When violinist, conductor, and former UB faculty member Pamela Gearhart died in 2014, she left a generous endowment to the University at Buffalo Music Library in her will. In honor of that gift, the Music Library has acquired a beautiful facsimile edition of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, Op. 61. The 1979 facsimile publication was limited to one thousand copies and is a reproduction of Beethoven’s manuscript of the score held by the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The score contains Beethoven’s telltale markings of changes and corrections along with some sketches for his own arrangement of the violin part for piano.
The concerto was composed in 1806 for violinist Franz Clement. Although it was not initially a critical success, it is now considered one of the masterworks among violin concerti. The work’s famous opening of four solo strokes on the timpani (joined by the woodwinds on the fifth stroke) are clear on the first page of the score.
Thanks to Mrs. Gearhart’s generosity the Music Library is able to acquire items such as this facsimile that add considerable richness to the collection.