American Beethoven Society Research Award

The American Beethoven Society is pleased to announce a new award for scholarly work.

Each year the society will award a $1000 prize to an early-career scholar for outstanding work published in the previous calendar year. Work relating to Beethoven should form a significant component of the publication, but it need not be the exclusive or even primary focus. Articles, books, and scholarly editions are all eligible, and we define “early-career” as no more than twelve years beyond the completion of a graduate or postgraduate degree. The published work must be in English.

The 2024 American Beethoven Society Research Award goes to Matthew Pilcher for his essay “Beethoven’s Erste Liebe, Himmelslust, WoO 92: Sources, Languages, Text-Setting,” from Manchester Beethoven Studies, ed. Barry Cooper and Matthew Pilcher (Manchester, 2023). This is a thorough and perceptive study on an often-neglected part of Beethoven’s compositional output that presents new material and new conclusions with clear significance to Beethoven scholarship. From its rigorous examination of source material to its contemplation of Erste Liebe in Beethoven’s compositional development, Pilcher’s essay invites us to devote more serious attention to Beethoven’swork as a vocal composer and to his early works more generally.

Matthew Pilcher is Lecturer in Music at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

The selection committee consists of the members of the editorial board of the Beethoven Journal.

We invited nominations for work published in 2024. The closing date for nominations is February 1, 2025, and the prize will be awarded in June 2025. Self-nominations are welcome.

Please submit nominations by email to beethovencenter@sjsu.edu.