Over the years and decades, Beethoven composed numerous bagatelles, and sometimes he would try to sell a bunch of them to a publisher. The 11 bagatelles published as Opus 119 have a complicated & mind-numbing history, summarized on the Beethoven-Haus site.
The eleven Opus 119 bagatelles break down as follows:
Nos. 1 – 5 are old, perhaps some going back to the 1890s, but revised in late 1822.
No. 6 was composed in November 1822.
Nos. 7 – 11 were composed in 1820–21 for piano studies.
Given that Beethoven added the sixth of the eleven Opus 119 bagatelles to link the five old ones with the five new ones, sometimes the argument is made that Beethoven meant for these bagatelles to be played together in sequence. However, this is rarely done in live performance.
#Beethoven250 Day 330
11 Bagatelles for Piano (Opus 119), 1820–22
Socially distanced in Longmont Colorado, David Korevaar provides a rare live performance of all eleven in sequence.
#Beethoven250 Day 330
11 Bagatelles for Piano (Opus 119), 1820–22
In concert in London, Mikhail Shilyaev plays the first five and the last three.
At this time were discussions about a Complete Edition of Beethoven’s music. One obstacle were the many publishers who held publication rights to the music. In 1822, Beethoven drafted a statement that in modern terms asserts the primacy of intellectual property rights.
The law-books begin without more ado with a discussion of human rights which nevertheless the executors trample under foot; and in like manner the author commences his statement.
An author has the right to arrange for a revised edition of his works. But since there are so many greedy brain-pickers and lovers of that noble dish, since all kinds of preserves, ragouts and fricassés are made from it, which go to fill the pockets of the pastrycooks, and since the author would be glad to have as many groschen as are sometimes disbursed for his work, the author is determined to show that the human brain cannot be sold either like coffee beans or like any form of cheese which, as everyone knows, must first be produced from milk, urine and so forth —
The human brain in itself is not a saleable commodity. — Beethoven