WoO 175 – “Sanct Petrus war ein Fels! Bernardus war ein Sanct?”, ideas for a canon
WoO 175. “Sanct Petrus war ein Fels! Bernardus war ein Sanct?”, ideas for a canon for Peters and Bernard, late 1819, published in Thayer’s catalogue and more recently by W. Hess in the fifth issue of the Supplemente zur GA, 1962. Hess 255 – Bruers 324 – KH. (WoO)175 – Thayer 225.
They are included in an undated letter sent to the councillor of the Lobkowitz household, Carl Peters, and they joke about his name and that of the writer and journalist Carl Bernard, a close friend of Beethoven. They were written, it seems, towards the end of 1819, during work on the Credo of the Missa solemnis. The original has passed through various hands and its current location is unknown. For guidance on how to interpret the form of the two short pieces, see the above-mentioned KH catalogue; Hess’s Supplement, p. 93; M.A., pp. 113–114; and Th.-R., IV, pp. 190–191.
[By Biamonti Giovanni – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati, Torino, ILTE 1968]
WoO 175 Sankt Petrus war ein Fels? – Bernardus war ein Sankt?? Zwei Rätselkanons (A-dur und a-moll) nach eigenen Texten Widmung: -NGAXII/2 AGA- SBG V/36-37 (2. Auflage: 37-38; Hess 255-256)
Creation and publication: Canons drafted at the end of December 1819 / beginning of January 1820? The Canons mentioned in a letter to Karl Peters (February 1820?) are „vermutlich eine neue Niederschrift“ (BGA 1368). The first edition appeared posthumously in 1865 in the chronological index by Alexander W. Thayer. Beethoven made a pencil sketch of Canon No. 1 in a pocket notebook for the Missa solemnis. This three-part sketch in A major (Hess 256) differs considerably from the version contained in the letter; Michael Ladenburger describes it as a „Pseudokanon“. Perhaps because of the fleeting nature of pencil notes, Karl Peters (1782–1849), educator from 1820 to 1825 and co-guardian of Beethoven’s nephew Karl, wrote regretfully in one of Beethoven’s conversation books at the beginning of January 1820: „Schade um Ihren Canon der ist vielleicht schon verwischt Er hätte mich verewigt —“. On 17 or 18 January, the customs officer Franz Janschikh (born in 1776 or 1777) asked, referring to Peters and the director of the Wiener Zeitung, Joseph Karl Bernard (1780–1850): „Was macht der Canon?“ The verses noted in the letter to Peters (contrary to what KH states) clearly do not represent one canon but two independent canons (double heading, different keys, two and three parts). Alexander W. Thayer already speaks of two canons (TDR IV p. 189). Ladenburger assesses the version of the canons transmitted in the letter as a „spontane Neuschöpfung im Sinne einer Reminiszenz“. Beethoven was no longer able to access the original composition, which is why he wrote down only the incipits of the two canons from memory. Ludwig Misch suggests: „Aller Wahrscheinlichkeit nach sind es Zitate zweier Kanons, die dem Empfänger des Briefes bekannt waren“. Rudolf Klein likewise does not include WoO 175 in his work, on the grounds that the two lines of music contained in the letter to Peters are „offenbar nur Erinnerungszitate“. The sketches suggest a more extensive polyphonic version in score. Willy Hess offers possible solutions based solely on the existing notations.
Text: Beethoven addressed Joseph Karl Bernard several times in his letters as “Bernardus non Sanctus” (BGA 1306, 1340, 1588). This seems to have been a common form within the circle of friends, since Peters and Janschikh use the same pseudo in their conversation books (BKh 1 pp. 163 and 170). At the beginning of December, the people around Beethoven discussed the possibility that Peters might become co-guardian of his nephew Karl. Shortly before 15 December 1819, Joseph Czerny praised Peters’s good character. He was „ein gescheuter und Edler Mensch. […] Sie kennen sich auf ihm verlassen, wenn er sich um etwas annimmt, so führt er es aus. Er ist zuverläßlich, und kent den Geschäftsgang.“ The text, which is based on the famous words of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew, may refer to this strength of character. Beethoven’s version of the text in the sketches reads: „Sanct petrus ist ein Fels / Auf diesen kann man bauen / Und ist er auch [in] Wels / so kann man auf ihn bauen“. In Conversation Book 6 from the beginning of January 1820, he notes on folio 12v the verses „Sankt Petrus ist / kein Fels, / Auf ihn kann man / nicht bauen.“ and „Bernardus war ein / Sankt, / der hatte sich gewaschen, / Er hat der Hölle nicht / gewankt, / und nicht zehntausend Flaschen.“
The sketches will be featured in an article specially created for the Beethovenian Music Research Center, www.lvbeethoven.org
