The list of compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven consists of 722 works written over forty-five years, from his earliest work in 1782 (variations for piano on a march by Ernst Christoph Dressler) when he was only eleven years old and still in Bonn, until his last work just before his death in Vienna in 1827. Beethoven composed works in all the main genres of classical music, including symphonies, concertos, string quartets, piano sonatas and opera. His compositions range from solo works to those requiring a large orchestra and chorus. Beethoven straddled both the Classical and Romantic periods, working in genres associated with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his teacher Joseph Haydn, such as the piano concerto, string quartet and symphony, while on the other hand providing the groundwork for other Romantic composers, such as Hector Berlioz and Franz Liszt, with programmatic works such as his Pastoral Symphony and Piano Sonata "Les Adieux". Beethoven's work is typically divided into three periods: the "Early" period, where he composed in the "Viennese" style; the "Middle" or "Heroic" period, where his work is characterised by struggle and heroism, such as in the Eroica Symphony, the Fifth Symphony, the Appassionata Sonata and in his sole opera Fidelio; and the "Late" period, marked by intense personal expression and an emotional and intellectual profundity. Although his output greatly diminished in his later years, this period saw the composition of masterpieces such as the late string quartets, the final five piano sonatas, the Diabelli Variations, the Missa Solemnis and the Ninth Symphony. Beethoven's works are classified by both genre and various numbering systems. The best-known numbering system for Beethoven's works is that by opus number, assigned by Beethoven's publishers during his lifetime. Only 172 of Beethoven's works have opus numbers, divided among 138 opus numbers. Many works that were unpublished or published without opus numbers have been assigned one of "WoO" (Werke ohne Opuszahl—works without opus number), Hess or Biamonti numbers. For example, the short piano piece "Für Elise" is more fully known as the "Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59 ('Für Elise')". Some works are also commonly referred to by their nicknames, such as the Kreutzer Violin Sonata, or the Archduke Piano Trio. Works are also often identified by their number within their genre. For example, the 14th string quartet, published as Opus 131, may be referenced either as "String Quartet No. 14" or "the Opus 131 String Quartet". The listings below include all of these relevant identifiers. While other catalogues of Beethoven's works exist, the numbers here represent the most commonly used.

List of works by genre

Beethoven's works are published in several editions, the first of these was Ludwig van Beethovens Werke: Vollständige kritisch durchgesehene überall berechtigte Ausgabe published between 1862 and 1865 with a supplemental volume in 1888 by Breitkopf & Härtel, commonly known as the "Beethoven Gesamtausgabe" [GA]. While this was a landmark achievement at the time, the limitations of this edition soon became apparent. Between 1959 and 1971 Willy Hess prepared a supplemental edition, Beethoven: Sämtliche Werke: Supplemente zur Gesamtausgabe, [HS] containing works that were not in the Gesamtausgabe. Since 1961 the Beethoven Archive has been publishing a new scholarly–critical Complete Edition of Beethoven's works, Beethoven: Werke: neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke [NA]. However, only 42 of the projected 56 volumes have been published so far. As this edition has not been published in full there are works without an NA designation. Legend for publications – p: parts s: full score vs: vocal score

Orchestral music

Beethoven wrote nine symphonies, nine concertos, and a variety of other orchestral music, ranging from overtures and incidental music for theatrical productions to other miscellaneous "occasional" works, written for a particular occasion. Of the concertos, seven are widely known (one violin concerto, five piano concertos, and one triple concerto for violin, piano, and cello); the other two are an early piano concerto (WoO 4) and an arrangement of the Violin Concerto for piano and orchestra (Opus 61a).

Symphonies

Beethoven is believed to have intended to write a Tenth Symphony in the last year of his life; a performing version of possible sketches was assembled by Barry Cooper.

Concertos

Other works for soloist and orchestra

Overtures and incidental music

Chamber music

Beethoven wrote 16 string quartets and numerous other forms of chamber music, including piano trios, string trios, and sonatas for violin and cello with piano, as well as works with wind instruments.

Chamber music for strings

String quartets

Other chamber music for strings

Chamber music with piano

Solo instrument and piano

Piano trios

Other chamber music with piano

Chamber music for winds

Solo piano music

In addition to the 32 celebrated sonatas, Beethoven's work for solo piano includes many one-movement pieces, more than twenty sets of variations, most unpublished in his lifetime or published without opus number, and over thirty bagatelles, including the well-known "Für Elise".

Piano sonatas

Piano variations

Shorter piano pieces

Piano four hands

Vocal music

While he completed only one opera, Beethoven wrote vocal music throughout his life, including two Mass settings, other works for chorus and orchestra (in addition to the Ninth Symphony), arias, duets, art songs (lieder), and true song cycles.

