Career Summary

Heinrich Rose was the son of a shoemaker, the family home being on the Heisterbacherhofstraße in Bonn. Nothing is known of his childhood or education. By 1906 at the latest he had established a photographic studio at Kaiserplatz 8. He described himself as a "specialist photographer for industrial and artistic businesses, for preservation of monuments, museums, and architecture" (Bonn street directories).

Rose was the officially approved photographer of the Beethoven-Haus at Bonngasse 20. In 1913, a letter to Schenker from Ferdinand August Schmidt of that instution stated that he "works for the Beethoven-Haus on photographs of manuscripts, pictures, printed matter and the like [...] has already taken [...] photographs in the Beethoven-Haus for a range of publications" (OC B/204). He worked also for other collections in the Rhineland.

Rose and Schenker

At Schenker's request, Rose made photographs (white-on-black) of Beethoven's piano sonatas Op. 27, No. 2, Op. 28, and Op. 111 (the last of these as preparatory work for the Erläuterungsausgabe for Op. 111). Schenker wrote direct to Rose on December 9, 1913 (BNba 318, [1]). and received a communication from him on January 16, a package on January 26, and the photographs of the three Beethoven sonatas on February 4, 1914 (Schenker's diary for those dates). Rose's photographs of Op. 27, No. 2 are preserved as OC/B 310‒339, those of Op. 111 as OC/B 340‒379.