Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies

Last updated
Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies
Formation1983, 41 years ago
FounderIra F. Brilliant
Location
Owner San Jose State University
Website sjsu.edu/beethoven

The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies serves as a museum, research center, and host of lectures and performances devoted solely to the life and works of Ludwig van Beethoven. It is the only institution of its kind in North America and holds the largest collection of Beethoven works and memorabilia outside Europe. [1] The center is operated by San Jose State University and the American Beethoven Society. It is located on the fifth floor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, which is located on the San Jose State campus in downtown San Jose, California.

Contents

History

The center was established in 1983 when Ira F. Brilliant, an Arizona real estate developer, donated his collection of Beethoven memorabilia to San Jose State University with the understanding that the material would be used to start a center devoted to Beethoven's life and works. [1] Including 75 first editions, Brilliant's was considered the finest private collection of Beethoven memorabilia in the United States. [2] The center opened to the public in 1985. [1]

Operation

San Jose State University and the American Beethoven Society share the duties of running the center. San Jose State runs the center as a special collection of its library, providing space and staff. The American Beethoven Society funds many of the center's activities, such as the publication of the semiannual Beethoven Journal and the acquisition of new materials. [3]

Collection

The center has expanded its holdings over the years through donations and acquisitions, notably the 1987 purchase of the collection of Beethoven scholar William S. Newman, musicologist and emeritus professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. [4]

Reference materials

The center holds over 4,000 books and publications about Beethoven - including a rare 1783 issue of Cramer's Magazin der Musik, the first mention of Beethoven in print - and photocopies of over 8,000 articles concerning him. There is also a large microfiche collection, including microfiche of all Beethoven manuscripts held by the Berlin State Library. [5]

Works and memorabilia

The center's collection of Beethoven first editions has grown to 300, the largest collection in North America. This includes first editions of all of the string quartets and most of the piano sonatas. There are also over 2,200 "early editions", published during Beethoven's lifetime or in the 19th century. There is also a listening/viewing area to sample the center's library of audio recordings and performance videos. The center also holds various items in his handwriting, and a copy of his death mask. [5]

The Guevara Lock and Paul Hiller's inscription from the locket. Guevara-Lock.jpg
The Guevara Lock and Paul Hiller's inscription from the locket.

The Guevara Lock

Of the holdings of the center, the most well-known is probably a lock of Beethoven's hair known as the Guevara Lock. The lock was cut on March 27, 1827, one day after Beethoven's death, by Ferdinand Hiller, a German composer and conductor who had traveled to Vienna to spend time with Beethoven before he died. Hiller later made the lock a gift to his son Paul, who explained its history on the back of a locket containing the hair. After that, the ownership of the lock is uncertain, until it resurfaced in 1943 as payment to a Danish doctor named Kay Alexander Fremming for medical treatment given to Jews escaping Nazism. [6]

In 1994, the Fremming estate auctioned the lock at Sotheby's in London for £3,600 ($7,300 including commission) to four members of the American Beethoven Society: Dr. Alfredo Guevara, Ira Brilliant, Dr. Thomas Wendel, and Caroline Crummey. The lock was named in honor of Dr. Guevara, the principal investor, who kept a small portion of the hair and donated the rest to the Center for Beethoven Studies. The remaining investors donated their entire portions to the center. The original lock consisted of 582 brown, white and grey hairs, from three to six inches in length. The Center for Beethoven Studies has 422 of those hairs, along with the original locket used by Hiller. [6]

In 1996, Brilliant and Guevara contacted the Health Research Institute - Pfeiffer Treatment Center in Naperville, Illinois to perform tests on some of the hairs from Dr. Guevara's share. Dr. William Walsh headed the project, and his report revealed concentrations of lead 100 times the norm in Beethoven's hair, leading many to theorize that lead poisoning contributed to his poor health and perhaps his death. [2] [7]

The history of the lock and the clues it yielded on Beethoven's health have been chronicled in the nonfiction book Beethoven’s Hair, by Russell Martin. [2] There was also a documentary of the same name made for Canadian television. In 2005, the documentary won several Gemini Awards, including Best Writing in a Documentary Program or Series and Best Direction in a Performing Arts Program or Series. [8]

Instruments

The center has several musical instruments on display: an original 1827 Viennese fortepiano, a reproduction of a 1795 Dulcken fortepiano, a clavichord, and a harpsichord. [5] The Dulcken fortepiano, which has a range of 5 octaves over 66 keys, is a copy of an original held by the Smithsonian Institution. [9] Visitors are allowed to play the Dulcken fortepiano, clavichord and harpsichord.

