First conceived in 1803/04 as the slow movement of the Piano Sonata in C major op. 53 (the “Waldstein” Sonata), the Andante turned out too long in Beethoven’s view and was replaced. Beethoven had it published as a standalone movement, presumably in 1805. The movement, marked “Grazioso con moto,” is characterised by a large variety of compositional techniques ranging from simple chord progressions to orchestral-like octave runs. Because of its particular popularity, this single movement was published as “Andante favori” in its second printing – a moniker that apparently harks back to Beethoven himself. Based on her preliminary research for the critical Complete Edition, Beethoven specialist Joanna Cobb Biermann has carefully revised the musical text of the Henle Urtext edition and updated the preface to reflect the latest scholarship.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimized for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
