Abandoned Manuscripts Found

Beethoven, Arthur Conan Doyle and Kafka are among many artists who gave clear instructions that some work should not be published. They were ignored.

From an article in the Telegraph...

The world premiere today in Manchester of a lost movement from a Beethoven string quartet raises the old question of whether some works, as their creators may have intended, are best consigned to the cutting-room floor of history. The section in question, written in 1799 as part of his Quartet in G, was subsequently completely rewritten by Beethoven, who then discarded the original. “Only now do I know how to write quartets properly,” he confided in his sponsor, Prince Lobkowicz, urging him not to pass the first draft to anyone.

But Barry Cooper, Professor of Music at Manchester, who has fitted together fragments found of the original for tonight’s unveiling, is convinced this rediscovery provides compelling new insights. “The prospect of hearing a Beethoven work that has been absent for over 200 years,” he says, “should be of much interest to anyone who loves his music.”

Ignoring an artist’s stated wishes like this is surprisingly common. This week, The Narrative of John Smith, a “lost” first novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, found in papers in the British Library, hits the bookshops, despite the consensus among experts that the creator of Sherlock Holmes considered it substandard and therefore suppressed it.