初版和早期版本

的 Center currently owns over 300 first editions of Beethoven’s music, the largest 北美收藏. Ira 才华横溢的 was particularly interested in first editions and helped the Center acquire a comprehensive (but not complete) collection.

的 Center owns first editions of all of Beethoven’s string quartets and most of the piano sonatas, as well as first edition scores (and some parts) of all nine symphonies.

All of the Center’s first editions are listed in the library’s online catalog, and 其中一些收录在数字馆藏中.

旧版和珍本

的 oldest first editions in the Center’s collection are for two of Beethoven compositions from his youth in Bonn: the song “Schilderung eines Mädchens,” WoO 107, and the Rondo C大调，WoO 48. 的se first appeared in the monthly musical magazine, Blumenlese r Klavierliebhaber，出版于1783年. 贝多芬早期作品的第一版 are particularly important sources as most of his autograph manuscripts for these 作品丢失.

An example of 一个 of the rarest of these editions is an early printing (probably a 钢琴奏鸣曲第2号作品的校样). 1-3(维也纳:阿尔塔里亚，1796). 我们的策展人, Patricia Stroh, published a study comparing variant printings of the first editions of these sonatas in the journal Notes in December 2000.

错误和变体

Errors in first editions often led to revised reprintings from the same plates. 的 Center owns variant printings of some first editions that reveal these corrections. One particularly curious mistake appears in the Center’s exemplar of the first edition of the Piano Sonata in F major, Opus 54, in which 页面 4 is printed upside down!

Other differences between copies of first editions may include slight changes in the title 页面, such as the publisher’s statement or price, or the presence (or absence) of a list of subscribers or publisher advertisement. 例如，第一版 of the score of the Ninth Symphony owned by the 贝多芬中心 contains a list of heads of state, music dealers and publishers, and individuals who acquired copies.

管弦乐部分

Intact sets of parts for orchestral music are particularly rare. 该中心拥有一个 few of these complete sets in the first editions, including Beethoven’s piano version of the Violin Concerto, Opus 61, the Fifth Symphony, the Coriolan Overture, and several 其他人. In some cases, the parts were still bound together with string and are in 原始的，未使用的状态. Ira and Irma 才华横溢的 were particularly pleased to acquire such a set of first edition parts for the Piano Trios, Opus 1, which was presented to the 贝多芬中心 on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary in 1997.

其他成绩

的 Center’s extensive collection of scores includes over 2,200 early editions (from Beethoven's lifetime and later 19th-century editions) of individual works. 这些版本 are particularly important for study of nineteenth century publishing and performance practices and the reception of Beethoven’s music in other countries.

Among these early editions are scores that appeared in London and Paris shortly after the first edition of the work was printed in Vienna or Leipzig. 贝多芬授权 some of these English editions, such as the printing of the Bagatelles, Opus 119, by Clementi in 1823, which was the first printing of the complete set of all eleven 数字. 的 贝多芬中心 owns over 200 English editions of Beethoven’s music 在他有生之年出版.

German publisher Simrock issued his Beethoven editions in Paris beginning in the first decade of the nineteenth century, but soon the native French publishers also offered their own engraved editions of Beethoven's most popular works. 其中之一是 edition of the Pathétique Sonata issued by the firm of Erard around 1800.

其他乐器作品

Arrangements of Beethoven’s works for other instruments was quite common during Beethoven's lifetime as well, particularly the solo piano
or piano four-hand versions of chamber and orchestral works. 出版商斯坦纳 issued arrangements of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, for example, for piano trio and string quintet at the same time that he offered the first edition of the orchestral 部件和分数.

For some works, reprint publishers would issue works with a decorative title 页面 to make them more attractive to potential buyers. 这架钢琴的早期版本， four hand arrangement of 惠灵顿的胜利 depicts a battle scene on the title 页面.

贝多芬作品选集

Collected editions of Beethoven’s works from the 19th and 20th centuries in the Beethoven 中心的收藏数量约为300个. 的se include the series issued shortly after Beethoven's death by the publishers Haslinger, Dunst, and André as well as collections 由Moscheles编辑，
李斯特，还有其他很多人.

贝多芬同时代的音乐

Of a small score collection of music by Beethoven's contemporaries, Daniel Steibelt 特别有代表性. Most of these are now cataloged in the online catalog, 有些是包含在 “其他作曲家的音乐” 在数字馆藏中.