The Nine Symphonies of Beethoven: A Digital Edition 2009

Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities (CCARH)
A complete-score database of multipurpose digital data of Ludwig van Beethoven's nine symphonies. See also: http://beethoven.ccarh.org

Project Team: Craig Stuart Sapp, Don Anthony, Francis Bennion, Edmund Correia, Jr., Walter Hewlett, Eleanor Selfridge-Field, and Andreas Kornstädt.

Click on the "PDF" markers to view PDF versions of the full orchestral scores for each symphony. CCARH supports several core data formats which can be downloaded from the full links listed after the PDF links above.

The primary encoding format for the symphonies was done in the MuseData format (sample). The original MuseData files are converted into several other musical data formats for printing (SCORE), audition (MIDI), and analysis (Humdrum).

Instrumental Parts

Instrumental parts are under development. View samples for the seventh symphony here (example for the first violin).

Example MIDI File

Example MIDI file for the second movement of the fifth symphony. (PDF score).

Example Analytic Use

Unlike traditional printed music, this edition also includes the underlying data used to generate the printable scores in PDF format. Computer applications can use this data for further processing such as for music analysis.

For example, below is a graphical representation of the harmonic structure for the first movement of the fifth symphony generated by analyzing the symbolic form of the score. Each color represents a different key (see color-mapping legend below plot), with time progressing from the start of the movement on the left to the end on the right. Throughout the movement the musical key constantly changes. Brief visits to a key region generate small color regions on the plot, while larger color regions indicate more significant key regions.

The movement is in C minor which is represented by dark green in the plot. The movement is in typical sonata form, with the first theme in the tonic key (dark green), followed by the second key in the relative major (E-flat major represented by the red color).

The development section progresses episodically through several key regions (G minor, G major, C major, B-flat major, B-flat minor, F-sharp minor, and D major, finally ending back in the tonic key at the start of the recapitulation with a restatement of the first theme.

In typical sonata form, the second theme is transposed to the tonic key. In this case to the major mode (C major) which is shown in bright green on the keyscape plot. Finally an extended coda concludes the movement in the tonic key.

You can listen to a MIDI file for the movement by clicking here. (PDF score)