Biamonti 195 – “Les derniers soupirs”: sketch for the ending of the second movement of String Quartet Op. 18 No. 1, late 1798–1799; second notebook, page 9 (Nottebohm, II, p. 485). It is found in the Grasnick 2 sketchbook, on page 9, staves 1–2. According to Biamonti, as with most of the other fragments on this page, it serves as a sketch for the finale of the second movement of Op. 18 No. 1. Beethoven does not specify the key in which this sketch was conceived. Biamonti, rather oddly, assigns it to E-flat major, but considering the context and Biamonti’s own corrections, I believe this fragment should be played in D minor. I have thus reimagined the entire piece in this key, which is also the home key of the Adagio in Op. 18 No. 1.

The melody, now fragmented, begins with a descending “Larmoyante” figure—“almost sobbing”—as the first violin moves from high G/F down to low C-sharp, followed by a final, romantic gasp in the penultimate bar, featuring a double diminished seventh leap that ascends and descends (C-sharp/B-flat/C-sharp), resolving finally on the tonic. Meanwhile, the other instruments, freed from the accompaniment of repeated triplets which characterised the beginning of this Adagio, can now release the emotional tension that had built up throughout the second movement.