Operas

Choral works with orchestra

Other choral works

Solo voices and orchestra

Songs

Folksongs

Wind band

Collections of dances

Canons and musical jokes

Miscellaneous

List of works by Beethoven

The following is a list of Beethoven's works, sorted by Opus number, followed by works listed as WoO in the Kinsky–Halm Catalogue, and then works listed in the appendix of that catalogue, which are given "Anhang" numbers. These are followed by additional works with Hess numbers listed in the catalogue of Willy Hess that are not otherwise listed in the Kinsky–Halm Catalogue. Lastly there are works with Biamonti numbers (Bia.), from the Biamonti Catalogue, an attempt to catalogue everything that Beethoven wrote in chronological order, though there are works that were not known at the time it was compiled. Thus there is no definitive catalogue of Beethoven's works to match the Deutsch catalogue for Schubert or the Köchel catalogue for Mozart.

Works with opus numbers

The opus numbers were assigned by publishers to Beethoven's works as they were published. The opus numbers do not include all works that were published in Beethoven's lifetime nor are they in chronological order. For instance, the Octet Op. 103 was written before November 1792, while Op. 102 and Op. 104 were written in 1815 and 1817 respectively.

Works with WoO numbers

The numbers and categories used below are from the Kinsky–Halm Catalogue of 1955. WoO is an abbreviation of "Werke ohne Opuszahl", German for "Works without Opus number". While some of these works were published during Beethoven's lifetime but not given opus numbers, for instance the piano variations WoO 80, others like Für Elise WoO 59 were not published until later. Unlike with opus numbers which were assigned depending on when the works were published, WoO numbers were assigned by genre.

Instrumental works: WoO 1–86

Orchestral works

Orchestra alone Concertante Dances Marches and dances for winds

Chamber works

Without piano With piano

Piano works for 2 or 4 hands

Sonatas and single-movement works Variations Dances

Vocal works: WoO 87–205

Cantatas, choruses and arias with orchestra

Works for multiple voices with piano accompaniment, or unaccompanied

Lieder and songs for solo voice and piano

Folksong arrangements for one or more voices, with piano trio accompaniment

Vocal canons

Musical jokes, quips, and dedications

Added works: WoO 206–228

The 2014 revision to the Kinsky catalogue, edited by Dorfmüller, Gertsch and Ronge, assigned WoO numbers to a number of works that appear in other listings.

Works with Anhang (Anh.) and Unvollendete (Unv.) numbers

These are works from the Appendix (Anhang in German) of Kinsky's catalog that were attributed to Beethoven at the time the catalog was compiled, but might not have been written by him. The 2014 revision to the Kinsky catalogue, edited by Dorfmüller, Gertsch and Ronge also introduced the category of Unvollendete (unfinished works), for several works that had previously appeared in other listings.

Works with Hess numbers

Works with Hess number

These works have numbers that were assigned by Willy Hess in his catalogue of Beethoven's works. Many of the works in the Hess catalog also have WoO or Unv. numbers; those entries are not listed here.

Works with Hess Anhang (Anh.) numbers

These are works included in the appendix of Hess's catalogue that might not be genuine works by Beethoven.

Works with Biamonti numbers

The Italian musicologist Giovanni Biamonti compiled a chronological catalogue Beethoven's entire output known at the time, including sketches and fragments. While most of these works were already included in other catalogues, there were some that had been missed by earlier compilers. This list does not include works with opus, WoO or Hess numbers, nor does it include sketches. There were also several projected works by Beethoven, including the operas Alessandro, Memnons Dreiklang, and Bradamante; an oratorio on a text by Meissner, an oratorio "Die Befrieung Jerusalems", and an oratorio "Die Sündflut" with text by Hammer-Purgstall.

Sources

Catalogues and bibliographies

—Encompasses works with and without opus numbers, as well as sketches and fragments, in 849 chronologically arranged entries. —Revised and expanded edition of the catalogue of works by Kinsky and Halm. —An English translation of Willy Hess' important 1957 catalogue and study, updated to reflect more recent scholarship. —Hess' original study and catalogue; still more widely available in libraries than Green's edition. —Includes categorized works list with bibliographical and other information. —The standard thematic and bibliographical catalogue of Beethoven's works. —Historically important thematic catalogue, by a pioneering 19th Century Beethoven scholar. —Popular biographical study; includes bibliographical notes and (incomplete) works lists.

Works collections (scores)

vols i–xxiv, 1862–65; vol xxv (supplement), 1888. —Original critical "complete works" edition, commonly known as the Beethoven Gesamtausgabe. —Hess's supplement to the 19th century Breitkopf edition. – New critical edition, "herausgaben vom Beethoven-Archiv, Bonn"; 56 volumes in 13 categories, 36 volumes released as of January 2009.

Books