See also

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 About the Beethoven Center Archived 2009-11-14 at the Wayback Machine , The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies
  2. 1 2 3 Fox, Margalit (2006-09-17). "Ira F. Brilliant, a Specialist in Beethoven, Is Dead at 84". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Beethoven Center Funding, The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies
  4. ↑ Elliott, The William S. Newman Beethoven Collection at the Center for Beethoven Studies
  5. 1 2 3 Description of collections, The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies
  6. 1 2 Beethoven's hair, The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies
  7. ↑ Walsh, Beethoven Press Conference Archived 2008-03-06 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ Beethoven's Hair (2005) (TV), The Internet Movie Database
  9. ↑ Replica of a Jean-Louis Dulcken Fortepiano from ca. 1795, The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ludwig van Beethoven</span> German composer (1770–1827)

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic era in classical music. His early period, during which he forged his craft, is typically considered to have lasted until 1802. From 1802 to around 1812, his middle period showed an individual development from the styles of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is sometimes characterized as heroic. During this time, Beethoven began to grow increasingly deaf. In his late period, from 1812 to 1827, he extended his innovations in musical form and expression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Music Museum</span> Musical instrument museum at the University of South Dakota, United States

The National Music Museum: America's Shrine to Music & Center for Study of the History of Musical Instruments (NMM) is a musical instrument museum in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States. It was founded in 1973 on the campus of the University of South Dakota. The NMM is recognized as "A Landmark of American Music" by the National Music Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Jose State University</span> Public university in San Jose, California, U.S.

San José State University is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) system. The university, alongside the University of California, Los Angeles has academic origins in the historic normal school known as the California State Normal School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Hogwood</span> English conductor and musicologist (1941–2014)

Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood was an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer, and musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on historically informed performance and a leading figure in the early music revival of the late 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fortepiano</span> Early version of the piano

A fortepiano, sometimes referred to as a pianoforte, is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1698 up to the early 19th century. Most typically, however, it is used to refer to the mid-18th to early-19th century instruments, for which composers of the Classical era, especially Haydn, Mozart, and the younger Beethoven and Hummel, wrote their piano music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferdinand Hiller</span> German composer and conductor (1811–1885)

Ferdinand (von) Hiller was a German composer, conductor, pianist, writer and music director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library</span>

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library is an 8-story public library and university library, located in downtown San Jose, California, which had its grand opening on August 16, 2003. As of 2018, it is the largest library building in the western United States built in a single construction project, with over 475,000 square feet of space on eight floors and approximately 1.6 million volumes. The King Library is a collaboration between the City of San José and San José State University: it is the main library for both San José State University and the San José Public Library system. In 2004 it was honored as Library of the Year by Library Journal and Thomson Gale, for its collaborative combination of the two functions as well as for the building. On its tenth anniversary in 2013 it was still the largest joint university-municipal library in the United States.

Igor Kipnis was a German-born American harpsichordist, pianist and conductor.

The American Beethoven Society is an international organization dedicated to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Ludwig van Beethoven</span> Death of Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven, a German composer, died in his apartment in the Schwarzspanierhaus, Vienna, on 26 March 1827 at the age of 56, following a prolonged illness. His death was witnessed by his sister-in-law, possibly by his secretary Karl Holz, and by his close friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner, who provided a vivid description of the event. Beethoven's funeral was held three days later, and the procession was witnessed by a large crowd. He was originally buried in the cemetery at Währing, although his remains were moved in 1888 to the Vienna Central Cemetery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conrad Graf</span> Austrian-German piano maker

Conrad Graf was an Austrian-German piano maker. His pianos were used by Beethoven, Chopin, and Robert and Clara Schumann, among others.

Theodore Albrecht is a music historian who specializes in the life and music of Ludwig van Beethoven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elisabeth Röckel</span> German opera singer

Elisabeth Röckel was a German soprano opera singer and the wife of the composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Newman (musician)</span> American classical musician (born 1941)

Anthony Newman is an American classical musician. While mostly known as an organist, Newman is also a harpsichordist, pianist, composer, conductor, writer, and teacher. He is a specialist in music of the Baroque period, particularly the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, and has collaborated with such noted musicians as Kathleen Battle, Julius Baker, Itzhak Perlman, Eugenia Zukerman, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Leonard Bernstein, Michala Petri, and Wynton Marsalis, for whom he arranged and conducted In Gabriel’s Garden, the most popular classical record of 1996.

Michael Tsalka is a Dutch-Israeli pianist and early keyboard performer. He performs solo and chamber music from the Baroque to the Contemporary periods on the modern piano, harpsichord, fortepiano, clavichord, square piano and positive organ. Michael Tsalka, who is the oldest son of Israeli writer Dan Tsalka, performs throughout Europe, the U.S., Canada, Asia, and Latin America. Recent engagements include the Boston Early Music Festival, the Gasteig in Münich, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, the Bellas Artes Theater in Mexico City, the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, the Hermitage Festival in St. Petersburg, and full programs and interviews for radio stations in Hong Kong, Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, Chicago, Berlin, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Jerusalem.

Michael Lorenz is an Austrian musicologist, noted as a Mozart scholar and for his archival work combining music history and genealogical research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Skowroneck</span> German harpsichord builder

(Franz Hermann) Martin Skowroneck was a German harpsichord builder, one of the pioneers of the modern movement of harpsichord construction on historical principles.

Keith Richard Hill is a prize winning American maker of musical instruments He has conducted research into the acoustical technology employed by musical instrument makers from 1550–1850, and used this knowledge to create hundreds of harpsichords, clavichords and other instruments.

Philip Ralph Belt was a pioneering builder of pianos in historical style, in particular the 18th century instruments commonly called fortepianos. His pianos were modeled on instruments made by historical builders, particularly Johann Andreas Stein and Anton Walter. Belt's pianos played a role in the revival of performance on historical instruments that was an important trend in classical music in the second half of the 20th century and continues to this day.

References

37°20′07″N121°53′06″W / 37.3354°N 121.8851°W / 37.3354; -121.8851

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.