At the turn of the 19th century, Vienna became a welcoming host of a growing phenomenon of virtuoso guitarists and composers such as Wenzel Matiekga, Vincent Schuster, Anton Diabelli, Mauro Giuliani, and others. All took part in Vienna’s mainstream musical activity, raising the level of guitar performance and composition to new heights. Concerts in the Imperial City took place in salons, public gardens, and concert halls, attended by all classes of society. All were fascinated by what was then a significant rise in guitar performance and virtuosity. Ludwig van Beethoven never composed directly for guitar; as a young man he had written for mandolin accompanied by fortepiano, but its similarity in tuning to the violin did not pose any challenges in learning a new instrument. While the guitar enjoyed a tremendous upsurge in popularity, Beethoven probably never appreciated it due to his encroaching deafness. 　　As Beethoven moved in the highest Viennese aristocratic and musical circles, he had occasional business or personal dealings with prominent Viennese guitarists. Beethoven worked with (or perhaps against is more likely) the composer/publisher Anton Diabelli, who came to Vienna in 1803. A job as a music proofreader sparked his interest in music publishing and supplanted his earnings as a teacher of piano and guitar. He went into partnership in 1816 to establish the successful firm of Cappi & Diabelli. Beethoven’s songs proved a fertile ground for guitar versions by Diabelli and other publishers. Diabelli was also responsible for publishing duo guitar arrangements of selections from Beethoven’s Op. 20 Septett and Op. 59 #3 string quartet as arranged by Vicente Schuster, around 1820. He also personally arranged and published the theme from Beethoven’s Op. 34 Sechs Variationen for piano as a work for voice and guitar, and an aria from Fidelio in a version for flute or violin and guitar, as well as a potpourri of Beethoven’s works for flute or violin and guitar. Diabelli’s excellent version of Beethoven’s extended song Adelaide Op. 46 is markedly different from an earlier version by Wenzel Matiegka, and was likely considered more difficult by the amateur guitar market. Beethoven himself was angered by publishers who issued his works without approval. 　　Beethoven must have had some contact with Wenzel Thomas Matiegka (1773-1830), who settled in Vienna in 1800 and established a studio teaching both guitar and piano - Matiegka was also known to Franz Schubert. Matiegka was a respected composer and taught Raphael Georg Keisewetter who was associated with Beethoven in 1796, during a trip to Prague. In his own autobiography, Keisewetter portrays himself as a capable singer and guitarist. Count Kinsky, one of Beethoven’s major patrons, employed Matiegka as a legal accountant. Wenzel Matiegka arranged both Serenades Op. 8 (published by Artaria in 1807) and Op. 25 (lost but presumably from the same period), and the song Adelaide Op. 46 (composed earlier, but published in a guitar version by Cappi & Diabelli in 1819). Matiegka’s handling of the guitar in Adelaide and the Serenade Op. 8 shows a desire, or perhaps need, to create guitar parts that were not too difficult for the medium-level player of the day. I have revisited Op. 8 Serenade in an attempt to bring it closer to the original medium and increase its sonority. As the Op. 25 Serenade arrangement is lost, I have rendered a new version based on the 1816 Hoffmeister version for flute and fortepiano (which Beethoven grudgingly improved). While these revisitations are done in the spirit of Matiegka, they are considerably more difficult and closer to Beethoven’s originals than Matiegka's designation of 'la parte de la chitarra e molto facile'. The arrangements of Bagatelles Op. 126, Nos. 5 and 1, are by flutist Lanny Pollet. 　　 　　Instruments: Violin: Italian (1750's), Viola Edmund Areaton (1754), Guitar: Matthius Dammann (1990), Flute: Flutemaker's Guild wood flute (1980). Recording engineer: Russell Dawkins, Producer: David Clenman. Mastered by Kirk McNally. 　　 　　Notes by Alexander Dunn