UnheardBeethoven.org
Title
The Unheard Beethoven
Description
Who are these guys? What's wrong with them?
The MIDI files and the contents of this website are all produced by Mark S. Zimmer and Willem (sometimes also known as xickx). Willem is a computer programmer and lifelong Beethoven-lover in the Netherlands; Mark S. Zimmer is an attorney in Wisconsin, USA. They met in 1997 over the internet by talking on the DALnet #beethoven channel which xickx moderates, and where matters related to Beethoven and classical music in general are discussed (for more information on the #beethoven channel see http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/3948/), Both of them had over the preceding years developed an obsessive desire to accumulate recordings of all of Beethoven's works. Through the miracle of the internet, they were able to compare notes and see where each had been missing various items. But still, there were a multitude of works which sounded intriguing but which were unavailable on record or CD. Indescribable was their shock and horror upon learning the sheer quantity of works that really did exist but were quite inaccessible such as the Hess-list (containing 335 unknown works). Their shared frustration over the many works which had not been recorded was vented at about the same time as reasonably good computer soundcards became readily available.
Suddenly, the fog lifted, and they saw that they didn't need to wait for others to record and release the many missing pieces; they could, through creation of MIDI files, make their own "recordings" of these unheard pieces. Now they could hear these pieces, and in the process learned that there is indeed a wealth of interesting material amongst the unheard Beethoven. Willem and Zimmer assiduously began ferreting out these many mysterious pieces, with the tireless support of Patricia Elliott-Stroh, curator of the Ira F. Brilliant Beethoven Center at San Jose State University, and set to work on turning these scores into MIDI files.
After more than 100 MIDI files had been completed, Willem and Zimmer decided that they didn't want to keep all these unheard works to themselves; the world deserved to at least have an opportunity to hear all this unheard Beethoven. And now, the unheard Beethoven can be heard by you. We presently have on this site about 230 MIDI files, totalling more than ten hours of music. We trust that you will find much here that is, if nothing else, interesting and intriguing. We are still working on the other items which remain unheard, and will be adding more MIDI files from time to time.
