Eroica" Sketchbook, containing all the known sketches for the "Eroica" Symphony, the "Waldstein" Sonata, and other works of 1803–04. These include his first sketches for the opera Leonore (later entitled Fidelio), as well as the unfinished opera Vestas Feuer, the oratorio Christus am Oelberge, the Triple Concerto, songs, keyboard compositions, and early sketches that later bore fruit in the Fourth Piano Concerto and the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. It also contains ideas for works that were never completed. The "Eroica" Sketchbook is essentially a diary of Beethoven's creative work during one of the great turning points in his career. As such, this edition deepens our understanding of Beethoven's creative process, and offers new insights into some of Beethoven's most celebrated works.

This edition makes available both a complete facsimile and transcription of the sketchbook for the first time, along with a detailed commentary on the origins, contents, and significance of this vitally important source.