Artur Schnabel’s Editorial Strategies in the Publication of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas

Among the most outstanding achievements of the Viennese classics are the 32 piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827). The complexity of the stage reading of the author’s concept of these cycles requires a thorough study of the author’s text. In this context, it is essential to turn to the editions of these works with their reliance on performance specifics. The study of the peculiarities of the edition of Beethoven’s 32 sonatas made in the first half of the twentieth century by Artur Schnabel, an outstanding Austrian pianist and researcher of Beethoven’s works, will enrich modern knowledge about the style of Beethoven’s piano works. In his editions of Beethoven’s sonatas, Schnabel managed to capture the ideas that encourage creative reflection and, therefore, are not intended to be taken literally in the process of stage performance. Schnabel’s approach to editing as a unique musical interpretation combined research, text, and pedagogy. His musical thinking and scientific intuition in his editorial approach to Beethoven’s sonatas are based on the close connection between the audial and graphic components of the author’s idea. Schnabel’s editorial notes are systematically verified, and their extensive nature testifies to his rich experience in mastering the German composer’s piano works. In general, Schnabel’s edition contains many additions in terms of both text and performance: the researcher offers versions of melismas, adds interpretations of tempo marks and extensive comments on the grouping of measures, etc.; a large number of remarks relate to dynamics, hidden polyphony, articulation, and the nature of performance. Schnabel’s edition is an artistically and practically comprehensive and valuable work in terms of performance, methodology, and history of music